Neurotransmitters and the medium-dependence of neural computing

Matteo Colombo (Tilburg University )

Abstract:

Computations are abstract operations defined formally and independently from the physical media, which can implement them. This suggests that, if the brain is a computing system, then the computations it performs must be medium-independent operations. But whether the brain is a computing system and whether its computations are medium-independent are contentious issues. Here, I address these issues by focusing on neurotransmitters, whose activities have limited medium-independence, and whose functional roles in neural computing remain underexplored in the philosophy of the mind sciences. After distinguishing three functional roles of neurotransmitters in neural computation, I argue that some neural computations are not medium-independent, because neurotransmitters play a constitutive role in defining them.