Neural Networks

Networks are the engines that drive our brain, they exist at every level of organization. Genes, proteins, and neurons all form highly integrated complex networks.

Cognition results from the integration of many simple processes, distributed throughout the brain. Specific brain regions do not correlate with an entire cognitive function, but instead contribute as basic processes in the overall cognitive operation. Even the most trivial of tasks requires the coordination of several distinct brain regions. Major cognitive operations such as language, memory, thinking, learning, perception and attention are all produced by serial and parallel networks of several brain regions. The individual mechanisms that contribute to these networks are not structured like a series of links on a chain, where the loss of one link breaks the chain completely. Rather, the brain is a web of interacting units. When a single unit is lost (by damage to the brain), the web does not fall apart. The remaining parts of the brain can offset the loss of a single unit, functionally reorganizing to compensate the deficit. In many ways, networks are the engines that drive our brain – they exist at every level of organization, from genes and proteins, through cells and gross anatomical structures.