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A computational role for slow conductances: single-neuron models that measure duration

Nature Neuroscience volume 5, pages 552–556 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Humans effortlessly interpret speech and music, whose patterns can contain sound durations up to thousands of milliseconds. How nervous systems measure such long durations is unclear. We show here that model neurons containing physiological slow conductances are 'naturally' sensitive to duration, replicate known duration-sensitive neurons and can be 'tuned' to respond to a wide range of specific durations. In addition, these models reproduce several other properties of duration-sensitive neurons not selected for in model construction. These data, and the widespread presence of slow conductances in nervous systems, suggest that slow conductances might play a major role in duration measurement.

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Figure 1: 'Y.M.C.A' temporal pattern.
Figure 2: Models that reproduce low-, high- and band-pass neurons.
Figure 3: Band-pass model response range increases with tuned duration.
Figure 4: Analysis of 'Y.M.C.A.' using single-spike slow-conductance band-pass neurons.

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Acknowledgements

We thank E. Covey for helpful discussions. This work was supported by the Neuroscience Program at Ohio University and the US National Institutes of Mental Health.

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Neuroscience Program, Ohio University, Athens, 45701, Ohio, USA

    Scott L. Hooper, Einat Buchman & Kevin H. Hobbs

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  1. Scott L. Hooper
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  2. Einat Buchman
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Correspondence to Scott L. Hooper.

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Hooper, S., Buchman, E. & Hobbs, K. A computational role for slow conductances: single-neuron models that measure duration. Nat Neurosci 5, 552–556 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0602-838

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