Description
About the Author
Chris Eliasmith is Canada Research Chair in Theoretical Neuroscience at the University of Waterloo.
Reviews
How to Build a Brain takes on a daunting task, focusing on those parts that we think are important for memory, attention, and planning. Previous attempts at building a cognitive architecture have used symbols or connectionist networks, but Eliasmith uses spiking neurons and models specific brain regions. Categories and semantics emerge from the architecture. The way that all these moving parts work together provides insights into both the nature of cognition and brain function." * Terrence Sejnowski, Professor and Laboratory Head, Computational Neurobiology Laboratory, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Francis Crick Chair, Salk Institute *
Eliasmith offers a unified theory of cognition that rests on the mechanism of a semantic pointer, namely, a compressed neural representation that can stand as a symbol for a more detailed semantic state or be decompressed to reproduce it, in compositional cognitive processes. Ambitious state-of-the-art modeling grounds the semantic pointer architecture in populations of spiking neurons, providing concrete neural accounts of high-level processes, including attention, learning, memory, syntax, semantics, and reasoning. Along with offering a powerful new approach for integrating cognition and neuroscience, Eliasmith provides detailed technical accounts of his system, with accompanying software that will serve both students and fellow modelers well." * Lawrence W. Barsalou, Professor, Department of Psychology, Emory University *
Book Information
ISBN 9780190262129
Author Chris Eliasmith
Format Paperback
Page Count 480
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 862g
Dimensions(mm) 175mm * 251mm * 25mm