Wow! eBook
The Subcritical Brain: A Synergy Of Segregated Neural Circuits In Memory, Cognition And Sensorimotor Control
Author(s): Baram (Author), Yoram (Author)
- Publisher: World Scientific Publishing
- Publication Date: 28 May 2021
- Language: English
- Print length: 300 pages
- ISBN-10: 9811233098
- ISBN-13: 9789811233098
Book Description
Have over a hundred years of brain research revealed all its secrets? This book is motivated by the realization that the mathematical theory of dynamical systems underlies cortical behavior. This realization is further enhanced by the 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 notions have not been commonly involved in the evolution of neuroscience, they are shown in this book to play a fundamental role in the description of cortical behavior. 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.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“”The Subcritical Brain weaves together theoretical ideas from random graphs, nonlinear dynamics, prime numbers and quantum computation, to address one of the most important questions in science ― how brains compute. A must read for anyone interested in theoretical studies of cortical microcircuits.””
—
Dario Ringach
Professor of Neurobiology & Psychology
David Geffen School of Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles
“”Baram’s main thesis is that weakly connected small neural circuits offer higher information processing capacities than large neural networks. Paraphrasing this message we may emphasize the importance of diversity in both the brain’s system of systems and the education of its researchers. Any reader who is fond of applied mathematics will be delighted to witness the author’s skillful use of advanced tools in investigating brain mechanisms and addressing issues of movement disorders in neurologically impaired patients.””
—
David Horn
Professor of Physics
Incumbent of the Edouard and Francoise Jaupart Chair of Theoretical Physics of Particles and Fields
Tel Aviv University
“”Professor Yoram Baram has dared set one foot in the world of advanced mathematics and the other in the world of medical practice. In The Subcritical Brain, he creates a bridge between these two worlds that a reader can walk with both confidence and amazement. Neural Networks may have never been approached with such insight and lyricism.””
—
Alberto Espay
Professor of Neurology
University of Cincinnati
About the Author
Professor Yoram Baram of the Computer Science department at the Technion ― Israel Institute of Technology received his BSc degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Technion in 1972, MSc degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT in 1974, and PhD degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT in 1976. Specializing in control theory, he spent the next 20 years investigating and teaching System Dynamics in Israel and in the US, including two sabbatical terms as a Senior Research Associate of the National Research Council at the NASA Ames Research Center, where he also served as a consultant from 1986–2006. He holds a US patent for a virtual reality apparatus for gait improvement in neurological patients which he developed from 1999–2004. He also received a Research Award for Best Platform Presentation at a conference on multiple sclerosis CMSC in 2005. In 2006, he was appointed the incumbent of the Technion’s Roy Mattas/Winnipeg Chair in Biomedical Engineering. Professor Baram has supervised about 30 graduate students. In recent years he has been working on a mathematical theory of dynamics and information coding in neurobiological systems, while serving as head of the Technion Center for Research in Intelligent Systems. Having retired in 2015, he maintains a full research schedule at the Technion publishing his work in leading neuroscience journals and in his recent book The Subcritical Brain.
