Decoding first-spike latency: A likelihood approach

First-spike latency at the level of auditory cortex appears to correlate well with sound source direction. However, an unsettled issue with latency as a neural code is the apparent lack of temporal marking for the onset of the stimulus. One possible resolution is that relative ensemble latencies could be decoded rather than absolute latencies. How an ensemble timing referent might inform a theoretical ideal observer remains largely unexplored. A likelihood approach is derived for decoding sound direction from a sample population of cortical neurons in cat auditory cortex based on relative first-spike latencies, and is evaluated using Fisher information.