ABSTRACT
The building blocks of artificial neural nets are artificial neurons. In this chapter we introduce some simple models for these, motivated by an attempt to capture the essential information processing ability of real, biological neurons. A description of this is therefore our starting point and, although our excursion into neurophysiology will be limited, some of the next section may appear factually rather dense on first contact. The reader is encouraged to review it several times to become familiar with the biological “jargon” and may benefit by first re-reading the précis of neuron function that was given in the previous chapter. In addition, it will help to refer to Figure 2.1 and the glossary at the end of the next section.
