@misc{PUB-0060,
  title = {{Explaining brains by simulation}},
  author = {Horstmann, W.},
  year = {2003},
  url = {https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/publication/2305986},
  abstract = {This study examines the role of simulation in explaining brain phenomena. The notions of
simulation analyzed here are diverse: A computer simulation of specific brain phenomena, a
researcher's mental simulation of a brain process or an experimental setting as a simulation
of a natural situation. The objective of this study is to clarify the various roles that
simulation plays in explanations of brain phenomena and to ask whether there is one generic
notion of simulation that reconciles the various roles. It is argued that the main reason for
simulation being massively deployed for explanations of the brain is the dynamics and
complexity of the brain itself. Further, the common ground for the diverse notions of
simulation is the result of a characteristic set of models and representations that underlies
practical scientific work, in the brain sciences (and elsewhere). It is concluded that -
contrary to the common notion that simulation is somewhere outside in a computer or some other
device - most of it is inside our head. Explaining brains by simulation is primarily done by
our brains.},
  note = {Horstmann, W. (2003). Explaining brains by simulation. Bielefeld (Germany): Bielefeld University. PUB | PDF | [Erratum](/assets/errata/PUB-0060-Erratum.pdf)}
}