We analyze the dynamics of the FitzHugh-Nagumo (FHN) model in the presence of
colored noise and a periodic signal. Two cases are considered: (i) the dynamics
of the membrane potential is affected by the noise, (ii) the slow dynamics of
the recovery variable is subject to noise. We investigate the role of the
colored noise on the neuron dynamics by the mean response time (MRT) of the
neuron. We find meaningful modifications of the resonant activation (RA) and
noise enhanced stability (NES) phenomena due to the correlation time of the
noise. For strongly correlated noise we observe suppression of NES effect and
persistence of RA phenomenon, with an efficiency enhancement of the neuronal
response. Finally we show that the self-correlation of the colored noise causes
a reduction of the effective noise intensity, which appears as a rescaling of
the fluctuations affecting the FHN system.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure