The role of neural architecture and the speed of signal propagation in the process of synchronization of bursting neurons

Synchronized neuronal activity has been observed at all levels of human and any other nervous systems and was suggested as particularly relevant in information processing and coding. In the present paper we investigate the synchronization of bursting neuronal activity. Motivated by the fact that in neural systems the interplay between the network structure and the dynamics taking place on it is closely interrelated, we develop a spatial network representation of neural architecture in which we can tune the network organization between a scale-free network with dominating long-range connections and a homogeneous network with mostly adjacent neurons connected. Our results reveal that the most synchronized response is obtained for the intermediate regime where long- as well as short-range connections constitute the neural architecture. Moreover, the optimal response is additionally enhanced when the speed of signal propagation is optimized.