A multi-unit spike train analysis for quantifying phase relationships of near-synchrony firings

摘要

A multiple single-unit spike train analysis technique is introduced to quantify the phase relationships of spike firings in a subset of three neurons within a neural network. Synchronized firings in neurons had been implicated in neural processing, yet the phase relationships between firing of neurons may also be important for processing. A phase-plane plot is used to determine the phase-locking and phase-shifting characteristics of neural firings among this set of three simultaneously recorded neurons. The trajectories of points in the three-neuron phase-plane provide a signature of the phase-shift characteristics in these neurons participating in synchro- nized firing.