From the neuron doctrine to emergent behavior

Chapter 1.1

Read the introduction to Chapter 1.1

Historical notes

Learn more about Santiago Ramon y Cajal and its contribution to neuroscience. Read his biography on the Nobel Prize website.

Read Chapter 1.1.1

Watch Torsten Wiesel tells us the story of the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of how the brain processes information through the visual cortex. Together with David Hubel, Wiesel used micro-electrodes to monitor changes to a single neuron’s action potential with visual stimuli. With this simple, but innovative experiment, they were able to map each visual stimulus to a specific region of the brain, providing insight into how the brain generates an image from visual inputs.

Read Chapter 1.1.2

Emergence

Learn a bit more about emergence in this wonderful short tutorial by Ted-Ed:

Read Chapter 1.1.3

Watch John Conway discusses the Game of Life:

Read Chapter 1.1.4

Data-driven neuroscience

Learn more about the Human Brain Project:

Read Chapter 1.1.5