Neural Circuits Revealed
Neural Circuits Revealed

Author: Mariano Soiza-Reilly

Publisher: Frontiers Media SA

Published: 2015-09-14

Total Pages: 183

ISBN-13: 2889195619

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Deciphering anatomical and functional maps in the nervous system is a main challenge for both clinical and basic neuroscience. Modern approaches to mark and manipulate neurons are bringing us closer than ever to better understand nervous system wiring diagrams. Here we present both original research and review material on current work in this area. Together, this eBook aims to provide a comprehensive snapshot of some of the tools and technologies currently available to investigate brain wiring and function, as well as discuss ongoing challenges the field will be confronted with in the future.

Neural Circuits of Innate Behaviors
Neural Circuits of Innate Behaviors

Author: Hao Wang

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-08-27

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13: 9811570868

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book summarizes the latest research findings in the neurocircuitry of innate behaviors, covering major topics such as innate fear, aggression, feeding, reward, social interaction, parental care, spatial navigation, and sleep-wake regulation. For decades, humans have been fascinated by wild animals’ instincts, like the annual two-thousand-mile migration of the monarch butterfly in North American, and the “imprint” behavior of newborn birds. Since these instincts are always displayed in stereotypical patterns in most individuals of a given species, the neural circuits processing such behaviors must be genetically hard-wired in the brain. Recently, with the development of modern techniques, including optogenetics, retrograde and anterograde virus tracing, and in vivo calcium imaging, researchers have been able to determine and dissect the specific neural circuits for many innate behaviors by selectively manipulating well-defined cell types in the brain. This book discusses recent advances in the investigation of the neural-circuit mechanisms underlying innate behaviors.

Subcritical Brain, The: A Synergy Of Segregated Neural Circuits In Memory, Cognition And Sensorimotor Control
Subcritical Brain, The: A Synergy Of Segregated Neural Circuits In Memory, Cognition And Sensorimotor Control

Author: Yoram Baram

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2021-05-14

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 981123311X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Have over a hundred years of brain research revealed all its secrets? This book is motivated by a realization that cortical structure and behavior can be explained by a synergy of seemingly different mathematical notions: global attractors, which define non-invertible neural firing rate dynamics, random graphs, which define connectivity of neural circuit, and prime numbers, which define the dimension and category of cortical operation. Quantum computation is shown to ratify the main conclusion of the book: loosely connected small neural circuits facilitate higher information storage and processing capacities than highly connected large circuits. While these essentially separate mathematical notions have not been commonly involved in the evolution of neuroscience, they are shown in this book to be strongly inter-related in the cortical arena. Furthermore, neurophysiological experiments, as well as observations of natural behavior and evidence found in medical testing of neurologically impaired patients, are shown to support, and to be supported by the mathematical findings.Related Link(s)

Brain Theory From A Circuits And Systems Perspective
Brain Theory From A Circuits And Systems Perspective

Author: John Robert Burger

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-05-31

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1461464129

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book models an idealized neuron as being driven by basic electrical elements, the goal being to systematically characterize the logical properties of neural pulses. In order to constitute a system, neurons as pulsating devices may be represented using novel circuit elements as delineated in this book. A plausible brain system is implied by the delineated elements and logically follows from known and likely properties of a neuron. New to electrical science are novel pulse-related circuit elements involving recursive neurons. A recursive neuron, when properly excited, produces a self-sustaining pulse train that when sampled, provides a true output with a specified probability, and a false output with complementary probability. Because of its similarity to the qubits of quantum mechanics, the recursive pulsating neuron is termed a simulated qubit. Recursive neurons easily function as controlled toggle devices and so are capable of massively parallel calculations, this being a new dimension in brain functioning as described in this book. Simulated qubits and their possibilities are compared to the qubits of quantum physics. Included in the book are suggested neural circuits for associative memory search via a randomized process of cue selection, and neural circuits for priority calculations. These serve to select returns from long term memory, which in turn determines one's next conscious thought or action based on past memorized experiences. The book reports on proposals involving electron tunneling between synapses, and quantum computations within neurons. Although not a textbook, there are easy exercises at the ends of chapters, and in the appendix there are twelve simulation experiments concerning neurons. ​

