Neural

Neural is an adjective relating to nerves or the nervous system. It derives from the Greek neuron meaning nerve and is used across biology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence to describe structures, processes, and models that involve nerve cells or nerve pathways.

In biology, neural describes components of the nervous system, including neural tissue, neurons, and glial cells. Neural circuits are networks of interconnected neurons that process and transmit information. Neural development and plasticity refer to how these networks form and adapt in response to experience.

In neuroscience, researchers study neural activity, synaptic transmission, and neural coding to understand perception, movement, and cognition. Methods such as electrophysiology, functional neuroimaging, and optogenetics reveal how neural signals correlate with behavior.

In artificial intelligence, neural networks are computational models inspired by biological systems. An artificial neural network comprises layers of artificial neurons connected by weighted links and governed by nonlinear activation functions. Training adjusts weights to reduce error, typically using backpropagation. Deep learning uses networks with many hidden layers to tackle complex tasks.

The term also appears in medicine and physiology to describe nervous-system tissues, pathways, or devices such as neural prosthetics. While neural terminology emphasizes structure and function, it does not imply consciousness or intelligence.