A biologically plausible model for the development of selective microcircuits in striate cortex

Theoretical models on the self-organization of feature selective properties in visual cortex typically include abstract neuronal and synaptic dynamics , based on firing rates and/or other averages over time. However, recent ex perimental work shows that the detailed temporal relationship between indiv idual spikes is critical both in neural processing and plasticity. Here we propose a model of spiking neurons that includes biologically plausible dyn amics, anatomy, and plasticity mechanisms based on the time difference betw een spikes. We show that this model can account for the simultaneous develo pment of receptive fields in the striate cortex selective for direction as well as orientation. In addition the model develops a topographical organiz ation in the receptive field distribution that reflects ocular dominance. ( C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.