Interpreting the electrophysiological power spectrum

Recent experimental findings suggest that there may be rich physiological information embedded within the power spectrum of neurophysiological recordings, which, in addition to power in specific oscillatory frequencies, can be extracted with the appropriate model. This article reviews previous empirical and modeling results, as well as the canonical power law model that is often used to describe the power spectrum. In addition, a modified power law model with parameters estimating synaptic and spiking contributions is proposed.