Ising Models for Inferring Network Structure from Spike Data

Now that we can record the spike trains of large numbers of neurons simultaneously, we have a chance, for the rst time in the history of neuroscience, to start to understand how networks of neurons work. But how are we to proceed, once we have such data? In this chapter, we will review some ideas we have been developing. The reader will recognize that we are only describing the very rst steps in a long journey. But we hope that they will help point the way toward real progress some time in the not-too-distant future.