RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A How-to-Model Guide for Neuroscience
JF eneuro
JO eNeuro
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP ENEURO.0352-19.2019
DO 10.1523/ENEURO.0352-19.2019
VO 7
IS 1
A1 Blohm, Gunnar
A1 Kording, Konrad P.
A1 Schrater, Paul R.
YR 2020
UL http://www.eneuro.org/content/7/1/ENEURO.0352-19.2019.abstract
AB Within neuroscience, models have many roles, including driving hypotheses, making assumptions explicit, synthesizing knowledge, making experimental predictions, and facilitating applications to medicine. While specific modeling techniques are often taught, the process of constructing models for a given phenomenon or question is generally left opaque. Here, informed by guiding many students through modeling exercises at our summer school in CoSMo (Computational Sensory-Motor Neuroscience), we provide a practical 10-step breakdown of the modeling process. This approach makes choices and criteria more explicit and replicable. Experiment design has long been taught in neuroscience; the modeling process should receive the same attention.