The Effect of Longer Burst Duration

Burst duration is very variable from wave to wave, and does not contain any developmentally relevant information. Here, we show the results of six pilot experiments using 2-s bursts in place of 1-s bursts (black x inside circles) yield qualitatively similar results compared to what might be expected from the 1-s burst experiments (blue). (The standard deviation of the 1-s bursts is shown as vertical blue lines.) Though these experiments are highly variable��like the one-second burst experiments��overlapping bursts result in synaptic strengthening, and non-overlapping bursts result in a mild weakening. The variability of the data prevents statistically significant comparisons, but it is likely that the changes in synaptic efficacy are larger in the case of 2-s bursts. (232 KB PDF)