| Abstract: | Neurons receive a continual stream of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs. A conductance-based neuron model is used to investigate how the balanced component of this input modulates the amplitude of neuronal responses. The output spiking rate is well described by a formula involving three parameters: the mean  and variance  of the membrane potential and the effective membrane time constant  Q. This expression shows that, for sufficiently small Q, the level of balanced excitatory-inhibitory input has a nonlinear modulatory effect on the neuronal gain. |
