Editorial

Abstract

This special issue presents neuroscience from an interdisciplinary perspective. Each research paper in this publication contributes to a singular endeavor: the integration of cognition and computation on biological grounds. ''Pointing at Boundaries'' refers to computing with biological substrates, including alternative ways of modeling action potentials, multi-scale computation, ionic dynamic patterns, and mechanisms of information integration.The topics raised in Pointing at Boundaries contribute to earlier computing research such as biological mathematics and cellular automata [1] and the bio-inspired in silico computing proposed by Wooley et al. [12]. Biological substrates might further inform computer research. Several aspects of biological substrates appear in this special issue: astroglial cells in brain cognitive computing, ionic interactions, cortical mini-columns, and statistical neocortical dynamics models. These biological phenomena reframe earlier computational protocols while suggesting research on biophysical grounds for consciousness research.A biological approach to cognitive computation is based upon structures containing both a substrate (as ionic solutions) and mechanisms (as membrane ion channels) that induce the formation of patterns upon the substrate and manipulate an organism's biological substrate. The papers in this special issue contribute to a hypothesis: a biological substrate and its mechanisms act as a diaphragm to better mark differences, according to a topology with highly configurable neighborhoods. Research into this hypothesis might be as suggestive as the configurability of crystalline symmetry groups capturing spatial neighborhoods in the form of diffraction patterns. In this regard, this publication represents groundwork towards uncovering the theoretical and experimental basis to develop biological substrates and mechanisms as the ionic permeation of membranes. By investigating the biophysical aspects of consciousness, future biophysical computational research might investigate with a variety of physical signal types (chemical, mechanical, and electromagnetic) through the sensory pathways found in the 26 vertebrate cranial nerves or the 12 human cranial nerves [7]. SynopsisIn this issue, the opening paper by Dorian Aur contributes to the conceptualization of brain electrodynamics underlying the formation of action potentials and reveals multiple computational levels in neurons. This paper raises foundational questions and objections to existing standards in neural activity research. Aur applies to computational neuroscience Wegner's [11] interactive computation paradigm. Consequently, Aur formulates a continuous