Neural systems are characterized by their complex dynamics, reflected on signals produced by neurons and neuronal ensembles. This complexity exhibits specific features in health, disease and in different states of consciousness, and can be considered a hallmark of certain neurologic and neuropsychiatric conditions. To measure complexity from neurophysiologic signals, a number of different nonlinear tools of analysis are available. However, not all of these tools are easy to implement, or able to handle clinical data, often obtained in less than ideal conditions in comparison to laboratory or simulated data. Recently, the temporal structure function emerged as a powerful tool for the analysis of complex properties of neuronal activity. The temporal structure function is efficient computationally and it can be robustly estimated from short signals. However, the application of this tool to neuronal data is relatively new, making the interpretation of results difficult. In this methods paper we describe a step by step algorithm for the calculation and characterization of the structure function. We apply this algorithm to oscillatory, random and complex toy signals, and test the effect of added noise. We show that: (1) the mean slope of the structure function is zero in the case of random signals; (2) oscillations are reflected on the shape of the structure function, but they don't modify the mean slope if complex correlations are absent; (3) nonlinear systems produce structure functions with nonzero slope up to a critical point, where the function turns into a plateau. Two characteristic numbers can be extracted to quantify the behavior of the structure function in the case of nonlinear systems: (1). the point where the plateau starts (the inflection point, where the slope change occurs), and (2). the height of the plateau. While the inflection point is related to the scale where correlations weaken, the height of the plateau is related to the noise present in the signal. To exemplify our method we calculate structure functions of neuronal recordings from the basal ganglia of parkinsonian and healthy rats, and draw guidelines for their interpretation in light of the results obtained from our toy signals.
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