Array-enhanced coherence resonance: Nontrivial effects of heterogeneity and spatial independence of noise - art. no. 098101

We demonstrate the effect of coherence resonance in a heterogeneous array o f coupled Fitz Hugh-Nagumo neurons. It is shown that coupling of such eleme nts leads to a significantly stronger coherence compared to that of a singl e element. We report nontrivial effects of parameter heterogeneity and spat ial independence of noise on array-enhanced coherence resonance; especially , we find that (i) the coherence increases as spatial correlation of the no ise decreases, and (ii) inhomogeneity in the parameters of the array enhanc es the coherence. Our results have the implication that generic heterogenei ty and background noise can play a constructive role to enhance the time pr ecision of firing in neural systems.