Abstract
Information processing systems are systems which dissipate energy in certain interesting (or highly selective) ways. In the case of biological systems the particular pathways of dissipation are ultimately determined by individual molecular catalysts which speed certain processes and not others. There is indeed accumulating evidence that such molecular catalysts play a crucial role in the brain, the system which is without doubt the biological information processor par excellence.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Albert, D.J.: Memory in mammals: evidence for a system involving nuclear ribonucleic acid, Neuropsychol. 4, 79–92 (1966).
Bennett, E.L., Rosenzweig, M.R. and Diamond, M.C.: Time courses of effects of differential experience on brain measures and behavior in rats. In: Molecular Approaches to Learning and Memory, ed. by W.L. Byrne, pp. 55–90. Academic Press, New York, 1970.
Chow, K.L.: Effects of ablation. In: The Neurosciences, ed. by G.C. Quarton, T. Melnechuk and F.O. Schmitt, pp. 705–713. Rockefeller University Press, New York, 1967.
Conrad, M.: Information processing in molecular systems, Currents in Modern Biology 5, 1–14 (1972).
Conrad, M.: Is the brain an effective computer?, Intern. J. Neuroscience 5, 167–170 (1973).
Conrad, M.: The limits of biological simulation, J. theoret. Biol. 45, 585–590 (1974) .
Hydén, H.: RNA in brain cells. In: The Neurosciences, ed. by G.C. Quarton, T. Melnechuk and F.O. Schmitt, pp. 248–266. Rockefeller University Press, New York, 1967a.
Hydén, H.: Biochemical changes accompanying learning. In: The Neurosciences, ed. by G.C. Quarton, T. Melnechuk and F.O. Schmitt, pp. 765–771. Rockefeller University Press, New York, 1967b.
Lashley, K.S.: Brain Mechanisms and Intelligence, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1929. (Reprinted by Dover Publications, New York, 1963)
McConnell, J.V., Shigehisn, T. and Salive, H.: Attempts to transfer approach and avoidance responses by RNA injections in rats. In: Molecular Approaches to Learning and Memory, ed. by W.L. Byrne, pp. 245–274. Academic Press, New York, 1970.
McCulloch, W.S. and Pitts, W.: A logical calculus of the ideas immanent in nervous activity, Bull. Math. Biophys. 5, 115–133 (1943).
Minsky, M.: Computation: Finite and Infinite Machines, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1967.
Sheng, C.L.: Threshold Logic, Academic Press, New York, 1969.
Ungar, G.: Molecular approaches to neural coding. In: The Physical Principles of Neuronal and Organismic Behavior, ed. by M. Conrad and M. Magar, pp. 169–176. Gordon and Breach, New York and London, 1973.
von Neumann, J.: The Theory of Self-reproducing Automata, ed. by A.W. Burke, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 1966.
Winograd, S. and Cowan, J.D.: Reliable Computation in the Presence of Noise, M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1963.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1974 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Conrad, M. (1974). Molecular Information Processing in the Central Nervous System. In: Conrad, M., Güttinger, W., Dal Cin, M. (eds) Physics and Mathematics of the Nervous System. Lecture Notes in Biomathematics, vol 4. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-80885-2_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-80885-2_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-07014-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-80885-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive