Spike Train

A spike train is a sequence of recorded times at which a neuron fires an action potential. When the voltage drop across a neural soma or axon membrane is recorded, intermittent pulses of roughly 100 mV over 1–2 ms are observed – these are action potentials or “spikes.” On a behavioral time scale of several hundred milliseconds, each spike may be considered to occur at a single point in time. Sequences of such spike times form spike trains. The total duration of a recorded spike train can range from less than a second to many minutes or even, in chronic recordings, to many days. Spike trains are considered to be the primary mode of information transmission in the nervous system.