1. Information processing in noisy burster models of sensory neurons.
- Author
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Liepelt S, Freund JA, Schimansky-Geier L, Neiman A, and Russell DF
- Subjects
- Animals, Electric Stimulation, Sensory Receptor Cells physiology, Sensory Thresholds, Stochastic Processes, Computer Simulation, Electric Fish physiology, Models, Neurological, Neurons, Afferent physiology
- Abstract
Processing of external stimuli by sensory neurons often involves bursting, when epochs of fast firing alternate with intervals of quiescence. In particular, sensory neurons of electroreceptors in paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) undergo bursting when stimulated externally with broad-band noise, but otherwise fire spontaneously in a quasiperiodic tonic manner. We use a simple phenomenological model for noise-induced bursting to quantify analytically, by means of the Kullback entropy and Fisher information, the gain in information transfer and electroreceptor sensitivity for external noisy stimuli. A good agreement between theoretical predictions, numerical simulations and experimental data is shown.
- Published
- 2005
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