Spiking neurons and synaptic stimuli : determining the fidelity of coincidence-factor in neural response comparison

Kambhampati, Chandrasekhar; Sarangdhar, Mayur

Abstract

Similarity between two spike trains is generally estimated using a ‘coincidence factor’. This factor relies on counting coincidences of firing-times for spikes in a given time window. However, in cases where there are significant fluctuations in membrane voltages, this uni-dimensional view is not sufficient. Results in this paper show that a two-dimensional approach taking both firing-time and the magnitude of spikes is necessary to determine similarity between spike trains. It is observed that the difference between the lower-bound limit of faithful behaviour and the reference inter-spike interval (ISI) reduces with the increase in the ISI of the input spike train. This indicates that spike trains generated by two highly-varying currents have a high coincidence factor thus indicating higher similarity – a limitation imposed due to a one-dimensional comparison approach. These results are analysed based on the responses of a Hodgkin-Huxley neuron, where the synaptic input induces fluctuations in the output membrane voltage. The requirement for a two-dimensional analysis is further supported by a clustering algorithm which differentiates between two visually-distinct responses as opposed to coincidence-factor.

Citation

Kambhampati, C., & Sarangdhar, M. (2008). Spiking neurons and synaptic stimuli : determining the fidelity of coincidence-factor in neural response comparison. Engineering Letters International Association of Engineers, 16(4), 512-517

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 1, 2008
• Publication Date: 2008
• Deposit Date: Nov 13, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 13, 2014
• Journal: Engineering letters
• Electronic ISSN: 1816-0948
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 512-517
• Keywords: REF 2014 submission
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/470335
• Publisher URL: http://www.engineeringletters.com/issues_v16/issue_4/EL_16_4_08.pdf
• Additional Information: Copy of article first published in: Engineering letters, 2008, v.16, issue 4