Download or read book Local Cortical Circuits written by Moshe Abeles and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Neurophysiologists are often accused by colleagues in the physical sci ences of designing experiments without any underlying hypothesis. This impression is attributable to the ease of getting lost in the ever-increasing sea of professional publications which do not state explicitly the ultimate goal of the research. On the other hand, many of the explicit models for brain function in the past were so far removed from experimental reality that they had very little impact on further research. It seems that one needs much intimate experience with the real nerv-. ous system before a reasonable model can be suggested. It would have been impossible for Copernicus to suggest his model of the solar system without the detailed observations and tabulations of star and planet motion accu mulated by the preceeding generations. This need for intimate experience with the nervous system before daring to put forward some hypothesis about its mechanism of action is especially apparent when theorizing about cerebral cortex function. There is widespread agreement that processing of information in the cor tex is associated with complex spatio-temporal patterns of activity. Yet the vast majority of experimental work is based on single neuron recordings or on recordings made with gross electrodes to which tens of thousands of neurons contribute in an unknown fashion. Although these experiments have taught us a great deal about the organization and function of the cor tex, they have not enabled us to examine the spatio-temporal organization of neuronal activity in any detail.
Download or read book Local Cortical Circuits written by Kathleen Linda Skiba Rockland and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Handbook of Brain Microcircuits written by Gordon M. Shepherd and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 625 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In order to focus on principles, each chapter in this work is brief, organized around 1-3 wiring diagrams of the key circuits, with several pages of text that distil the functional significance of each microcircuit
Download or read book Local Cortical Circuits written by Kathleen S. Rockland and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1994-01 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the nature of local neuronal circuits has been addressed in previous reviews and articles scattered among a variety of publications, a precise definition has been difficult to formulate. This collection of articles, a special issue of the journal Cerebral Cortex, provides a multi-faceted survey of current concepts and issues in the field of local cortical circuits. It is an invaluable collection of the latest research in this vital, growing area.
Download or read book Cortical Circuits written by WHITE and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This elegant book presents current evidence on the organization of the mammalian cerebral cortex. The focus on synapses and their function provides the basis for understanding how this critical part of the brain could work. Dr. White and his colleague Dr. Keller have collated an impressive mass of material. This makes the crucial information accessible and coherent. Dr. White pioneered an area of investigation that to most others, and occasionally to himself, seemed a bottomless pit of painstaking at tention to detail for the identification and enumeration of cortical syn apses. I do not recall that he or anyone else suspected, when he began to publish his now classic papers, that the work would be central to an accelerating convergence of information and ideas from neurobiology and computer science, especially artificial intelligence (AI) (Rumelhart and McClelland, 1986). The brain is the principal organ responsible for the adaptive capacities of animals. What has impressed students of biology, of medicine, and, to an extent, of philosophy is the correlation between the prominence of the cerebral cortex and the adaptive "complexity" of a particular spe cies. Most agree that the cortex is what sets Homo sapiens apart from other species quantitatively and qualitatively (Rakic, 1988). This is summarized in the first chapter.
Download or read book The Functional Role of Critical Dynamics in Neural Systems written by Nergis Tomen and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-07-23 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a timely overview of theories and methods developed by an authoritative group of researchers to understand the link between criticality and brain functioning. Cortical information processing in particular and brain function in general rely heavily on the collective dynamics of neurons and networks distributed over many brain areas. A key concept for characterizing and understanding brain dynamics is the idea that networks operate near a critical state, which offers several potential benefits for computation and information processing. However, there is still a large gap between research on criticality and understanding brain function. For example, cortical networks are not homogeneous but highly structured, they are not in a state of spontaneous activation but strongly driven by changing external stimuli, and they process information with respect to behavioral goals. So far the questions relating to how critical dynamics may support computation in this complex setting, and whether they can outperform other information processing schemes remain open. Based on the workshop “Dynamical Network States, Criticality and Cortical Function", held in March 2017 at the Hanse Institute for Advanced Studies (HWK) in Delmenhorst, Germany, the book provides readers with extensive information on these topics, as well as tools and ideas to answer the above-mentioned questions. It is meant for physicists, computational and systems neuroscientists, and biologists.
Download or read book Micro Meso and Macro Connectomics of the Brain written by Henry Kennedy and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-03-10 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book has brought together leading investigators who work in the new arena of brain connectomics. This includes ‘macro-connectome’ efforts to comprehensively chart long-distance pathways and functional networks; ‘micro-connectome’ efforts to identify every neuron, axon, dendrite, synapse, and glial process within restricted brain regions; and ‘meso-connectome’ efforts to systematically map both local and long-distance connections using anatomical tracers. This book highlights cutting-edge methods that can accelerate progress in elucidating static ‘hard-wired’ circuits of the brain as well as dynamic interactions that are vital for brain function. The power of connectomic approaches in characterizing abnormal circuits in the many brain disorders that afflict humankind is considered. Experts in computational neuroscience and network theory provide perspectives needed for synthesizing across different scales in space and time. Altogether, this book provides an integrated view of the challenges and opportunities in deciphering brain circuits in health and disease.
