Figure 7.

All-or-none vs. graded population response to external drive in two types of model networks: Purely recurrent excitatory network and one including recurrent inhibition, i.e., a balanced network. (A) Firing rates of individual neurons in a recurrent excitatory network (gray) and a recurrent network with both excitation and inhibition (orange), i.e., a balanced network, in response to external drive (bottom trace). All neurons in the excitatory network has the same firing rate, i.e., the maximum or minimum, in response to input, whereas the balanced net has a graded mean response with a wide distribution. (B) The distribution of firing rates across the population in the balanced net (orange) is wide and has a graded response to input, whereas the excitatory network has an all-or-none response that is narrow.