Séminaire de Taro Toyoizumi

Monday September 11, 2023, 14:30 – meeting room to be confirmed

Taro Toyoizumi (Riken Center for Brain Science)

invited by Matthieu Gilson

Modeling the fluctuations and state-dependence of synaptic dynamics

Abstract: Adaptive behavior, crucial for thriving in complex environments, is believed to be enabled by activity-dependent synaptic plasticity within neural circuits. In the first part of this talk, I present how synaptic plasticity could be stabilized in the brain. Conventional models of Hebbian plasticity often facilitate connections between coincidentally active neurons and produce pathologically synchronous neural activity. I demonstrate that biologically observed intrinsic synaptic dynamics—activity-independent changes in synapses—can maintain a physiological distribution of synaptic strength and stabilize memory within neural networks. In the second part, I adopt a top-down approach to model synaptic plasticity. Viewing the brain as an efficient information-processing organ, I assume that synaptic weights are updated to transmit information between neurons efficiently. This theory provides insights into the distinct outcomes of synaptic plasticity observed during the up and down states of non-rapid eye movement sleep, thereby shedding light on how memory consolidation may be influenced by the states and spatial scale of slow waves.