Automatic objective thresholding to detect neuronal action potentials

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce a fully objective method to set thresholds (THs) for neuronal action potential spike detection from extracellular field potential signals. Although several more sophisticated methods exist, thresholding is still the most used spike detection method. In general, it is employed by setting a TH as per convention or operator decision, and without considering either the undetected or spurious spikes. Here, we demonstrate with both simulations and real microelectrode measurement data that our method can fully automatically and objectively yield THs comparable to those set by an expert operator. A Matlab function implementation of the method is described, and provided freely in Matlab Central File Exchange.