PREFACE TABLE OF CONTENTS HOW TO USE THIS BOOK CONTRIBUTORS
In hundreds of articles by experts from around the world, and in
overviews and "road maps" prepared by the editor, The Handbook of Brain
Theory and Neural Networks charts the immense progress made in recent
years in many specific areas related to two great questions: How does
the brain work? and How can we build intelligent machines? While many
books have appeared on limited aspects of one subfield or another of
brain theory and neural networks, the Handbook covers the entire sweep
of topics -- from detailed models of single neurons, analyses of a wide
variety of biological neural networks, and connectionist studies of
psychology and language, to mathematical analyses of a variety of
abstract neural networks, and technological applications of adaptive,
artificial neural networks. The excitement, and the frustration, of
these topics is that they span such a broad range of disciplines
including mathematics, statistical physics and chemistry, neurology and
neurobiology, and computer science and electrical engineering as well as
cognitive psychology, artificial intelligence, and philosophy. Thus,
much effort has gone into making the Handbook accessible to readers with
varied backgrounds while still providing a clear view of much of the
recent, specialized research in specific topics. The heart of the book,
part III, comprises of 267 original articles by leaders in the various
fields, arranged alphabetically by title. Parts I and II, written by the
editor, are designed to help readers orient themselves to this vast
range of material. Part I, Background, introduces several basic neural
models, explains how the present study of brain theory and neural
networks integrates brain theory, artificial intelligence, and cognitive
psychology, and provides a tutorial on the concepts essential for
understanding neural networks as dynamic, adaptive systems. Part II,
Road Maps, provides entry into the many articles of part III through an
introductory "Meta-Map" and twenty-three road maps, each of which tours
all the Part III articles on the chosen theme. Editorial Advisory Board
George Adelman Shun-Ichi Amari James Anderson John Barnden Andrew Barto
Fraçoise Fogelman Stephen Grossberg Keith Jenkins John Hertz Marc
Jeannerod Mitsuo Kawato Christof Koch Eve Marder James L. McClelland
Terrence J. Sejnowski Harold Szu Gerard Toulouse Christof von der
Malsburg Bernard Widrow
Michael A. Arbib is Professor of Computer Science and Neuroscience, and
Director of the Center for Neural Engineering, at the University of
Southern California.
