Reasons to study neural computation

(2nd-Nov-2020)

To understand how the brain actually works. – Its very big and very complicated and made of stuff that dies when you poke it around. So we need to use computer simulations.

• To understand a style of parallel computation inspired by neurons and their adaptive connections. – Very different style from sequential computation.

• should be good for things that brains are good at(e.g. vision)

• Should be bad for things that brains are bad at (e.g. 23 x 71) • To solve practical problems by using novel learning algorithms inspired by the brain – Learning algorithms can be very useful even if they are not how the brain actually works.

How the brain works?

• Each neuron receives inputs from other neurons • The effect of each input line on the neuron is controlled by a synaptic weight • The synaptic weights adapt so that the whole network learns to perform useful computations • There are about10^11neurons each with about 10^4 weights.

Different bits of the cortex do different things. But cortex looks pretty much the same all over.