Correlated transition between two activity states of neurons

In order to understand the dynamical properties of a neural network, it is important to characterize the relation between spike trains of two neurons in the network. In this study, we show that in some neuron pairs in inferior temporal cortices of macaque monkeys, spike trains of a pair are described by a two-dimensional Poisson process whose means are modulated by a common two-state Markov process. The common two-state Markov process describes a correlated state transition between firing and nonfiring states of the constituent neurons of the pair.

©2006 The American Physical Society