Gateway to Memory ― An Introduction to Neural Network Modelind of the Hippocampus and Learning

This book is for students and researchers who have a specific interest in learningand memory and want to understand how computational models can be integrated into experimentalresearch on the hippocampus and learning. It emphasizes the function of brain structures as theygive rise to behavior, rather than the molecular or neuronal details. It also emphasizes the processof modeling, rather than the mathematical details of the models themselves.

Thebook is divided into two parts. The first part provides a tutorial introduction to topics inneuroscience, the psychology of learning and memory, and the theory of neural network models. Thesecond part, the core of the book, reviews computational models of how the hippocampus cooperateswith other brain structures -- including the entorhinal cortex, basal forebrain, cerebellum, andprimary sensory and motor cortices -- to support learning and memory in both animals and humans. Thebook assumes no prior knowledge of computational modeling or mathematics. For those who wish todelve more deeply into the formal details of the models, there are optional "mathboxes" andappendices. The book also includes extensive references and suggestions for furtherreadings.

Yoad Winter is a lecturer in the Computer Science Department at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.