Topic: first order phase transitions

The effects of a global inhibition are studied on different models of neural networks, from the Wilson-Cowan model to networks of leaky integrate-and-fire neurons. These systems typically display a region of parameter space where two different states are possible, one of low and another of high activity with a phenomenology typical of first order phase transitions, with e.g. hysteresis in correspondence of a sweep of a control parameter. The introduction of a global inhibition, given by the presence of inhibitory interneurons with very large in-degree and out-degree, leads to a smoothing of t