Download or read book Microcircuits written by Sten Grillner and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 471 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading neuroscientists discuss the function of microcircuits, functional modules that act as elementary processing units bridging single cells to systems and behavior. Microcircuits, functional modules that act as elementary processing units bridging single cells to systems and behavior, could provide the link between neurons and global brain function. Microcircuits are designed to serve particular functions; examples of these functional modules include the cortical columns in sensory cortici, glomeruli in the olfactory systems of insects and vertebrates, and networks generating different aspects of motor behavior. In this Dahlem Workshop volume, leading neuroscientists discuss how microcircuits work to bridge the single cell and systems levels and compare the intrinsic function of microcircuits with their ion channel subtypes, connectivity, and receptors, in order to understand the design principles and function of the microcircuits. The chapters cover the four major areas of microcircuit research: motor systems, including locomotion, respiration, and the saccadic eye movements; the striatum, the largest input station of the basal ganglia; olfactory systems and the neural organization of the glomeruli; and the neocortex. Each chapter is followed by a group report, a collaborative discussion among senior scientists. Contributors Lidia Alonso-Nanclares, Hagai Bergman, Maria Blatow, J. Paul Bolam, Ansgar Büschges, Antonio Caputi, Jean-Pierre Changeux, Javier DeFelipe, Carsten Duch, Paul Feinstein, Stuart Firestein, Yves Frégnac, Rainer W. Friedrich, C. Giovanni Galizia, Ann M. Graybiel, Charles A. Greer, Sten Grillner, Tadashi Isa, Ole Kiehn, Minoru Kimura, Anders Lanser, Gilles Laurent, Pierre-Marie Lledo, Wolfgang Maass, Henry Markram, David A. McCormick, Christoph M. Michel, Peter Mombaerts, Hannah Monyer, Hans-Joachim Pflüger, Dietmar Plenz, Diethelm W. Richter, Silke Sachse, H. Sebastian Seung, Keith T. Sillar, Jeffrey C. Smith, David L. Sparks, D. James Surmeier, Eörs Szathmáry, James M. Tepper, Jeff R. Wickens, Rafael Yuste
Download or read book Micro Meso and Macro Dynamics of the Brain written by György Buzsáki and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-05-02 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together leading investigators who represent various aspects of brain dynamics with the goal of presenting state-of-the-art current progress and address future developments. The individual chapters cover several fascinating facets of contemporary neuroscience from elementary computation of neurons, mesoscopic network oscillations, internally generated assembly sequences in the service of cognition, large-scale neuronal interactions within and across systems, the impact of sleep on cognition, memory, motor-sensory integration, spatial navigation, large-scale computation and consciousness. Each of these topics require appropriate levels of analyses with sufficiently high temporal and spatial resolution of neuronal activity in both local and global networks, supplemented by models and theories to explain how different levels of brain dynamics interact with each other and how the failure of such interactions results in neurologic and mental disease. While such complex questions cannot be answered exhaustively by a dozen or so chapters, this volume offers a nice synthesis of current thinking and work-in-progress on micro-, meso- and macro- dynamics of the brain.
Download or read book Inhibitory Synaptic Plasticity written by Melanie A. Woodin and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-11-02 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume will explore the most recent findings on cellular mechanisms of inhibitory plasticity and its functional role in shaping neuronal circuits, their rewiring in response to experience, drug addiction and in neuropathology. Inhibitory Synaptic Plasticity will be of particular interest to neuroscientists and neurophysiologists.
Download or read book Fast Oscillations in Cortical Circuits written by Roger D. Traub and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Fast Oscillations in Cortical Circuits, the authors use a combination of electrophysiological and computer modeling techniques to analyze how large networks of neurons can produce both epileptic seizures and functionally relevant synchronized oscillations.
Download or read book Anatomy of the Cortex written by Valentino Braitenberg and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 1991 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book On Intelligence written by Jeff Hawkins and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2007-04-01 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the inventor of the PalmPilot comes a new and compelling theory of intelligence, brain function, and the future of intelligent machines Jeff Hawkins, the man who created the PalmPilot, Treo smart phone, and other handheld devices, has reshaped our relationship to computers. Now he stands ready to revolutionize both neuroscience and computing in one stroke, with a new understanding of intelligence itself. Hawkins develops a powerful theory of how the human brain works, explaining why computers are not intelligent and how, based on this new theory, we can finally build intelligent machines. The brain is not a computer, but a memory system that stores experiences in a way that reflects the true structure of the world, remembering sequences of events and their nested relationships and making predictions based on those memories. It is this memory-prediction system that forms the basis of intelligence, perception, creativity, and even consciousness. In an engaging style that will captivate audiences from the merely curious to the professional scientist, Hawkins shows how a clear understanding of how the brain works will make it possible for us to build intelligent machines, in silicon, that will exceed our human ability in surprising ways. Written with acclaimed science writer Sandra Blakeslee, On Intelligence promises to completely transfigure the possibilities of the technology age. It is a landmark book in its scope and clarity.
