title: Noise in integrate-and-fire neurons: from stochastic input to escape rates.
abstract: We analyze the effect of noise in integrate-and-fire neurons driven by time-dependent input and compare the diffusion approximation for the membrane potential to escape noise. It is shown that for time-dependent subthreshold input, diffusive noise can be replaced by escape noise with a hazard function that has a gaussian dependence on the distance between the (noise-free) membrane voltage and threshold. The approximation is improved if we add to the hazard function a probability current proportional to the derivative of the voltage. Stochastic resonance in response to periodic input occurs in both noise models and exhibits similar characteristics.
authors.affiliation: MPI für Strömungsforschung, D-37073 Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: H E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Plesser
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gerstner
mesh_terms: D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D008959:Models, Neurological; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D016011:Normal Distribution; D013269:Stochastic Processes