György Buzsáki (1949--) The Brain from Inside Out (Oxford University Press, 2019)
Chapter 1. The Problem
Blank paper or preexisting constraints?
Neuroscience has also accumulated much experimental evidence against the tabula rasa model. The most important is the recognition that a great deal of activity in the brain is self-organized instead of being driven by outside signals. This self generated persistent activity is supported by the numerous local and brain-wide neuronal rhythms, which we will discuss in Chapter 6. For now, it is sufficient to note that these oscillations are not only part of and help to stabilize neuronal dynamics but also offer a substrate for syntactical organization of neuronal messages. Each period of an oscillation can be conceived as a frame that contains a particular constellation of spiking neurons. Metaphorically, we can call it a “neuronal letter.” In turn, the cycles of the many simultaneously acting oscillations can concatenate neuronal letters to compose neural words and sentences in a virtually infinite number of ways. This brain syntax is the main focus of the discussion in Chapters 6 and 7.
Wide-Range Distributions: Good Enough and Precise Solutions
As an alternative to the empiricist outside-in tabula rasa view, I raise the possibility that the brain already starts out as a nonsensical dictionary. It comes with evolutionarily preserved, preconfigured internal syntactical rules that can generate a huge repertoire of neuronal patterns. These patterns are regarded as initially nonsense neuronal words which can acquire meaning through experience. Under this hypothesis, learning does not create brand new brain activity patterns from scratch but is instead a fitting process” of the experience onto a preexisting neuronal pattern.
...There are many advantages of a preconfigured brain over the blank slate model, the most important of which is stability of brain dynamics because adding new experience after each learning event does not perturb much the overall state of neuronal networks.
The Brain “Codes Information”: or Does It?
...Computation performed by computer programs or machines is referred to, in general, as “information processing.” In reality, the information is not in the processing. It becomes information only when interpreted by an observer that recognizes its meaning and significance, be it a human interpreter or a mechanical actuator.
Blank paper or preexisting constraints?
Neuroscience has also accumulated much experimental evidence against the tabula rasa model. The most important is the recognition that a great deal of activity in the brain is self-organized instead of being driven by outside signals. This self generated persistent activity is supported by the numerous local and brain-wide neuronal rhythms, which we will discuss in Chapter 6. For now, it is sufficient to note that these oscillations are not only part of and help to stabilize neuronal dynamics but also offer a substrate for syntactical organization of neuronal messages. Each period of an oscillation can be conceived as a frame that contains a particular constellation of spiking neurons. Metaphorically, we can call it a “neuronal letter.” In turn, the cycles of the many simultaneously acting oscillations can concatenate neuronal letters to compose neural words and sentences in a virtually infinite number of ways. This brain syntax is the main focus of the discussion in Chapters 6 and 7.
Wide-Range Distributions: Good Enough and Precise Solutions
As an alternative to the empiricist outside-in tabula rasa view, I raise the possibility that the brain already starts out as a nonsensical dictionary. It comes with evolutionarily preserved, preconfigured internal syntactical rules that can generate a huge repertoire of neuronal patterns. These patterns are regarded as initially nonsense neuronal words which can acquire meaning through experience. Under this hypothesis, learning does not create brand new brain activity patterns from scratch but is instead a fitting process” of the experience onto a preexisting neuronal pattern.
...There are many advantages of a preconfigured brain over the blank slate model, the most important of which is stability of brain dynamics because adding new experience after each learning event does not perturb much the overall state of neuronal networks.
The Brain “Codes Information”: or Does It?
...Computation performed by computer programs or machines is referred to, in general, as “information processing.” In reality, the information is not in the processing. It becomes information only when interpreted by an observer that recognizes its meaning and significance, be it a human interpreter or a mechanical actuator.