Some theoretical results on neural spike train probability models

Abstract

This article contains two main theoretical results on neural spike train models. The first assumes that the spike train is modeled as a counting or point process on the real line where the conditional intensity function is a product of a free firing rate function s, which depends only on the stimulus, and a recovery function r, which depends only on the time since the last spike. If s and r belong to a q-smooth class of functions, it is proved that sieve maximum likelihood estimators for s and r achieve essentially the optimal convergence rate (except for a logarithmic factor) under L_1 loss. The second part of this article considers template matching of multiple spike trains. P-values for the occurrences of a given template or pattern in a set of spike trains are computed using a general scoring system. By identifying the pattern with an experimental stimulus, multiple spike trains can be deciphered to provide useful information.