There is, alas, quite a lot of noise in the brain. See
W. H. Calvin and C. F. Stevens (1968). Synaptic noise and
other sources of randomness in motoneuron interspike
intervals. Journal of Neurophysiology (July 1968).
And it has some considerable implications for parallel processing, as
reducing the timing jitter requires hitching a lot of more-or-less
identical circuits in parallel. See
W. H. Calvin (1983). A stone's throw and its launch window:
timing precision and its implications for language and hominid
brains. Journal of Theoretical Biology 104:121-135.
W. H. Calvin (1987). The brain as a Darwin Machine.
Nature 330:33-34.
wcalvin at u.washington.edu
