Repetitive Firing and Fiber Reactions to Periodic Stimuli

Abstract

Since the shape and the amplitude of the propagating AP does not carry any information, the neural system uses firing sequences in order to transmit information over distances greater than several millimeters. Many nerve cells are able to generate trains of impulses of constant or varying frequencies. Rythmic firing of the pacemaker cells is modulated by the transmitters adrenaline and acetylcholine, but the firing frequencies of axons can also be modulated by sensory stimuli, synaptic potentials, or by electrostimulation. (Connor & Stevens 1971 a, b, c; several further references are found, e. g., in Jack et al. 1983).