We compute the VC dimension of a leaky integrate-and-fire neuron model
. The VC dimension quantifies the ability of a function class to parti
tion an input pattern space, and can be considered a measure of comput
ational capacity. In this case, the function class is the class of int
egrate-and-fire models generated by varying the integration time const
ant tau and the threshold theta, the input space they partition is the
space of continuous-time signals, and the binary partition is specifi
ed by whether or not the model reaches threshold at some specified tim
e. We show that the VC dimension diverges only logarithmically with th
e input signal bandwidth N. We also extend this approach to arbitrary
passive dendritic trees. The main contributions of this work are (1) i
t offers a novel treatment of computational capacity of this class of
dynamic system; and (2) it provides a framework for analyzing the comp
utational capabilities of the dynamic systems defined by networks of s
piking neurons.