Neural Recordings, Computational Neuroscience, and Statistics

• Activity Number: 282
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 11, 2015 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: ASA
• Author(s): Robert Kass*
• Companies: Carnegie Mellon University

Abstract

One of the most important techniques to describe brain function has involved examining neural activity in laboratory animals under varying experimental conditions. This has generated not only a wealth of factual information, but also an abundance of theoretical explanations, many of which involve mathematical models. The field of computational neuroscience may be considered the union of theoretical neuroscience and analysis of neural data. But what lies in the intersection? That is, what are the roles of statistics in conceptions of brain mechanisms? I will answer this question partly by reviewing a few specific theoretical discussions that have made heavy use of statistical ideas, and partly by sketching some outstanding problems.