Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Phire Hot Start DNA Polymerase

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 6 October 2006:
Vol. 314. no. 5796, pp. 91 - 94
DOI: 10.1126/science.1127242

Review

Biologically Based Computational Models of High-Level Cognition

Randall C. O'Reilly

Computer models based on the detailed biology of the brain can help us understand the myriad complexities of human cognition and intelligence. Here, we review models of the higher level aspects of human intelligence, which depend critically on the prefrontal cortex and associated subcortical areas. The picture emerging from a convergence of detailed mechanistic models and more abstract functional models represents a synthesis between analog and digital forms of computation. Specifically, the need for robust active maintenance and rapid updating of information in the prefrontal cortex appears to be satisfied by bistable activation states and dynamic gating mechanisms. These mechanisms are fundamental to digital computers and may be critical for the distinctive aspects of human intelligence.

Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.

E-mail: oreilly{at}psych.colorado.edu

Read the Full Text



THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Transfer of Learning After Updating Training Mediated by the Striatum.
E. Dahlin, A. S. Neely, A. Larsson, L. Backman, and L. Nyberg (2008)
Science 320, 1510-1512
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Walking Variability and Working-Memory Load in Aging: A Dual-Process Account Relating Cognitive Control to Motor Control Performance.
M. Lovden, S. Schaefer, A. E. Pohlmeyer, and U. Lindenberger (2008)
J. Gerontol. B. Psychol. Sci. Soc. Sci. 63, P121-P128
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Cognitive deficits and striato-frontal dopamine release in Parkinson's disease.
N. Sawamoto, P. Piccini, G. Hotton, N. Pavese, K. Thielemans, and D. J. Brooks (2008)
Brain 131, 1294-1302
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Transient Neuronal Correlations Underlying Goal Selection and Maintenance in Prefrontal Cortex.
S. Tsujimoto, A. Genovesio, and S. P. Wise (2008)
Cereb Cortex
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Val158Met Modulation of Prefrontal Parietal Striatal Brain Systems during Arithmetic and Temporal Transformations in Working Memory.
H.-Y. Tan, Q. Chen, T. E. Goldberg, V. S. Mattay, A. Meyer-Lindenberg, D. R. Weinberger, and J. H. Callicott (2007)
J. Neurosci. 27, 13393-13401
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
. . . And the Olive Said to the Cerebellum: Organization and Functional Significance of the Olivo-Cerebellar System.
S. Ausim Azizi (2007)
Neuroscientist 13, 616-625
   Abstract »    PDF »
An Information-Theoretical Approach to Contextual Processing in the Human Brain: Evidence from Prefrontal Lesions.
F. Barcelo and R. T. Knight (2007)
Cereb Cortex 17, i51-i60
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Prefrontal Regions Orchestrate Suppression of Emotional Memories via a Two-Phase Process.
B. E. Depue, T. Curran, and M. T. Banich (2007)
Science 317, 215-219
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »



ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT

To Advertise     Find Products


Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)