15-883: Computational Models of Neural Systems
Fall 2015
There is a newer version of this course: click here
General Class Information
- Date/Time/Place: Mondays/Wednesdays, 4:30 to 5:50 PM, starting August 31, 2015, in GHC 5222 (Gates Hillman Center).
- Instructor: Dave Touretzky, 9013 GHC (drop by any time, or email for an appointment)
- email: dst@cs.cmu.edu, phone: 412-268-7561
- Credits: 12 units (CMU), 4 credits (Pitt), 1 core unit (CS or Robotics)
- Materials: selected journal articles and book chapters. Copies are available online in the
readings archive.
- Evaluation: problem sets, small programming project, and midterm and final exams.
- Prerequisite:
- Prior familiarity with either computer science or
neuroscience. Computer science students should have passed an AI course.
Neuroscience students should have at least some prior experience with computation,
such as an undergraduate programming class.
- Description:
- This course is an in-depth study of information processing in
real neural systems from a computer science perspective. We will examine
several brain areas, such as the hippocampus and cerebellum, where
processing is sufficiently well understood that
it can be discussed in terms of specific representations and algorithms.
We will focus primarily on computer models of these systems, after
establishing the necessary anatomical, physiological, and psychophysical
context. There will be some neuroscience tutorial lectures for those with
no prior background in this area.
Course home page (this page): http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/academic/class/15883-f15
Syllabus and Lecture Schedule
Readings Archive
Matlab demos
Handouts: homeworks, exams, miscellaneous materials.
Piazza class discussion site
Recommended Resources on Computational Neuroscience:
- P.S. Churchland and T.J. Sejnowski (1992) The Computational Brain. MIT Press.
- P. Dayan and L.F. Abbott (2001) Theoretical Neuroscience. MIT Press.
- T. Trappenberg (2002) Fundamentals of Computational Neuroscience.
Oxford University Press.
- P.S. Churchland (2002) Brain-Wise: Studies in Neural
Philosphy. MIT Press.
- Nature Neuroscience
special issue on computational modeling, November 2000.
Online Resources:
CogNet contains digital versions
of many MIT Press books on computational neuroscience topics.
Getting Started with MATLAB, MATLAB function list,
Comprehensive MATLAB Documentation.
Anatomy: BrainInfo,
The Digital Anatomist,
The Whole Brain Atlas
Dave Touretzky
Carnegie Mellon University
dst@cs.cmu.edu