Stochastic resonance can enhance information transmission of supra-threshold neural signals

Stochastic resonance (SR) has been shown to improve detection of sub-threshold signals with additive uncorrelated background noise, not only in a single hippocampal CA1 neuron model, but in a population of hippocampal CA1 neuron models (array-enhanced stochastic resonance; AESR). However, most of the information in the CNS is transmitted through supra-threshold signals and the effect of stochastic resonance in neurons on these signals is unknown. Therefore, we investigate through computer simulations whether information transmission of supra-threshold input signal can be improved by uncorrelated noise in a population of hippocampal CA1 neuron models by supra-threshold stochastic resonance (SSR). The mutual information was estimated as an index of information transmission via total and noise entropies from the inter-spike interval (ISI) histograms of the spike trains generated by gathering each of spike trains in a population of hippocampal CA1 neuron models at N = 3D1, 2, 4, 10, 20 and 50. It was shown that the mutual information was maximized at a specific amplitude of uncorrelated noise, i.e., a typical curve of SR was observed when the number of neurons was greater than 10 with SSR. However, SSR did not affect the information transfer with a small number of neurons. In conclusion, SSR may play an important role in processing information such as memory formation in a population of hippocampal neurons.