Spiking Interest in Computational Modeling: A Unified Approach to Cognitive Neuroscience. Review of Computational Explorations in Cognitive Neuroscience: Understanding the Mind by Simulating the Brain, by O'Reilly, R. C., & Munakata, Y.

Abstract

Randall C. O'Reilly is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology and Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 1996, he received his Ph.D. in psychology from Carnegie Mellon University under the supervision of Professor James L. McClelland. From 1996 to 1997, Randall O'Reilly was awarded a McDonnell–Pew Cognitive Neuroscience Postdoctoral Fellowship to study at the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has served on several National Institutes of Health grant peer review panels and is currently an associate editor of the journal Cognitive Science. Professor O'Reilly's primary research interests are concerned with understanding the biological basis of cognitive processes through a variety of methodologies including computational and formal models of the biological bases of cognition. Yuko Munakata is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Denver. In 1996, she received her Ph.D. in psychology from Carnegie Mellon University under the supervision of Professor James L. McClelland. Professor Munakata is a panel member of the NIH Biobehavioral and Behavioral Processes Study Section, a recent recipient of the Boyd R. McCandless Young Scientist Award (American Psychological Association), and Co-Editor (with M. Johnson and R. O. Gilmore) of the book Brain Development and Cognition: A Reader (2nd ed.). From 1996 to 1997, Yuko Munakata was awarded a McDonnell–Pew Cognitive Neuroscience Postdoctoral Fellowship to study at the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professor Munakata's primary research interests are concerned with the development and evaluation of neural network models and other representational systems for the purposes of understanding human cognitive development. Richard M. Golden is associate professor of psychology, cognitive science, and electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas. Professor Golden is currently a member of the editorial boards of the journals Neural Networks, Neural Processing Letters, and the Journal of Mathematical Psychology, which focus upon computational and mathematical analyses of neurally inspired mathematical models. He is also a member of the Governing Board of the Society for Text and Discourse and the author of the book Mathematical Methods for Neural Network Analysis and Design. Professor Golden's primary research interests are concerned with the development and evaluation of formal models of higher level cognitive processes through a variety of methodologies from fields such as dynamical systems theory, optimization theory, statistical pattern recognition, and computational cognitive neuroscience.