Synchronization and coherence resonance in chaotic neural networks

Synchronization and coherence of chaotic Morris--Lecar (ML) neural networks have been investigated by numerical methods. The synchronization of the neurons can be enhanced by increasing the number of the shortcuts, even though all neurons are chaotic when uncoupled. Moreover, the coherence of the neurons exhibits a non-monotonic dependence on the density of shortcuts. There is an optimal number of shortcuts at which the neurons' motion is most ordered, i.e. the order parameter (the characteristic correlation time) that is introduced to measure the coherence of the neurons has a maximum. These phenomena imply that stochastic shortcuts can tame spatiotemporal chaos. The effects of the coupling strength have also been studied. The value of the optimal number of shortcuts goes down as the coupling strength increases.