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It was not long ago when the consciousness was not considered a problem for science. However, this has now changed and the problem of consciousness is considered the greatest challenge to science. In the last decade, a great number of books and articles have been published in the field, but very few have focused on the how consciousness evolves and develops, and what characterizes the transitions between different conscious states, in animals and humans. This book addresses these questions. Renowned researchers from different fields of science (including neurobiology, evolutionary biology, ethology, cognitive science, computational neuroscience and philosophy) contribute with their results and theories in this book, making it a unique collection of the state-of-the-art of this young field of consciousness studies. First book on the topic Focus on different levels of consciousness, including: Evolutionary, developmental, and functional Highly interdisciplinary
In the domain of science concerned with systems structure and behavior, the issue of the relationship between the micro and the macro level is of key importance. This book concentrates on the interplay between these levels and has a special focus on the level OC in betweenOCO OCo the meso level. An investigation of those links is made through a number of cases from different domains of science, including physics, chemistry, ecology, social science, economics and technology. What is evident is that there are facets regarding meso-level issues that are similar between cases, but also that the domains differ in various ways. This is particularly exemplified by the differences in perspectives from which the natural and social sciences deal with scaling issues. The various examples provided in this book mirror its overriding theme: systems complexity."
The main aim of this book is to raise and clear up the intriguing problems of noise and chaos in the nervous system. What functional role do fluctuations in neural systems play? Are there chaotic processes in the brain? What is the neural code, and how robust is it towards noise? Are there mechanisms that can control noise and chaos?The book provides an introduction to this new and hot field of research, and at the same time brings the reader to the forefront of scientific inquiry. It is intended primarily for biologists involved in theoretical treatment and for physicists with an interest in biology, but the overview character of the articles makes it also well suited for a broader readership.
This volume includes papers presented at the Fifth Annual Computational Neurosci ence meeting (CNS*96) held in Boston, Massachusetts, July 14 - 17, 1996. This collection includes 148 of the 234 papers presented at the meeting. Acceptance for mceting presenta tion was based on the peer review of preliminary papers originally submitted in May of 1996. The papers in this volume represent final versions of this work submitted in January of 1997. As represented by this volume, computational neuroscience continues to expand in quality, size and breadth of focus as increasing numbers of neuroscientists are taking a computational approach to understanding nervous system function. Defining computa tional neuroscience as the exploration of how brains compute, it is clear that there is al most no subject or area of modern neuroscience research that is not appropriate for computational studies. The CNS meetings as well as this volume reflect this scope and di versity.
What is free will? Can it exist in a determined universe? How can we determine who, if anyone, possesses it? Philosophers have debated the extent of human free will for millennia. In recent decades neuroscientists have joined the fray with questions of their own. Which neural mechanisms could enable conscious control of action? What are intentional actions? Do contemporary developments in neuroscience rule out free will or, instead, illuminate how it works? Over the past few years, neuroscientists and philosophers have increasingly come to understand that both fields can make substantive contributions to the free-will debate, so working together is the best path forward to understanding whet...
The main aim of this book is to raise and clear up the intriguing problems of noise and chaos in the nervous system. What functional role do fluctuations in neural systems play? Are there chaotic processes in the brain? What is the neural code, and how robust is it towards noise? Are there mechanisms that can control noise and chaos? The book provides an introduction to this new and hot field of research, and at the same time brings the reader to the forefront of scientific inquiry. It is intended primarily for biologists involved in theoretical treatment and for physicists with an interest in biology, but the overview character of the articles makes it also well suited for a broader readership.
This intriguing book was born out of the many discussions the authors had in the past 10 years about the role of scale-free structure and dynamics in producing intelligent behavior in brains. The microscopic dynamics of neural networks is well described by the prevailing paradigm based in a narrow interpretation of the neuron doctrine. This book broadens the doctrine by incorporating the dynamics of neural fields, as first revealed by modeling with differential equations (K-sets). The book broadens that approach by application of random graph theory (neuropercolation). The book concludes with diverse commentaries that exemplify the wide range of mathematical/conceptual approaches to neural fields. This book is intended for researchers, postdocs, and graduate students, who see the limitations of network theory and seek a beachhead from which to embark on mesoscopic and macroscopic neurodynamics.
The book gathers articles that were exposed during the seventh edition of the Workshop ?Data Analysis in Astronomy?. It illustrates a current trend to search for common expressions or models transcending usual disciplines, possibly associated with some lack in the Mathematics required to model complex systems. In that, data analysis would be at the epicentre and a key facilitator of some current integrative phase of Science.It is all devoted to the question of ?representation in Science?, whence its name, IMAGe IN AcTION, and main thrusts Part A: Information: data organization and communication, Part B: System: structure and behaviour, Part C: Data ? System representation. Such a classificat...
This book describes the application of systems thinking across a broad field of cases representing research, teaching, decision support and construction. All cases are presented by experts who have actually been involved in the activities they describe. The broad selection of cases captures the great variation of systems thinking, and how it is integrated into models and theories and solid knowledge pertaining to different substantive areas.
Computational neuroscience is best defined by its focus on understanding the nervous systems as a computational device rather than by a particular experimental technique. Accordinlgy, while the majority of the papers in this book describe analysis and modeling efforts, other papers describe the results of new biological experiments explicitly placed in the context of computational issues. The distribution of subjects in Computation and Neural Systems reflects the current state of the field. In addition to the scientific results presented here, numerous papers also describe the ongoing technical developments that are critical for the continued growth of computational neuroscience. Computation and Neural Systems includes papers presented at the First Annual Computation and Neural Systems meeting held in San Francisco, CA, July 26--29, 1992.