Special Computational Neuroscience Issue of Science
The October 6th issue of Science is a special issue devoted to computational neuroscience. From the introduction to the special issue:
Computational neuroscience is now a mature field of research. In areas ranging from molecules to the highest brain functions, scientists use mathematical models and computer simulations to study and predict the behavior of the nervous system. Simulations are essential because the present experimental systems are too complex to allow collection of all the data. Modeling has become so powerful these days that there is no longer a one-way flow of scientific information. There is considerable intellectual exchange between modelers and experimentalists. The results produced in the simulation lab often lead to testable predictions and thus challenge other researchers to design new experiments or reanalyze their data as they try to confirm or falsify the hypotheses put forward. For this issue of Science, we invited leading computational neuroscientists, each of whom works at a different organizational level, to review the latest attempts of mathematical and computational modeling and to give us an outlook on what the future might hold in store.
Of particular interest is a review article by Randall O’Reilly on biologically based computational models. He focuses on models of the pre-frontal cortex.
October 9th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
This is so exciting!
October 10th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
Yeah, I think the articles are quite good (particularly Randy’s, though of I’m a little biased). I am also really interested in the Rhythms of the Brain book by Buzsaki, reviewed in this issue.
I was surprised by the article suggesting that there are an abundance of job opportunities in the area, though. Has that been your perception as well?
November 10th, 2006 at 10:33 pm
O’Reilly’s work is really crap, folks.
His models are so underconstrained that he is merely telling a story which fits a few anecdotes of data.