Neuronal noise

If a specific input signal is initiated in the dendrites of a neuron, then a hypervariability exists in the number of vesicles released from the axon terminal fiber into the synapse.

Their theory suggests that noise produced in the visual cortex helps linearize or smooth the threshold of action potentials.

[9] Another theory suggests that stochastic noise in a non-linear network shows a positive relationship between the interconnectivity and noise-like activity.

[10] Thus based on this theory, Patrick Wilken and colleagues suggest that neuronal noise is the principal factor that limits the capacity of visual short-term memory.

More generally, two types of impacts of neuronal noise can be distinguished: it will either add variability to the neural response, or enable noise-induced dynamical phenomena which cannot be observed in a noise-free system.

Proponents of this paradigm believe that adding visual or auditory external noise to a stimuli, and measure how it affects reaction time or the subject's performance.