Characterize the impact of chain motifs on EI balance and their interplay with cell-type connectivity

Determine how chain motifs affect excitation–inhibition balance in recurrent excitatory–inhibitory networks—specifically with respect to stability and paradoxical responses—and characterize the interplay between chain motifs and cell-type-specific connectivity in shaping these dynamical properties.

Background

Chain motifs, which correlate synapses that share an intermediate neuron, are prominent in recent synaptic datasets and have been theorized to strongly affect population responses. However, their specific influence on excitation–inhibition balance, including stability and paradoxical responses, and their interaction with population-structured mean connectivity, had not been resolved at the time this problem was posed. Clarifying this relationship is central for interpreting optogenetic perturbation experiments and for refining stabilization criteria in EI circuits.