The basic principles of computational neuroscience

Question 1

What do we see in the picture?

What has been applied to record neuron activity?

Answer 1

We see neuron activity recorded upon application of picrotoxin

Question 2

What is picrotoxin?

Answer 2

Pharmacological agent that blocks GABA-receptor activity, and as you can see, if we apply picrotoxin, each of these individual neurons responds in a very particular way.

Question 3

What is depicted in the picture?

Why its important?

Answer 3

Summation of all traces from different neuron activity.

Crucial aspects of computational neuroscience are depicted. None of the cells responds in the very same way, but together, they can produce a very coherent output

Question 4

What was developed by Hodgkin and Huxley?

Answer 4

Model and insight into action potential propagation (transimssion of motion).

Question 5

What are the parts of the neuron needed to generate an action potential (4)?

Answer 5

Soma, axon, synaptic currents, voltage-gated currents.

Question 6

What is taken from geometry in computational neuroscience in order to understand membrane potential? Why?

Answer 6

Sine wave. Because it resembles core aspects of a wave, which is idealised.

Question 7

What does period T mean?

Answer 7

It’s a full circle. Sine waves and circular motion can be described in analogous waves.

Question 8

What does angular velocity [ω] mean?

Answer 8

Angular velocity, the time rate at which an object rotates, or revolves, about an axis, or at which the angular displacement between two bodies changes.

[ω]=2π/t

Also called circular frequency. It can be short or long and can be defined by period T.

Question 9

What is the circular frequency [f]?

Answer 9

In physics, circular frequency “ω” is a scalar measure of rotation rate. Also called angular velocity.

A number of cycles per second, measured in Hertz.

[f]=1/t

with angular velocity measured in radians per second [ω]=2π/t

Question 10

How firing potential can be described?

Answer 10

As a quasi-periodic sine wave, which can be described with amplitude and frequency.

Question 11

What do we need to be able describing sinusoidal wave (4) ?

Answer 11

1. Angular velocity [w]
2. Period [t]
3. Frequency [f]
4. Time domain

Question 12

What does the sinusoidal wave remind?

Answer 12

Rotating phasor