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Information about Systems Neuroscience

Systems neuroscience is a subdicipline of neuroscience which studies the neural circuit function, most commonly in awake, behaving intact organisms. This research area is concerned with how nerve cells behave when connected together to form neural networks that perform a common function: vision, for example, or voluntary movement. At this level of analysis, neuroscientists study how different neural circuits analyze sensory information, form perceptions of the external worlds, make decisions, and execute movements. Researchers concerned with systems neuroscience focus on the vast space that exists between molecular and cellular approaches to the brain and the study of high-level mental functions such as language, memory, and self-awareness (which are the purview of behavioral and cognitive neuroscience).

Major Topics

Systems neuroscience relies on precise, experimental recording methods such as single unit recording, calcium imaging and psychophysics analysis, which are used to pinpoint the reaction of the nervous system in response to external stimulus.

Vision

Systems level analysis in neuroscience has been most extensively carried out in the visual system, which began with work of Torsten Wiesel and David Hubel in characterizing, with single neuron electrophysiology, the properties simple cells in the primary visual cortex. Research has been intensive in characterizing the receptive field properties of various brain regions involved in visual processing.

Audition

Olfaction

Somatosensation

Motor generation

Higher Executive Functions

Around 2006, Michael Shadlen and his lab used single-neuron recordings to examine how primates make decisions based on noisy evidence. They found that some neurons seem to tally up evidence in a manner much like one would work with log likelihood, and fire when a threshold is met. That is, they seem to perform Bayesian inference and trigger when the probability of a hidden state given the evidence is high. [1]

See also

References

  • Bear, M. F. et al. Eds. (1995). Neuroscience: Exploring The Brain. Baltimore, Maryland, Williams and Wilkins. ISBN 0-7817-3944-6
Neuroscience subfields:
Behavioral Neurology | Biological Psychology | Cognitive Neuroscience | Cognitive Psychophysiology | Computational Neuroscience | Molecular Cellular Cognition | Neural Engineering | Neuroanatomy | Neurobiology | Neurochemistry | Neuroendocrinology | Neuroimaging | Neurolinguistics | Neurology | Neuromonitoring | Neuropharmacology | Neurophysiology | Neuropsychology | Neuropsychiatry | Neurosurgery | Psychiatry | Psychobiology | Psychopharmacology | Psychophysiology | Systems Neuroscience
Psychology subfields:
Behavioral Neurology | Cognitive Psychology | Cognitive Neuroscience | Biological Psychology | Neuroimaging | Psycholinguistics | Psychophysics | Psychophysiology | Neuropsychology | Neuropsychiatry | Psychopharmacology | Systems Neuroscience | Mathematical Psychology | Developmental Psychology | Social Psychology | Clinical Psychology | Evolutionary Psychology | Forensic Psychology
Plantae
  • Chromalveolata
  • Heterokontophyta
  • Haptophyta
  • Cryptophyta
  • Alveolata

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    • Neurons (also known as neurones and nerve cells) are electrically excitable cells in the nervous system that process and transmit information. In vertebrate animals, neurons are the core components of the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves.
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    Traditionally, the term neural network had been used to refer to a network or circuitry of biological neurons. The modern usage of the term often refers to artificial neural networks, which are composed of artificial neurons or nodes.
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    In psychology, visual perception is the ability to interpret visible light information reaching the eyes which is then made available for planning and action. The resulting perception is also known as eyesight, sight or vision.
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    Molecular Neuroscience is a branch of neuroscience that examines the biology of the nervous system with molecular biology, molecular genetics and related methodologies.

    Major Topics

    Stem cells and related controversies


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    biological psychology or psychobiology[1] is the application of the principles of biology to the study of mental processes and behavior. A psychobiologist, for instance, may compare the imprinting behavior in goslings to the early attachment behavior in human
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    Cognitive neuroscience is an academic field concerned with the scientific study of biological mechanisms underlying cognition, with a specific focus on the neural substrates of mental processes and their behavioral manifestations.
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    Single unit recording refers to the use of an electrode to record the electrophysiological activity (action potentials) from a single neuron.

