Theoretical Neuroscience - Science topic

Are functional maps in the cortex used by the brain to carry out computations or are they just a byproduct of wiring minimization?

A key element to answer this question is to know if, when neurons from a cortical map project their axons to the dendrite of a downstream neuron, they retain any spatial order proportional to their location in the map.

For example, in the cartoon below, the four neurons from a cortical map (in black) project their axons to a downstream neuron's dendrite (in green). The relative spatial position of the synapses (black circles) is proportional to the relative position of the neuron in the map.

I would be very grateful if you could point me to any relevant paper addressing this question, in particular in the cortex of the primate (e.g. axon tracing experiments).

Thanks!

I'm wondering how long a neuron could continue to fire action potentials if all transporters (those using ATP) and co-transporters (those using other ion gradients) were blocked. Would it be several seconds, several minutes, an hour? I'm specifically wondering about mammalian cortical neurons.

I'd be interested in either empirical evidence or in back of the envelope biophysical calculations.

I'm guessing it is in the range of a minute since hypoxia can cause problems within a few minutes (and even that is buffered by the volume of blood).

Why I ask: Making a model. My simulation (based on biophysical assumptions) is losing it's potassium gradient faster than I would have expected.

Thanks in advanced. Really appreciate it.

Brain research utilizes diverse measurement techniques which probe diverse spatial scales of neural activity. The majority of human brain research occurs at macroscopic scales, using techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG), while microscopic electrophysiology and imaging studies in animals probe scales down to single neurons.  A major challenge in brain research is to reconcile observations at these different scales of measurement.  Can we identify principles of neural network dynamics that are consistent across different observational length scales?

In recent experimental studies at different scales of observations, power-law distributed observables and other evidence suggest that the cerebral cortex operates in a dynamical regime near a critical point.  Scale-invariance - a fundamental feature of critical phenomena - implies that dynamical properties of the system are independent of the scale of observation (with appropriate scaling).  Thus, if the cortex operates at criticality, then we expect self-similar dynamical structure across a wide-range of spatial scales. Renormalization group is a mathematical tool that is used to study the scale invariance in equilibrium systems and recently, in dynamical systems with non-equilibrium critical steady-state. In the context of neural dynamics,  renormalization group ideas suggest that the dynamical rules governing the large-scale cortical dynamics may be the same as dynamics at smaller spatial scales (with appropriate coarse graining procedures).

Is there an easy/painless way to get voltage time courses of postsynaptic potentials? Having variable (E and/or I)PSP amplitudes and the times when they occurs is all I need, with enough events or trials for a smooth avg.  This is for a compneuro class I'm teaching, I want the students to be able to play with the data and understand the variability.

Thanks in advance!

Orch-OR theory for consciousness asserts that the microtubules are the neural structures that support the quantum effects. Let's assume that it is true. Therefore, if they have to play a role in the brain, they need to effect the signal transmission in the brain. Is there any indication for such an effect?

A significant challenge in present-day theoretical neuroscience is to determine the relationship among the three types of connectivity. The relationship would likely be derived from segregation and integration of activities in the human brain.

AIMS Neuroscience is requesting paper submissions on this topic for our February 2015 issue. Manuscripts will need to be received by December 28, 2014, and decisions on acceptance will be completed by January 28, 2015.

Require a Quantum Physicist to work on a collaborative paper on Cognitive Neuroscience

We have an artificial neural network to detect patterns in input. training the system to learn specific pattern when the position of pattern is constant is easy and it can be done by feed forward neural network and using back propagation. But the question is that how can we make it position invariant so it can detect the pattern in any place of input ?

does anyone has some Ideas about the relationship between these two phenomena?

aren't they the same thing with different names?

if they are not, what is their exact difference?

I have been baffled by this question for quite some time. It started when I read a lecture note stating the use of RC-circuit as an equivalent electrical system. It replaces the potential difference between the extra-cellular and intra-cellular fluid by a battery, the ion channel by a resistor, and the membrane by a capacitor. I have tried to make sense of that assumption but without any success. Is it me or something is wrong with that model?

I have studied two-dimensional nonlinear systems, to analyze neuronal behaviour. Anyone know the best starting point for learning about higher dimensional nonlinear systems?

According my thinking, this is process of finding similarity of our new percepts to the patterns representing concepts and ideas learned during life experience. They all must create coherent model of surround and reality. If this understanding fully reflects meaning of the notion "understanding"?

The measure "phi" as the capability of a system to produce integrated information seems to just define necessary connections. However, it seems that it doesn't indicate what kind of neural dynamics integrates the whole existing information all across a complex. is it synchronization, recurrent activity or something else?