Triplets of spikes in a model of spike timing-dependent plasticity

Classical experiments on spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) use a protocol based on pairs of presynaptic and postsynaptic spikes repeated at a given frequency to induce synaptic potentiation or depression. Therefore, standard STDP models have expressed the weight change as a function of pairs of presynaptic and postsynaptic spike. Unfortunately, those paired-based STDP models cannot account for the dependence on the repetition frequency of the pairs of spike. Moreover, those STDP models cannot reproduce recent triplet and quadruplet experiments. Here, we examine a triplet rule (i.e., a rule which considers sets of three spikes, i.e., two pre and one post or one pre and two post) and compare it to classical pair-based STDP learning rules. With such a triplet rule, it is possible to fit experimental data from visual cortical slices as well as from hippocampal cultures. Moreover, when assuming stochastic spike trains, the triplet learning rule can be mapped to a Bienenstock-Cooper-Munro learning rule.