Does plasticity promote criticality?

Neuronal avalanches are a cortical phenomenon characterised by bursts of activity bracketed by periods of quiescence. It has been shown both in vivo and in vitro that the size and length of avalanche events conform to power law-like distributions, suggesting the system is within or near a critical state. This work investigates the interplay of network connectivity, synaptic plasticity, and criticality. Using two different network construction algorithms, we demonstrate that Spike Timing Dependent Plasticity (STDP) robustly drives the network towards a critical state. Our findings show that, while the initial distribution of synaptic weights plays a significant role in attaining criticality, the network's topology at the local level has little or no impact.