NERVE CELLS AS SOURCE OF TIME SCALE AND PROCESSING DENSITY IN BRAIN FUNCTION

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Abstract
So far, neural networks have been treated with emphasis on connectivity and synaptic strengths. It is obvious, however, that the response properties of the postsynaptic elements also play a crucial role for the overall performance of a network. Drawing mainly from our own experiments on nerve cells we illustrate how sophisticated response properties dedicate nerve cells to produce desired outputs, enhance processing density and provide time scale to network operations. We note that the response properties are specific for each cell type and open to modification by intrinsic activity and by certain classes of input. It is suggested that adopting new performance in some cases may be better served by changes in postsynaptic response properties rather than by changing synaptic strengths.

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