title: Neural ensemble coding and statistical periodicity: speculations on the operation of the mind's eye.
abstract: Statistical periodicity is a statistical property of densities which arises in the description of retarded dynamical systems. This property is particularly attractive as a possible mechanism for the ensemble coding of information in the nervous system because it operates rapidly and has high storage capacity. For a population of neurons which exhibits statistical periodicity, information would not be encoded by the periodicity, but rather by the spatio-temporal distributions of neural activity. Statistical periodicity is discussed in relation to the temporal binding hypothesis and to the occurrence of multistability in neural systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The University of Chicago Hospital, Chicago, USA.
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Milton
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Mackey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D006801:Humans; D008433:Mathematics; D008959:Models, Neurological; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010507:Periodicity; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time