In search of real dynamical behavior of neural circuits

The analysis method proposed by Elsayed and Cunningham (1) aims to solve one class of problems: provide a suitable null distribution for neuron population activity. The advent of new population recording methods has allowed us to discern structures in the aggregate activity of a neural circuit that represent external input or internal state. The question arises, however, as to whether such structure is an expected result of primary features of neuron responses, such as a simple summation of their individual tuning properties. One of the more prominent results under this question is the rotation structure of motor cortex coding of reach (2). A modified bootstrapping strategy was developed to answer this question.