Computational Neuroscience: Cortical Dynamics 8th International Summer School on Neural Nets, Erice, Italy, October 31 - November 6, 2003 Revised Lectures

This book presents thoroughly revised tutorial papers based on lectures given by leading researchers at the 8th International Summer School on Neural Networks in Erice, Italy, in October/November 2003.
The eight tutorial papers presented provide competent coverage of the field of cortical dynamics, consolidating recent theoretical and experimental results on the processing, transmission, and imprinting of information in the brain as well as on important functions of the cortical area, such as cortical rhythms, cortical neural plasticity, and their structural basis and functional significance. The book is divided in two topical sections on fundamentals of cortical dynamics and mathematical models of cortical dynamics.

Section 1 – Fundamentals of Cortical Dynamics.- Dynamics of Storage and Recall in Hippocampal Associative Memory Networks.- On the Nested Hierarchical Organization of CNS: Basic Characteristics of Neuronal Molecular Networks.- Neural Phase Transitions That Made Us Mammals.- Section 2 – Mathematical Models of Cortical Dynamics.- Mean Field Methods for Cortical Network Dynamics.- Chaotic Neuron Dynamics, Synchronization, and Feature Binding.- A Complex Systems Approach to an Interpretation of Dynamic Brain Activity I: Chaotic Itinerancy Can Provide a Mathematical Basis for Information Processing in Cortical Transitory and Nonstationary Dynamics.- A Complex Systems Approach to an Interpretation of Dynamic Brain Activity II: Does Cantor Coding Provide a Dynamic Model for the Formation of Episodic Memory?.- Itinerant Dynamics of Class I* Neurons Coupled by Gap Junctions.