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Neural network (biology)

Interconnected neurons forming circuits that underlie nervous system function.

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A neural network is an interconnected population of neurons that typically contains multiple neural circuits.[1] Closely packed groups of neurons that form circuits are what researchers analyze to learn how nervous systems are structured and operate.[1] A given nerve cell can form links with numerous other nerve cells, and the overall count of these links within a neural system can be very large.[2]

Quick Facts

Composition
Group of chemically connected or functionally associated neurons
Key components
  • Cell body
  • dendrites
  • axon
  • axon terminal
Signal type
Electrical (action potential) and chemical (neurotransmitters)
Function
  • Specialized for survival
  • thought processing
  • memory formation

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

Dendrites receive signals from other neurons, while the axon carries action potentials away to other neurons.[3] The axon terminal releases neurotransmitters that create synapses, forming a neural network when many neurons connect.[3] Bain theorized that repeated activities strengthened connections between neurons, leading to memory formation.[4] The three primary components of a neuron are its soma, its dendrites, and its axon.[3]

In 1873, Alexander Bain, and separately in 1890, William James, each put forward an early theoretical foundation for what would become neural networks.[5] James put forward the idea that electrical currents moving between brain cells were the basis for memories and actions.[6] To examine the ideas put forward by James, C. S. Sherrington performed experimental work in 1898.[7] A mathematical and algorithmic model for neural networks was developed in 1943 by McCulloch and Pitts.[8]

Connectionism was the name given to the parallel distributed processing approach that gained prominence in the mid-1980s.[9]

What the research sources say

The same source explains that an action potential is a rapid, temporary change in membrane potential caused by sodium rushing into a neuron and potassium rushing out.[10] The "Biological and Artificial Neural Networks" source notes that hundreds of specialized cortical areas are formed based on neural networks for different information processing tasks.[11] The Diplo article reports that the foundational idea for artificial neural networks was proposed in 1943 by Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts.[12] The Stanford HAI article states that task-optimized convolutional neural networks predict neural responses in the primate visual system better than models neuroscientists had developed explicitly for that purpose.[13]

The "Neurons Organismal Biology" account states that neurons communicate via both electrical signals (action potentials) and chemical signals.[10] A 2020 medicalxpress report describes that a loop of connections between a resonance pair of sender and receiver networks can speed up network communication by at least a factor of two.[14]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Neural network (biology)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kriegeskorte, "Deep Neural Networks: A New Framework for Modeling Biological Vision and Brain Information Processing", Annual Review of Vision Science, November 2015, p. 417–46; "Neural networks and physical systems with emergent collective computational abilities", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, April 1982, p. 2554–2558 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Neural network (biology)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Principles of Computational Modelling in Neuroscience", Cambridge University Press, 2011 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Neural network (biology)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ludwig, "Neuroanatomy, Neurons", StatPearls, 2026 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Neural network (biology)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Mind and Body: The Theories of Their Relation", D. Appleton and Company, 1873 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Neural network (biology)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Mind and Body: The Theories of Their Relation", D. Appleton and Company, 1873; "The Principles of Psychology", H. Holt and Company, 1890 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Neural network (biology)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Principles of Psychology", H. Holt and Company, 1890; "Mind and Body: The Theories of Their Relation", D. Appleton and Company, 1873 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Neural network (biology)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Experiments in Examination of the Peripheral Distribution of the Fibers of the Posterior Roots of Some Spinal Nerves", Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 1898, p. 45–186 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Neural network (biology)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "A Logical Calculus of Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity", Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics, 1943, p. 115–133 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Neural network (biology)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Parallel Distributed Processing: Explorations in the Microstructure of Cognition", MIT Press, 1986 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. "Neurons Organismal Biology", organismalbio.biosci.gatech.edu. facts only, no text reused. organismalbio.biosci.gatech.edu
  11. "Biological and Artificial Neural Networks", pages.hmc.edu. facts only, no text reused. pages.hmc.edu
  12. "Origins of AI: From neurons to neural networks - Diplo", 2025-09-17. facts only, no text reused. diplomacy.edu
  13. "How Artificial Neural Networks Help Us Understand Neural Networks in the Human Brain Stanford HAI", hai.stanford.edu. facts only, no text reused. hai.stanford.edu
  14. "Neuroscientists demonstrate how to improve communication between different regions of the brain", medicalxpress.com. facts only, no text reused. medicalxpress.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Neural network (biology) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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