REAL-TIME DISPLAY TECHNIQUES FOR THE NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL LABORATORY.

Computer generated displays which give continuous real-time information about the activity of the nervous tissue under study are described. The displays take the form of two-dimensional spatial patterns of points. Each point represents the occurrence of a spike, and its coordinates are computed by various functions of the interspike interval history. The trajectory of the points is determined by the spike sequence, and conversely, the trajectory is indicative of the underlying structure in the spike sequence. The coordinate computation method described involves calculating an average of current intervals for the abscissa, and a similar average of delayed intervals for the ordinate, of each point. The delay is in number of intervals, rather than a specified amount of time, and is under control of the experimenter. The method described, intended to be included in the set of techniques with which a computerized neurophysiological laboratory might be equipped, was developed to aid the experimenter during the actual collection of the data.