\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 constant stimuli of intensity $I$ (think of that, for example, of sound waves with intensities $I$). The neuron has an adaptatation current that adapts the firing rate with a slow time constant down. Explore the dependence of interspike interval correlations on the firing rate, adaptation time constant and noise level. \begin{parts} \part The neuron is a neuron with an adaptation current. It is implemented in the file \texttt{lifadaptspikes.m}. Call it with the following parameters: \begin{lstlisting} trials = 10; tmax = 50.0; input = 10.0; % the input I Dnoise = 1e-2; % noise strength adapttau = 0.1; % adaptation time constant in seconds adaptincr = 0.5; % adaptation strength 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. The input is set via the \texttt{input} variable, the noise strength via \texttt{Dnoise}, and the adaptation time constant via \texttt{adapttau}. \part Measure the intensity-response curve of the neuron, that is the mean firing rate as a function of the input for a range of inputs from 0 to 120. \part Compute the correlations between each interspike interval $T_i$ and the next one $T_{i+1}$ (serial interspike interval correlation at lag 1). Plot this correlation as a function of the firing rate by varying the input as in (a). \part How does this dependence change for different values of the adaptation time constant \texttt{adapttau}? Use values between 10\,ms and 1\,s for \texttt{adapttau}. \part Determine the firing rate at which the minimum interspike interval correlation occurs. How does the minimum correlation and this firing rate depend on the adaptation time constant \texttt{adapttau}? \part How do the results change if the level of the intrinsic noise \texttt{Dnoise} is modified? Use values of 1e-4, 1e-3, 1e-2, 1e-1, and 1 for \texttt{Dnoise}. \uplevel{If you still have time you can continue with the following question:} \part How do the interspike interval distributions look like for the different noise levels at some example values for the input and the adaptation time constant? \end{parts} \end{questions} \end{document}