An interactive toolset for characterizing complex neural systems (Q1175139)

A set of two computer programs is described which enable the following functions: (1) High-speed data acquisition from up to eight recording channels with presentation of uniform or quasi-random stimulus trains on one or two stimulus channels; (2) On-line computation and display of averaged responses on all recording channels evoked by both stimulus channels; (3) Computation and display of averaged evoked potentials and functional power series (FPS) through third order for characterization of system nonlinearities; (4) Computation and display of simulated responses to arbitrarily selected stimulus trains using a previously computed FPS. Both programs are implemented in FORTRAN, include on-line help, interactive and batch processing facilities and produce extensive graphics output according to the Tektronix 4010 protocol. To date these programs have been used to study the following: (1) The somatosensory system in the human using dual random trains presented to the median and ulnar nerves; (2) Cognitive processing in the human (normals and first-break schizophrenics) using both uniform (P300 paradigm) and dual random trains of tone bursts with the subject either counting or pressing a lever in response to tones with a specific pitch; (3) The network properties of the rabbit hippocampus (both in vivo and in vitro preparations) using random train simulation of the intrinsic pathways.