Table 1.
Outstanding Questions in Neuroscience for Which Emergent Functional Properties Could Be Key
| Are there circuit attractors? |
| What is the functional connectivity diagram of a circuit? |
| What detailed computations take place locally? |
| What are the real-time, multiple, long-range interactions that underlie cognitive functions and behavior? |
| How do local computations and long-range interactions influence each other? |
| What are the paths of information flow? |
| Do alternative pathways produce similar outputs? |
| When the brain “organizes” itself during development, or “reorganizes” itself after an injury, what is actually happening to activity locally and globally? |
| When pharmacoactive drugs alter behavior, what are the local and global effects on activity? |
| When memories are transferred from one brain region to another over time, how do activity patterns change? |
| What design principles can be discerned in how the brain functions? |
| Is there an underlying functional architecture to the brain’s networks? |
| What are the true functional underpinnings of perception, recognition, emotion, understanding, consciousness, and subconscious processes? |