  We consider spatially localized spiking activity patterns, so-called bumps,
in ensembles of bistable spiking oscillators. The bistability consists in the
coexistence of self-sustained spiking dynamics and quiescent steady-state
regime. We show numerically that the processes of growth or contraction of such
patterns can be controlled by varying the intensity of multiplicative noise. In
particular, the effect of the noise is monotonic in an ensemble of the coupled
Hindmarsh-Rose oscillators. On the other hand, in another model proposed by V.
Semenov et al. in 2016 (see Ref. [V. Semenov et al., Phys. Rev. E 93, 052210
(2016)]), a resonant noise effect is observed. In that model, stabilization of
the activity bump expansion is achieved at an appropriate noise level, and the
noise effect reverses with a further increase in noise intensity. Moreover, we
show the constructive role of nonlocal coupling which allows to save domains
and fronts being totally destroyed due to the action of noise in the case of
local coupling.
