Wiring optimization explanation in neuroscience: 
What is special about it?

BARBERIS, SERGIO DANIEL

THEORIA

Universidad del País Vasco

Año: 2019 vol. 34 p. 89 - 110

0495-4548

This paper examines the explanatory distinctness of wiring optimization models in neuroscience. Wiring optimization models aim to represent the organizational features of neural and brain systems as optimal (or near-optimal) solutions to wiring optimization problems. My claim is that that wiring optimization models provide design explanations. In particular, they support ideal interventions on the decision variables of the relevant design problem and assess the impact of such interventions on the viability of the target system.