|
Department
of Information Science and Telecommunications School of
Information Sciences University
of Pittsburgh E1440 BST 135
North Bellefield Avenue Pittsburgh,
PA 15260 USA |
phone: +1 (412) 624-9427 fax: +1 (412) 624-2778 e-mail: pmunro@mail.sis.pitt.edu |
Abstract:
The dependence of synaptic plasticity on neural activity is a key concept in understanding the biological basis of learning, memory, and even perhaps cognition itself. In the decades since Hebb's articulation of his neurophysiological hypothesis, neuroscientists have progressed through many stages of theoretical and experimental development. Along the way, a mathematical "rule" for activity-dependent plasticity was put forward by Bienestock, Cooper, and Munro (1982) that accounts for the development of selective response properties in cortical neurons. Here, I will present an overview of the rule from the perspective of dynamical systems.