Bifurcation analysis of oscillating network model of pattern recognition in the rabbit olfactory bulb

A neural network model describing pattern recognition in the rabbit olfactory bulb is analysed to explain the changes in neural activity observed experimentally during classical Pavlovian conditioning. EEG activity recorded from an 8×8 arry of 64 electrodes directly on the surface on the bulb shows distinct spatial patterns of oscillation that correspond to the animal’s recognition of different conditioned odors and change with conditioning to new odors. The model may be considered a variant of Hopfield’s model of continuous analog neural dynamics. Excitatory and inhibitory cell types in the bulb and the anatomical architecture of their connection requires a nonsymmetric coupling matrix. As the mean input level rises during each breath of the animal, the system bifurcates from homogenous equilibrium to a spatially patterned oscillation. The theory of multiple Hopf bifurcations is employed to find coupled equations for the amplitudes of these unstable oscillatory modes independent of frequency. This allows...