Modeling Neural Development
Arjen van Ooyen
The MIT Press
This original and timely collection is one of the first books to study                  neural development using computational and mathematical modeling. Modeling provides                  precise and exact ways of expression, which allow us to go beyond the insights that                  intuitive or commonsense reasoning alone can yield. Most neural modeling focuses on                  information processing in the adult nervous system; Modeling Neural Development                  shows how models can be used to study the development of the nervous system at                  different levels of organization and at different phases of development, from                  molecule to system and from neurulation to cognition. The formal models described                  can give structure and meaning to complex phenomena and data, create and explore new                  hypotheses, and guide further research.The book's fourteen chapters follow loosely                  the chronology of neural development. Chapters 1 and 2 study the very early                  development of the nervous system, discussing gene networks, cell differentiation,                  and neural tube development. Chapters 3-5 examine neuronal morphogenesis and neurite                  outgrowth. Chapters 6-8 study different aspects of the self-organization of neurons                  into networks. Chapters 9-12 cover refinement of connectivity and the development of                  specific connectivity patterns. Chapters 13 and 14 focus on some of the functional                  implications of morphology and development.The science of studying neural                  development by computational and mathematical modeling is relatively new; this book,                  as Dale Purves writes in the foreword, "serves as an important progress report" in                  the effort to understand the complexities of neural development.