ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents a detailed account of the Lanczos procedure for the first time and is simply a tour de force and a triumph for analytical neuroscience. It demonstrates how the behavior of this numerical model is acceptably close to that measured in experimental work. The book also demonstrates the ability of the network to classify patterns and to generate responses that parallel the core processes of perception. It addresses problems and provides a lucid mathematical exposition of the necessary conditions to support conduction in active dendritic trees based on two classic examples of inhomogeneities in neural fibers—increase in diameter in a dendritic process and its effects on propagation and conduction behavior along a fiber possessing active spines. The book deals with nonlinear dynamics of neuronal systems at the single neuron and network level.
