Enhancement of temporal coherence via time-periodic coupling strength in a scale-free network of stochastic Hodgkin–Huxley neurons

• Temporal coherence exhibits a resonance-like dependence on channel noise intensity.
• Temporal coherence can significantly enhanced by time-periodic coupling strength.
• Multiple-coherence resonance depending on frequency of time-periodic coupling strength is reported.
• Temporal coherence shows a resonance-like dependence on amplitude of time-periodic coupling strength.

We investigate the effects of time-periodic coupling strength on the temporal coherence or firing regularity of a scale-free network consisting of stochastic Hodgkin–Huxley (H–H) neurons. The temporal coherence exhibits a resonance-like behavior depending on the cell size or the channel noise intensity. The best temporal coherence requires an optimal channel noise intensity, and this coherence can be significantly increased by time-periodic coupling strength when its frequency matches the integer multiples of the intrinsic subthreshold oscillation frequency of H–H neuron. Particularly, we find the multiple-coherence resonance depending on frequency of time-periodic coupling strength at the optimal noise intensity. We also obtain a resonance-like dependence of temporal coherence on the amplitude of time-periodic coupling strength. Additionally, we investigate the effects of average degree on the temporal coherence and find that the temporal coherence exhibits a resonance-like behavior with respect to the network average degree, indicating that the best regularity requires an optimal average degree.