Information Processing by Neuronal Populations

Models and concepts of brain function have always been guided and limited by the available techniques and data. This book brings together a multitude of data from different backgrounds. It addresses questions such as: How do different brain areas interact in the process of channelling information? How do neuronal populations encode the information? How are networks formed and separated or associated with other networks? The authors present data at the single cell level both in vitro and in vivo, at the neuronal population level in vivo comparing field potentials (EEGs) in different brain areas, and also present data from spike recordings from identified neuronal populations during the performance of different tasks. Written for academic researchers and graduate students, the book strives to cover the range of single cell activity analysis to the observation of network activity, and finally to brain area activity and cognitive processes of the brain.

Christian Holscher is an Assistant Professor at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. He has published widely in international journals on topics of memory formation, synaptic plasticity, neurodegeneration, and information processing in neuronal populations. He was the editor of the book Neuronal Mechanism of Memory Formation in 2001 which investigated processes of synaptic plasticity that might underline memory formation. Matthias Munk is a Research Scientist at the Max Plank Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tubingen, Germany, and an Assistant Professor (Privatdozent) at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. He has conducted extensive research in the area of information processing in the visual cortex of primates, using electrophysiological, pharmacological and imaging techniques. He has published his research widely in a range of top scientific journals.