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scientificComputing/pointprocesses/lecture/pointprocesses.tex

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\chapter{Spiketrain analysis}
\exercisechapter{Spiketrain analysis}
\entermde[action potential]{Aktionspotential}{Action potentials}
(\enterm[spike|seealso{action potential}]{spikes}) are the carriers of
information in the nervous system. Thereby it is the time at which the
spikes are generated that is of importance for information
transmission. The waveform of the action potential is largely
stereotyped and therefore does not carry information.
The result of the pre-processing of electrophysiological recordings are
series of spike times, which are termed \enterm{spiketrains}. If
measurements are repeated we get several \enterm{trials} of
spiketrains (\figref{rasterexamplesfig}).
Spiketrains are times of events, the action potentials. Analyzing
spike trains leads into the realm of the so called \entermde[point
process]{Punktprozess}{point processes}.
\begin{figure}[ht]
\includegraphics[width=1\textwidth]{rasterexamples}
\titlecaption{\label{rasterexamplesfig}Raster-plot.}{Raster-plots of
ten trials of data illustrating the times of the action
potentials. Each vertical dash illustrates the time at which an
action potential was observed. Each line displays the events of
one trial. Shown is a stationary point process (homogeneous point
process with a rate $\lambda=20$\;Hz, left) and an non-stationary
point process (perfect integrate-and-fire neuron driven by
Ohrnstein-Uhlenbeck noise with a time-constant $\tau=100$\,ms,
right).}
\end{figure}
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\section{Point processes}
\begin{ibox}{Examples of point processes}
Every point process is generated by a temporally continuously
developing process. An event is generated whenever this process
crosses some threshold. For example:\vspace{-1ex}
\begin{itemize}
\item Action potentials/heart beat: created by the dynamics of the
neuron/sinoatrial node
\item Earthquake: defined by the dynamics of the pressure between
tectonical plates.
\item Communication calls in crickets/frogs/birds: shaped by
the dynamics of the nervous system and the muscle apparatus.
\end{itemize}
\end{ibox}
\begin{figure}[t]
\texpicture{pointprocessscetch}
\titlecaption{\label{pointprocessscetchfig} Statistics of point
processes.}{A point process is a sequence of instances in time
$t_i$ that can be characterized through the inter-event-intervals
$T_i=t_{i+1}-t_i$ and the number of events $n_i$. }
\end{figure}
A temporal \entermde{Punktprozess}{point process} is a stochastic
process that generates a sequence of events at times $\{t_i\}$, $t_i
\in \reZ$. In the neurosciences, the statistics of point processes is
of importance since the timing of neuronal events (action potentials,
post-synaptic potentials, events in EEG or local-field recordings,
etc.) is crucial for information transmission and can be treated as
such a process.
The events of a point process can be illustrated by means of a raster
plot in which each vertical line indicates the time of an event. The
event from two different point processes are shown in
\figref{rasterexamplesfig}. Point processes can be described using
the intervals between successive events $T_i=t_{i+1}-t_i$ and the
number of observed events within a certain time window $n_i$
(\figref{pointprocessscetchfig}).
\begin{exercise}{rasterplot.m}{}
Implement a function \varcode{rasterplot()} that displays the times of
action potentials within the first \varcode{tmax} seconds in a raster
plot. The spike times (in seconds) recorded in the individual trials
are stored as vectors of times within a cell array.
\end{exercise}
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\section{Interval statistics}
The intervals $T_i=t_{i+1}-t_i$ between successive events are real
positive numbers. In the context of action potentials they are
referred to as \entermde{Interspikeintervalle}{interspike
intervals}. The statistics of interspike intervals are described
using common measures for describing the statistics of stochastic
real-valued variables:
\begin{figure}[t]
\includegraphics[width=0.96\textwidth]{isihexamples}\vspace{-2ex}
\titlecaption{\label{isihexamplesfig}Interspike interval
histograms}{of the spike trains shown in \figref{rasterexamplesfig}.}
\end{figure}
\begin{exercise}{isis.m}{}
Implement a function \varcode{isis()} that calculates the interspike
intervals from several spike trains. The function should return a
single vector of intervals. The spike times (in seconds) of each
trial are stored as vectors within a cell-array.
