Numerical Frequency Transfer Function Analysis of a Leaky Integrate-and-Fire Neuron

Abstract

This work reports a transfer function-based approach to characterizing the operation of single neuronal cells in terms of the instantaneous frequency of the input and output signals. We adopt the leaky integrate-and-fire model. The transfer relationship is obtained by performing successive numeric-computational simulations and statistical regressions. Several interesting results are reported, including the identification and characterization of linearity in the transfer relationship, as well as the identification of regions in the parameter space characterized by sharper transfer functions. These properties can be used to facilitate simulations under certain circumstances and to validate the model by comparison with biological results.