%0 Journal Article
%T High conductance states in a mean field cortical network model
%A Alexander Lerchner
%A Mandana Ahmadi
%A John Hertz
%J Quantitative Biology
%D 2004
%I arXiv
%X Measured responses from visual cortical neurons show that spike times tend to be correlated rather than exactly Poisson distributed. Fano factors vary and are usually greater than 1 due to the tendency of spikes being clustered into bursts. We show that this behavior emerges naturally in a balanced cortical network model with random connectivity and conductance-based synapses. We employ mean field theory with correctly colored noise to describe temporal correlations in the neuronal activity. Our results illuminate the connection between two independent experimental findings: high conductance states of cortical neurons in their natural environment, and variable non-Poissonian spike statistics with Fano factors greater than 1.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0402026v1