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Putting big data to good use in neuroscience

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Abstract

Big data has transformed fields such as physics and genomics. Neuroscience is set to collect its own big data sets, but to exploit its full potential, there need to be ways to standardize, integrate and synthesize diverse types of data from different levels of analysis and across species. This will require a cultural shift in sharing data across labs, as well as to a central role for theorists in neuroscience research.

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Figure 1: The spatiotemporal domain of neuroscience and of the main methods available for the study of the nervous system in 2014.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Terrence J. Sejnowski and Patricia S. Churchland are at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California, USA.,

    Terrence J Sejnowski & Patricia S Churchland

  2. Terrence J. Sejnowski is also in the Division of Biological Sciences, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.,

    Terrence J Sejnowski

  3. Patricia S. Churchland is in the Department of Philosophy, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.,

    Patricia S Churchland

  4. J. Anthony Movshon is at the Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York, USA.,

    J Anthony Movshon

Authors
  1. Terrence J Sejnowski
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  2. Patricia S Churchland
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  3. J Anthony Movshon
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Terrence J Sejnowski.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Sejnowski, T., Churchland, P. & Movshon, J. Putting big data to good use in neuroscience. Nat Neurosci 17, 1440–1441 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3839

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