\end{exercise}
%\subsection{First order interval statistics}
\begin{itemize}
\item Probability density $p(T)$ of the intervals $T$
(\figref{isihexamplesfig}). Normalized to $\int_0^{\infty} p(T) \; dT
= 1$.
\item Average interval: $\mu_{ISI} = \langle T \rangle =
\frac{1}{n}\sum\limits_{i=1}^n T_i$.
\item Standard deviation of the interspike intervals: $\sigma_{ISI} = \sqrt{\langle (T - \langle T
\rangle)^2 \rangle}$\vspace{1ex}
\item \entermde[coefficient of variation]{Variationskoeffizient}{Coefficient of variation}:
$CV_{ISI} = \frac{\sigma_{ISI}}{\mu_{ISI}}$.
\item \entermde[diffusion coefficient]{Diffusionskoeffizient}{Diffusion coefficient}: $D_{ISI} =
\frac{\sigma_{ISI}^2}{2\mu_{ISI}^3}$.
\end{itemize}
\begin{exercise}{isihist.m}{}
Implement a function \varcode{isiHist()} that calculates the normalized
interspike interval histogram. The function should take two input
arguments; (i) a vector of interspike intervals and (ii) the width
of the bins used for the histogram. It further returns the
probability density as well as the centers of the bins.
\end{exercise}
\begin{exercise}{plotisihist.m}{}
Implement a function that takes the return values of
\varcode{isiHist()} as input arguments and then plots the data. The
plot should show the histogram with the x-axis scaled to
milliseconds and should be annotated with the average ISI, the
standard deviation and the coefficient of variation.
\end{exercise}
\subsection{Interval correlations}
So called \entermde[return map]{return map}{return maps} are used to
illustrate interdependencies between successive interspike
intervals. The return map plots the delayed interval $T_{i+k}$ against
the interval $T_i$. The parameter $k$ is called the \enterm{lag}
(\determ{Verz\"ogerung}) $k$. Stationary and non-stationary return
maps are distinctly different \figref{returnmapfig}.
\begin{figure}[t]
\includegraphics[width=1\textwidth]{returnmapexamples}
\includegraphics[width=1\textwidth]{serialcorrexamples}
\titlecaption{\label{returnmapfig}Interspike interval
correlations}{of the spike trains shown in
\figref{rasterexamplesfig}. Upper panels show the return maps and
lower panels the serial correlations of successive intervals
separated by lag $k$. All the interspike intervals of the
stationary spike trains are independent of each other --- this is
a so called \enterm{renewal process}
(\determ{Erneuerungsprozess}). In contrast, the ones of the
non-stationary spike trains show positive correlations that decay
for larger lags. The positive correlations in this example are
caused by a common stimulus that slowly increases and decreases
the mean firing rate of the spike trains.}
\end{figure}
Such dependencies can be further quantified using the
\entermde[correlation!serial]{Korrelation!serielle}{serial
correlations} \figref{returnmapfig}. The serial correlation is the
correlation coefficient of the intervals $T_i$ and the intervals
delayed by the lag $T_{i+k}$:
\[ \rho_k = \frac{\langle (T_{i+k} - \langle T \rangle)(T_i - \langle T \rangle) \rangle}{\langle (T_i - \langle T \rangle)^2\rangle} = \frac{{\rm cov}(T_{i+k}, T_i)}{{\rm var}(T_i)}
= {\rm corr}(T_{i+k}, T_i) \] The resulting correlation coefficient
$\rho_k$ is usually plotted against the lag $k$
\figref{returnmapfig}. $\rho_0=1$ is the correlation of each interval
with itself and is always 1.
\begin{exercise}{isiserialcorr.m}{}
Implement a function \varcode{isiserialcorr()} that takes a vector of
interspike intervals as input argument and calculates the serial
correlation. The function should further plot the serial
correlation.
