Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 A tour of the NEURON simulation environment
- 2 The modeling perspective
- 3 Expressing conceptual models in mathematical terms
- 4 Essentials of numerical methods for neural modeling
- 5 Representing neurons with a digital computer
- 6 How to build and use models of individual cells
- 7 How to control simulations
- 8 How to initialize simulations
- 9 How to expand NEURON's library of mechanisms
- 10 Synaptic transmission and artificial spiking cells
- 11 Modeling networks
- 12 hoc, NEURON's interpreter
- 13 Object-oriented programming
- 14 How to modify NEURON itself
- Appendix A1 Mathematical analysis of IntFire4
- Appendix A2 NEURON's built-in editor
- Epilogue
- Index
2 - The modeling perspective
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 A tour of the NEURON simulation environment
- 2 The modeling perspective
- 3 Expressing conceptual models in mathematical terms
- 4 Essentials of numerical methods for neural modeling
- 5 Representing neurons with a digital computer
- 6 How to build and use models of individual cells
- 7 How to control simulations
- 8 How to initialize simulations
- 9 How to expand NEURON's library of mechanisms
- 10 Synaptic transmission and artificial spiking cells
- 11 Modeling networks
- 12 hoc, NEURON's interpreter
- 13 Object-oriented programming
- 14 How to modify NEURON itself
- Appendix A1 Mathematical analysis of IntFire4
- Appendix A2 NEURON's built-in editor
- Epilogue
- Index
Summary
… can you not tell water from air? My dear sir, in this world it is not so easy to settle these plain things. I have ever found your plain things the knottiest of all.
This and the following chapter deal with concepts that are not NEURON-specific but instead pertain equally well to any tools used for neural modeling.
Why model?
In order to achieve the ultimate goal of understanding how nervous systems work, it will be necessary to know many different kinds of information:
The anatomy of individual neurons and classes of cells, pathways, nuclei, and higher levels of organization.
The pharmacology of ion channels, transmitters, modulators, and receptors.
The biochemistry and molecular biology of enzymes, growth factors, and genes that participate in brain development and maintenance, perception and behavior, learning and forgetting, health and disease.
But while this knowledge will be necessary for an understanding of brain function, it isn't sufficient. This is because the moment-to-moment processing of information in the brain is carried out by the spread and interaction of electrical and chemical signals that are distributed in space and time. These signals are generated and regulated by mechanisms that are kinetically complex, highly nonlinear, and arranged in intricate anatomical structures.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The NEURON Book , pp. 32 - 35Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
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