ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a natural expression of fuzzy logic in the function of the brain. We start (Section 1) with a historical account of the fuzzy perspective in neuroscience, and support this perspective with recent neurophysiological data (Section 2). Next, we use the activity of taste neurons as an example of a biological fuzzy membership function, and we suggest that this conceptualization can be successfully used as an organizational tool in understanding neural function in general. Following this, we demonstrate that the dynamics of taste neurons can indeed be modeled by a fuzzy Sugeno model (Section 3). Since the brain is a biological neural network, we also address (Section 4) the possible implementation of a fuzzy machine using artificial neural networks. We conclude (Section 5) with a discussion of some implications of this view for neuroscience and fuzzy modeling.
