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Slowly adapting stretch receptor (SAO) pacemaker neurons, driven with periodic tugs, were analyzed by way of Poincaré mappings (Appendix). Two behaviors were apparent. i) Intermittency characterized previously unclear situations: discharges shifted irregularly between prolonged epochs where spike phases (relative to tugs) and intervals barely changed (slid), and brief bursts with marked variations (skipped). ii) Locking was well-known: phases and intervals remained almost fixed, regardless of the initiation. Changing frequencies, map domains with locking (ordered according to spikes/tugs ratios), alternated with intermittent ones. The best fit for any experimental map was a curve, not straight but certainly unidimensional, continuous and monotonic; it varied characteristically with frequency. This suggested relations called diffeomorphisms, implying periodicity and quasi-periodicity. Outcomes, expanding previous knowledge and meaningful biologically, were i) a precise, exhaustive behavior list (including between behavior transitions) and ii) a thorough understanding or model. This, in turn, provides norms for more specific models (single-variable ones suffice), constraints upon basic mechanisms (one variable, reflecting several real ones combined, should behave as the phase), and forecasts for future experimentation (e.g., unexamined tug frequencies and amplitudes).

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