Analysis of Multi-dimensional Spike Trains Using Visa

In general, experts involved in research on neural coding agree that information in nervous system is encoded in the spatio-temporal patterns of spikes. However, there are two distinct opinions about the manner in which this encoding takes place. Some experts consider that temporal coding is based on the exact timing of spiking activity of a single neuron whilst others believe that this encoding is solely based on the firing rate of a single neuron [6]. The authors subscribe to the former opinion. Substantial quantities of simultaneously recorded spike train data exist, in addition to the numerous models developed for the generation of this data. However, current software systems to support the analysis and exploration of these large datasets are not adequate. The main focus of the research presented in this paper is the development of improved software systems to study the spatio-temporal patterns in these datasets.