In particular, theoretical and computational neuroscience seem to be synonymous with each other. Neuroinformatics at least seems to deal somewhat more with solving things numerically and the usage and creation of algorithms and programs.
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$\begingroup$ I'm not much of a neuroscientist, but does all theoretical neuroscience involve computation? I assume at least all computational neuroscience does... $\endgroup$– Nick StaunerCommented Mar 13, 2014 at 22:22
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$\begingroup$ Computation as in at least manipulation of equations, yes. This Moldakarimov paper is an example that I think represents what a typical theoretical neuroscience paper looks like -- establish some equations, demonstrate fit of equations to data, etc. $\endgroup$– potpieCommented Mar 14, 2014 at 15:38
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There is no difference between "computational neuroscience" and "theoretical neuroscience" in practice. The two are almost always used interchangeably.
Neuroinformatics, like bioinformatics, is more about managing data and designing analysis software (that's always somehow integrated with data storage and management). Generally, it is informational specialists that work in neuroinformatics, as it is basically applied information science (applied to neuroscience, specifically). In some ways, neuroinformatics can serve as a bridge between experimentalist and theoretician. Experimentalists use neuroinformatic software to analyze and save their data and store their results... then the theoreticians can take that and make a model, then informatics can design a new program that incorporates the model to help experimentalists analyze their data. This is a very ideal simplification, but it gives an idea of how the three play off each other.
answered Mar 18, 2014 at 20:36