From announce at ccnconference.org Sat Aug 1 00:56:13 2009 From: announce at ccnconference.org (ccnc-announce) Date: Sat Aug 1 14:44:48 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] CCNC 2009 Online Abstract Submission Extended to August 15, 2009 Message-ID: <200907311656.13821.announce@ccnconference.org> ~ Online Abstract Submission Extended ~ 4th CONFERENCE ON COMPUTATIONAL COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE www.ccnconference.org To be held in conjunction with the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society at the Sheraton Boston Hotel in Boston, MA. CCN CONFERENCE DATES: Wed-Thu November 18 & 19, 2009 All three of our previous meetings have been a great success, two as satellites to Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting (2005, 2007) and in 2006 with Psychonomics. Attendance has ranged from 115-250. ____________________________________________________________________________ * EXTENDED DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS: Tuesday, August 15, 2009 Abstracts are to be submitted online via the website www.ccnconference.org. * Look for an announcement regarding online registration opening very soon, early August. As in past years, there will be two categories of submissions: -Poster only -Poster, plus short talk (15 min) to highlight the poster Abstracts should be limited to 250 words. Women and underrepresented minorities are especially encouraged to apply. Reviewing of posters will be inclusive and only to ensure appropriateness to the meeting. Short talks will be selected on the basis of research quality, relevance to conference theme, and expected accessibility in a talk format. Abstracts not selected for short talks will still be accepted as posters as long as they meet appropriateness criteria. * NOTIFICATION OF POSTER ACCEPTANCE: Approx. August 31, 2009 * CONTRIBUTED SHORT TALK SELECTION: Approx. September 15, 2009 __________________________________________________________________________ Program: * 2009 Keynote Speakers: Neil Burgess, University College London Josh Tenenbaum, MIT * Three symposia, each including a mixture of modelers and non-modelers and focused on a common theme or issue: ** Top-Down Mechanisms of Visual Attention Moderator: Steven Bressler, Florida Atlantic University ** Our Vision for the Word: Modeling Orthographic Processing Moderators: Carol Whitney, University of Maryland, College Park Jonathan Grainger, CNRS, France ** Context, Memory, and the Brain Moderators: Michael Hasselmo, Boston University Ken Norman, Princeton University * Approximately 12 short talks will be chosen featuring selected posters. * Poster sessions * We are again planning another special issue of Brain Research for selected papers from this meeting -- no need to indicate interest with your abstract submission at the present time. * We plan to award a limited number of competitive travel fellowships for students -- look for a notice by late summer. We especially encourage applications from members of underrepresented minorities. * Registration fees: $175 ($75 for students). ____________________________________________________________________________ 2009 Planning Committee: Suzanna Becker, McMaster University Carlos Brody, Princeton University Nathaniel Daw, New York University Michael Hasselmo, Boston University David Noelle, University of California, Merced Ken Norman, Princeton University Maximilian Riesenhuber, Georgetown University Ex officio: Randall O'Reilly, University of Colorado, Boulder Jonathan Cohen, Princeton University Executive Organizer: Thomas Hazy, University of Colorado, Boulder For more information and to sign up for the mailing list visit: www.ccnconference.org From woolrich at fmrib.ox.ac.uk Mon Aug 3 11:43:29 2009 From: woolrich at fmrib.ox.ac.uk (Mark Woolrich) Date: Mon Aug 3 12:20:27 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] =?windows-1252?q?MICCAI_workshop_on_=93Modelling__b?= =?windows-1252?q?rain_networks_in_functional_and_structural_MRI_data=22?= Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, Please see below the program for the MICCAI workshop on brain networks in neuroimaging. Go to http://www.miccai2009.org The early registration deadline has now been extended to 14th August, 2009. ************************************************************************************ Workshop on ?Modelling brain networks in functional and structural MRI data". MICCAI 2009, London, UK (http://www.miccai2009.org) 9:00-12:30, Thursday 24th September ************************************************************************************ The field of neuroimaging faces key challenges in the coming years. While techniques are readily available to map regions of the brain whose activity increases during specific tasks, there are fundamental questions that are not addressed by standard methodology, despite relevant information being present in the neuroimaging data. In particular, the understanding of interactions between brain regions, and how these relate to underlying connectional anatomy is of central importance for a mechanistic understanding of function. This workshop aims to bring together cutting edge developments in characterizing brain dynamics and connectivity. These include the use of biophysical models to capture the dynamic interactions between evoked neuronal populations (e.g. Dynamic Causal Modelling), and our current understanding of spontaneous oscillations of neural activity in FMRI and MEG data. Furthermore, we consider the complementary use structural information (e.g. via diffusion MR tractography) as the anatomical basis of functional interactions. Program (see http://www.