New Research Techniques for the Life Sciences

A data collection and analysis system, using a high-speed, general-purpose digital computer, has been developed at the California Institute of Technology and applied to the study of visual processes of pattern recognition in living nervous systems. The experimental technique employs a rapid, flexible method of neural network modeling that permits an analysis of network functional behavior and a comparison with experimental data. Some details are given of research on neural activity in the visual system of the insect order Diptera.