Numerically induced bursting in a set of coupled neuronal oscillators

We present our numerical observations on dynamics in the system of two linearly coupled FitzHugh-Nagumo oscillators close to the destabilization of the state of rest. Under the considered parameter values the system, if integrated sufficiently accurately, converges to small-scale periodic oscillations. However, minor numerical inaccuracies, which occur already at the default precision of the standard Runge-Kutta solver, lead to a breakup of periodicity and an onset of large-scale aperiodic bursting. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.