Mean field approximation for noisy delay coupled excitable neurons

Mean field approximation of a large collection of FitzHugh–Nagumo excitable neurons with noise and all-to-all coupling with explicit time-delays, modelled by N 1 stochastic delay-differential equations is derived. The resulting approximation contains only two deterministic delay-differential equations but provides excellent predictions concerning the stability and bifurcations of the averaged global variables of the exact large system.