SENSORY MEMORY IN A MODEL OF A CORTICAL COLUMN: NOISE, PHASE TRANSITIONS AND SIGNAL STATISTICS. By Julien Mayor SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY AT THE SWISS FEDERAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY LAUSANNE LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND MAY 2005 Henry Markram (president of the jury) Wulfram Gerstner (research supervisor) Wolfgang Maass (referee) Walter Senn (referee) Auke Ijspeert (referee) c  Copyright by Julien Mayor, 2005