Spike-frequency adaptation: Phenomenological model and experimental tests

Spike-frequency adaptation is a common feature of neural dynamics. Here we present a low-dimensional phenomenological model whose parameters can be ea sily determined from experimental data. We test the model on intracellular recordings from auditory receptor neurons of locusts and demonstrate that t he temporal variation of discharge rate is predicted with high accuracy. We relate the model to biophysical descriptions of adaptation in conductance- based models and analyze its implications for neural computation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.