title: Spike coding from the perspective of a neurone.
abstract: In this paper, we compare existing methods for quantifying the coding capacity of a spike train, and review recent developments in the application of information theory to neural coding. We present novel methods for characterising single-unit activity based on the perspective of a downstream neurone and propose a simple yet universally applicable framework to characterise the order of complexity of neural coding by single units. We establish four orders of complexity in the capacity for neural coding. First-order coding, quantified by firing rates, is conveyed by frequencies and is thus entirely described by first moment processes. Second-order coding, represented by the variability of interspike intervals, is quantified by the log interval entropy. Third-order coding is the result of spike motifs that associate adjacent inter-spike intervals beyond chance levels; it is described by the joint interval histogram, and is measured by the mutual information between adjacent log intervals. Finally, nonstationarities in activity represent coding of the fourth-order that arise from the effects of a known or unknown stimulus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB23DY, UK.
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Bhumbra
authors.forename: R E J
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Dyball