\documentclass[addpoints,10pt]{exam} \usepackage{url} \usepackage{color} \usepackage{hyperref} \pagestyle{headandfoot} \runningheadrule \firstpageheadrule \firstpageheader{Scientific Computing}{Project Assignment}{11/05/2014 -- 11/06/2014} %\runningheader{Homework 01}{Page \thepage\ of \numpages}{23. October 2014} \firstpagefooter{}{}{} \runningfooter{}{}{} \pointsinmargin \bracketedpoints %\printanswers %\shadedsolutions %%%%% listings %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% \usepackage{listings} \lstset{ basicstyle=\ttfamily, numbers=left, showstringspaces=false, language=Matlab, breaklines=true, breakautoindent=true, columns=flexible, frame=single, % captionpos=t, xleftmargin=2em, xrightmargin=1em, % aboveskip=10pt, %title=\lstname, % title={\protect\filename@parse{\lstname}\protect\filename@base.\protect\filename@ext} } \begin{document} %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Submission instructions %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% \sffamily % \begin{flushright} % \gradetable[h][questions] % \end{flushright} \begin{center} \input{../disclaimer.tex} \end{center} %%%%%%%%%%%%%% Questions %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% \begin{questions} \question You are recording the activity of a neuron in response to two different stimuli $I_1$ and $I_2$ (think of them, for example, of two sound waves with different intensities $I_1$ and $I_2$). Within an observation time of duration $W$ the neuron responds stochastically with $n_i$ spikes. How well can an upstream neuron discriminate the two stimuli based on the spike counts $n_i$? How does this depend on the duration $W$ of the observation time? How is this related to the fano factor (the ratio between the variance and the mean of the spike counts)? \begin{parts} \part The neuron is implemented in the file \texttt{lifadaptspikes.m}. Call it with the following parameters: \begin{lstlisting} trials = 10; tmax = 50.0; input = 65.0; Dnoise = 0.1; adapttau = 0.2; adaptincr = 0.5; spikes = lifadaptspikes( trials, input, tmax, Dnoise, adapttau, adaptincr ); \end{lstlisting} The returned \texttt{spikes} is a cell array with \texttt{trials} elements, each being a vector of spike times (in seconds) computed for a duration of \texttt{tmax} seconds. For the two inputs $I_1$ and $I_2$ use \begin{lstlisting} input = 65.0; % I_1 input = 75.0; % I_2 \end{lstlisting} Show two raster plots for the responses to the two differrent stimuli. \part Generate histograms of the spike counts within $W$ of the responses to the two differrent stimuli. How do they depend on the observation time $W$ (use values between 1\,ms and 1\,s)? \part Think about a measure based on the spike count histograms that quantifies how well the two stimuli can be distinguished based on the spike counts. Plot the dependence of this measure as a function of the observation time $W$. For which observation times can the two stimuli perfectly discriminated? Hint: A possible readout is to set a threshold $n_{thresh}$ for the observed spike count. Any response smaller than the threshold assumes that the stimulus was $I_1$, any response larger than the threshold assumes that the stimulus was $I_2$. What is the probability that the stimulus was indeed $I_1$ or $I_2$, respectively? For a given $W$ find the threshold $n_{thresh}$ that results in the best discrimination performance. \part Also plot the Fano factor as a function of $W$. How is it related to the discriminability? \uplevel{If you still have time you can continue with the following question:} \part You may change the two stimuli $I_1$ and $I_2$ and the intrinsic noise of the neuron via \texttt{Dnoise} (change it in factors of ten, higher values will make the responses more variable) and repeat your analysis. \end{parts} \end{questions} \end{document}