'Neuronal Noise' covers many aspects of noise in neurons, with an emphasis on synaptic noise. It includes a combination of experimental, theoretical and computational results to show how noise is inherent to neuronal activity, and how noise can be important for neuronal computations.
'Neuronal Noise' covers many aspects of noise in neurons, with an emphasis on synaptic noise. It includes a combination of experimental, theoretical a...
Dynamic-clamp is a fascinating electrophysiology technique that consists of merging living neurons with computational models. The dynamic-clamp (also called "conductance injection") allows experimentalists and theoreticians to challenge neurons (or any other type of cell) with complex conductance stimuli generated by a computer.
The technique can be implemented from neural simulation environments and a variety of custom-made or commercial systems. The real-time interaction between the computer and cell also enables the design of recording paradigms with unprecedented accuracy via a...
Dynamic-clamp is a fascinating electrophysiology technique that consists of merging living neurons with computational models. The dynamic-clamp (al...
Increasing interest in the study of coordinated activity of brain cell ensembles reflects the current conceptualization of brain information processing and cognition. It is thought that cognitive processes involve not only serial stages of sensory signal processing, but also massive parallel information processing circuitries, and therefore it is the coordinated activity of neuronal networks of brains that give rise to cognition and consciousness in general. While the concepts and techniques to measure synchronization are relatively well characterized and developed in the mathematics and...
Increasing interest in the study of coordinated activity of brain cell ensembles reflects the current conceptualization of brain information proces...
Recent experimental research advances have led to increasingly detailed descriptions of how networks of interacting neurons process information. With these developments, it has become clear that dynamic network behaviors underlie information processing, and that the observed activity patterns cannot be fully explained by simple concepts such as synchrony and phase locking. These new insights raise significant challenges and offer exciting opportunities for experimental and theoretical neuroscientists.
Coherent Behavior in Neuronal Networks features a review...
Recent experimental research advances have led to increasingly detailed descriptions of how networks of interacting neurons process information. Wi...
The induction of unconsciousness using anesthetic agents demonstrates that the cerebral cortex can operate in two very different behavioral modes: alert and responsive vs. unaware and quiescent. But the states of wakefulness and sleep are not single-neuron properties---they emerge as bulk properties of cooperating populations of neurons, with the switchover between states being similar to the physical change of phase observed when water freezes or ice melts. Some brain-state transitions, such as sleep cycling, anesthetic induction, epileptic seizure,...
Foreword by Walter J. Freeman.
The induction of unconsciousness using anesthetic agents demonstrates that the cerebral cortex can operate i...
Solid and transparent data analysis is the most important basis for reliable interpretation of experiments. The technique of parallel spike train recordings using multi-electrode arrangements has been available for many decades now, but only recently gained wide popularity among electro physiologists. Many traditional analysis methods are based on firing rates obtained by trial-averaging, and some of the assumptions for such procedures to work can be ignored without serious consequences. The situation is different for correlation analysis, the result of which may be considerably distorted if...
Solid and transparent data analysis is the most important basis for reliable interpretation of experiments. The technique of parallel spike train reco...
Sleep and anesthesia resemble in many ways at a first glance. The most prominent common feature of course is the loss of consciousness, i.e. the loss of awareness of external stimuli. However a closer look at the loss of consciousness reveals already a difference between sleep and anesthesia: anesthesia is induced by an anesthetic drug whereas we may fall asleep without external cause. Other questions may arise about the difference of the two effects: do we dream during surgery under anesthesia, do we feel pain during sleep? Essentially, we may ask: what is common and what are the...
Sleep and anesthesia resemble in many ways at a first glance. The most prominent common feature of course is the loss of consciousness, i.e. the lo...
This book will track advances in the application of phase response (PR) analysis to the study of electrically excitable cells, focusing on applications of PR analysis in the computational neurosciences. This proposal was motivated by discussions with colleagues at the 2007 meeting of the Organization for Computational Neuroscience (OCNS) and further motivated by the success of a workshop at the 2008 OCNS meeting this past July. At that meeting the editors hosted a workshop entitled A dialogue for theoreticians and experimentalists: What is phase response analysis, and what can it tell us...
This book will track advances in the application of phase response (PR) analysis to the study of electrically excitable cells, focusing on application...
Drug addiction remains one of the most important public health problems in western societies and is a rising concern for developing nations. Over the past 3 decades, experimental research on the neurobiology and psychology of drug addiction has generated a torrent of exciting data, from the molecular up to the behavioral levels. As a result, a new and pressing challenge for addiction research is to formulate a synthetic theoretical framework that goes well beyond mere scientific eclectism to deepen our understanding of drug addiction and to foster our capacity to prevent and to cure drug...
Drug addiction remains one of the most important public health problems in western societies and is a rising concern for developing nations. Over the ...
The induction of unconsciousness using anesthetic agents demonstrates that the cerebral cortex can operate in two very different behavioral modes: alert and responsive vs. unaware and quiescent. But the states of wakefulness and sleep are not single-neuron properties---they emerge as bulk properties of cooperating populations of neurons, with the switchover between states being similar to the physical change of phase observed when water freezes or ice melts. Some brain-state transitions, such as sleep cycling, anesthetic induction, epileptic seizure,...
Foreword by Walter J. Freeman.
The induction of unconsciousness using anesthetic agents demonstrates that the cerebral cortex can operate i...