A nonstationary Poisson point process describes the sequence of action potentials over long time scales in lateral-superior-olive auditory neurons (Q1315265)

The behavior of lateral-superior-olive (LSO) auditory neurons over large time scales was investigated. Of particular interest was the determination as to whether LSO neurons exhibit the same type of fractal behavior as that observed in primary VIII-nerve auditory neurons. It has been suggested that this fractal behavior, apparent on long time scales, may play a role in optimally coding natural sounds. We found that a non- fractal model, the nonstationary dead-time-modified Poisson point process, describes the LSO firing patterns well for time scales greater than a few tens of milliseconds, a region where the specific details of refractoriness are unimportant. The rate is given by the sum of two decaying exponential functions. The process is completely specified by the initial values and time constants of the two exponentials and by the dead-time relation. Specific measures of the firing patterns investigated were the interspike-interval histogram, the Fano-factor time curve, and the serial count correlation coefficient with the number of action potentials in successive counting times serving as the random variable.