Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Table of Contents - 2001 - Volume 24, Issue 06  


Short Communication

Soul searching and heart throbbing for biological modeling

Daniel L. Young a1 and Chi-Sang Poon a2
a1 Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 dlyoung@mit.edu http://cybernet.mit.edu/
a2 Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 cpoon@mit.edu

Abstract

Biological models are useful not only because they can simulate biological behaviors, but because they may shed light on the inner workings of complex biological structures and functions as deduced by top-down and/or bottom-up reasoning. Beyond the stylistic appeal of specific implementation methods, a model should be appraised according to its ability to bring out the underlying organizing and operating principles – which are truly the model's heart and soul.