Experimental bifurcation diagram of a circuit-implemented neuron model

An experimental bifurcation diagram of a circuit implementing an approximation of the Hindmarsh-Rose (HR) neuron model is presented. Measured asymptotic time series of circuit voltages are automatically classified through an ad hoc algorithm. The resulting two-dimensional experimental bifurcation diagram evidences a good match with respect to the numerical results available for both the approximated and original HR model. Moreover, the experimentally obtained current-frequency curve is very similar to that of the original model. The obtained results are both a proof of concept of a quite general method developed in the last few years for the approximation and implementation of nonlinear dynamical systems and a first step towards the realisation in silica of HR neuron networks with tunable parameters. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.