Quick Start

How to interact with live neuron models.

Overview

NeuronBench simulates small neural network models in the web browser. These models run withouth needing to install any

Finding a model

NeuronBench models are built by modelers and shared through custom links. You can find an example neuron at https://nbnch.io/s/xnzs-qhdf. Open this in a new window so you can play with it while reading these instructions.

Navigating the default view

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Image credit: DALL-E2

The simulation will start with a view of the neural network and the NeuronBench menu.

Runtime Stats

Click the triangle next to "Runtime Stats" to see basic information about the simulation, like the current simulation time and the simulation's frame rate on your machine.

Use the Simulation step slider to choose how far the simulation should progress in every update. Smaller simulation steps result in a more accurate simulation and allow you to see activity on a much finer timescale. Longer steps result in more simulated time passing per unit of wall clock time, allowing you to see more activity unfold with less waiting. The simulation step has an upper limit because large timesteps are less accurate, and steps of several dozen microseconds can cause the simulation to become unstable.

Stimulation

The Stimulation submenu allows you to choose the properties of a stimulation probe.

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The settings in the above screenshot produce a 10 Hz square wave that turns on 1 ms after the beginning of a cycle and turns off 50ms into the cycle. The on-current is 50 µA and the off-current is -10µA.

Clicking on any segment of a neuron will place a stimulation probe with those properties. Stimulation probes are drawn as spheres that are white when selected, and either blue or red when unselected, depending on whether they are producing negative or positive current.

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Existing stimulators can be modified by clicking them and editing their properties in the Stimulation submenu.

Note that the default network in our example contains one highly active stimulation probe. It drives the network hard enough that the effects of subsequent probes will be hard to see. When experimenting with stimulations probes on the default network, the first thing you should do is select the preexisting stimulator and reduce its on-current to 0, so that your new stimulators aren't crowded out.

Oscilloscope traces

The Oscilloscope submenu allows you to attach up to 4 oscilloscope probes to segments in the network. To attach a probe to a segment, click one of the 4 numbers in the Oscilloscope submenu, then click on a segment.

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