Chapter 7 LEARNING MECHANISMS IN NETWORKS OF SPIKING NEURONS

In spiking neural networks, signals are transferred by action potentials. The information is encoded in the patterns of neuron activities or spikes. These features create significant differences between spiking neural networks and classical neural networks. Since spiking neural networks are based on spiking neuron models that are very close to the biological neuron model, many of the principles found in biological neuroscience can be used in the networks. In this chapter, a number of learning mechanisms for spiking neural networks are introduced. The learning mechanisms can be applied to explain the behaviours of networks in the brain, and also can be applied to artificial intelligent systems to process complex information represented by biological stimuli.