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Measurement of time-dependent changes in the irregularity of neural spiking

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Stuart BakerORCiD

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Abstract

Irregularity of firing in spike trains has been associated with coding processes and information transfer or alternatively treated as noise. Previous studies of irregularity have mainly used the coefficient of variation (CV) of the interspike interval distribution. Proper estimation of CV requires a constant underlying firing rate, a condition that most experimental situations do not fulfill either within or across trials. Here we introduce a novel irregularity metric based on the ratio of adjacent intervals in the spike train. The new metric is not affected by firing rate and is very localized in time so that it can be used to examine the time course of irregularity relative to an alignment marker. We characterized properties of the new metric with simulated spike trains of known characteristics and then applied it to data recorded from 108 single neurons in the motor cortex of two monkeys during performance of a precision grip task. Fifty-six cells were antidromically identified as pyramidal tract neurons (PTNs). Sixty-one cells (30 PTNs) exhibited significant temporal modulation of their irregularity during task performance with the contralateral hand. The irregularity modulations generally differed in sign and latency from the modulations of firing rate. High irregularity tended to occur during the task phases requiring the most detailed control of movement, whereas neural firing became more regular during the steady hold phase. Such irregularity modulation could have important consequences for the response of downstream neurons and may provide insight into the nature of the cortical code. Copyright © 2006 The American Physiological Society.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Davies RM, Gerstein GL, Baker SN

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Journal of Neurophysiology

Year: 2006

Volume: 96

Issue: 2

Pages: 906-918

ISSN (print): 0022-3077

ISSN (electronic): 1522-1598

Publisher: American Physiological Society

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/jn.01030.2005

DOI: 10.1152/jn.01030.2005

PubMed id: 16554511


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