Before revision:  Higher input commonly result in tonic spiking, which corresponds to a stable limit cycle . Some neurons , however, show an additional intermediate, bistable regime, with coexistence of resting-state fixpoint and limit-cycle spiking . In this article, a bistable neuron with spike onset at a saddle-homoclinic orbit bifurcation is investigated. In the bistable region , noise can switch between rest and spiking, and thus increase the variability of the spike train compared to neurons with only one stable attractor.
After revision:  Higher input commonly result in tonic spiking, which corresponds to a stable limit cycle . Some neurons , however, show an additional intermediate, bistable regime, with coexistence of resting-state fixpoint and limit cycle spiking can coexist in an intermediate regime, resulting in bistable dynamics. Here , noise can switch between rest and spiking, and thus increase the variability of the spike train compared to neurons with only one stable attractor.