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Updated: Apr 15, 2026

Real-time Electrophysiology: Using Closed-loop Protocols to Probe Neuronal Dynamics and Beyond
Published on: June 24, 2015
What is the most realistic single-compartment model of spike initiation?
1Institut d'Etudes de la Cognition, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France; Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, UMR_S 968, Institut de la Vision, Paris, France; INSERM, U968, Paris, France; CNRS, UMR_7210, Paris, France.
Abstract:
A large variety of neuron models are used in theoretical and computational neuroscience, and among these, single-compartment models are a popular kind. These models do not explicitly include the dendrites or the axon, and range from the Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) model to various flavors of integrate-and-fire (IF) models. The main classes of models differ in the way spikes are initiated. Which one is the most realistic? Starting with some general epistemological considerations, I show that the notion of realism comes in two dimensions: empirical content (the sort of predictions that a model can produce) and empirical accuracy (whether these predictions are correct). I then examine the realism of the main classes of single-compartment models along these two dimensions, in light of recent experimental evidence.
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