| Abstract: | Neuroscience was initially based on simple computer models, and the resulting assumption of blocks of information and step‐by‐step information processing disregards the dynamic features of living neuronal networks. Building semiartificial intelligence in a culture dish using a simple living neuronal network makes comparison with an engineering model easier than when analyzing a complicated brain network. We hypothesize that the status of the neuronal network changes autonomously according to both its own internal state and input from the outer world. Our investigation of such network suggests that an electrical stimulus can make the living neuronal network shift to a particular state, and the response pattern to each input is loosely coupled rather than strictly linked. The critical point we propose regarding brain‐like information processing is that the internal state of the autonomous neuronal network is modified by input from the outer world. Copyright © 2010 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |
