Because of the “all-or-none” character of nervous activity, neural events and the relations among them can be treated by means of propositional logic. It is found that the behavior of every net can be described in these terms, with the addition of more complicated logical means for nets containing circles; and that for any logical expression satisfying certain conditions, one can find a net behaving in the fashion it describes. It is shown that many particular choices among possible neurophysiological assumptions are equivalent, in the sense that for every net behaving under one assumption, there exists another net which behaves under the other and gives the same results, although perhaps not in the same time. Various applications of the calculus are discussed.
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Similar content being viewed by others Explore related subjectsDiscover the latest articles and news from researchers in related subjects, suggested using machine learning. LiteratureCarnap, R. 1938.The Logical Syntax of Language. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company.
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College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry at the Illinois Neuropsychiatric Institute, University of Illinois, Illinois, USA
Warren S. McCulloch
The University of Chicago, Chicago, USA
Walter Pitts
McCulloch, W.S., Pitts, W. A logical calculus of the ideas immanent in nervous activity. Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 5, 115–133 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02478259
Issue Date: December 1943
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02478259
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