TY - GEN N1 - article number 021909 ID - cogprints2480 UR - http://cogprints.org/2480/ A1 - Hillenbrand, Dr. Ulrich TI - Subthreshold dynamics of the neural membrane potential driven by stochastic synaptic input Y1 - 2002/// N2 - In the cerebral cortex, neurons are subject to a continuous bombardment of synaptic inputs originating from the network's background activity. This leads to ongoing, mostly subthreshold membrane dynamics that depends on the statistics of the background activity and of the synapses made on a neuron. Subthreshold membrane polarization is, in turn, a potent modulator of neural responses. The present paper analyzes the subthreshold dynamics of the neural membrane potential driven by synaptic inputs of stationary statistics. Synaptic inputs are considered in linear interaction. The analysis identifies regimes of input statistics which give rise to stationary, fluctuating, oscillatory, and unstable dynamics. In particular, I show that (i) mere noise inputs can drive the membrane potential into sustained, quasiperiodic oscillations (noise-driven oscillations), in the absence of a stimulus-derived, intraneural, or network pacemaker; (ii) adding hyperpolarizing to depolarizing synaptic input can increase neural activity (hyperpolarization-induced activity), in the absence of hyperpolarization-activated currents. AV - public KW - neural networks KW - cerebral cortex KW - membrane potential KW - synapses KW - stochastic process ER -