Cortical Circuits

Cortical Circuits
Author: WHITE
Publisher: Birkhäuser
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2012-04-26
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9781468487237
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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.

Local Cortical Circuits

Local Cortical Circuits
Author: Moshe Abeles
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 105
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 3642817084
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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.

Handbook of Brain Microcircuits

Handbook of Brain Microcircuits
Author: Gordon M. Shepherd
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 625
Release: 2018
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0190636114
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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

Corticonics

Corticonics
Author: M. Abeles
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 298
Release: 1991-02-22
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9780521376174
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Understanding how the brain works is probably the greatest scientific and intellectual challenge of our generation. The cerebral cortex is the instrument by which we carry the most complex mental functions. Fortunately, there exists an immense body of knowledge concerning both cortical structure and the properties of single neurons in the cortex. With the advent of the supercomputer, there has been increased interest in neural network modeling. What is needed is a new approach to an understanding of the mammalian cerebral cortex that will provide a link between the physiological description and the computer model. This book meets that need by combining anatomy, physiology, and modeling to achieve a quantitative description of cortical function. The material is presented didactically, starting with descriptive anatomy and comprehensively examining all aspects of modeling. The book gradually leads the reader from the macroscopic cortical anatomy and standard electrophysiological properties of single neurons to neural network models and synfire chains. The most modern trends in neural network modeling are explored.

Micro-, Meso- and Macro-Connectomics of the Brain

Micro-, Meso- and Macro-Connectomics of the Brain
Author: Henry Kennedy
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 173
Release: 2016-03-10
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 3319277774
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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.

Micro-, Meso- and Macro-Dynamics of the Brain

Micro-, Meso- and Macro-Dynamics of the Brain
Author: György Buzsáki
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2016-05-02
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 3319288024
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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.

Fast Oscillations in Cortical Circuits

Fast Oscillations in Cortical Circuits
Author: Roger D. Traub
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 364
Release: 1999
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9780262201186
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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.

Microcircuits

Microcircuits
Author: Sten Grillner
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 471
Release: 2006
Genre: Anatomy
ISBN: 0262072785
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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

Cortical Circuits

Cortical Circuits
Author: WHITE
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1468487213
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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.

Functional Connections of Cortical Areas

Functional Connections of Cortical Areas
Author: S. Murray Sherman
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2013-08-09
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0262315009
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Two leading authorities on thalamocortical connections consider how the neural circuits of the brain relate to our actions and perceptions. In this book, two leading authorities on the thalamus and its relationship to cortex build on their earlier findings to arrive at new ways of thinking about how the brain relates to the world, to cognition, and behavior. Based on foundations established earlier in their book Exploring the Thalamus and Its Role in Cortical Function, the authors consider the implications of these ground rules for thalamic inputs, thalamocortical connections, and cortical outputs. The authors argue that functional and structural analyses of pathways connecting thalamus and cortex point beyond these to lower centers and through them to the body and the world. Each cortical area depends on the messages linking it to body and world. These messages relate to the way we act and think; each cortical area receives thalamic inputs and has outputs to motor centers. Sherman and Guillery go on to discuss such topics as the role of branching axons that carry motor instructions as well as copies of these motor instructions for relay to cortex under the control of the thalamic gate. This gate allows the thalamus to control the passage of information on the basis of which cortex relates to the rest of the nervous system.