Biology and Computation: A Physicist's Choice

by Gerard Toulouse (Editor), Hanoch Gutfreund (Editor)

This book provides a comprehensive review of the works in the rapidly evolving field of neural networks and brain studies. Its purpose is two-fold: to help physicists entering this field to get a broader view of the context of the domain, and to help scientists of other disciplines to reach a better understanding of the physicists' contributions within a context of perspectives they can relate to.Included in the volume are 68 carefully selected, high quality reprints to provide the volume with both breadth and depth. It is organized into 5 sections and 22 chapters, both the sections and chapters being preceded by introductory comments by the editors.
Contents: "Setting the Stage: "Forewords; Introductory WarningsPhysics, Biology, ComputationComputer and Brain; Logic and StatisticsSome Perceptual Facts and Issues"Biological Concepts and Methods; Computational Goals and Means: "Mental RepresentationsInformation Theory and PerceptionNeuroanatomyAspects of Biocomputation"Modes of Computation; Processing and Learning: "Neural NetworksParallel AlgorithmsGeneralization; Learning a RuleEarly Sensory ProcessingNeural Codes"Brain Areas, Circuits and Dynamics: "Sensory and Motor PathwaysBridges between Psychophysics and PhysiologyStructures and Functions of Various Brain AreasRepresentations of Space in the BrainOscillations and Synchrony"Debates and Speculations: "Theory-Experiment InterplayRoles of RetroactivationComputational StrategiesLanguage and Consciousness
Readership: Neuroscientists, physicists and biologists.

872 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1994