title: Comparing neuronal spike trains with inhomogeneous Poisson distribution: evaluation procedure and experimental application in cases of cyclic activity.
abstract: A procedure is proposed to compare single-unit spiking activity elicited in repetitive cycles with an inhomogeneous Poisson process (IPP). Each spike sequence in a cycle is discretized and represented as a point process on a circle. The interspike interval probability density predicted for an IPP is computed on the basis of the experimental firing probability density; differences from the experimental interval distribution are assessed. This procedure was applied to spike trains which were repetitively induced by opening-closing movements of the distal article of a lobster leg. As expected, the density of short interspike intervals, less than 20-40 ms in length, was found to lie greatly below the level predicted for an IPP, reflecting the occurrence of the refractory period. Conversely, longer intervals, ranging from 20-40 to 100-120 ms, were markedly more abundant than expected; this provided evidence for a time window of increased tendency to fire again after a spike. Less consistently, a weak depression of spike generation was observed for longer intervals. A Monte Carlo procedure, implemented for comparison, produced quite similar results, but was slightly less precise and more demanding as concerns computation time.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Etologia, Ecologia ed Evoluzione, Università di Pisa, via Volta 6, 156100 Pisa, Italy. fiorelo@discau.unipi.it
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fiore
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lorenzetti
authors.forename: Giovannino
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ratti
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000502:physiology*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D008124:Locomotion / Q000502:physiology*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D008121:Nephropidae / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D016012:Poisson Distribution