Neurophysics
Encyclopedia
Neurophysics is the branch of biophysics
dealing with the nervous system
. It covers a wide spectrum of phenomena from molecular and cellular mechanisms to techniques to measure and influence the brain
and to theories of brain function. It can be viewed as an approach to neuroscience
that is based on solid understanding of the fundamental laws of nature.
Biophysics
Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that uses the methods of physical science to study biological systems. Studies included under the branches of biophysics span all levels of biological organization, from the molecular scale to whole organisms and ecosystems...
dealing with the nervous system
Nervous system
The nervous system is an organ system containing a network of specialized cells called neurons that coordinate the actions of an animal and transmit signals between different parts of its body. In most animals the nervous system consists of two parts, central and peripheral. The central nervous...
. It covers a wide spectrum of phenomena from molecular and cellular mechanisms to techniques to measure and influence the brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
and to theories of brain function. It can be viewed as an approach to neuroscience
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...
that is based on solid understanding of the fundamental laws of nature.
See also
- Computational neuroscienceComputational neuroscienceComputational neuroscience is the study of brain function in terms of the information processing properties of the structures that make up the nervous system...
- Complex systemsComplex systemsComplex systems present problems in mathematical modelling.The equations from which complex system models are developed generally derive from statistical physics, information theory and non-linear dynamics, and represent organized but unpredictable behaviors of systems of nature that are considered...
- Neural networksNeural NetworksNeural Networks is the official journal of the three oldest societies dedicated to research in neural networks: International Neural Network Society, European Neural Network Society and Japanese Neural Network Society, published by Elsevier...
- Information theoryInformation theoryInformation theory is a branch of applied mathematics and electrical engineering involving the quantification of information. Information theory was developed by Claude E. Shannon to find fundamental limits on signal processing operations such as compressing data and on reliably storing and...
- ElectrophysiologyElectrophysiologyElectrophysiology is the study of the electrical properties of biological cells and tissues. It involves measurements of voltage change or electric current on a wide variety of scales from single ion channel proteins to whole organs like the heart...
- NeuroscienceNeuroscienceNeuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...
- BrainBrainThe brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
- Neural codingNeural codingNeural coding is a neuroscience-related field concerned with how sensory and other information is represented in the brain by networks of neurons. The main goal of studying neural coding is to characterize the relationship between the stimulus and the individual or ensemble neuronal responses and...
Books
- Wulfram Gerstner and Werner M. Kistler, Spiking Neuron Models, Single Neurons, Populations, Plasticity, Cambridge University Press (2002) ISBN 0521890799 ISBN 0521813840
- Alwyn Scott, Neuroscience: A Mathematical Primer, Birkhäuser (2002) ISBN 0387954031