This course will introduce the general theory of brain function. It will focus on the organization and flow of information within the nervous system, at the levels of molecules, single neurons, and networks of neurons. The basic biophysical structure and function of the nervous system is now moderately well understood. However, the textbooks that

describe the biology of the nervous system generally do not discuss information, even though it is universally agreed that the nervous system is an information processing system. The course will relate the biophysical structure and function of the nervous system to the processing of information. In doing so, the course will discuss the fundamental principles of the nervous system that should be helpful in designing intelligent machines that are capable of unsupervised learning. The course will include aspects of cellular and systems neurophysiology. Students are expected to have already taken a course that covers basic neurobiology, although past students without a background in neurobiology have done moderately well. Only a minimal knowledge of mathematics is needed.