Theory of Cortical Plasticity

Book excerpt: This invaluable book presents a theory of cortical plasticity and shows how this theory leads to experiments that test both its assumptions and consequences. It elucidates, in a manner that is accessible to students as well as researchers, the role which the BCM theory has played in guiding research and suggesting experiments that have led to our present understanding of the mechanisms underlying cortical plasticity. Most of the connections between theory and experiment that are discussed require complex simulations. A unique feature of the book is the accompanying software package, Plasticity. This is provided complete with source code, and enables the reader to repeat any of the simulations quoted in the book as well as to vary either parameters or assumptions. Plasticity is thus a research and an educational tool. Readers can use it to obtain hands-on knowledge of the structure of BCM and various other learning algorithms. They can check and replicate our results as well as test algorithms and refinements of their own.