The spatial properties of a model neuron increase its coding range

Abstract.

The coding properties of one-compartment and two-compartment model neurons are compared. The membrane depolarization in both models is described as a deterministic leaky integrator. Interspike intervals are identified with the periods between reset of the depolarization after firing and consecutive crossing of a fixed firing threshold. The two-point model has an input in the dendritic compartment and an output in the trigger-zone compartment. It is shown that the sensitivity threshold for the two-point model is shifted to the larger values of the input intensity with respect to the sensitivity threshold of its single-point counterpart. Further, its coding range is substantially larger than the coding range of the single-point model.