Decoding the brain: Scientists redefine and measure single-neuron signal-to-noise ratio

(Phys.org)--The signal-to-noise ratio, or SNR, is a well-known metric typically expressed in decibels and defined as a measure of signal strength relative to background noise - and in statistical terms as the ratio of the squared amplitude or variance of a signal relative to the variance of the noise. However, this definition - while commonly used to measure fidelity in physical systems - is not applicable to neural systems, because neural spiking activity (in which electrical pulses called acti...