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scientificComputing/projects/project_noiseficurves/noiseficurves.tex
2015-11-03 12:53:42 +01:00

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\documentclass[addpoints,11pt]{exam}
\usepackage{url}
\usepackage{color}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\pagestyle{headandfoot}
\runningheadrule
\firstpageheadrule
\firstpageheader{Scientific Computing}{Project Assignment}{11/02/2014
-- 11/05/2014}
%\runningheader{Homework 01}{Page \thepage\ of \numpages}{23. October 2014}
\firstpagefooter{}{}{{\bf Supervisor:} Jan Benda}
\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=11pt,
%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,
as a current $I$ injected via a patch-electrode into the neuron).
Measure the tuning curve (also called the intensity-response curve) of the
neuron. That is, what is the mean firing rate of the neuron's response
as a function of the input $I$. How does this depend on the level of
the intrinsic noise of the neuron?
The neuron is implemented in the file \texttt{lifspikes.m}. Call it
with the following parameters:
\begin{lstlisting}
trials = 10;
tmax = 50.0;
input = 10.0; % the input I
Dnoise = 1.0; % noise strength
spikes = lifspikes( trials, input, tmax, Dnoise );
\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}.
Think of calling the \texttt{lifspikes()} function as a
simple way of doing an electrophysiological experiment. You are
presenting a stimulus with a constant intensity $I$ that you set. The
neuron responds to this stimulus, and you record this
response. After detecting the timepoints of the spikes in your
recordings you get what the \texttt{lifspikes()} function
returns. The advantage over real data is, that you have the
possibility to simply modify the properties of the neuron via the
\texttt{Dnoise} parameter.
\begin{parts}
\part First set the noise \texttt{Dnoise=0} (no noise). Compute
and plot the mean firing rate (number of spikes within the
recording time \texttt{tmax} divided by \texttt{tmax} and averaged
over trials) as a function of the input for inputs ranging from 0
to 20.
\part Do the same for various noise strength \texttt{Dnoise}. Use $D_{noise} = 1e-3$,
1e-2, and 1e-1. How does the intrinsic noise influence the response curve?
\part Show some interspike interval histograms for some
interesting values of the input and the noise strength.
\part How does the coefficient of variation $CV_{isi}$ (standard
deviation divided by mean) of the interspike intervalls depend on
the input and the noise level?
\end{parts}
\end{questions}
\end{document}