![]() | Spike Train Analysis Toolkit |
We have developed an easy-to-generate text-based input file format for use with the toolkit. Users can read properly formatted files with the provided staread
function. This function returns a Matlab data structure that is compatible with the toolkit functions. Users have the option of bypassing the text-based file format by writing a script that puts their data directly into the Matlab data structure.
The Matlab data structure is described below:
Holds information about the analysis input.
Name | Description | Type | Size |
---|---|---|---|
M | Number of stimulus classes in experiment | int32 | 1 |
N | Number of sites in experiment | int32 | 1 |
categories | Array of structures with categorized response data | category | M |
sites | Array of structures with recording site information | site | N |
Holds information about the physical location(s) from which the data was obtained. In our framework, a data set should only contain multiple sites only if the sites were recorded simultaneously. Data from sites that were recorded sequentially should appear in separate input data structures.
Name | Description | Type | Size |
---|---|---|---|
label | Recording site label | cell array | 1 |
recording_tag | Can be either continuous or episodic | cell array | 1 |
time_scale | The scale factor required to convert the time mesurements in seconds | double | 1 |
time_resolution | The temporal resolution of the recording (prior to scaling by time_scale) | double | 1 |
si_unit | The pluralized international system of units (SI) base or derived unit of the sampled data | char | variable |
si_prefix | The international system of units (SI) prefix (a power of ten) | double | 1 |
The basis for the analysis is to determine how much information an ensemble of spike trains convey about some discrete stimulus attribute. The spike trains are partitioned into categories according to their stimulus attributes.
Name | Description | Type | Size |
---|---|---|---|
label | Stimulus class label | cell array | 1 |
P | Number of response trials | int32 | 1 |
trials | Array of structures containing information about trials | trial | P×input.N |
Holds information about single response trial.
Name | Description | Type | Size |
---|---|---|---|
start_time | Start time for the trial | double | 1 |
end_time | End time for the trial | double | 1 |
Q | Number of data points in the list | int32 | 1 |
list | An array with the data | double | Q |