Eur. Phys. J. B 61, 499-503 (2008)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2008-00095-y

Impact of network activity on noise delayed spiking for a Hodgkin-Huxley model

¹ Zonguldak Karaelmas University, Engineering Faculty, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, 67100 Zonguldak, Turkey
² Laboratory of Neurophysics and Physiology, UMR 8119 CNRS, Université Paris Descartes, 45 rue des Saint-Peres, 75006 Paris, France

Corresponding author: ^a mahmutozer2002@yahoo.com

Received: 19 September 2007
Revised: 28 January 2008
Published online: 7 March 2008

Abstract

In a Hodgkin-Huxley neuron model driven just above threshold, external noise can increase both jitter and latency of the first spike, an effect called “noise delayed decay” (NDD). This phenomenon is important when considering how neuronal information is represented, thus by the precise timing of spikes or by their rate. We examine how NDD can be affected by network activity by varying the model's membrane time constant, τ_m. We show that NDD is significant for small τ_m or high network activity, and decreases for large τ_m, or low network activity. Our results suggest that for inputs just above threshold, the activity of the network constrains the neuronal coding strategy due to, at least in part, the NDD effect.