Noise--random disturbances of signals--poses a fundamental problem for information processing and affects all aspects of nervous-system function. However, the nature, amount and impact of noise in the nervous system have only recently been addressed in a quantitative manner. Experimental and computational methods have shown that multiple noise sources contribute to cellular and behavioural trial-to-trial variability. We review the sources of noise in the nervous system, from the molecular to the behavioural level, and show how noise contributes to trial-to-trial variability. We highlight how noise affects neuronal networks and the principles the nervous system applies to counter detrimental effects of noise, and briefly discuss noise's potential benefits.

In this document, we explore in more detail our published work (Komorowski, Celi, Badawi, Gordon, & Faisal, 2018) for the benefit of the AI in Healthcare research community. In the above paper, we developed the AI Clinician system, which demonstrated how reinforcement learning could be used to make useful recommendations towards optimal treatment decisions from intensive care data. Since publication a number of authors have reviewed our work (e.g.

Disease-specific differences in mechanics and respiratory muscle activity did not influence the key association between dyspnea intensity and inspiratory neural drive to the diaphragm.