<p>For an artificial network, yes, it typically means there is a binary <strong>output</strong>; this is a standard neuron model.</p>
<p>For a biological network, it's a bit more complicated, because although any moment in time can be a &quot;spike&quot; or &quot;no spike&quot;, there isn't some discrete timeseries described by a binary code, but rather single events with an occurrence time.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-06-04T14:05:47.783Z
2022-06-04T14:05:47.783Z
Bryan Krause
<p>I guess it comes from physiology where the strength of the response of a neuron or muscle fiber doesn't have anything to do with the strength of the stimulus. If a stimulus is above a certain threshold, the neuron will fire. So, in terms of SNN, it seems to me like a binary coding, where a neuron is either active or inactive within a specific time interval.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-06-09T08:14:48.190Z
2022-06-09T08:14:48.190Z
Shailendra Patel
<p>I'm reading a paper by <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11063-021-10562-2" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Auge et al. (2021)</a>. In the introduction they said &quot;Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) use short 'all-or-nothing' pulses to encode and transmit information&quot;.</p>
<p>I'm not sure what is the meaning of &quot;all-or-nothing&quot; in this context.
Does it mean binary?</p>
<p>Auge, D., Hille, J., Mueller, E., &amp; Knoll, A. (2021). <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11063-021-10562-2" rel="nofollow noreferrer">A survey of encoding techniques for signal processing in spiking neural networks.</a> Neural Processing Letters, 53(6), 4693-4710.</p>

<neuroscience><neural-network><artificial-intelligence>
What does "all-or-nothing" means in spiking neural network?
Natchapol Patamawisut
# What does "all-or-nothing" means in spiking neural network?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-06-04)

I'm reading a paper by [Auge et al. (2021)](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11063-021-10562-2). In the introduction they said "Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) use short 'all-or-nothing' pulses to encode and transmit information".

I'm not sure what is the meaning of "all-or-nothing" in this context.
Does it mean binary?

Auge, D., Hille, J., Mueller, E., & Knoll, A. (2021). [A survey of encoding techniques for signal processing in spiking neural networks.](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11063-021-10562-2) Neural Processing Letters, 53(6), 4693-4710.

**Tags:** neuroscience, neural-network, artificial-intelligence


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-06-04. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

For an artificial network, yes, it typically means there is a binary **output**; this is a standard neuron model.

For a biological network, it's a bit more complicated, because although any moment in time can be a "spike" or "no spike", there isn't some discrete timeseries described by a binary code, but rather single events with an occurrence time.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2022-06-09. Score: 1

I guess it comes from physiology where the strength of the response of a neuron or muscle fiber doesn't have anything to do with the strength of the stimulus. If a stimulus is above a certain threshold, the neuron will fire. So, in terms of SNN, it seems to me like a binary coding, where a neuron is either active or inactive within a specific time interval.


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