[MUSIC].

Hello, and a warm welcome to every one of

you from around the world.
This is Week 1 of Computation
Neuroscience and I'm your instructor,
Rajesh Rao.
Let's begin our computation adventures
with a picture.
You've probably seen a picture like this
before.
Physicists tell us that this is the
universe that we live in, but I think
they're mistaken.
This is the universe that we really live
in.
This 3-pound mass of tissue inside our
skull is what allows us to perceive the
world and indeed the universe.
This amazing machine is what enables us
to think, feel, act, and be human.
This is what is enabling me to speak
these words right now and allowing you to
listen.
And when the lecture gets boring, which
hopefully, won't happen too often.
You can thank the same 3-pound organ for
enabling you to skip forward a few slides
or maybe doze off in that chair that
you're sitting in.
Understanding how the brain does all of
these things is one of the most profound
scientific mysteries of the 21st century.
In this course, we'll try to unravel some
of this mystery and understand the brain
using computational models.
In this course, we'll cover three types
of Computational Models.
The first kind are Descriptive Models.
So in this case, we're interested in
quantifying how neurons respond to
external stimuli.
And what we get here is something called
a neural encoding model, which
quantitatively describes a particular
neuron responds to external stimuli.
The counterpart to encoding is decoding.
So in this case, we're interested in
extracting information from neurons that
have been recorded from the brain.
And then, using this information for
controlling something like a prosthetic
hand for example.
So this problem of decoding is extremely
important in the field of brain-computer
interfacing and neuroprosthetics.
The second type of model that we look at
are called Mechanistic Models.
So in this case, we are interested in
simulating the behavior of a single
neuron or a network of neurons on a

computer.
So you might have heard about the Human
Brain Project that is being led by Henry
Markram in Europe.
And, that project is an example of a
computer simulation of an extremely large
network of neurons in the extreme case,
perhaps, the entire brain on a computer.
The last type of models that we look at
are called Interpretive or Normative
Models.
So in this case, we are interested in
understanding why brain circuits operate
in the way that they do.
In other words, we're interested in
extracting some computational principles
that underlie the function of a
particular brain circuit.
So we'll look at examples of all these
three types of models in the coming
weeks.
Now, moving on to some course information
and logistics.
The length of the course is eight weeks,
and each week, we'll give you one video
lecture, which will be about 1 hour long.
And we'll split this up into 10 minute
chunks and we'll also give you one
homework quiz each week.
Now, these lectures and homeworks will be
released on Fridays and the homeworks
will be due the second Monday from the
release date.
So this way, you'll be able to use two
weekends to work on each homework and the
complete syllabus and schedule is on the
course web page.
Here are the two recommended textbooks
for this course.
They are not required, but they might be
useful if you need additional information
besides what's covered in the lecture
videos and lecture slides.
The first one is Theoretical
Neuroscience, this is a standard textbook
in the field and its a book written by
Peter Dayan and Larry Abbot, two leading
researchers in computational
neuroscience.
The other textbook is called Tutorial on
Neural Systems Modelling and it's by
another researcher in the field, Thomas
Anastasio.
And this book also comes with the Matlab
code that you might find useful as you're
exploring concepts and computational
neuroscience.
Now, on to homeworks and gradings.
So the course grade will be based on six
weekly homeworks, most of these will be

multiple choice questions.

Some of them will be based on the result
of programming and Matlab or Octave.
And, we'll allow up to submissions for
each homework and we'll take the maximum
score out of the three that you've
submitted.
The good news is there's no exams and
there will be a certificate of completion
if your total course grade is greater
than 60%.
I mentioned earlier that some of the
homework questions will be based on
results that you get after you've
executed your program in Matlab.
So what if you don't have Matlab?
Well, no worries.
You can use Octave which is quite similar
to Matlab, but it's free.
And you can download Octave from the
website given on the slide.
And Octave should suffice for all the
homework questions that we'll have in
this course.
But what if you have no programming
experience to begin with?
Well, no problem.
Perhaps you can use this opportunity to
learn programming.
there are several Matlab tutorials on the
course website that you can try out, and
also, the first homework assignment is
actually a Matlab practice homework.
So the submission is optional, but it
might be really useful for those of you
who are programming for the first time in
Matlab to try out the homework and submit
it and see how you did.
So let's end with some of the goals of
the course.
In other words, what can we expect to
learn in this course?
Well, at the end of the course, you
should be able to, first of all,
quantitatively describe what a biological
neuron, a network of neurons is doing
given some experimental data that perhaps
you got from your neuroscientist friend.
Secondly, you would like to be able to
simulate on a computer the behavior of
neuron or other networks of neurons.
And finally, you should be able to at the
end of the course, formulate competition
of principles that would help explain the
operation of certain neurons or networks
in the brain.
So, are you ready?
Let's begin.