Statistical procedures for spatiotemporal neuronal data with applications to optical recording of the auditory cortex

This article presents new procedures for multisite spatiotemporal neuronal data analysis. A new statistical model-the diffusion model-is considered, whose parameters can be estimated from experimental data thanks to mean-field approximations. This work has been applied to optical recording of the guinea pig's auditory cortex (layers II-III). The rates of innovation and internal diffusion inside the stimulated area have been estimated. The results suggest that the activity of the layer balances between the alternate predominance of its innovation process and its internal process.