    An electrode introduced into the brain of a living animal will detect electrical activity that is generated by the neurons adjacent
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    Calcium imaging is a scientific technique usually carried out in research which is designed to show the calcium status of a tissue or medium. Due to the chemical properties of calcium it can not be imaged easily.
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    Psychophysics is a subdiscipline of psychology dealing with the relationship between physical stimuli and their subjective correlates, or percepts.

    History


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    Torsten Nils Wiesel (b. June 3, 1924) was a Swedish co-recipient with David H. Hubel of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for their discoveries concerning information processing in the visual system; the prize was shared with Roger W.
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    David Hunter Hubel (born February 27, 1926) was co-recipient with Torsten Wiesel of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for their discoveries concerning information processing in the visual system; the prize was shared with Roger W.
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    Electrophysiology is the study of the electrical properties of biological cells and tissues. It involves measurements of voltage change or electrical current flow on a wide variety of scales from single ion channel proteins to whole tissues like the heart.
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    The term visual cortex refers to the primary visual cortex (also known as striate cortex or V1) and extrastriate visual cortical areas such as V2, V3, V4, and V5.
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    Likelihood as a solitary term is a shorthand for likelihood function. In non-technical usage, "likelihood" is a synonym for "probability", but throughout this article only the technical definition is used.
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    Bayesian inference is statistical inference in which evidence or observations are used to update or to newly infer the probability that a hypothesis may be true. The name "Bayesian" comes from the frequent use of Bayes' theorem in the inference process.
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    MUSCLE (multiple sequence comparison by log-expectation) is public domain, multiple sequence alignment software for protein and nucleotide sequences.
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    sensory system: in this case, vision, for the visual system. ]]

    A sensory system is a part of the nervous system responsible for processing sensory information.
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    Sensory neuroscience is a subfield of neuroscience which tries to understand the behaviour of neurons in sensory systems. Since the neural code is unknown, it is difficult to begin understanding the brain by looking at the behaviour of more abstract neurons.
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    The visual system is the part of the nervous system which allows organisms to see. It interprets the information from visible light to build a representation of the world surrounding the body.
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    The auditory system is the sensory system for the sense of hearing.

    Ear

    Main article: Ear

    Outer ear

    Main article: Outer ear

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    The olfactory system is the sensory system used for olfaction. Most mammals and reptiles have two distinct parts to their olfactory system: a main olfactory system and an accessory olfactory system.
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    The gustatory system is the sensory system that uses taste buds (or lingual papillae) on the upper surface of the tongue to provide information about the taste of food being eaten.

    Importance

    Humans, as a living organism, require nutrition like any other organism.
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    Somatic sensation consists of the various sensory receptors that trigger the experiences labelled as touch or pressure, temperature (warm or cold), pain (including itch and tickle), and the sensations of muscle movement and joint position including posture, movement, and facial
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    Neuroscience is a field that is devoted to the scientific study of the nervous system. Such studies may include the structure, function, evolutionary history, development, genetics, biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, and pathology of the nervous system.
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    Behavioral neurology is a subspecialty of neurology that studies the neurological basis of behavior, memory, and cognition, the impact of neurological damage and disease upon these functions, and the treatment thereof.
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    biological psychology or psychobiology[1] is the application of the principles of biology to the study of mental processes and behavior. A psychobiologist, for instance, may compare the imprinting behavior in goslings to the early attachment behavior in human
    ..... Click the link for more information.
    Cognitive neuroscience is an academic field concerned with the scientific study of biological mechanisms underlying cognition, with a specific focus on the neural substrates of mental processes and their behavioral manifestations.
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    Psychophysiology the branch of psychology that is concerned with the physiological bases of psychological processes. What used to be known as cognitive psychophysiology until the mid 1990's is currently called Cognitive neuroscience.
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    Computational neuroscience is an interdisciplinary science that links the diverse fields of neuroscience, cognitive science, electrical engineering, computer science, physics and mathematics. Historically, the term was introduced by Eric L.
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