Hebb, 1949. Bi and Poo, 1998/2001 are the foundations of learning theory. http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Spike-timing_dependent_plasticity#:~:text=Spike%20Timing%20Dependent%20Plasticity%20(STDP,of%20pre%2D%20and%20postsynaptic%20neurons.
Student here; python
& R
are both open software, so is very easy to share and reproduce results using these languages, unlike matlab
. You can use tools like Google Colab to run R
or python
code anywhere (with a gmail account), for example.
In terms of difficulty I'd say the three are begginer-friendly, and all of them have nice integrated development environment (IDE) options (e.g. Spyder for python
, Rstudio for R
).
For me, python
would be the most useful for his multiple uses and bigger community.
If you're interested in the 10,000 ft. up picture, I'd recommend reading "Models of the Mind" by Grace Lindsay [1]. Dayan & Abbot is a standard textbook in the field, but I think it's going to be too detailed and not broad enough for someone trying to orient themselves.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Models-Mind-Engineering-Mathematics-Understanding/dp/1472966422