Fig. 7: Interaction between pyramidal neuronal excitability and synchrony affected response to driving input, and thus information flow.

Driving inputs arriving at a population of pyramidal neurons (red circles) increases excitability (arrows). At low excitability, driving input is not enough to reach threshold and trigger firing, reducing information flow from driving input. At moderate excitability, pyramidal neurons population is close to firing threshold and so driving input is enough to push cells into firing. At high excitability, pyramidal neurons are pushed back-and-forth between synchronized firing with little driving input influence relative to internal drive, and synchronized inhibition with little input influence due to distance from threshold (RMP: resting membrane potential).