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Experimental analysis of a neural system: Two modeling approaches

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Abstract

The retinal neural system in the catfish which transforms light intensity temporal variations into the horizontal cell potential is experimentally analyzed and modeled by two distinct methods. The first method involves testing the system with gaussian white-noisemodulated light intensity and the subsequent derivation of a mathematical model in terms of a Wiener functional series. The second method involves testing of the system by step and sinewave stimuli and the postulation of a set of nonlinear differential equations which are designed to fit these stimulus-response data. In this latter approach, the differential equations describe the usually assumed dynamic behavior of the component subsystems, such as photoreceptor and horizontal cell membranes in terms of properties of membrance resistance and capacitance. The system behavior is found to exhibit certain “small signal” nonlinearities such as dynamic asymmetry in the response as well as certain “large signal” nonlinearities. The two modeling approaches and the resulting models are compared and it is found that the functional model derived from the white-noise experiment, while it does not attempt to describe the underlying system structure as the differential equation does, produced, in general, more satisfactory results as far as the input-output behavior of the system is concerned. It is suggested that combination of the two approaches could be very fruitful in modeling a particular system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Information Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California

    Panos Z. Marmarelis Ph. D. & Ken-Ichi Naka

  2. Biotechnology and Electrical Engineering, Carnegie-Mellon University, 15213, Pittsburgh, Penn., USA

    Panos Z. Marmarelis Ph. D.

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  1. Panos Z. Marmarelis Ph. D.
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  2. Ken-Ichi Naka
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Marmarelis, P.Z., Naka, KI. Experimental analysis of a neural system: Two modeling approaches. Kybernetik 15, 11–26 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00270756

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00270756

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