The efficiency of a recruitment-order-based

code enabled us to demonstrate40 its feasibility by constructing a biological toy model, a realized Braitenberg Vehicle II.41 This is a continuously moving Lego robot that is equipped with two ultrasonic sensors that transmit their input to a large-scale MG132 mw network of real, cultured biological cortical neurons. The task of the agent (the Lego apparatus together with the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical biological network) is to avoid running into obstacles in a static environment, and it succeeds flawlessly by using the input from its sensors to drive the network while the output to the motors is dictated by a rank-order-based code. The agent performs perfectly in the sense that it succeeds Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in its avoidance task. Importantly, no learning is involved; the representations of stimuli from the ultrasonic eyes are fixed by the rank-order solely which is preset into the algorithm a priori. OPEN QUESTIONS AND OUTLOOK So far we have shown that a neuronal network developing ex vivo can serve as a model for a neuronal assembly. In the past

years researchers in this field have studied the basic biophysical dynamical properties of such a system, its adaptation and representation capacity and have begun to hit the constraints of exploration and learning in such networks. However, the mammalian brain is composed of a hierarchy of assemblies, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and it seems that this modular structure, combined with the properties of its constituents is what enables the complex behavior observed at the level of the organism. Another key theme, neglected so far, is the interplay between the environment and the developing nervous system Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical – it is evident from in-vivo studies that initial and early life experiences greatly affect the potential for learning and function in humans and mammals in general. There are dual effects between the organism and the environment in both structural (anatomical) and functional terms. Endeavoring to understand how complex function and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical behavior can arise from and be mapped to the neural substrate,

we envision the next stages in constructing a model for a conceptual nervous system. This will be a system of modular networks, each as complex AV-951 as the ones described above. These modules will be accessible to the researcher both in terms of recording their activity and also by the ability to control their physical and chemical environments. Being able to connect these modules both by electrical and biological (via axonal and dendritic pathways) means in arbitrary patterns, we can achieve “anatomy” and study its role in the creation of function. We will study the modes of activity generated by coupling two (or more) modules and their dependence on various parameters such as latency, strength, bandwidth, and filter properties of the connections.