Computational Neuroscience and Cognitive Modelling

For the neuroscientist or psychologist who cringes at the sight of mathematical formulae and whose eyes glaze over at terms like differential equations, linear algebra, vectors, matrices, Bayes' rule, and Boolean logic, this book just might be the therapy needed. Britt Anderson guides the reader into the world of computational methods; writing lucidly and grounding this journey with elegantly constructed exercises. His slender book is an invitation to use tools that will help students and scientists think about neural and psychological mechanisms with rigor and precision. -- Anjan Chatterjee The neural and cognitive sciences are increasingly quantitative and computational subjects, and curriculums are now attempting to reflect this emerging reality. Accordingly, an important educational challenge is to inform undergraduate students of the significance of computational thinking, while also preparing them to appreciate and criticize it. An Invitation to Computational Neuroscience and Cognitive Modeling achieves this difficult goal wonderfully. Anderson provides a gentle introduction to computational aspects of psychological science, managing to respect the reader's intelligence while also being completely unintimidating. Using carefully-selected computational demonstrations, he guides students through a wide array of important approaches and tools, with little in the way of prerequisites. As well as a very practical introduction to computer programming, there is impressive coverage of dynamical systems models of neurons, neural network models of memory, probabilistic models of decision-making, and mathematical models of thought. I recommend it with enthusiasm. -- Asohan Amarasingham