Coordinated outfits

Usage examples of ensembles.

Like the earlier one, they are based on the idea that the brain is composed of ensembles of neurons with multiple connections between them.

Nonetheless, despite these radical changes in design, the basic cellular organization of the nervous system, with its neurons, synapses and ensembles of interconnecting cells, is the same for vertebrates as for invertebrates, as is much of their biochemistry.

At the very least, in different brain regions and cell ensembles different neurotransmitters will be involved, and there are likely to be other variations in important detail in the biochemical and cellular learning strategies adopted by different species.

Apart from the hope that understanding biological memory will improve the design of silicon computers, or even offer the prospect of biological computers based on ensembles of neurons in culture, the biology of neural plasticity and memory is relevant across the entire human life scale, from the development of memory and learning ability in young children to the disabling deteriorations of accident, disease and later life.