\end{exercise}
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\section{Count statistics}
% \begin{figure}[t]
% \includegraphics[width=0.48\textwidth]{poissoncounthist100hz10ms}\hfill
% \includegraphics[width=0.48\textwidth]{poissoncounthist100hz100ms}
% \titlecaption{\label{countstatsfig}Count Statistik.}{}
% \end{figure}
Counting the number of events $n_i$ (counts) in time windows $i$ of duration $W$
yields positive integer random numbers that are commonly quantified
using the following measures:
\begin{itemize}
\item Histogram of the counts $n_i$.
\item Average number of counts: $\mu_n = \langle n \rangle$.
\item Variance of counts: $\sigma_n^2 = \langle (n - \langle n \rangle)^2 \rangle$.
\item \entermde{Fano Faktor}{Fano factor} (variance of counts divided by average count): $F = \frac{\sigma_n^2}{\mu_n}$.
\end{itemize}
Of particular interest is the \enterm[firing rate!average]{average
firing rate} $r$ (spike count per time interval, \determ{Feuerrate})
that is given in Hertz
\begin{equation}
\label{firingrate}
r = \frac{\langle n \rangle}{W} \; .
\end{equation}
% \begin{figure}[t]
% \begin{minipage}[t]{0.49\textwidth}
% Poisson process $\lambda=100$\,Hz:\\
% \includegraphics[width=1\textwidth]{poissonfano100hz}
% \end{minipage}
% \hfill
% \begin{minipage}[t]{0.49\textwidth}
% LIF $I=10$, $\tau_{adapt}=100$\,ms:\\
% \includegraphics[width=1\textwidth]{lifadaptfano10-100ms}
% \end{minipage}
% \titlecaption{\label{fanofig}Fano factor.}{}
% \end{figure}
\begin{exercise}{counthist.m}{}
Implement a function \varcode{counthist()} that calculates and plots
the distribution of spike counts observed in a certain time
window. The function should take two input arguments: (i) a
cell-array of vectors containing the spike times in seconds observed
in a number of trials, and (ii) the duration of the time window that
is used to evaluate the counts.
\end{exercise}
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\section{Homogeneous Poisson process}
The Gaussian distribution is, because of the central limit theorem,
the standard distribution for continuous measures. The equivalent in
the realm of point processes is the
\entermde[distribution!Poisson]{Verteilung!Poisson-}{Poisson distribution}.
In a \entermde[Poisson process!homogeneous]{Poissonprozess!homogener}{homogeneous Poisson
process} the events occur at a fixed rate $\lambda=\text{const}$ and
are independent of both the time $t$ and occurrence of previous events
(\figref{hompoissonfig}). The probability of observing an event within
a small time window of width $\Delta t$ is given by
\begin{equation}
\label{hompoissonprob}
P = \lambda \cdot \Delta t \; .
\end{equation}
In an \entermde[Poisson process!inhomogeneous]{Poissonprozess!inhomogener}{inhomogeneous Poisson
process}, however, the rate $\lambda$ depends on time: $\lambda =
\lambda(t)$.
\begin{exercise}{poissonspikes.m}{}
Implement a function \varcode{poissonspikes()} that uses a homogeneous
Poisson process to generate events at a given rate for a certain
duration and a number of trials. The rate should be given in Hertz
and the duration of the trials is given in seconds. The function
should return the event times in a cell-array. Each entry in this
array represents the events observed in one trial. Apply
\eqnref{hompoissonprob} to generate the event times.
\end{exercise}
\begin{figure}[t]
\includegraphics[width=1\textwidth]{poissonraster100hz}
\titlecaption{\label{hompoissonfig}Rasterplot of spikes of a
homogeneous Poisson process with a rate $\lambda=100$\,Hz.}{}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[t]
\includegraphics[width=0.45\textwidth]{poissonisihexp20hz}\hfill
\includegraphics[width=0.45\textwidth]{poissonisihexp100hz}
\titlecaption{\label{hompoissonisihfig}Distribution of interspike
intervals of two Poisson processes.}{The processes differ in their
rate (left: $\lambda=20$\,Hz, right: $\lambda=100$\,Hz). The red
lines indicate the corresponding exponential interval distribution
\eqnref{poissonintervals}.}
\end{figure}
The homogeneous Poisson process has the following properties:
\begin{itemize}
\item Intervals $T$ are exponentially distributed (\figref{hompoissonisihfig}):
\begin{equation}
\label{poissonintervals}
p(T) = \lambda e^{-\lambda T} \; .
