An information-theoretic analysis of the coding of a periodic synaptic input by integrate-and-fire neurons

Abstract

An expression for the mutual information between the phase of a periodic stimulus and the timing of the output spikes generated by the stimulus is given in the low output spiking rate regime. The mutual information is calculated for the leaky integrate-and-fire neuron in the Gaussian approximation. The mutual information is found to be effectively described as a function of the synchronization of the output spikes and their average spiking rate. The results in the subthreshold input regime shed light upon the role of stochastic resonance in such models.