Figure 22

Time-division multiplexing model. Three cells each receive an information-containing input (leftmost colored bars) and a timing input (boxed traces on the left). The timing inputs given to the three cells are a shifted version of each other. They determine windows of phase (darker segments) during which the corresponding cell may echo the information-containing input; the output of the cell (colored bars in the middle) is a copy of only those spikes (of the information-containing input) that fall inside the allowed phases. All three cells send their output to a new cell that responds to all of them, echoing their spikes. As a result, its output is divided into phases, during each of which it simply repeats the information-containing input from one of the sources. Assuming that information is contained in the precise timing of the spikes, the output cell transmits information from different sources at different intervals of time