\end{equation}
\item The average interval is $\mu_{ISI} = \frac{1}{\lambda}$ .
\item The variance of the intervals is $\sigma_{ISI}^2 = \frac{1}{\lambda^2}$ .
\item Thus, the coefficient of variation is always $CV_{ISI} = 1$ .
\item The serial correlation is $\rho_k =0$ for $k>0$, since the
occurrence of an event is independent of all previous events. Such a
process is also called a \enterm{renewal process} (\determ{Erneuerungsprozess}).
\item The number of events $k$ within a temporal window of duration
$W$ is Poisson distributed:
\begin{equation}
\label{poissoncounts}
P(k) = \frac{(\lambda W)^ke^{\lambda W}}{k!}
\end{equation}
(\figref{hompoissoncountfig})
\item The Fano Faktor is always $F=1$ .
\end{itemize}
\begin{exercise}{hompoissonspikes.m}{}
Implement a function \varcode{hompoissonspikes()} that uses a
homogeneous Poisson process to generate spike events at a given rate
for a certain duration and a number of trials. The rate should be
given in Hertz and the duration of the trials is given in
seconds. The function should return the event times in a
cell-array. Each entry in this array represents the events observed
in one trial. Apply \eqnref{poissonintervals} to generate the event
times.
\end{exercise}
\begin{figure}[t]
\includegraphics[width=0.48\textwidth]{poissoncounthistdist100hz10ms}\hfill
\includegraphics[width=0.48\textwidth]{poissoncounthistdist100hz100ms}
\titlecaption{\label{hompoissoncountfig}Distribution of counts of a
Poisson spiketrain.}{The count statistics was generated for two
different windows of width $W=10$\,ms (left) and width $W=100$\,ms
(right). The red line illustrates the corresponding Poisson
distribution \eqnref{poissoncounts}.}
\end{figure}
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\section{Time-dependent firing rate}
So far we have discussed stationary spiketrains. The statistical properties
of these did not change within the observation time (stationary point
processes). Most commonly, however, this is not the case. A sensory
neuron, for example, might respond to a stimulus by modulating its
firing rate (non-stationary point process).
How the firing rate $r(t)$ changes over time is the most important
measure, when analyzing non-stationary spike trains. The unit of the
firing rate is Hertz, i.e. the number of action potentials per
second. There are different ways to estimate the firing rate and three
of these are illustrated in \figref{psthfig}. All have their own
justifications, their pros- and cons.
\begin{figure}[tp]
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{firingrates}
\titlecaption{Estimating time-dependent firing rates.}{Rasterplot
showing one trial of spiking activity of a neuron (top).
\emph{Instantaneous rate}, classical PSTH estimatd with the
\emph{binning} method and by \emph{convolution} of the spike train
with a Gaussian kernel (bottom).}\label{psthfig}
\end{figure}
\subsection{Instantaneous firing rate}
\begin{figure}[tp]
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{isimethod}
\titlecaption{Instantaneous firing rate.}{The recorded spiketrain
(top). Arrows illustrate the interspike intervals and numbers
give the intervals in milliseconds. The inverse of the interspike
intervals is the \emph{instantaneous firing rate}
(bottom).}\label{instratefig}
\end{figure}
A very simple method for estimating the time-dependent firing rate is
the \entermde[firing rate!instantaneous]{Feuerrate!instantane}{instantaneous firing rate}.
The firing rate can be directly estimated as the inverse of the time
between successive spikes, the interspike-interval (\figref{instratefig}).
\begin{equation}
\label{instantaneousrateeqn}
r_i = \frac{1}{T_i} .
