Pe ter E. rdi Boeken

This book explains why complex systems research is important in understanding the structure, function and dynamics of complex natural and social phenomena. It illuminates how complex collective behavior emerges from the parts of a system, due to the interaction between the system and its environment. Readers will learn the basic concepts and methods of complex system research. The book is not highly technical mathematically, but teaches and uses the basic mathematical notions of dynamical system theory, making the book useful for students of science majors and graduate courses.

This book presents thoroughly revised tutorial papers based on lectures given by leading researchers at the 8th International Summer School on Neural Networks in Erice, Italy in October/November 2003. The eight tutorial papers presented provide competent coverage of the field of cortical dynamics, consolidating recent theoretical and experimental results on the processing, transmission, and imprinting of information in the brain as well as on important functions of the cortical area, such as cortical rythms, cortical neural plasticity, and their structural basis and functional significance. The book is divided in two topical sections on fundamentals of cortical dynamics and mathematical models of cortical dynamics