Abstract
One of the characteristics of brain activity is that its function is always associated with considerable amounts of “noise.” Noise is present at all levels, from the gating of single ion channels up to large-scale brain activity as seen, for instance, in electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. In this book, we will explore the presence of noise and its physiological role. Across the different chapters, we will see that noise is not a signal representing a nuisance, but that it can have many advantageous consequences for the computations performed by single neurons and, perhaps, also by neuronal networks. By using experiments, theory and computer simulations, we will explore the possibility that “noise” might indeed be an integral component of brain computations.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Destexhe, A., Rudolph-Lilith, M. (2012). Introduction. In: Neuronal Noise. Springer Series in Computational Neuroscience, vol 8. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79020-6_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79020-6_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-79019-0
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-79020-6
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)