Computation at the neuron level -- where noncomputational embodied theories need to start

It seems that some embodied theorists see no need for computation or perhaps even information processing.  Rather than talking about, say, how interaural time difference (ITD) information can be used to compute spatial location, some embodied theorists want to say that spatial location is "perceived directly" given the physical signal as it passes through body-determined channels.  The brain is thought to bring little to the task in that the physical signal is not transformed but rather registers directly in neural systems. These theorists have spent a fair amount of time talking about the body--the movement is called "embodiment" after all--but little time talking about what's going on at the neuronal level.  I say, point well taken with respect to the contribution of the body: you don't get ITDs in the first place without two ears and a head in between.  But I also say, it is time for embodied theorists to look at the next step in the "registration" of those physical signals: the function of individual neurons. (Actually this is the second step, the first being transducer organs such as the cochlea and photoreceptor cells).  Physical signals must be passed through neurons, which exhibit a complex relation between input and output.  Some would even go so far as to say neurons are transforming the signal, i.e., computing. Here's a quote that gives a sense of what's going on at the single neuron level:Neurons take input signals at their synapses a...
Source: Talking Brains - Category: Neurologists Authors: Source Type: blogs