MLIB: an easy-to-use Matlab toolbox for the analysis of extracellular spike data

The analysis of neurophysiological data obtained from extracellular recordings is usually performed using a number of standard techniques. These include a) the extraction of action potentials from voltage traces and their subsequent classification, i.e., spike sorting, b) the visualization of activity, e.g., by constructing raster plots, peri-stimulus time histograms (PSTHs), and spike density functions, and c) the quantification of neuronal responses according to experimental variables such as stimulation or movement. Here I present a Matlab toolbox containing functions for the visualization and analysis of neuronal spike data. The toolbox consists entirely of one-liners that operate on vector or matrix inputs, i.e., spike and event timestamps or waveform samples. The toolbox functions provide both basic (constructing PSTHs, computing waveform characteristics etc.) and more advanced functionality, such as dimensionality reduction of multi-neuron recordings. While offering a high degree of versatility, the toolbox should also be accessible to newcomers to neurophysiology, such as (under)graduate students or PhD students. The functions are easy to use, and each function is extensively introduced with several examples using real or simulated data. In addition, many functions provide fully formatted plots on request, even with minimal Matlab knowledge. The toolbox is available from https://github.com/maikstue/mlib-spike-data .