A cumulative sum test for a peri-stimulus time histogram using the Monte Carlo method.

We have established a cumulative sum (CUSUM) test for a peri-stimulus time histogram (PSTH) for the case where a conditioning stimulus is delivered at a fixed interval after previous discharge of a motor unit. (We refer to this kind of PSTH as an 'arranged PSTH'). Expectations of the firing probability after the conditioning stimulus vary among the bins in this arranged PSTH, while the expectations among the bins are all the same in the original PSTH; thus, we could not apply conventional tests for statistical analysis. We, therefore, propose a novel CUSUM test that uses the Monte Carlo method. With this method, the range of the statistical scattering noise on a CUSUM is computationally found by simulating the statistical process in order to calculate the confidence interval. We verified this CUSUM test using both simulated and actual experiments. This paper presents the procedure for performing this new method, along with an example of its application. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science B.V.