Spike-contrast: A novel time scale independent and multivariate measure of spike train synchrony

Background: Synchrony within neuronal networks is thought to be a fundamental feature of neuronal networks. In order to quantify synchrony between spike trains, various synchrony measures were developed. Most of them are time scale dependent and thus require the setting of an appropriate time scale. Recently, alternative methods have been developed, such as the time scale independent SPIKE-distance by Kreuz et al.

New method: In this study, a novel time-scale independent spike train synchrony measure called Spike-contrast is proposed. The algorithm is based on the temporal "contrast" (activity vs. non-activity in certain temporal bins) and not only provides a single synchrony value, but also a synchrony curve as a function of the bin size.

Results: For most test data sets synchrony values obtained with Spike-contrast are highly correlated with those of the SPIKE-distance (Spearman correlation value of 0.99). Correlation was lower for data containing multiple time scales (Spearman correlation value of 0.89). When analyzing large sets of data, Spike-contrast performed faster.

Comparison of existing method: Spike-contrast is compared to the SPIKE-distance algorithm. The test data consisted of artificial spike trains with various levels of synchrony, including Poisson spike trains and bursts, spike trains from simulated neuronal Izhikevich networks, and bursts made of smaller bursts (sub-bursts).

Conclusions: The high correlation of Spike-contrast with the established SPIKE-distance for most test data, suggests the suitability of the proposed measure. Both measures are complementary as SPIKE-distance provides a synchrony profile over time, whereas Spike-contrast provides a synchrony curve over bin size.