Synchronization transitions induced by the fluctuation of adaptive coupling strength in delayed Newman-Watts neuronal networks

Introducing adaptive coupling in delayed neuronal networks and regulating the dissipative parameter (DP) of adaptive coupling by noise, we study the effect of fluctuations of the changing rate of adaptive coupling on the synchronization of the neuronal networks. It is found that time delay can induce synchronization transitions for intermediate DP values, and the synchronization transitions become strongest when DP is optimal. As the intensity of DP noise is varied, the neurons can also exhibit synchronization transitions, and the phenomenon is delay-dependent and is enhanced for certain time delays. Moreover, the synchronization transitions change with the change of DP and become strongest when DP is optimal. These results show that randomly changing adaptive coupling can considerably change the synchronization of the neuronal networks, and hence could play a crucial role in the information processing and transmission in neural systems. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.