Beneficial randomness of signals in a neuronal circuit

We have analyzed spontaneous discharge dynamics of fusimotor neurons, by applying the so-called detrended fluctuation analysis, which is a modification of the random walk model analysis. Besides, we applied the wavelet analysis method to the same problem. By using these methods we have found evidence for the white noise characteristics of the time series generated by the neuron discharges. We concluded that such a discharge dynamics represents the requisite noisy component for occurrence of the stochastic resonance mechanism in the neural coordination of muscle spindles. This finding appears to be very intriguing, since it provided for the first time statistical characterization of the neuronal noise.