Come in Neuron: do you copy?
If we liken the nervous currents to electric currents, we can compare the nervous system below the hemispheres to a direct circuit from sense-organ to muscle
James 1890
Cho and John are talking about the following article:
Action potentials and synapses


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John
The answer varies depending on the question? In what sense?

Cho
Well, you were asking about “neuromorphic computing”, so you’re interested in the computational aspects

John
Yes, that’s right. 😊

Cho
But Sandra, as a doctor, might be interested in completely different aspects of a neuron

Cho
Like: what is wrong with it, why isn’t it firing, is there damage to the cell membrane, etc.

John
Oh, ok, sorry I thought you meant something completely different!

Cho
So from a computational point of view, you’d just be looking for information

John
And since we’re making assumptions we’re missing things

Cho
Exactly. If you look for 1s and 0s, you’ll look at the bits that could be 1s or 0s and forget about the rest

John
Ha, bits, quite literally 😅 … And that’s why we look at the electrical part?

Cho
Yes, a stimulus, a current, something that transmits information

John
And what do we miss then?

Cho
Hard to know where to begin really … communication between cells isn’t just firing off electrical signals 😊

John
OK, so you mean the chemical aspects of communication between nerve cells?

Cho
Yes, how signals spread along the axon and then how that triggers the release of neurotransmitters across the synapse (Neurotransmitter)

John
I’ll need to include a short dictionary with the article I’m afraid … 😅

Cho
That would be seriously useful I think, I just can’t avoid some of the jargon 😅
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