Patterns from the brain

摘要

Until recently, biologists treated theory as a reward, claimed after a lifetime of labour in experiment and observation. Yet, within just a few generations, theorists in neuroscience have begun to resemble their cousins in physics, choosing to specialize in theory early in their careers. The focus of theoretical neuroscience has shifted in that time towards complexity: from models of nerve conduction to an emphasis on the dynamics of nonlinear neural interactions. Bard Ermentrout, a biophysicist, had much to do with that transformation, which is highlighted in his and mathematician David Terman's textbook, Mathematical Foundations of Neuroscience.