These neurons transduce, or convert, the light energy from the photon into electrical impulses that neurons are able to utilize. The impulse travels through the stimulus-receiving apparatuses(dendrites for non-specialized neurons) and into the cell body in which the signal is summarized. Neural summation is, in theory, the addition of electrical signal which will be used to determine whether or not the neuron will carry on the signal or not. This usually occurs within the cell body, however, in specific instances, impulses traveling through separate dendritic trees can intersect and cause summation before the signal arrives at the cell body. We consider neural summation a form of computation in the sense that the impulses are metaphorically added together, however, the summation does not have a semantic output and this distinction differentiates it from the classical notion of computation (Spitzer, 1999). The output of summation is merely an electrical signal with no symbolic significance, whereas classical computation of adding two plus two is
These neurons transduce, or convert, the light energy from the photon into electrical impulses that neurons are able to utilize. The impulse travels through the stimulus-receiving apparatuses(dendrites for non-specialized neurons) and into the cell body in which the signal is summarized. Neural summation is, in theory, the addition of electrical signal which will be used to determine whether or not the neuron will carry on the signal or not. This usually occurs within the cell body, however, in specific instances, impulses traveling through separate dendritic trees can intersect and cause summation before the signal arrives at the cell body. We consider neural summation a form of computation in the sense that the impulses are metaphorically added together, however, the summation does not have a semantic output and this distinction differentiates it from the classical notion of computation (Spitzer, 1999). The output of summation is merely an electrical signal with no symbolic significance, whereas classical computation of adding two plus two is