This original and timely collection is one of the first books to study neural development using computational and mathematical modeling. Modeling provides precise and exact ways of expression, which allow us to go beyond the insights that intuitive or commonsense reasoning alone can yield. Most neural modeling focuses on information processing in the adult nervous system; Modeling Neural Development shows how models can be used to study the development of the nervous system at different levels of organization and at different phases of development, from molecule to system and from neurulation to cognition. The formal models described can give structure and meaning to complex phenomena and data, create and explore new hypotheses, and guide further research. The book's fourteen chapters follow loosely the chronology of neural development. Chapters 1 and 2 study the very early development of the nervous system, discussing gene networks, cell differentiation, and neural tube development. Chapters 3-5 examine neuronal morphogenesis and neurite outgrowth. Chapters 6-8 study different aspects of the self-organization of neurons into networks. Chapters 9-12 cover refinement of connectivity and the development of specific connectivity patterns. Chapters 13 and 14 focus on some of the functional implications of morphology and development. The science of studying neural development by computational and mathematical modeling is relatively new; this book, as Dale Purves writes in the foreword, "serves as an important progress report" in the effort to understand the complexities of neural development.
Author(s): Arjen van Ooyen
Series: Developmental cognitive neuroscience
Edition: illustrated edition
Publisher: MIT Press
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 339
City: Cambridge, Mass
Contents......Page 6
Foreword......Page 8
Introduction......Page 10
1 Molecular Models of Early Neural Development......Page 18
2 Gene Network Models and Neural Development......Page 44
3 Early Dendritic and Axonal Morphogenesis......Page 66
4 Formation of Dendritic Branching Patterns......Page 92
5 Axon Guidance and Gradient Detection by Growth Cones......Page 112
6 Activity-Dependent Neurite Outgrowth: Implications for Network Development and Neuronal Morphology......Page 128
7 Theoretical Models of Retinal Mosaic Formation......Page 150
8 Activity-Dependent Modification of Intrinsic and Synaptic Conductances in Neurons and Rhythmic Networks......Page 168
9 Models of Neuronal Death in Vertebrate Development: From Trophic Interactions to Network Roles......Page 184
10 Competition in the Development of Nerve Connections......Page 200
11 Models for Topographic Map Formation......Page 230
12 Development of Ocular Dominance Stripes, Orientation Selectivity, and Orientation Columns......Page 262
13 Structural Plasticity at the Axodendritic Interface: Some Functional Implications......Page 290
14 Modeling the Neural Basis of Cognitive Development......Page 308
Contributors......Page 332
C......Page 334
E......Page 335
L......Page 336
N......Page 337
S......Page 338
V......Page 339
