Neural information processing using network-in-a-field

This paper presents a new model for neurocomputation which is a synaptic network functioning in a self-organizing diffusion neurotransmission field. The field models diffusion of neuroactive substances in extracellular space and the extraneuronal communication pathways supported by networks of glial cells such as astrocytes. This model promises to capture more organizational principles of the brain than current neural network models since the brain is essentially a synaptically coupled network of neurons functioning in a field of diffusive neuroactive substances.