Discovering How the Brain Works Through Computation

Researchers at Columbia Engineering, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Austria's Graz University of Technology have proposed a computational model of the brain based on neuronal assemblies, to expand knowledge of how the brain operates at an intermediate level. The model's application to syntactic processing in language production corresponds with experimental results. Columbia Engineering's Christos Papadimitriou and colleagues developed a computational system, the Assembly Calculus, that encompasses operations of neuronal assemblies that seem to participate in cognitive processes like imprinting memories, concepts, and words. The researchers demonstrated, analytically and via modeling, that the Assembly Calculus can be plausibly realized at the neuronal and synaptic level. Papadimitriou said the model provides a theoretical framework for logical transformation of neural activity into thought and action.