Figure 6

<p>Reliability of spike generation as a function of input synchronization and EPSC shape. <i>A</i>, Spike responses to somatic injections of normalized compound EPSCs (τ_rise/τ_decay 0.3/3 ms, <i>top traces</i>; τ_rise/τ_decay 5/50 ms, <i>bottom traces</i>) with different levels of compound sigma. Compound sigma values for which spike responses failed to occur in 90% or more of the cases were termed “sigma_f” (marked by the asterisks in <i>A</i>). <i>B</i>, Compounds with fast EPSC kinetics failed to elicit spikes when the temporal jitter in the compound exceeded a few milliseconds (sigma_f≤4 ms, <i>n</i> = 4 cells). Spike responses to a compound EPSC with slow kinetics, on the other hand, were less sensitive to temporal jitter in the compound (sigma_f = 10±0.82 ms) (mean±s.e.m.).