\end{equation}
The instantaneous rate $r_i$ is valid for the whole interspike
interval. The method has the advantage of being extremely easy to
compute and that it does not make any assumptions about the relevant
timescale (of the encoding in the neuron or the decoding of a
postsynaptic neuron). The resulting $r(t)$, however, is no continuous
function, the firing rate jumps from one level to the next. Since the
interspike interval between successive spikes is never infinitely
long, the firing rate never reaches zero despite that the neuron may
not fire an action potential for a long time.
\begin{exercise}{instantaneousRate.m}{}
Implement a function that computes the instantaneous firing
rate. Plot the firing rate as a function of time.
%\note{TODO: example data!!!}
\end{exercise}
\subsection{Peri-stimulus-time-histogram}
While the instantaneous firing rate is based on the interspike
intervals, the \enterm{peri stimulus time histogram} (PSTH) is based on
spike counts within observation windows of the duration $W$. It
estimates the probability of observing a spike within that observation
time. It tries to estimate the average rate in the limit of small
obersvation times:
\begin{equation}
\label{psthrate}
r(t) = \lim_{W \to 0} \frac{\langle n \rangle}{W} \; ,
\end{equation}
where $\langle n \rangle$ is the across trial average number of action
potentials observed within the interval $(t, t+W)$. Such description
matches the time-dependent firing rate $\lambda(t)$ of an
inhomogeneous Poisson process.
The firing probability can be estimated using the \enterm[firing
rate!binning method]{binning method} or by using \enterm[firing
rate!kernel density estimation]{kernel density estimations}. Both
methods make an assumption about the relevant observation time-scale
($W$ in \eqnref{psthrate}).
\subsubsection{Binning-method}
\begin{figure}[tp]
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{binmethod}
\titlecaption{Estimating the PSTH using the binning method.}{The
same spiketrain as shown in \figref{instratefig} (top). Vertical
gray lines indicate the borders between adjacent bins in which the
number of action potentials is counted (red numbers). The firing
rate is then the histogram normalized to the binwidth
(bottom).}\label{binpsthfig}
\end{figure}
The \entermde[firing rate!binning
method]{Feuerrate!Binningmethode}{binning method} separates the time
axis into regular bins of the bin width $W$ and counts for each bin
the number of observed action potentials (\figref{binpsthfig}
top). The resulting histogram is then normalized with the bin width
$W$ to yield the firing rate shown in the bottom trace of figure
\ref{binpsthfig}. The above sketched process is equivalent to
estimating the probability density. For computing a PSTH the
\code{hist()} function can be used.
The estimated firing rate is valid for the total duration of each
bin. This leads to the step-like plot shown in
\figref{binpsthfig}. $r(t)$ is thus not a contiunous function in
time. The binwidth defines the temporal resolution of the firing rate
estimation Changes that happen within a bin cannot be resolved. Thus
chosing a bin width implies an assumption about the relevant
time-scale.
\begin{exercise}{binnedRate.m}{}
Implement a function that estimates the firing rate using the
binning method. The method should take the spike-times as an
input argument and returns the firing rate. Plot the PSTH.
\end{exercise}
\subsubsection{Convolution method --- Kernel density estimation}
\begin{figure}[tp]
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{convmethod}
\titlecaption{Estimating the firing rate using the convolution
method.}{The same spiketrain as in \figref{instratefig} (top). The
convolution of the spiketrain with a kernel replaces each spike
event with the kernel (red). A Gaussian kernel is used here, but
other kernels are also possible. If the kernel is properly
normalized the firing rate results directly form the superposition
of the kernels (bottom).}\label{convratefig}
\end{figure}
With the \entermde[firing rate!convolution
method]{Feuerrate!Faltungsmethode}{convolution method} we avoid the
sharp edges of the binning method. The spiketrain is convolved with a
\entermde{Faltungskern}{convolution kernel}. Technically speaking we
need to first create a binary representation of the spike train. This
binary representation is a series of zeros and ones in which the ones
denote the spike. Then this binary vector is convolved with a kernel
of a certain width:
\[r(t) = \int_{-\infty}^{\infty} \omega(\tau) \, \rho(t-\tau) \, {\rm d}\tau \; , \]
where $\omega(\tau)$ represents the kernel and $\rho(t)$ the binary
representation of the response. The process of convolution can be
imagined as replacing each event of the spiketrain with the kernel
(figure \ref{convratefig} top). The superposition of the replaced
kernels is then the firing rate (if the kernel is correctly normalized
to an integral of one, figure \ref{convratefig}
bottom).
