Chaotic and non-chaotic phases in experimental responses of a single neuron

TL;DR

This study distinguishes between chaotic and non-chaotic response phases in a single neuron, revealing how neuronal response predictability varies with stimulation patterns and providing insights into neuronal temporal resolution limits.

Contribution

It introduces a quantitative framework to identify and differentiate chaotic and non-chaotic neuronal response phases under various stimulation conditions.

Findings

Reproducible non-chaotic phase where latency deviations do not grow with stimulations

Chaotic phase characterized by exponential divergence in latency profiles

Neuronal chains can potentially improve temporal resolution below one millisecond

Abstract

Consistency and predictability of brain functionalities depend on reproducible activity of a single neuron. We identify a reproducible non-chaotic neuronal phase where deviations between concave response latency profiles of a single neuron do not increase with the number of stimulations. A chaotic neuronal phase emerges at a transition to convex latency profiles which diverge exponentially, indicating irreproducible response timings. Our findings are supported by a quantitative mathematical framework and found robust to periodic and random stimulation patterns. In addition, these results put a bound on the neuronal temporal resolution which can be enhanced below a millisecond using neuronal chains.