The '''rate coding''' model of [[neuron]]al firing communication states that as the intensity of a stimulus increases the [[frequency]] or '''rate''' of [[action potential]]s, or "spike firing", increases. Rate coding is sometimes called '''frequency coding'''.
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This [[phenomenon]] was originally shown by [[Edgar Adrian|ED Adrian]] and [[Yngve Zotterman|Y Zotterman]] in 1926.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The impulses produced by sensory nerve endings: Part II: The response of a single end organ.|author=Adrian ED & Zotterman Y.|journal=J Physiol (Lond.)|year=1926|volume=61|pages=151–171}}[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1514782/]</ref> In this simple experiment different weights were hung from a [[muscle]]. As the weight of the stimulus increased, the number of spikes recorded from sensory nerves innervating the muscle also increased. From these original experiments Adrian and Zotterman concluded that action potentials were unitary events, and that the frequency of events, and not individual event magnitude, was the basis for most inter-neuronal communication.
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==See also==
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*[[Correlation coding]]
*[[Frequency modulation]]
*[[Independent-spike coding]]
*[[Neural coding]]
*[[Population coding]]
*[[Sparse coding]]
*[[Temporal coding]]
==References==
<references/>
* Dayan P & Abbott LF. ''Theoretical Neuroscience: Computational and Mathematical Modeling of Neural Systems''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press; 2001. ISBN 978-0-262-04199-7
* Rieke F, Warland D, de Ruyter van Steveninck R, Bialek W. ''Spikes: Exploring the Neural Code''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press; 1999. ISBN 978-0-262-68108-7
