Reverse-Correlation and Spike Train Decoding

We have seen in the previous chapter how random stimuli allow one to characterize the receptive fields of neurons in terms of their instantaneous firing rate. In this chapter, we first extend these results to spike train responses. Next, we quantify the ability of single spike trains to encode sensory stimuli by using them to reconstruct the stimulus. These two related techniques are often called reverse-correlation and spike train decoding, respectively.