This work systematically investigates a large number of oscillatory network configurations that are able to describe many real systems such as electric power grids, lasers or even the heart muscle, to name but a few. The book is conceived as an introduction to the field for graduate students in physics and applied mathematics as well as being a compendium for researchers from any field of application interested in quantitative models.

Understanding of the human brain functioning currently represents a challenging problem. In contrast to usual serial computers and complicated hierarchically organized artificial man-made systems, decentralized, parallel and distributed information processing principles are inherent to the brain. Besides adaptation and learning, which play a crucial role in brain functioning, oscillatory neural activity, synchronization and resonance accompany the brain work. Neural-like oscillatory network models, designed by the authors for image processing, allow to elucidate the capabilities of dynamical, synchronization-based types of image processing, presumably exploited by the brain. The oscillatory network models, studied by means of computer modeling and qualitative analysis, are presented and discussed in the book. Some other problems of parallel distributed information processing are also considered, such as a recall process from network memory for large-scale recurrent associative memory neural networks, performance of oscillatory networks of associative memory, dynamical oscillatory network methods of image processing with synchronization-based performance, optical parallel information processing based on the nonlinear optical phenomenon of photon echo, and modeling random electric fields of quasi-monochromatic polarized light beams using systems of superposed stochastic oscillators. This makes the book highly interesting to researchers dealing with various aspects of parallel information processing.

Since the days of Galileo, time has been a fundamental variable in scientific attempts to understand the natural world. Once the first recordings of electrical activity in the brain had been made, it became clear that electrical signals from the brain consist of very complex temporal patterns. This can now be demonstrated by recordings at the single unit level and by electroencephalography (EEG). Time and the Brain explores modern approaches to these temporal aspects of electrical brain activity. The temporal structure as revealed from trains of impulses from single nerve cells and from EEG recordings are discussed in depth together with an exploration of correlations with behaviour and psychology. The single cell and EEG approaches often tend to be segregated as the research occurs in laboratories in different parts of the world. By bringing together modern information acquired using both methods it is hoped that they can become better integrated as complimentary windows on the information processing achieved by the brain.

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Studies of mechanisms in the brain that allow complicated things to happen in a coordinated fashion have produced some of the most spectacular discoveries in neuroscience. This book provides eloquent support for the idea that spontaneous neuron activity, far from being mere noise, is actually the source of our cognitive abilities. It takes a fresh look at the coevolution of structure and function in the mammalian brain, illustrating how self-emerged oscillatory timing is the brain's fundamental organizer of neuronal information. The small-world-like connectivity of the cerebral cortex allows for global computation on multiple spatial and temporal scales. The perpetual interactions among the multiple network oscillators keep cortical systems in a highly sensitive "metastable" state and provide energy-efficient synchronizing mechanisms via weak links. In a sequence of "cycles," György Buzsáki guides the reader from the physics of oscillations through neuronal assembly organization to complex cognitive processing and memory storage. His clear, fluid writing-accessible to any reader with some scientific knowledge-is supplemented by extensive footnotes and references that make it just as gratifying and instructive a read for the specialist. The coherent view of a single author who has been at the forefront of research in this exciting field, this volume is essential reading for anyone interested in our rapidly evolving understanding of the brain.