Synaptic depression refers to the reduction of synaptic efficacy due to the consumption of neurotransmitters during the firing of neurons. I will explain two contexts that synaptic depression plays an important role in the processing of dynamic information, such as position and direction.
The first context concerns the tracking of moving stimuli. Synaptic depression enhances the mobility of the network states, leading to anticipatory responses. The anticipatory time covers the range of 101 ms and decreases mildly with stimulus speed, in agreement with head-direction experiments in rodents. We also found a strong correlation between the intrinsic behavior and the tracking performance, reminiscent of similar relations in statistical physics.
The second context concerns the resolution of two nearly overlapped stimuli typical in experiments such as two sets of dots moving with very similar directions. I will explain how synaptic depression facilitates the production of temporally modulated responses that enhance the resolution of the moving directions, consistent with results in monkey and human experiments. |