We explore the computational power of formal models for computation with pu
lses. Such models are motivated by realistic models for biological neurons
and by related new types of VLSI ("pulse stream VLSI"). In preceding work i
t was shown that the computational power of formal models for computation w
ith pulses is quite high if the pulses arriving at a computational unit hav
e an approximately linearly rising or linearly decreasing initial segment.
This property is satisfied by common models for biological neurons. On the
other hand, several implementations of pulse stream VLSI employ pulses that
are approximately piecewise constant (i.e., step functions). In this artic
le we investigate the relevance of the shape of pulses in formal models for
computation with pulses. The results show that the computational power dro
ps significantly if one replaces pulses with linearly rising or decreasing
initial segments by piecewise constant pulses. We provide an exact characte
rization of the latter model in terms of a weak version of a random access
machine (RAM). We also compare the language recognition capability of a rec
urrent version of this model with that of deterministic finite automata and
Turing machines. (C) 1999 Academic Press.