Dynamics of Cortical Columnar Organization: Biological and Computational Approaches

小行星9421380 大脑中被称为“大脑皮层”的区域参与认知功能，如学习，识别物体和执行熟练的动作。 它的功能部分取决于数十亿皮层神经细胞的相互连接方式。 一些皮层细胞被组织成称为“柱”的工作簇。 这笔资金将允许西蒙斯博士领导的一个团队研究皮层柱如何计算来自触觉感受器的信息。 柱的分析将首先涉及柱内细胞之间电信号的生理学研究，并且这些结果将通过构建柱电路的数学模型来理解。 这些结果对于理解大脑如何构建外部世界的灵活表征非常重要。 这可能会提高我们设计智能系统的能力，这些智能系统可以执行一些通常在大脑皮层中执行的操作。 ***

9421380 Simons The region of the brain called the 'cerebral cortex' is involved in cognitive functions such as learning, recognizing objects, and performing skilled movements. It's function is determined, in part, by the way in which billions of cortical nerve cells are interconnected. Some cortical cells are organized into working clusters called 'columns'. This grant will allow a team headed by Dr. Simons to study how cortical columns make computations about information coming to the cortex from touch receptors. The analysis of the columns will first involve physiological studies of electrical signaling among cells within columns, and these results will be understood by constructing mathematical models of the column circuitry. The results will be important for understanding how the brain constructs flexible representations of the external world. This is likely to advance our ability to design intelligent systems that can perform some of the operations that are normally performed in the cerebral cortex. ***