Nonlinear systems analysis: comparison of white noise and sum of sinusoids in a biological system.
The Gaussian white noise and the sum-of-sinusoids methods of systems analysis provide equivalent descriptions of nearly linear and strongly nonlinear transductions in the cat retina. Smoothness in the frequency domain is a common characteristic of biological transductions. This permits a substantial improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio by using the sum-of-sinusoids method, as is demonstrated for the transductions of the cat retina.
D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D008959:Models, Neurological; D012160:Retina / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D013269:Stochastic Processes; D014785:Vision, Ocular