title: Inference of intrinsic spiking irregularity based on the Kullback-Leibler information.
abstract: We have recently established an empirical Bayes method that extracts both the intrinsic irregularity and the time-dependent rate from a spike sequence [Koyama, S., Shinomoto, S., 2005. Empirical Bayes interpretations of random point events. J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 38, L531-L537]. In the present paper, we examine an alternative method based on the more fundamental principle of minimizing the Kullback-Leibler information from the original distribution of spike sequences to a model distribution. Not only the empirical Bayes method but also the Kullback-Leibler information method exhibits a switch of the most plausible interpretation of the spikes between (I) being derived irregularly from a nearly constant rate, and (II) being derived rather regularly from a significantly fluctuating rate. The model distributions selected by both methods are similar for the same spike sequences derived from a given rate-fluctuating gamma process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan. koyama@ton.scphys.kyoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Shinsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koyama
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shinomoto
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D008962:Models, Theoretical