The Handbook of Computational Neurodegeneration provides a comprehensive overview of the field and thus bridges the gap between standard textbooks of research on neurodegeneration and dispersed publications for specialists that have a narrowed focus on computational methods to study this complicated process. The handbook reviews the central issues and methodological approaches related to the field for which the reader pursues a thorough overview. It also conveys more advanced knowledge, thus serving both as an introductory text and as a starting point for an in-depth study of a specific area, as well as a quick reference source for the expert by reflecting the state of the art and future prospects. The book includes topics that are usually missing in standard textbooks and that are only marginally represented in the specific literature. The broad scope of this handbook is reflected by five major parts that facilitate an integration of computational concepts, methods and applications in the study of neurodegeneration. Each part is intended to stand on its own, giving an overview of the topic and the most important problems and approaches, which are supported by examples, practical applications, and proposed methodologies. The basic concepts and knowledge, standard procedures and methods are presented, as well as recent advances and new perspectives.

The Handbook of Computational Neurodegeneration provides a comprehensive overview of the field and thus bridges the gap between standard textbooks of research on neurodegeneration and dispersed publications for specialists that have a narrowed focus on computational methods to study this complicated process. The handbook reviews the central issues and methodological approaches related to the field for which the reader pursues a thorough overview. It also conveys more advanced knowledge, thus serving both as an introductory text and as a starting point for an in-depth study of a specific area, as well as a quick reference source for the expert by reflecting the state of the art and future prospects. The book includes topics that are usually missing in standard textbooks and that are only marginally represented in the specific literature. The broad scope of this handbook is reflected by five major parts that facilitate an integration of computational concepts, methods and applications in the study of neurodegeneration. Each part is intended to stand on its own, giving an overview of the topic and the most important problems and approaches, which are supported by examples, practical applications, and proposed methodologies. The basic concepts and knowledge, standard procedures and methods are presented, as well as recent advances and new perspectives. .

The book is a compendium of the aforementioned subclass of models of Basal Ganglia, which presents some the key existent theories of Basal Ganglia function. The book presents computational models of basal ganglia-related disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, and addiction. Importantly, it highlights the applications of understanding the role of the basal ganglia to treat neurological and psychiatric disorders. The purpose of the present book is to amend and expand on James Houk’s book (MIT press; ASIN: B010BF4U9K) by providing a comprehensive overview on computational models of the basal ganglia. This book caters to researchers and academics from the area of computational cognitive neuroscience.

This volume gathers contributions from theoretical, experimental and computational researchers who are working on various topics in theoretical/computational/mathematical neuroscience. The focus is on mathematical modeling, analytical and numerical topics, and statistical analysis in neuroscience with applications. The following subjects are considered: mathematical modelling in Neuroscience, analytical and numerical topics; statistical analysis in Neuroscience; Neural Networks; Theoretical Neuroscience. The book is addressed to researchers involved in mathematical models applied to neuroscience.

When funding agencies and policy organizations consider the role of modeling and simulation in modern biology, the question is often posed, what has been accomplished ? This book will be organized around a symposium on the 20 year history of the CNS meetings, to be held as part of CNS 2010 in San Antonio Texas in July 2010. The book, like the symposium is intended to summarize progress made in Computational Neuroscience over the last 20 years while also considering current challenges in the field. As described in the table of contents, the chapter’s authors have been selected to provide wide coverage of the applications of computational techniques to a broad range of questions and model systems in neuroscience. The proposed book will include several features that establish the history of the field. For each article, its author will select an article originally appearing in a CNS conference proceedings from 15 – 20 years ago. These short (less than 6 page) articles will provide illustrations of the state of the field 20 years ago. The new articles will describe what has been learned about the subject in the following 20 years, and pose specific challenges for the next 20 years. The second historical mechanism will be the reproduction of the first 12 years of posters from the CNS meeting. These posters in and of themselves have become famous in the field (they hang in the halls of the NIH in Bethesda Maryland) and were constructed as allegories for the state and development of computational neuroscience. The posters were designed by the book’s editor, who will, for the first time, provide a written description of each poster.

Computational neuroscience is the theoretical study of the brain to uncover the principles and mechanisms that guide the development, organization, information processing, and mental functions of the nervous system. Although not a new area, it is only recently that enough knowledge has been gathered to establish computational neuroscience as a scientific discipline in its own right. Given the complexity of the field, and its increasing importance in progressing our understanding of how the brain works, there has long been a need for an introductory text on what is often assumed to be an impenetrable topic. The new edition of Fundamentals of Computational Neuroscience build on the success and strengths of the previous editions. It introduces the theoretical foundations of neuroscience with a focus on the nature of information processing in the brain. The book covers the introduction and motivation of simplified models of neurons that are suitable for exploring information processing in large brain-like networks. Additionally, it introduces several fundamental network architectures and discusses their relevance for information processing in the brain, giving some examples of models of higher-order cognitive functions to demonstrate the advanced insight that can be gained with such studies. Each chapter starts by introducing its topic with experimental facts and conceptual questions related to the study of brain function. An additional feature is the inclusion of simple Matlab programs that can be used to explore many of the mechanisms explained in the book. An accompanying webpage includes programs for download. The book will be the essential text for anyone in the brain sciences who wants to get to grips with this topic.

Biology undergraduates, medical students and life-science graduate students often have limited mathematical skills. Similarly, physics, math and engineering students have little patience for the detailed facts that make up much of biological knowledge. Teaching computational neuroscience as an integrated discipline requires that both groups be brought forward onto common ground. This book does this by making ancillary material available in an appendix and providing basic explanations without becoming bogged down in unnecessary details. The book will be suitable for undergraduates and beginning graduate students taking a computational neuroscience course and also to anyone with an interest in the uses of the computer in modeling the nervous system.