Assoc. Prof. Lingling An

Xidian University, China

Title：

Enhancement Mechanism of Cerebellar Neural Network Dynamics

Abstract：

The dynamics of cerebellar neural networks are controlled by various types of neural pathways that are interactively routing excitation and inhibition converged to postsynaptic neurons. In addition, gating of a specific neural pathway is enhanced by the synaptic dynamics between neurons. However, it remains unclear how a combination of the neural pathway and synaptic dynamics contributes to the dynamics of neuronal networks. Leveraging a computational model of the granular layer and Purkinje cell (PC) network, we show that the cooperation of distinct types of inhibition pathways with synaptic short-term dynamics plays an essential role in regulating oscillation dynamics of the granular cell population and enhancing the computational capability of downstream neurons. Additionally, the interaction of feedforward pathways of excitation and inhibition incorporated with synaptic short-term dynamics can dramatically regulate the PC activities that consequently enhance the network dynamics of the cerebellar circuit.

Biography：

Lingling An received the Ph.D. degree in intelligent information processing from Xidian University, Xi’an, China, in 2011. She is currently an Associate Professor with the School of Computer Science and Technology, Xidian University. She was a visiting scholar with the Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University, USA, from August 2014 to July 2015, and Janurary - June 2016. Her research interests include multimedia security and processing, memory, learning, and brain-like computing.