Causal networks in neural systems: From water mazes to consciousness

摘要

Neurons engage in causal interactions with one another and with the surrounding body and environment. Neural systems can therefore be analyzed in terms of causal networks, without assumptions about information processing, neural coding, and the like. Here, we describe the analysis of causal networks in simulated neural systems using a combination of time-series analysis ("Granger causality") and network theory. Implications are drawn for causal pathways in the hippocampus, for the relation between synaptic plasticity and behavioral learning, and for the neural dynamics underlying consciousness.