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Glossary¶
Common abbreviations in NEST¶
- iaf¶
integrate and fire
- gif¶
generalized integrate and fire
- cond¶
conductance-based
- psc¶
post-synaptic current (current-based)
- hh¶
hodgkin huxley
- rng¶
random number generator
- wfr¶
waveform relaxation method
- aeif¶
adaptive exponential integrate and fire
- ht¶
hill and tononi
- pp¶
point process
- in¶
inhibitory
- ex¶
excitatory
- MAM¶
multi-area model
- mpi¶
message passing interface
- stdp¶
spike-timing dependent plasticity synapse
- st¶
short term plasticity
- vp¶
virtual process
- time¶
milliseconds (ms)
- tau_m¶
membrane time constant in ms
- t_ref¶
duration of refractory period in ms
- t_spike¶
point in time of last spike in
- capacitance¶
picofarads (pF)
- C_m¶
capacitance of the membrane in pF
- current¶
picoamperes (pA)
- I_e¶
constant input current in pA
- conductance¶
nanosiemens (nS)
- g_L¶
Leak conductance in nS
- g_K¶
Potassium peak conductance in nS
- g_Na¶
Sodium peak conductance in nS
- spike rates¶
spikes/s
- modulation frequencies¶
herz (Hz)
- frequency¶
frequncy in Hz
- voltage¶
millivolts (mV)
- V_m¶
Membrane potential in mV
- E_L¶
Resting membrane potential in mV
- V_th¶
Spike threshold in mV
- V_reset double¶
Reset potential of the membrane in mV
- V_min¶
Absolute lower value for the membrane potential in mV
- E_ex¶
Excitatory reversal potential in mV
- E_in¶
Inhibitory reversal potential in mV
- E_Na¶
Sodium reversal potential in mV
- E_K¶
Potassium reversal potential in mV
- subthreshold dynamics¶
Non-spiking backgound activity of the synapses
- refractory period¶
A time period in which neurons cannot fire. This is due to depolarization.
- shotnoise¶
Fluctuations in ion channels as a result of ionic migration through an open channel
- autapse¶
A neuron connected to itself
- multapse¶
A neuron that has (multiple) synapses with another neuron.
- spike-timing dependent plasticity¶
STDP, a form of plasticity which adjusts the connection strength between neurons based on the relative timing of a neurons output and input spikes.
- spike train¶
A sequence of actions potentials. Usually seen as events in integrate-and-fire models.
- depressing window¶
A function that determines how synaptic modification depends on spike-timing (STDP).
- dendritic arbor¶
Dendritic trees formed to create new synapses.
- axon¶
The output structure of a neuron
- Clopath¶
Refering to the Clopath plasticity rule
- plasticity¶
The ability of a network to grow or reorganize
- Hodgkin-Huxley¶
A mathematical model that describes how action potentials in neurons can be generated and how they propagate.
- refractory time¶
A time period in which neurons cannot fire due to depolarization
- Point process¶
A temporal point process is a mathematical model for a time series of discrete events.
- non-renewal process¶
Point process with adapting threshold eta(t)
- rheobase¶
The minimal current that is required to generate a spike
- reversal potential¶
The membrane potential at which a neuron causes no net current flow
- time constant¶
The time it takes for a signal to rise or decay in ms
See membrane time constant (tau_m) and synaptic time constant (tau_syn) in the model documentation.
- Gaussian white noise¶
A random process with a mean of zero
- sfa¶
spike-frequency adaptation
- point neuron¶
A simple neuron model where its soma along with the membrane potential dynamics are modeled as a resistance–capacitance circuit.
- propagator¶
Matrix used in a numerically integrated dynamical system
See exact integration page for further information.
- synaptic response kernel¶
Shape of post-synaptic response, commonly an alpha, delta-pulse, or exponential function
- eligibility trace¶
A property of a synapse, which allows it to be modified for a period of time when some constraints are satisfied
- reversal potential¶
The membrane potential in which a neuron causes no net current flow
- alpha function¶
Instance of a synaptic response
- facilitation¶
Mechanism of making a synapse stronger by increasing the weight
Opposite to depression
- depression¶
Mechanism of making a synapse weaker by decreasing the weight
Opposite to facilitation.
- stdp_synapse¶
Synapse with spike-timing dependent plasticity
- static_synapse¶
Synapse with a fixed weight
- refractoriness¶
The time before a new action potential can take place
- renewal process¶
spike-time statistical analysis
- spike train¶
A sequence of action potentials
- spike-frequency adaptation¶
After stimulation, neurons show a reduction in the firing frequency of their spike response following an initial increase.
- GIF¶
Generalized integrate-and-fire model
- coefficient of variation¶
Standard deviation divided by the mean
- distal dendrite¶
The part of the dentrite that is furthest away from the soma
- proximal dendrite¶
The part of the dentrite which is closest to the soma
- soma¶
Cell body of the neuron
- psp¶
Post-synaptic potential
- PSC¶
Post-synatpic current
- absolute refractory¶
An interval after a neuron fires a spike to prevent it from firing a spike again
- indegree¶
Amount of connections to post-synaptic cells
- outdegree¶
Amount of connections from pre-synaptic cells
- synaptic efficacy¶
The extent to which a pre-synaptic neuron affects a post-synaptic neuron
- multimeter¶
A device to record analog quantities (e.g., membrane voltage) of a neuron over time
- events¶
Spikes are encoded as events in NEST