A method for determining neural connectivity and inferring the underlying network dynamics using extracellular spike recordings

In the present paper we propose a novel method for the identification and modeling of neural networks using extracellular spike recordings. We create a deterministic model of the effective network, whose dynamic behavior fits experimental data. The network obtained by our method includes explicit mathematical models of each of the spiking neurons and a description of the effective connectivity between them. Such a model allows us to study the properties of the neuron ensemble independently from the original data. It also permits to infer properties of the ensemble that cannot be directly obtained from the observed spike trains. The performance of the method is tested with spike trains artificially generated by a number of different neural networks.