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. 1966 Jul;6(4):435–451. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(66)86668-7

Probabilistic Firing of Neurons Considered as a First Passage Problem

M Ten Hoopen
PMCID: PMC1367960  PMID: 19210969

Abstract

A formalized neuron receiving unitary excitatory impulses at random is considered. Each impulse provokes an effect of equal magnitude and of a duration not constant for each impulse, but which varies according to an exponential distribution. The effects sum until a threshold is reached when a response occurs. The distribution of intervals between successive responses is computed and compared with those obtained from a model in which the effects decay exponentially with time. Upon introducing inhibitory impulses also, the theory is applied to data on discharge characteristics of driven and spontaneously active thalamic neurons reported in the literature.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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