Spike coherence and synchronization on Newman–Watts small-world neuronal networks modulated by spike-timing-dependent plasticity

• Spike coherence and synchronization in small-world neuronal networks are studied.
• Adaptive coupling can largely depress temporal coherence and spatial synchrony.
• The small-world topology significantly affects the network stochastic dynamics.

The effects of spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) and noise intensity on the temporal and spatial dynamics of Newman–Watts small-world neuronal networks are studied. Numerical results show that, an intermediate intensity of additive noise can optimize the dynamical response of the neural system, where the noise-induced coherence resonance and spiking synchronization occur. The adaptive coupling modulated by STDP can largely depress the temporal coherence and spatial synchrony induced by external noise and random shortcuts. In particular, as the adjusting rate increases, lower noise intensity is needed to maximize the networked synchronization, and more connections are introduced to achieve coherence resonance. Moreover, the small-world topology can significantly affect the dynamics of excitable neuronal networks. It is found that the temporal coherence of neuronal activity reaches peaks for an appropriate number of random shortcuts, while the spiking synchronization is always enhanced as more shortcuts are added into the network.