How Would We Know What an Astrocyte Knows? - Understanding Neural Computation Beyond Neurons

Watch a 24-minute conference talk from the Models of Consciousness Conferences exploring how astrocytes might compute and process information differently than neurons. Learn about the unique computational capabilities of astrocytes through intracellular calcium release patterns triggered by neurotransmitters, allowing them to integrate information across hundreds of microns and several minute timeframes. Discover how understanding computation in astrocytes challenges traditional neuron-centric views of cognition and necessitates new frameworks for studying consciousness in diverse systems. Explore how applied category theory and functorial representations could provide a mathematical framework for understanding how different biological and non-biological systems, from immune cells to aneural organisms, process information and exhibit cognitive functions like memory.