Mass Action in the Nervous System

Mass Action in the Nervous System: Examination of the Neurophysiological Basis of Adaptive Behavior through the EEG focuses on the neural mechanisms and the behavioral significance of the electroencephalogram, with emphasis on observations made on the mammalian olfactory system. Organized into seven chapters, this book begins with a brief nonmathematical review of the concept of the neuron and the interrelations among neurons that lead to the formation of interactive masses. Some chapters follow on the linear properties of neurons and their parts; the ionic hypothesis; the nonlinear input-output relations of neurons in masses expressed in terms of amplitude-dependent coefficients in linear differential equations; and the relations between the states of activity of neurons. Subsequent chapters describe the properties resulting from feedback within neural masses; the effects of the nonlinearities in the input-output relations of neurons on the behavior of masses; and some inferences concerning the mechanisms of neural signal processing at the level of neural masses. The book is a model for an advanced text in neurophysiology, and some understanding is assumed of the elements of the fields of linear analysis, probability, statistics, theory of potential, neuroanatomy, electrophysiology, neuropharmacology, and experimental psychology.