It is widely thought that spikes (action potentials) are the main carrier of information in the brain.

But what is the neural code, that is, what aspects of the spike trains carry the information? The detailed temporal structure or maybe only the average firing rate?  And is there information in the correlation between spike trains in populations of similar neurons?  

The guest has thought about these and other coding questions throughout his career.

Starting from the pioneering work of Hodgkin, Huxley and Rall in the 1950s and 60s, we have a well-founded biophysics-based mathematical understanding of how neurons integrate signals from other neurons and generate action potentials.

Today’s guest wrote the classic book “Biophysics of Computation” on the subject in 1998.

We discuss its contents, what has changed in the last 25 years, and also touch on his other main research interest: consciousness research.  

The book “Models of the Mind” published in 2021 gives an excellent popular account of the history and questions of interest in theoretical neuroscience.

I could think of no other person more suitable to invite for the inaugural episode of the podcast than its author Grace Lindsay.

In the podcast we discuss highlights from the book as well as recent developments and the future of our field.