How single-neuron computation matters for cognitive neuroscience

A traditional and pervasive view in neuroscience is that memory and computation are wholly supported by weighted connections between neurons (synapses).As in a 'neural net' architecture, computation occurs when a pattern of activity is instantiated at an input layer, which initiates a chain reaction: each neuron's activity can affect others to which it is 'connected' by a synapse and this reaction propagates through the network, determining the output of the function which is given by the resulting values of the neurons designated as the 'output layer'.Experience-driven memory is constituted by changes to the weights on the connections, that is the 'strength' of the synapse.Many considerations, however, militate against this 'synaptocentric' view of memory and computation.One is