Sisyphus effect in pulse-coupled excitatory neural networks with spike-timing-dependent plasticity

The collective dynamics of excitatory pulse-coupled neural networks with spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) is studied. Depending on the model parameters stationary states characterized by high or low synchronization can be observed. In particular, at the transition between these two regimes, persistent irregular low frequency oscillations between strongly and weakly synchronized states are observable, which can be identified as infraslow oscillations with frequencies ≃0.02-0.03 Hz. Their emergence can be explained in terms of the Sisyphus effect, a mechanism caused by a continuous feedback between the evolution of the coherent population activity and of the average synaptic weight. Due to this effect, the synaptic weights have oscillating equilibrium values, which prevents the neuronal population from relaxing into a stationary macroscopic state.