In this paper we mainly study the existence of periodic solutions for a system of delay differential equations representing a simple two-neuron network model of Hopfield type with time-delayed connections between the neurons. We first examine the local stability of the trivial solution, propose some sufficient conditions for the uniqueness of equilibria and then apply the Poincare-Bendixson theorem for monotone cyclic feedback delayed systems to establish the existence of periodic solutions. In addition, a sufficient condition that ensures the trivial solution to be globally exponentially stable is also given. Numerical examples are provided to support the theoretical analysis. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.