Uncovering the Mystery of the Human Brain with Computational Neuroscience

The human brain is a complex and unfathomable supercomputer. How it works is one of the ultimate mysteries of our time. Scientists working in the exciting field of computational neuroscience seek to unravel this mystery and, in the process, help solve problems in diverse research fields, from Artificial Intelligence (AI) to psychiatry.


Computational neuroscience is a highly interdisciplinary and thriving branch of neuroscience that uses computational simulations and mathematical models to develop our understanding of the brain. Here we look at: what computational neuroscience is, how it has grown over the last thirty years, what its applications are, and where it is going.

The evolution of computational neuroscience

The term Computational Neuroscience was first coined by Eric L. Schwartz at a conference held in 1985. The first graduate program titled the ‘Computational and Neural Systems (CNS) PhD Program’ was instituted at the California Institute of Technology that same year. The field is built on two disciplinary research traditions:Neurophysiology

The Hodgkin and Huxley model of action potentials is the cornerstone of this field. In 1952 Hodgkin and Huxley devised a mathematical model describing the underlying mechanism of how neuronal action potentials are initiated and propagated. After this influential model came mathematical models for neural population dynamics and learning and memory upon which our current understanding is builtExperimental psychology and neuroscience

Information processing and learning; artificial neural networks of the 1960s and learning algorithms that are at the heart of the modern revolution in AI

Computational neuroscience is nowadays and common component of the university curriculum, and since the 1980s, the field has grown over three decades into the thriving international research community that it is today.

Computational neuroscience in the twenty-first century

During the twentieth century, scientists working on the border of biology and physics became increasingly collaborative. These molecular biologists sought to unravel the mystery of life. They went in search of that elusive entity: the gene. The twenty-first century brings curious minds to that utmost of puzzles: the complexities and workings of the human mind.

Enter computational neuroscience. The human brain cannot be understood through experiments alone; this is where computational modeling comes in. Computational neuroscience employs mathematical models, statistical analyses, computerized simulations, theoretical analyses, and abstractions to understand the brain. This does not negate the need for an experiment. Rather it is a necessary but complementary pursuit. Experimentation is deployed in concert with computerized modeling in an iterative process whereby scientists work toward building our understanding of the human mind.

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