https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-026-02142-z
Regular Article
Synaptic potentiation dependence on spike variability
1
Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering and Industrial Informatics, Federal University of Technology, 80230-901, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
2
Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo, 05508-090, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
3
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Telegrafenberg A31, 14473, Potsdam, Germany
4
Municipal Secretary of Education of Ponta Grossa, 84051-000, Ponta Grossa, PR, Brazil
5
Graduate Program in Science, State University of Ponta Grossa, 84030-900, Ponta Grossa, PR, Brazil
6
Department of Physics, Humboldt University at Berlin, 12489, Berlin, Germany
7
Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, State University of New York Downstate Health Sciences University, 11203, Brooklyn, NY, USA
8
Center for Mathematics, Computation, and Cognition, Federal University of ABC, 09606-045, São Bernardo do Campo, SP, Brazil
a
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Received:
18
August
2025
Accepted:
16
January
2026
Published online:
6
February
2026
Abstract
Understanding how the brain modifies synaptic connections and how firing patterns influence this process remains a major challenge in neuroscience. Aiming to clarify this relationship, we consider all-to-all neuronal networks with spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) where neurons are connected through excitatory chemical synapses with weak initial synaptic weights. We analyze how spike variability within a phase-synchronous pattern affects synaptic potentiation between neurons. Considering different methodologies, we find that, depending on the variability of spike synchronization and firing frequency, the potentiation of neuronal connections generates predominant unidirectional or bidirectional topologies. In addition, we identify four types of triad structures that are induced in the network. Particularly, for a certain level of variability in phase synchronization, a non-trivial optimization of the mean potentiation per spike is observed. In these cases, the potentiation occurs at a higher rate due to the preferential formation of unidirectional connections. Overall, our results deepen the knowledge of how phase firing patterns drive the synaptic changes in neuronal networks in the presence of STDP.
© The Author(s) 2026
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