Brain Architecture : Understanding the Basic Plan
Brain Architecture : Understanding the Basic Plan

Author: and Director NIBS Neuroscience Program University of Southern California Larry W. Swanson Milo Don and Lucille Appleman Professor of Biological Sciences

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2002-10-23

Total Pages: 283

ISBN-13: 0198026463

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Depending on your point of view the brain is an organ, a machine, a biological computer, or simply the most important component of the nervous system. How does it work as a whole? What are its major parts and how are they interconnected to generate thinking, feelings, and behavior? This book surveys 2,500 years of scientific thinking about these profoundly important questions from the perspective of fundamental architectural principles, and then proposes a new model for the basic plan of neural systems organization based on an explosion of structural data emerging from the neuroanatomy revolution of the 1970's. The importance of a balance between theoretical and experimental morphology is stressed throughout the book. Great advances in understanding the brain's basic plan have come especially from two traditional lines of biological thought-- evolution and embryology, because each begins with the simple and progresses to the more complex. Understanding the organization of brain circuits, which contain thousands of links or pathways, is much more difficult. It is argued here that a four-system network model can explain the structure-function organization of the brain. Possible relationships between neural networks and gene networks revealed by the human genome project are explored in the final chapter. The book is written in clear and sparkling prose, and it is profusely illustrated. It is designed to be read by anyone with an interest in the basic organization of the brain, from neuroscience to philosophy to computer science to molecular biology. It is suitable for use in neuroscience core courses because it presents basic principles of the structure of the nervous system in a systematic way.

Dentate Gyrus and Cochlear Nuclei Circuitry Revealed by a Genetically-encoded Voltage Indicator
Dentate Gyrus and Cochlear Nuclei Circuitry Revealed by a Genetically-encoded Voltage Indicator

Author: Yihe Ma

Publisher:

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An ultimate goal of neuroscience is to understand how the nervous system encodes and processes information about environment and experience, and how neuronal activity leads to perception and behavior. Recent advances in optical approaches including optogenetics and in vivo calcium imaging allow neuroscientists to manipulate and observe neuronal circuits in detail, shedding light into this central question. Hybrid voltage sensor (hVOS), a genetically-encoded voltage indicator (GEVI), offers direct readout of membrane potentials from single cells and subcellular compartments with sub-millisecond temporal resolution, providing unique insights into neural circuits that are challenging to study via calcium imaging or electrophysiology. In my dissertation I employed hVOS imaging to unravel dentate gyrus and cochlear nuclei circuitry. We took advantage of an axonal-targeting hVOS probe to evaluate action potential (AP) dynamics in fine axons inaccessible to patch-clamping. We identified activity-dependent AP broadening in dentate granule cell (GC) axons and also for the first time in mossy cell (MC) axons, which may contribute to short term plasticity of neural circuits. Next, we used Cre-lox technology to label genetically-defined neurons with the hVOS probe. We were able to demonstrate how subpopulations of dentate GCs responded to a novel environment, and how voluntary running affected presynaptic inputs to adult-born GCs. With the same strategy we investigated MC wiring in hippocampus and provided experimental evidence that MCs may excite other MCs, a microcircuit which may be critical for dentate gyrus function. We also showed potentiation between neurons within an iso-frequency lamina in the posteroventral cochlear nucleus. In summary, this dissertation has revealed information processing in neuronal microcircuits and subcellular compartments in hippocampus and cochlear nuclei with a novel imaging method. hVOS as a GEVI enables neuroscientists to further explore how the nervous system operates at different levels from axons and dendrites to intact brain tissue.

From Neurons to Neighborhoods
From Neurons to Neighborhoods

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2000-11-13

Total Pages: 610

ISBN-13: 0309069882

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.