Synchronization of pulse-coupled excitable neurons

Collective behavior of pulse-coupled oscillatory neurons has been investigated widely. In many cases, however, real neurons are intrinsically not oscillatory but excitable. The networks of excitable neurons can have their own characteristic dynamics, and they are of interest also from the viewpoint of functional assemblies. In the present paper, the collective behavior of pulse-coupled excitable neurons has been investigated using phase description. It is shown that full synchronization is achieved in networks of excitable leaky integrate-and-fire neurons and discrete-time Nagumo–Sato neurons. The cooperative roles of external spike inputs, decay of internal states, and feedback spikes are explained. Enhancement of synchronization by refractoriness and noise is also reported.