Phase-Response Curves Give the Responses of Neurons to Transient Inputs

Neuronal firing is determined largely by incoming barrages of excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs), each of which produce a transient increase in firing probability. To measure the effects of weak transient inputs on firing probability of cortical neurons, we compute phase-response curves (PRCs). PRCs, whose shape can be related to the dynamics of spike generation, document the changes in timing of spikes caused by an EPSP in a...