The main motivation for measuring LFPs is that they provide an index of synaptic processes which, albeit less direct than that provided by intracellular recording, is nonetheless practical for routine use in awake behaving animals (Schroeder et al., 1998; Ince et al., 2010; Scherberger et al., 2005). This information is complementary to that provided by action potentials, since it relates to processes that are causal to generation of action potentials (Rasch et al., 2009), but may not clearly manifest in action potential patterns, in cases where excitatory inputs are subthreshold or offset by concurrent inhibition (Creutzfeldt et al., 1966; Klee et al., 1965; Schroeder et al., 1998). The problem with LFPs recorded using a distant reference electrode is that generator location and sampling area are each unknown. Attempts to provide a general solution for this problem are thus far unsuccessful, because, as discussed above, the factors that impact LFP recordings, both physiological (e.g., strength, spatial extent and symmetry of activation in the neuronal substrate), and technical (e.g., electrode characteristics and reference site) have not been incorporated into the analysis. While
