Improved spike-timed mappings using a tri-phasic spike timing-dependent plasticity rule

Reservoir computing and the liquid state machine model have received much attention in the literature in recent years. In this paper we investigate using a reservoir composed of a network of spiking neurons, with synaptic delays, whose synapses are allowed to evolve using a tri-phasic spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) rule. The networks are trained to produce specific spike trains in response to spatio-temporal input patterns. The results of using a tri-phasic STDP rule on the network properties are compared to those found using the more common exponential form of the rule. It is found that each rule causes the synaptic weights to evolve in significantly different fashions giving rise to different network dynamics. It is also found that the networks evolved with the tri-phasic rule are more capable of mapping input spatio-temporal patterns to the output spike trains.