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/~woolrich/miccai.pdf) Session 1 ? Modeling networks of evoked activity Chair: Mark Woolrich 9:00 ? 9:30 Klaas Stephan, University of Zurich. ?Dynamic causal modeling of neuronal networks.? 9:30 ? 10:00 Will Penny, University College, London. ?Weakly Coupled Oscillator Models.? 10:00 ? 10:30 Marcus Kaiser, Newcastle University. ?Structural networks and the link to network dynamics.? 10:30 ? 11:00 Break Session 2 ? Modeling networks of spontaneous activity Chair: Saad Jbabdi 11:00 ? 11:30 Andreas Kleinschmidt, Neurospin Center, Paris. ?Assessing spontaneous brain activity by EEG and sensory probes.? 11:30 ? 12:00 Christian Beckmann, Imperial College London. ?Correspondence of the brain's functional architecture during activation and rest? 12:00 ? 12:30 Rolf K?tter, Radboud University, Nijmegen. "Large-scale models of the 'resting state' of the brain? ---- Apologies if you have received multiple copies of this email ---- ---- Dr Mark Woolrich EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow University Research Lecturer Oxford University Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB), John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK. Tel: (+44)1865-222782 Homepage: http://www.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/~woolrich -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.neuroinf.org/pipermail/comp-neuro/attachments/20090803/c4948197/attachment-0001.html From byronyu at stanford.edu Mon Aug 3 18:53:56 2009 From: byronyu at stanford.edu (Byron Yu) Date: Mon Aug 3 19:10:03 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Cosyne 2010 -- Call for Workshops Message-ID: __________________________________________________________________________ ? ? ? ? ? Cosyne10 - CALL FOR WORKSHOP PROPOSALS ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? March 1-2, 2010 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Snowbird, Utah ? ? ? ? http://cosyne.org/wiki/Cosyne_10_workshops __________________________________________________________________________ PROPOSAL DEADLINE: Preference will be given to proposals received by 15 September 2009; proposals received by 30 October 2009 will be considered, if space is available. A series of workshops will be held after the main Cosyne meeting (http://cosyne.org/). The goal is to provide an informal forum for the discussion of important research questions and challenges. Controversial issues, open problems, comparisons of competing approaches, and alternative viewpoints are encouraged. The overarching goal of all workshops should be the integration of empirical and theoretical approaches, in an environment that fosters collegial discussion and debate. Preference will be given to proposals that differ in content, scope, and/or approach from workshops of recent years (examples available at cosyne.org). Relevant topics include, but are not limited to: sensory processing; motor planning and control; multisensory integration; motivation, reward and decision making; learning and memory; adaptation and plasticity; neural coding; neural circuitry and network models; dendritic processing; and methods in computational or systems neuroscience. __________________________________________________________________________ WORKSHOP DETAILS: -- There will be 4-8 workshops/day, running in parallel. -- Each workshop is expected to draw between 15 and 80 people. -- The workshops will be split into morning (8:00-11:00 AM) and afternoon (4:30-7:30 PM) sessions. -- Workshops will be held at Snowbird, a ski resort located 30 miles (typically less than an hour) from the Salt Lake City airport. -- Buses from the main conference will be provided. __________________________________________________________________________ SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: Deadline: ?Preference will be given to proposals received by 15 September 2009; proposals received by 30 October 2009 will be considered, if space is available. Format: ? ?plain text only -- please no attachments email to: ?cosyne10workshops@gmail.com (Adam Kohn, Mark Laubach) Proposals should include: -- Name(s) and email address(es) of the organizers (no more than 2 organizers per session, please). A primary contact should be designated. -- A title. -- A brief description of: ? what the workshop is to address and accomplish, ? why the topic is of interest, ? who the targeted group