1.제목: Using Theory to Predict and Explain the Biophysics of Neurons

2. 연사: Christopher D. Fiorillo (KAIST 바이오및뇌공학과)

3. 일시: 2017. 3. 8 (Wed) PM 4:30 ~ 5:45

4. 장소: #207, Yang Bun Soon Bldg.(E16-1)

5. 초록: To understand a person, we try to take that person’s point of view. Likewise, cognitive neuroscience and other non-physical sciences rely on models of subjective knowledge.  In contrast, physical science has traditionally ignored subjectivity.  Thus science treats ‘people’ and ‘things’ as though they are fundamentally distinct.  I will propose that in order to understand the brain, we should seek to understand the subjective knowledge inherent in ‘things’ such as protein conformation and membrane voltage.  I will use this approach to develop a theory of the meaning of neural activity (“the neural code”) from the neuron’s point of view. I will then demonstrate that this theory correctly predicts the amplitude and decay time of synaptic inhibition with high precision.  It is unusual that biophysical quantities can be predicted by theory alone.  The theory was able to do this by considering the subjective knowledge in a physical thing.