Pacemaker neuron model with plastic firing rate: entrainment and learning ranges.

The model proposed puts forward a hypothesis on how some pacemaker neurons learn to fire at the frequency imposed by the stimulation. It builds on previous developments in two separate research fields: neural modelling and neuronal learning theory, providing an electrophysiological model of neuronal learning. Simulation results are shown to be in qualitative agreement with experimental data reported for Aplysia and crayfish. The analytical study of the PRC reveals that the postulated learning rule tends to favour the emergence of simple entrainment ratios. The model is worth consideration not only because of its autonomous functioning, described in this paper, but also because it constitutes a suitable building-block for a net aimed at reproducing the temporal-pattern learning phenomena shown by some neural structures.