STOCHASTIC RESONANCE IN A NEURONAL NETWORK FROM MAMMALIAN BRAIN

Stochastic resonance, a nonlinear phenomenon in which random noise opt imizes a system's response to a signal, has been postulated to provide a role for noise in information processing in the brain. In these exp eriments, a time varying electric held was used to deliver both signal and noise directly to a network of neurons from mammalian brain. As t he magnitude of the stochastic component of the field was increased, r esonance was observed in the response of the neuronal network to a wea k periodic signal. This is the first demonstration of stochastic reson ance in neuronal networks from the brain.