What does it mean to say that a certain set of spikes is the right answer to a computational problem? In what sense does a spike train convey information about the sensory world? Spikes begins by providing precise formulations of these and related questions about the representation of sensory signals in neural spike trains. The answers to these questions are then pursued in experiments on sensory neurons.Intended for neurobiologists with an interest in mathematical analysis of neural data as well as the growing number of physicists and mathematicians interested in information processing by "real" nervous systems, Spikes provides a self-contained review of relevant concepts in information theory and statistical decision theory.
"A joy to read. . . . This book will undoubtedly become a classic. Theideas presented in it have already begun (in no small part through thework of the authors) to reshape our views of the neural code. Thisbook will make them accessible to a much wider audience." Anthony Zador , Science"—
"Spikes is a really wonderful book. The particulartheory about how the brain works that informs the presentation, and thusdetermines how neural coding is to be described, is clearly thought throughand the arguments are attractively and intelligently presented." Charles F. Stevens, The Salk Institute"—