Recurring discharge patterns in multiple spike trains. I. Detection.

We present a procedure to detect recurring discharge patterns in multiple spike trains. Such recurring patterns can include many spikes and involve from three to many spike trains. The pattern detection procedure is based on calculating the exact probability of randomly obtaining each individually recurring pattern. The statistical evaluation is based on the use of 2 x 2 contingency tables and the application of Fisher's exact test. Several simulations are applied to evaluate the method. Findings based on applying the procedure to simultaneously recorded spike and event trains are described in a companion paper (Frostig et al. 1990).