Neural pattern formation in networks with dendritic structure

We present a detailed analysis of a recently proposed model of neural pattern formation that is based on the combined effect of diffusion along a neuron's dendritic tree and recurrent interactions along axo-dendritic synaptic connections. For concreteness, we consider a one-dimensional array of analog neurons with the dendritic tree idealized as a one-dimensional cable. Linear stability analysis and bifurcation theory together with numerical simulations an used to establish conditions for the onset of a Turing instability leading to the formation of stable spatial patterns of network output activity. It is shown that the presence of dendritic structure can induce dynamic (time-periodic) spatial pattern formation. Moreover, correlations between the dendritic location of a synapse and the relative positions of neurons in the network are shown to result in spatially oscillating patterns of activity along the dendrites of each neuron. Copyright (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.