Fig. 3

Schematic diagram of the coupled network and the map variables. a Schematic of the network connectivity diagram. b The cycle length $P_n$ of cell A in cycle n (measured for the M–L simulations when voltage crosses $V_{\mathrm{th}}$) can be divided into the delay between cell A activity to cell B activity ($d{t}_n$) and the opposite ($d{\tau }_n$). The cycle period $Q_n$ of cell B in cycle n is $d{\tau }_n+d{t}_{n+1}$