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Published in:
2012 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
Empirical Examination of the Threshold Model of Neuron Firing
Authors : David R. Brillinger, José P. Segundo
Published in: Selected Works of David Brillinger
Publisher: Springer New York
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An elementary model of neuronal activity involves temporal and spatial summation of postsynaptic currents that are elicited by presynaptic spikes and that, in turn, elicit postsynaptic potentials at a trigger zone; when the potential at the trigger zone exceeds a "threshold" level, a postsynaptic spike is generated. This paper describes three methods of estimating the "summation function", that is, the function of time that converts the synaptic current into potential at the trigger zone: namely, maximum likelihood, cross-correlation analysis and cross-spectral analysis. All three methods, when applied to inputoutput data collected on various neurons of
Aplysia californica
, give comparable results. As estimated, the summation function involved in the explored cells has an early positive-going swing that is large and brief. In the cell L5, but not in R2, there was also a late negative-going swing of longer duration.