STDP and the transfer of rhythmic signals in the brain

Rhythmic activity in the brain has been reported in relation to a wide range of cognitive processes. Changes in the rhythmic activity have been related to pathological states. These observations raise the question of the origin of these rhythms: can the mechanisms responsible for generation of these rhythms and that allow the propagation of the rhythmic signal be acquired via a process of learning? In my talk I will focus on spike timing dependent plasticity (STDP) and examine under what conditions this unsupervised learning rule can facilitate the propagation of rhythmic activity downstream in the central nervous system. Next, the I will apply the theory of STDP to the whisker system and demonstrate how STDP can shape the distribution of preferred phases of firing in a downstream population. Interestingly, in both these cases STDP dynamics does not relax to a fixed-point solution, rather the synaptic weights remain dynamic. Nevertheless, STDP allows for the system to retain its functionality in the face of continuous remodeling of the entire synaptic population.