Nerve-impulse patterns: a quantitative display technique for three neurons.
A scatter diagram is described that displays the relative timings of nerve impulses in 3 simultaneously monitored neurons. The technique is a generalization of the cross-correlation histogram for two impulse trains. The time intervals between impulses in different neurons are plotted on triangular coordinates to yield a Joint Impulse Configuration Scatter Diagram. The resulting 'snowflake' plot shows a pattern of spots and lines, which is interpretable in terms of the functional circuitry among teh neurons. Illustrations are given of the snowflakes produced by a variety of three-neuron circuits, which may serve as a preliminary catalog of snowflake types for interpretation of experimental data.
D003201:Computers; D003626:Data Display; D004594:Electrophysiology; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009433:Neural Inhibition; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors