Multispike interactions in a stochastic model of spike-timing-dependent plasticity

Recently we presented a stochastic, ensemble-based model of spike-timing-dependent plasticity. In this model, single synapses do not exhibit plasticity depending on the exact timing of pre- and postsynaptic spikes, but spike-timing-dependent plasticity emerges only at the temporal or synaptic ensemble level. We showed that such a model reproduces a variety of experimental results in a natural way, without the introduction of various, ad hoc nonlinearities characteristic of some alternative models. Our previous study was restricted to an examination, analytically, of two-spike interactions, while higher-order, multispike interactions were only briefly examined numerically. Here we derive exact, analytical results for the general n-spike interaction functions in our model. Our results form the basis for a detailed examination, performed elsewhere, of the significant differences between these functions and the implications these differences have for the presence, or otherwise, of stable, competitive dynamics in our model.