Winnerless competition in networks of coupled map neurons

The brain can be described as a very complex dynamical system whose autonomous, intrinsic activity is modulated by a great variety of external inputs. In the last decade, the simulation of this activity by using networks of neurons has led to the development of new approaches to describe the processing of information by the nervous System. In this review paper we focus on winnerless competition, a new concept allowing the analysis of the emergent behavior associated with collective synchronization, multistability and adaptation - properties which seem to be at the basis of brain performance. The relationship between winnerless competition and the concept of chaotic itinerancy is stressed by pointing out their common association with the formation of complex heteroclinic orbits in the high-dimensional phase space associated with the dynamics of complex neuronal systems. The potentialities of networks of coupled map neurons to the study of activation and synchronization regimes in neural systems are suggested by means of different simulations showing a great variety of dynamical phenomena.