Sparse random networks contain structures that can be considered as diluted feed-forward networks. Modeling of cortical circuits has shown that feed-forward structures, if strongly pronounced compared to the embedding random network, enable reliable signal transmission by propagating localized (subnetwork) synchrony. This assumed prominence, however, is not experimentally observed in local cortical circuits. Here, we show that nonlinear dendritic interactions, as discovered in recent single-neuron experiments, naturally enable guided synchrony propagation already in random recurrent neural networks that exhibit mildly enhanced, biologically plausible substructures.
