Information Theory and the Brain

Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 5/15/2000
EAN 9780521631976, ISBN10: 0521631971

Hardcover, 360 pages, 24.4 x 16.3 x 2.5 cm
Language: English

Information Theory and the Brain deals with an expanding area of neuroscience which provides a framework for understanding neuronal processing. It is derived from a conference held in Newquay, UK, where a select group of scientists from around the world met to discuss the topic. This book begins with an introduction to the basic concepts of information theory and then illustrates these concepts with examples from research over 40 years. Throughout the book, the contributors highlight current research from four different areas: 1) biological networks, 2) information theory and artificial networks, 3) information theory and psychology, 4) formal analysis. Each section includes an introduction and glossary covering basic concepts. This book will appeal to graduate students and researchers in neuroscience as well as computer scientists and cognitive scientists. Neuroscientists interested in any aspect of neural networks or information processing will find this a very useful addition to the current literature in this rapidly growing field.

List of contributors
Preface
1. Introductory information theory and the brain Roland Baddeley
Part I. Biological Networks
2. Problems and solutions in early visual processing Brian G. Burton
3. Coding efficiency and the metabolic cost of sensory and neural information Simon B. Laughlin, John C. Anderson, David O'Carroll and Rob de Ruyter van Stevenick
4. Coding third-order image structure Mitchell Thomson
Part II. Information Theory and Artificial Networks
5. Experiments with low entropy neural networks George Harpur and Richard Prager
6. The emergence of dominance stripes and orientation maps in a network of firing neurons Stephen P. Luttrell
7. Dynamic changes in receptive fields induced by cortical reorganization Germán Mato and Néstor Parga
8. Time to learn about objects Guy Wallis
9. Principles of cortical processing applied to and motivated by artificial object recognition Norbert Krüger, Michael Pötzsch and Gabriele Peters
10. Performance measurement based on usable information Martin Elliffee
Part III. Information Theory and Psychology
11. Modelling clarity change in spontaneous speech Matthew Aylett
12. Free gifts from connectionist modelling John A. Bullinaria
13. Information and resource allocation Janne Sinkkonen
Part IV. Formal Analysis
14. Quantitative analysis of a Schaffer collateral model Simon Schultz, Stefano Panzeri, Edmund Rolls and Alessandro Treves
15. A quantitative model of information processing in CA1 Carlo Fulvi Mari, Stefano Panzeri, Edmund Rolls and Alessandro Treves
16. Stochastic resonance and bursting in a binary-threshold neuron with intrinsic noise Paul C. Bressloff and Peter Roper
17. Information density and cortical magnification factors M. D. Plumbley
References
Index.