Neural field theory: Exploring topographic organisation and re-organisation of neural circuitry

This thesis will explore topographic organisation in the context of field theory. In the first instance it will be shown that spike­timing-dependent plasticity in conjunction with spatio-temporally correlated activity can support topographic organisation (or re-organisation). This result is important because it is known that the activity that drives organisation in development is in the form of spatio-temporally correlated waves. The model is computationally analysed .and shown to support planar/radial wave refinement, noise tolerance, direction selectivity, and refinement of ectopic projections. These results inform interpretation of current data showing topographic error correction of ephrinA2A5 mice using magnetic stimulation.