Understanding neural computation in terms of pattern languages

There is some experimental evidence that the neural information processing in some small neural systems with complex behaviour (e.g., olfactory bulb, crab stomatogastric ganglion) can be best described in terms of activity patterns. Recently the pattern languages were proposed as an interpretation and analysis tool for such complex systems. Here we describe a model that shows how spatio-temporal neural activity patterns can perform abstract computation. We show how such activity patterns can be interpreted as a language of the neural system, and how neural information processing may be done in terms of pattern languages.