A note on neuronal firing and input variability

✍ Scribed by Charles E. Smith

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 227 KB
• Volume: 154
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5193
• DOI: 10.1016/s0022-5193(05)80169-9

✦ Synopsis

The Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process with a constant forcing function has often been used as a model for the subthreshold membrane potential of a neuron. The mean, variance and coefficient of variation of the first passage time to a constant threshold are examined for this model in the limit of small synaptic noise and low thresholds. A comparison is made between the asymptotic results of Wan & Tuckwell, who used perturbation analysis, and several computationally simpler approximation methods. A generalization of Stein's method gives an overestimate of the'mean interval while an approximation by a Wiener process with linear drift gives an underestimate of the mean interval. These bounds are simple to calculate and can be used as a prelude to a more detailed perturbation analysis.