Computer simulation of rhythmic oscillations in neuron pools

This paper describes computer simulation of 100 artificial neurons interconnected in mutually exciting random pools. The individual neuromimes include accommodation according to an extended version of Hill's model and adaptation according to an extended version of Kernell's model. The main finding is that the constituent cells of the pools tend to fire in coordinated bursts and that these bursts recur rhythmically. The rate of burst recurrence depends primarily on the time constant of recovery of the after-hyperpolarization conductance change although it may be slightly altered by the average level of random background activity. It does not seem possible to attribute the salient slow rhythm observed in the rat mesencephalic reticular formation to this mechanism, as matching the data requires absurdly large values of the conductance change recovery time constant.