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Article 2045 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: geb@dsl.pitt.edu (gordon e. banks)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: From neurons to computation: how?
Message-ID: <12664@pitt.UUCP>
Date: 11 Dec 91 19:50:07 GMT
References: <12636@pitt.UUCP> <59809@netnews.upenn.edu> <1991Dec11.023152.14901@smsc.sony.com>
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Organization: Decision Systems Laboratory, Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA.
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In article <1991Dec11.023152.14901@smsc.sony.com> markc@smsc.sony.com (Mark Corscadden) writes:
>
>What do you (gordon e. banks) mean that their (the worms and slugs)
>behavior has been characterized *entirely* in terms of the firing of
>their neurons?  I assume you mean this has been done explicitly and
>not just "in principle", since I don't see how you could derive exact
>behavior from the neural net unless you had a detailed model, down to
>firing times, thresholds, synaptic connections, etc.  Incredible, if
>true!  Do you have references??!!?!
>
The slug brains were mapped by Eric Kandel and coworkers of Columbia
University.  I believe they do have all the firing times, thresholds,
and synaptic connections.  There are 27 neurons in this slug brain,
if I remember correctly.  I can't give the exact pointer, but if you
do a medline search on Kandel, I'm sure you will pull up some references
to it.  He is a neuroscientist of the rank of Nobel candidate.
Some other work with mapping real olfactory systems has been done
by a neurophysiologist in San Francisco (or was it Berkeley) at U
of Cal.  I think his name is Freeman or Friedman.  He also has
mapped the real neural net and also has a computer model of it.
He wrote an article in Scientific American on it last year.

>or not.  Don't slugs *crawl*???  I'd love to see the details of how
>the motor activity necessary for crawling is implemented ...

I think that is quite well understood in crawlers, even higher ones
such as snakes.  You don't have to know the connections of every
neuron in order to have an overall schematic of how something like
crawling works.  It has to do with firing of neurons in a sequence
somewhat like a propagating wave along the segments of the critter.



-- 
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Gordon Banks  N3JXP      | "I have given you an argument; I am not obliged
geb@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu   |  to supply you with an understanding." -S.Johnson
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