Effects of synaptic plasticity on phase and period locking in a network of two oscillatory neurons

We study the effects of synaptic plasticity on the determination of firing period and relative phases in a network of two oscillatory neurons coupled with reciprocal inhibition. We combine the phase response curves of the neurons with the short-term synaptic plasticity properties of the synapses to define Poincaré maps for the activity of an oscillatory network. Fixed points of these maps correspond to the phase-locked modes of the network. These maps allow us to analyze the dependence of the resulting network activity on the properties of network components. Using a combination of analysis and simulations, we show how various parameters of the model affect the existence and stability of phase-locked solutions. We find conditions on the synaptic plasticity profiles and the phase response curves of the neurons for the network to be able to maintain a constant firing period, while varying the phase of locking between the neurons or vice versa. A generalization to cobwebbing for two-dimensional maps is also discussed.