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"Inspired by response to a workshop at the 2008 OCNS meeting, this book tracks 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."

"The aim of this book is to provide insight into the principles of operation of the cerebral cortex. These principles are key to understanding how we, as humans, function. There have been few previous attempts to set out some of the important principles of operation of the cortex, and this book is pioneering. The book goes beyond separate connectional neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, neuroimaging, neuropsychiatric, and computational neuroscience approaches, by combining evidence from all these areas to formulate hypotheses about how and what the cerebral cortex computes. As clear hypotheses are needed in this most important area of 21st century science, how our brains work, I have formulated a set of hypotheses about the principles of cortical operation to guide thinking and future research. The book focusses on the principles of operation of the cerebral cortex, because at this time it is possible to propose and describe many principles, and many are likely to stand the test of time, and provide a foundation for further developments, even if some need to be changed. In this context, I have not attempted to produce an overall theory of operation of the cerebral cortex, because at this stage of our understanding, such a theory would be incorrect or incomplete. However, many of the principles described will provide the foundations for more complete theories of the operation of the cerebral cortex. This book is intended to provide a foundation for future understanding, and it is hoped that future work will develop and add to these principles of operation of the cerebral cortex. The book includes Appendices on the operation of many of the neuronal networks described in the book, together with simulation software written in Matlab."

"In the late 1960s and early 1970s David Marr produced three astonishing papers in which he gave a detailed account of how the fine structure and known cell types of the cerebellum, hippocampus and neocortex perform the functions that they do. He later went on to be one of the main founders of Computational Neuroscience. In his book on Vision he distinguished between the computational, algorithmic and implementational levels, and the three early theories concerned implementation. However, they were produced when Neuroscience was in its infancy. Now that so much more is known it is time to revisit these early theories to see to what extent they are still valid and what needs to be altered to produce viable theories that stand up to current evidence. This book has gathered some of the most distinguished international contributors to do this. After a general introduction there are three chapters on the cerebellum, three on the hippocampus and two on the neocortex. The book ends with an appreciation of the life of David Marr by Lucia Vaina."

"Neuronal noise combines experimental, theoretical and computational results to show how noise is inherent to neuronal activity, and how noise can be important for neuronal computations. The book covers many aspects of noise in neurons, with an emphasis on the largest source of noise : synaptic noise. It also provides the specialist with a summary of the large body of sometimes contrasting experimental data, and different theories proposed to explore the computational power that various forms of "noise" can confer to neurons."

"This book investigates the fascinating concept of a continuum between human memory and memory of materials. The first part provides state-of-the-art information on shape memory alloys and outlines a brief history of memory from the ancient Greeks to the present day, describing phenomenological, philosophical, and technical approaches such as neuroscience. Then, using a wealth of anecdotes, data from academic literature, and original research, this short book discusses the concepts of post-memory, memristors and forgiveness, highlights the analogies between materials defects and memory traces in the human brain. Lastly, it tackles questions of how human memory and memory of materials work together and interact. With insights from materials mechanics, neuroscience and philosophy, it enables readers to understand and continue this open debate on human memory."