Towards a Theoretical Neuroscience

Abstract

What can we expect from a theoretical neuroscience? Experimental work on brains has been carried out on many levels of detail, including behavioural psychology, major anatomical structures, detailed anatomical structures, neurons, and detailed chemical processes within neurons. However, for human understanding of how cognition results from activity on more detailed levels, experimental work needs to be integrated in a theoretical framework. Such an integration requires insight into the information processes performed by brain structures at the different levels. A theoretical neuroscience must therefore address the nature of these information processes.