Bringing together a multitude of data from different backgrounds, this book answers many questions including how networks are formed and separated and associated with other networks. It strives to cover the range of single cell activity analysis to observation of network activity and to brain area activity and cognitive processes.

Papers presented at NIPS, the flagship meeting on neural computation, held in December 2004 in Vancouver.The annual Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) conference is the flagship meeting on neural computation. It draws a diverse group of attendees--physicists, neuroscientists, mathematicians, statisticians, and computer scientists. The presentations are interdisciplinary, with contributions in algorithms, learning theory, cognitive science, neuroscience, brain imaging, vision, speech and signal processing, reinforcement learning and control, emerging technologies, and applications. Only twenty-five percent of the papers submitted are accepted for presentation at NIPS, so the quality is exceptionally high. This volume contains the papers presented at the December, 2004 conference, held in Vancouver.

The past decade has seen greatly increased interaction between theoretical work in neuroscience, cognitive science and information processing, and experimental work requiring sophisticated computational modeling. The 152 contributions in NIPS 8 focus on a wide variety of algorithms and architectures for both supervised and unsupervised learning. They are divided into nine parts: Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, Theory, Algorithms and Architectures, Implementations, Speech and Signal Processing, Vision, Applications, and Control. Chapters describe how neuroscientists and cognitive scientists use computational models of neural systems to test hypotheses and generate predictions to guide their work. This work includes models of how networks in the owl brainstem could be trained for complex localization function, how cellular activity may underlie rat navigation, how cholinergic modulation may regulate cortical reorganization, and how damage to parietal cortex may result in neglect. Additional work concerns development of theoretical techniques important for understanding the dynamics of neural systems, including formation of cortical maps, analysis of recurrent networks, and analysis of self- supervised learning. Chapters also describe how engineers and computer scientists have approached problems of pattern recognition or speech recognition using computational architectures inspired by the interaction of populations of neurons within the brain. Examples are new neural network models that have been applied to classical problems, including handwritten character recognition and object recognition, and exciting new work that focuses on building electronic hardware modeled after neural systems. A Bradford Book

There is a tradition of theoretical brain science which started in the forties (Wiener, McCulloch, Turing, Craik, Hebb). This was continued by a small number of people without interruption up to the present. It has definitely provided main guiding lines for brain science, the devel opment of which has been spectacular in the last decades. However, within the bulk of experimental neuroscience, the theoreticians some times had a difficult stand, since it was felt that the times were not ripe yet and the methods not yet available for a development of a true theoretical speciality in this field. Thus theory remained in the hands of a fairly small club which recruited its members from theoretical physicists, mathematicians and some experimentalists with amateurish theoretical leanings. The boom of approaches which go by the name of 'computational neuroscience', 'neuronal networks', 'associative mem ory', 'spinglass theory', 'parallel processing' etc. should not blind one for the fact that the group of people professionally interested in real istic models of brain function up to the present date remains rather small and suffers from a lack of professional organization. It was against this background that we decided to organize a meet ing on Theoretical Brain Science. The meeting was held April 18 - 20, 1990 and took place at Schloss Ringberg, West-Germany, a facility sponsored by the Max-Planck-Society.

Recent developments in the neurosciences have considerably modified our knowledge of both the operating modes of neurons and information processing in the cortex. Multi-unit recordings have enabled temporal correlations to be detected, within temporal windows of the order of 1ms. Oscillations corresponding to a quasi-periodic spike-giving, synchronized over several visual cortical areas, have been observed in anaesthesized cats and monkeys. Recent studies have also focused on the role played by the dendritic arborization.These developments have led to considerable interest in a coding scheme which relies on precise spatio-temporal patterns from both the theoretical and experimental points of view. This prompts us to look into new models for information processing which will proceed, for example, from a synchronous detection of correlated spike giving, and is particularly robust against noise. Such models could bring about original technical applications for information processing and control.Further developments in this field may be of major importance for our understanding of the basic mechanisms of perception and cognition. They could also lead to new concepts in applications directed towards artificial perception and pattern recognition. Up to now, artificial systems for pattern recognition are far from reaching the standards of human vision. Systems based on a temporal coding by spikes may now be expected to bring about major improvements in this field.This book covers the lectures delivered at a summer school on neuronal information processing. It includes information on all the above-mentioned developments, and also provides the reader with the state-of-the-art in every relevant field, including the neurosciences, physics, mathematics, and information and control theory.

The annual conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) is the flagship conference on neural computation. It draws preeminent academic researchers from around the world and is widely considered to be a showcase conference for new developments in network algorithms and architectures. The broad range of interdisciplinary research areas represented includes computer science, neuroscience, statistics, physics, cognitive science, and many branches of engineering, including signal processing and control theory. Only about 30 percent of the papers submitted are accepted for presentation at NIPS, so the quality is exceptionally high. These proceedings contain all of the papers that were presented.

The brain ... There is no other part of the human anatomy that is so intriguing. How does it develop and function and why does it sometimes, tragically, degenerate? The answers are complex. In Discovering the Brain, science writer Sandra Ackerman cuts through the complexity to bring this vital topic to the public. The 1990s were declared the "Decade of the Brain" by former President Bush, and the neuroscience community responded with a host of new investigations and conferences. Discovering the Brain is based on the Institute of Medicine conference, Decade of the Brain: Frontiers in Neuroscience and Brain Research. Discovering the Brain is a "field guide" to the brainâ€"an easy-to-read discussion of the brain's physical structure and where functions such as language and music appreciation lie. Ackerman examines: How electrical and chemical signals are conveyed in the brain. The mechanisms by which we see, hear, think, and pay attentionâ€"and how a "gut feeling" actually originates in the brain. Learning and memory retention, including parallels to computer memory and what they might tell us about our own mental capacity. Development of the brain throughout the life span, with a look at the aging brain. Ackerman provides an enlightening chapter on the connection between the brain's physical condition and various mental disorders and notes what progress can realistically be made toward the prevention and treatment of stroke and other ailments. Finally, she explores the potential for major advances during the "Decade of the Brain," with a look at medical imaging techniquesâ€"what various technologies can and cannot tell usâ€"and how the public and private sectors can contribute to continued advances in neuroscience. This highly readable volume will provide the public and policymakersâ€"and many scientists as wellâ€"with a helpful guide to understanding the many discoveries that are sure to be announced throughout the "Decade of the Brain."

This book deals with information processing in the primate temporal visual cortex, one of the higher visual association areas, which is believed to be important for the representation of complex stimuli and may also play a role in visual memory. Here, the need for rapid information processing shapes the functional architecture of all sensory systems, acting to reduce, where possible, wiring length and the number of synapses, to allow faster processing.

This solid introduction uses the principles of physics and the tools of mathematics to approach fundamental questions of neuroscience.