Mechanisms for oscillations in a biological competition model

A four-dimensional dynamical system that models perceptual bistability in the brain is analyzed. Two variables represent the activity of two competing neural populations and they evolve in fast time; other two variables are slow and they are associated with an intrinsic negative feedback to each population. The external stimulus strength I is the bifurcation parameter. We construct the normal form and prove that oscillations occur in the system through supercritical Hopf bifurcations: as I decreases from large to moderate values a limit cycle is born; then it disappears for lower values of I. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)