Download or read book Cortical Development written by Christine F. Hohmann and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The cerebral neo cortex, unique to mammals, is regarded as the prerequisite for higher cognitive function and is the structure most closely associated with the idea of the "mind" . Expansion of mental capa city between mammals is most typically associated with an evolutionary increase in neocortical volume that culminates in the intricately folded configuration of sulci and gyri so charac teristic of the primate cerebral cortex. Yet, the basic unit structure and funda mental connectivity of cortex appears to have been preserved from the smooth cortex of the mouse or rat to the highly convoluted cortical mantle of the human that, if stretched out as a sheet, would be large enough to wrap the entire human brain multiple times. The basic similarity in structure and func tion has made it possible to conduct studies in the relatively simple cortices of rat or mouse and have the results pertain to the understanding of the primate, including human, cortex. The neo cortex is an intriguing structure for the study of cell differentiation. Its dozens of neuronal cell types and small handful of different glial types have their origin in a pseudostratified germinal epithelium lining the ventricular surface of the forebrain. In its mature form, neocortex is a six-Iayered struc ture; five of its layers contain multiple different but characteristic neuronal types with the sixth occupied by neuronal processes. Various glial cells are dis persed throughout all six layers.
Download or read book Jasper s Basic Mechanisms of the Epilepsies written by Jeffrey L. Noebels and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2012-06-29 with total page 1258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jasper's Basic Mechanisms, Fourth Edition, is the newest most ambitious and now clinically relevant publishing project to build on the four-decade legacy of the Jasper's series. In keeping with the original goal of searching for "a better understanding of the epilepsies and rational methods of prevention and treatment.", the book represents an encyclopedic compendium neurobiological mechanisms of seizures, epileptogenesis, epilepsy genetics and comordid conditions. Of practical importance to the clinician, and new to this edition are disease mechanisms of genetic epilepsies and therapeutic approaches, ranging from novel antiepileptic drug targets to cell and gene therapies.
Download or read book Cortical Function a View from the Thalamus written by V. A. Casagrande and published by Gulf Professional Publishing. This book was released on 2005-10-17 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Almost all of the messages that are received by the cerebral cortex from the environment or from the body's internal receptors come through the thalamus and much current thought about perceptual processing is based on sensory pathways that relay in the thalamus. This volume focuses on three major areas: the role of thalamocortical communication in cognition and attention; the role of the thalamus in communication between cortical areas; the hypothesis that much or all of the information relayed by thalamus, even to classical, pure "sensory" areas of cortex, represents a corollary message being sent simultaneously to motor centers. It presents a broad overview of important recent advances in these areas. * Provides a look at brain structures involved in perception and action * Includes summaries by leading investigators in the field * Presents recent advances in our understanding of brain functions
Download or read book Wiring Principles of Cerebral Cortex written by Julian Budd and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2015-11-17 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cerebral cortex is probably the most complex biological network. Here many millions of individual neurons, the functional units of cortex, are interconnected through a massive yet highly organized pattern of axonal and dendritic wiring. This wiring enables both near and distant cells to coordinate their responses and generate a rich variety of cognitions and behaviours. When the wiring is damaged through disease or trauma it may reorganize but this may lead to characteristic pathological behaviours. While there have been significant advances in mapping cortical connectivity, the organizing principles and function of this connectivity are not well understood. On the one hand, there appears to be general design constraints governing cortical wiring, as first recognised by Rámon y Cajal's in his laws of conduction, material, and volume conservation. Yet on the other hand, particular patterns of cortical wiring exist to serve specific functions. There is a wide gap in understanding how the response and connectivity properties of a single neuron contribute to emergent network functions such as in detecting perceptually relevant features. Unravelling this intimate causal relationship represents one of the major challenges in neuroscience. This Research Topic will examine progress in understanding cortical wiring principles. This Research Topic aims to draw together recent advances in methods and understanding as well as recent challenges to existing ideas about how cerebral cortex is wired. This is particularly timely because new automated techniques may soon yield huge datasets in need of explanation. Recent studies have, for instance, empirically evaluated Rámon y Cajal's conservation laws for cerebral cortex, while others have shown some unexpected connectivity features that may refine the traditional view of how corticocortical connections are organised with regard to functional representations of auditory, somatosensory and visual cortices. Understanding these data will help improve the fidelity of neural models of cerebral cortical function and take into account the diversity of connections at both micro- and mesoscopic scales not seen at such a depth before.
