Anti-phase regularization of coupled chaotic maps modelling bursting neurons

We introduce a new class of maps that describe the chaotic activity of spik ing-bursting neurons observed in neurophysiological experiments. We show th at, depending on the connection ( diffusively or reciprocally synaptically) , coupled maps demonstrate several modes of cooperative dynamics: i) weakly correlated chaotic pulsations, ii) anti-phase quasi-regular bursting activ ity and iii) chaotic synchronization. Such phenomena have been observed in recent experiments with central pattern generator chaotic neurons. Taking i nto account the fact that the shape and the amplitude of the spikes are not important for the organisation of such cooperative dynamics, we analyzed t he timing of the bursts only. We showed that the regime of anti-phase regul arisation is stable against noise.