In contrast to the other methods the convolution methods leads to a
continuous function which is often desirable (in particular when
applying methods in the frequency domain). The choice of the kernel
width defines, similar to the bin width of the binning method, the
temporal resolution of the method and thus makes assumptions about the
relevate time-scale.
\begin{exercise}{convolutionRate.m}{}
Implement the function that estimates the firing rate using the
convolution method. The method takes the spiketrain, the temporal
resolution of the recording (as the stepsize $dt$, in seconds) and
the width of the kernel (the standard deviation $\sigma$ of the
Gaussian kernel, in seconds) as input arguments. It returns the
firing rate. Plot the result.
\end{exercise}
\section{Spike-triggered Average}
The graphical representation of the neuronal activity alone is not
sufficient tot investigate the relation between the neuronal response
and a stimulus. One method to do this is the \entermde{Spike-triggered
Average}{spike-triggered average}, \enterm[STA|see{spike-triggered
average}]{STA}. The STA
\begin{equation}
STA(\tau) = \langle s(t - \tau) \rangle = \frac{1}{N} \sum_{i=1}^{N} s(t_i - \tau)
\end{equation}
of $N$ action potentials observed at the times $t_i$ in response to
the stimulus $s(t)$ is the average stimulus that led to a spike in the
neuron. The STA can be easily extracted by cutting snippets out of
$s(t)$ that surround the times of the spikes. The resulting stimulus
snippets are then averaged (\figref{stafig}).
\begin{figure}[t]
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{sta}
\titlecaption{Spike-triggered average of a P-type electroreceptor
and the stimulus reconstruction.}{The neuron was driven by a
\enterm{white-noise} stimulus (blue, right). The STA (left) is the
average stimulus that surrounds the times of the recorded action
potentials (40\,ms before and 20\,ms after the spike). Using the
STA as a kernel for convolving the spiketrain we can reconstruct
the stimulus from the neuronal response. In this way we can get an
impression of the stimulus features that are linearly encoded in
the neuronal response (orange, right).}\label{stafig}
\end{figure}
From the STA we can extract several pieces of information about the
relation of stimulus and response. The width of the STA represents the
temporal precision with which the neuron encodes the stimulus waveform
and in which temporal window the neuron integrates the (sensory)
input. The amplitude of the STA tells something about the sensitivity
of the neuron. The STA is given in the same units as the stimulus and
a small amplitude indicates that the neuron needs only a small
stimulus amplitude to create a spike, a large amplitude on the
contrary suggests the opposite. The temporal delay between the STA and
the time of the spike is a consequence of the time the system (neuron)
needs to process the stimulus.
We can further use the STA to do a \enterm{reverse reconstruction} and
estimate the stimulus from the neuronal response (\figref{stafig},
right). For this, the spiketrain is convolved with the STA as a
kernel.
\begin{exercise}{spikeTriggeredAverage.m}{}
Implement a function that calculates the STA. Use the dataset
\file{sta\_data.mat}. The function expects the spike train, the
stimulus and the temporal resolution of the recording as input
arguments and should return the following information:
\vspace{-1ex}
\begin{itemize}
\setlength{\itemsep}{0ex}
\item the spike-triggered average.
\item the standard deviation of the STA across the individual snippets.
\item The number of action potentials used to estimate the STA.
\end{itemize}
\end{exercise}
\begin{exercise}{reconstructStimulus.m}{}
Do the reverse reconstruction using the STA and the spike times. The
function should return the estimated stimulus in a vector that has
the same size as the original stimulus contained in file
\file{sta\_data.mat}.
\end{exercise}
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\printsolutions