Marked point process filter for clusterless and adaptive encoding-decoding of multiunit activity
Real-time, closed-loop experiments can uncover causal relationships between specific neural activity and behavior. An important advance in realizing this is the marked point process filtering framework which utilizes the \"mark\" or the waveform features of unsorted spikes, to construct a relationship between these features and behavior, which we call the encoding model. This relationship is not fixed, because learning changes coding properties of individual neurons, and electrodes can physically move during the experiment, changing waveform characteristics. We introduce a sequential, Bayesian encoding model which allows incorporation of new information on the fly to adapt the model in real time. A possible application of this framework is to the decoding of the contents of hippocampal ripples in rats exploring a maze. During physical exploration, we observe the marks and positions at which they occur, to update the encoding model, which is employed to decode contents of ripples when rats stop moving, and switch back to updating the model once the rat starts moving again.