Neural network (biology)

This article is about the structures found in brains. For other uses, see Neural network (disambiguation).

Animated confocal micrograph, showing interconnections of medium spiny neurons in mouse striatum

A neural network, also called a neuronal network, is an interconnected population of neurons (typically containing multiple neural circuits).[1] Biological neural networks are studied to understand the organization and functioning of nervous systems.

Closely related are artificial neural networks, machine learning models inspired by biological neural networks. They consist of artificial neurons, which are mathematical functions that are designed to be analogous to the mechanisms used by neural circuits.

  1. ^ Hopfield, J. J. (1982). "Neural networks and physical systems with emergent collective computational abilities". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 79 (8): 2554–2558. Bibcode:1982PNAS...79.2554H. doi:10.1073/pnas.79.8.2554. PMC 346238. PMID 6953413.