Modelling the Brain

• One thing we can do is to develop computer models of the brain to help us understand how humans (and animals) think.
  • We can model neurons
  • We can model groups of neurons
  • We can model psychological phenomena with neurons and symbolically
  • These models can be consistent with neural and psychological data.
  • They can take advantage of brain imaging techniques (fMRI) and electrodes
  • It's currently hard to actually watch the brain function.
  • Models are incomplete
• Another thing we can do is try to make smart programs.
• The idea is that the brain does smart things, so if we write programs like the brain than the programs can do smart things.
• Of course, we do not entirely understand how the brain works.
• Consequently, we're not doing very good processing with neural models. We're not solving real world problems, just modelling.