A field theory of neural nets: I: Derivation of field equations

A model is described in which neural activity is represented by a field quantity ϕ, with the neurons as the sources of ϕ. It is shown that, with certain physically realistic assumptions, ϕ satisfies a moderately nonlinear differential equation. It is also found that this equation is isotropic and of second order if and only if the neuronal connectivity has a dependence on distance,p, of the formp ⁻¹ e ^−1/2βp .