Neural circuitA neural circuit is a population of neurons interconnected by synapses to carry out a specific function when activated. Multiple neural circuits interconnect with one another to form large scale brain networks. Neural circuits have inspired the design of artificial neural networks, though there are significant differences. Circuits in artificial neural networks have been researched as cognates to neural circuits.NeuronPrimary cell of the nervous systemA neuron (American English), neurone (British English), or nerve cell, is a cell that is excitable, firing electric signals called action potentials. Neurons form neural networks in the nervous system, mainly in the central nervous system. Neurons receive and conduct impulses.
Reflex arcA reflex arc is a neural pathway that controls a reflex. In vertebrates, most sensory neuronssynapse in the spinal cord and the signal then travels through it into the brain. This allows for faster reflex actions to occur by activating spinal motor neurons without the delay of routing signals through the brain. The brain will receive the input while the reflex is being carried out and the analysis of the signal takes place after the reflex action.
Central nervous systemThe central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain, and the spinal cord. The retina is also technically part of the CNS. The CNS is named so because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity of all parts of the bodies of bilaterally symmetric and triploblastic animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and diploblasts.
Cerebral cortexOuter layer of the cerebrum of the mammalian brainThe cerebral cortex, also known as the cerebral mantle, is the outer layer of neural tissue of the cerebrum of the brain in humans and other mammals. It is the largest site of neural integration in the central nervous system, and plays a key role in attention, perception, awareness, thought, memory, language, and consciousness.
Neural computationNeural computation is the information processing performed by networks of neurons. Neural computation is affiliated with the philosophical tradition of computationalism, which advances the thesis that neural computation explains cognition. Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts were the first to propose an account of neural activity as being computational in their seminal 1943 paper "A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity."
Nervous systemIn biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensoryinformation by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes that impact the body, then works in tandem with the endocrine system to respond to such events. Nervous tissue first arose in wormlike organisms about 550 to 600 million years ago.
DiencephalonIn the human brain, the diencephalon (or interbrain) is a division of the forebrain (embryonic prosencephalon). It is situated between the telencephalon and the midbrain (embryonic mesencephalon). The diencephalon has also been known as the tweenbrain in older literature. It consists of structures that are on either side of the third ventricle, including the thalamus, the hypothalamus, the epithalamus and the subthalamus.
Motor neuronA motor neuron (or motoneuron), also known as efferent neuron is a neuron that allows for both voluntary and involuntary movements of the body through muscles and glands. Its cell body is located in the motor cortex, brainstem or the spinal cord, and whose axon (fiber) projects to the spinal cord or outside of the spinal cord to directly or indirectly control effector organs, mainly muscles and glands.
Cell (biology)Basic unit of life formsThe cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all forms of life or organisms. The term comes from the Latin word cellula meaning 'small room'. A biological cell basically consists of a semipermeablecell membrane enclosing cytoplasm that contains genetic material. Most cells are only visible under a microscope.
Cell cultureCell culture or tissue culture is the process by which cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside of their natural environment. After cells of interest have been isolated from living tissue, they can subsequently be maintained under carefully controlled conditions. They need to be kept at body temperature (37 °C) in an incubator.
Donald O. HebbDonald Olding HebbFRS (July 22, 1904 – August 20, 1985) was a Canadian psychologist who was influential in the area of neuropsychology, where he sought to understand how the function of neurons contributed to psychological processes such as learning. He is best known for his theory of Hebbian learning, which he introduced in his classic 1949 work The Organization of Behavior. He has been described as the father of neuropsychology and neural networks.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.