EN 580.630 Theoretical Neuroscience (Spring 2015)

Tuesday & Thursday 1:30-2:45 pm

Location:

Tuesdays, Garland 97

            Thursdays, Clark 110

Instructors: Kechen Zhang and Xiaoqin Wang

Reference books

1. P. Dayan and L. F. Abbott: Theoretical Neuroscience (MIT Press, 2001)

2. F. Rieke et al.: Spikes: Exploring the Neural Code (MIT Press, 1997)

3. F. Gabbiani and S. J. Cox: Mathematics for Neuroscientists (Academic Press, 2010)

Grade will be based on:

-  4 homeworks, each 10%

-  Mid-term: 30%

-  Final: 30%

Syllabus:

Jan 27 (XW) Introduction

Jan 29 (XW) Neural recording and spike sorting methods

Feb 3 (XW) Spike train analysis (1)

Feb 5 (XW) Spike train analysis (2)

Feb 10 (XW) Spike train analysis (3)

Feb 12 (XW) Spike-triggered average and RF estimation (1)

Feb 17 (XW) Spike-triggered average and RF estimation (2)

Feb 19  (XW) Spike-triggered average and RF estimation (3)

Feb 24 (KZ) Feed-forward networks (1)

Feb 26 (KZ) Feed-forward networks (2)

Mar 3 (KZ) Feed-forward networks (3)

Mar 5 (KZ) Feed-forward networks (4)

Mar 10 (KZ) Recurrent networks (1)

Mar 12 (KZ) Recurrent networks (2)

Mar 17 Spring break

Mar 19 Spring break

Mar 24 (KZ) Recurrent networks (3)

Mar 26 (KZ) Recurrent networks (4)

Mar 31 Mid-term exam

Apr 2 (KZ) Information theory (1)

Apr 7 (KZ) Information theory (2)

Apr 9 (KZ) Information theory (3)

Apr 14 (XW) Signal detection theory (1)

Apr 16 (XW) Signal detection theory (2)

Apr 21 (KZ) Population coding (1)

Apr 23 (KZ) Population coding (2)

Apr 28 (KZ) Population coding (3)

Apr 30 (KZ) Population coding (4)

May 5 Reading Period

May 7 Final exam