On the variability of manual spike sorting

IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2004 Jun;51(6):912-8. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2004.826677.

Abstract

The analysis of action potentials, or "spikes," is central to systems neuroscience research. Spikes are typically identified from raw waveforms manually for off-line analysis or automatically by human-configured algorithms for on-line applications. The variability of manual spike "sorting" is studied and its implications for neural prostheses discussed. Waveforms were recorded using a micro-electrode array and were used to construct a statistically similar synthetic dataset. Results showed wide variability in the number of neurons and spikes detected in real data. Additionally, average error rates of 23% false positive and 30% false negative were found for synthetic data.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Action Potentials / physiology*
  • Algorithms*
  • Animals
  • Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / methods*
  • Electroencephalography / methods*
  • False Negative Reactions
  • False Positive Reactions
  • Haplorhini
  • Motor Cortex / physiology*
  • Neurons / physiology*
  • Observer Variation
  • Pattern Recognition, Automated
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Task Performance and Analysis
  • User-Computer Interface*