Information theory quantifies how much information a neural response carries about the stimulus. This can be compared to the information transferred in particular models of the stimulus-response function and to maximum possible information transfer. Such comparisons are crucial because they validate assumptions present in any neurophysiological analysis.
The authors review information-theory basics before demonstrating its use in neural coding, validating simple stimulus-response models of neural coding of dynamic stimuli.
By Alexander Borst & Frederic E. Theunissen
Nature Neuroscience 2, 947 – 957 (1999)
doi:10.1038/14731
Read the rest of this entry…
The development of organic computers, which use mammalian neurons to process or store information or neurological prosthetics for overcoming disorders of the central nervous system, might sound like the background plot for Terminator 4.
However, breakthroughs achieved within the NACHIP project, funded under the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) and developed by researchers in Germany, Italy and Switzerland, could contribute to the development of precisely these kinds of technology.
The project team is made up of Peter Fromherz from the Max-Planck-Institute for Biochemistry in Munich , Stefano Vassanelli from the Department of Membrane and Neurophysics at the University of Padova and Nikolaus Greeff from the University of Zurich’s Institute of Physiology.
Read the rest of this entry…
Neurobot via RSS