of participants is. -- Names of potential invitees, with indication of which speakers are confirmed. Preference will be given to workshops with the most confirmed speakers. -- Proposed workshop length (1 or 2 days). Most workshops will be limited to a single day. If you think your workshop needs 2 days, please explain why. -- A *brief* resume of the workshop organizer along with a *brief* list of publications (about half a page total). _________________________________________________________________________ WORKSHOP ORGANIZERS RESPONSIBILITIES: -- Coordinate workshop participation and content. -- Moderate the discussion. _________________________________________________________________________ SUGGESTIONS: Experience has shown that the best discussions during a workshop are those that arise spontaneously. A good way to foster these is to have short talks and long question periods (e.g. 30+15 minutes), and have plenty of breaks. Also, when it comes to the number of talks, in the words of Jerry Brown, less is more. We recommend fewer than 10 talks. _________________________________________________________________________ WORKSHOP COSTS: Detailed registration costs, etc, will be available at: http://cosyne.org/ Please note: Cosyne does NOT provide travel funding for workshop speakers. All workshop speakers are expected to pay for workshop registration fees. Participants are encouraged to register early, in order to qualify for discounted registration rates. ?One complementary (free) organizer registration is provided per workshop. For workshops with 2 organizers, the free registration can be given to one of the organizers or split evenly between them. _________________________________________________________________________ COSYNE 2010 WORKSHOP CHAIRS: Adam Kohn (Einstein), Mark Laubach (Yale) QUESTIONS: email: cosyne10workshops@gmail.com ------- Byron Yu Cosyne 2010 Publicity / Publications Chair From ale at sissa.it Tue Aug 4 14:09:22 2009 From: ale at sissa.it (Alessandro Treves) Date: Tue Aug 4 14:19:24 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] More Geometrico meeting at SISSA Message-ID: <20090804140922.h8p9wyi6r48so4g4@webmail.sissa.it> MORE GEOMETRICO An interdisciplinary conference on geometry, cognition, space and movement SISSA - International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste October 6 to 8, 2009 Supported by: SISSA (Cognitive Neuroscience and Mathematical Physics Sectors), Dipartimento di Filosofia dell'Universita' degli Studi di Milano, the EU Spacebrain project. The purpose of the project More Geometrico is to discuss the increasingly fundamental role played by geometrical and topological ideas and methods in the most important fields of research, relating them to recent developments in the natural and life sciences. This 4th event of the More Geometrico series is organized in collaboration with the Cognitive Neuroscience and Mathematical Physics Sectors of SISSA, and with the EU Spacebrain project. It is open to all and free (in particular, there is no registration fee). TOPICS and SPEAKERS: MOTOR COGNITION (coord. R. Rumiati): G. Csibra, I. Dinstein, T. Flash, A. Lingnau INTERNAL REPRESENTATION OF SPACE (coord. A. Treves): A. Compte*, B. Jagadeesh, K. Jeffery, E. Kropff, E.T. Rolls SPACE AND MOVEMENT (coord. C. Sinigaglia): A. Berti, Y. Coello, E. Ladavas, G. Vallortigara PERCEIVING MOTIONS, SHAPES AND COLOURS (coord. C. Sinigaglia and L. Boi): G. Citti*, J. Koenderink, F. Lacquaniti, K. O'Regan *to be confirmed October 7 PM will feature a public discussion (in Italian) among C. Bartocci, G. Giorello, M. Frixione and V. Torre, to take place in downtown Trieste. Further details are available from the conference web page http://www.filosofia.unimi.it/moregeometrico/Conferences_2009_1.html offering information about the venue, travel to Trieste and accommodation. Registration is free but recommended for organizational reasons. For information you may also write to Prof Ugo Bruzzo, bruzzo@sissa.it Scientific committee: C. Bartocci (Univ. Genova and MG) , L. Boi (EHESS Paris and MG), U. Bruzzo (SISSA and MG), G. Giorello (Univ. Milano and MG), R. Rumiati (SISSA), C. Sinigaglia (Univ. Milano and MG), V. Torre (SISSA), A. Treves (SISSA and Spacebrain). -- SISSA - Cognitive Neuroscience, now downtown in via Stock 2/2, V fl BUT NOTE, POSTAL ADDRESS: SISSA, via Beirut 2, 34014 Trieste, Italy tel:39-040-3787623 fax:39-040-3787615 http://people.sissa.it/~ale ---------------------------------------------------------------- SISSA Webmail https://webmail.sissa.it/ Powered by Horde http://www.horde.org/ From bisant at umbc.edu Wed Aug 5 01:35:48 2009 From: bisant at umbc.edu (d bisant) Date: Wed Aug 5 11:07:36 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] FLAIRS, Daytona Beach, May 19, Special Tracks on Data Mining or Bioinformatics Message-ID: <4A78C5D4.6060001@umbc.edu> Here are calls for 2 tracks which may be of interest to list members. FLAIRS 2010, Daytona Beach, FL, May 19-21, 2010 Conference URL: http://www.flairs-23.info/ Submission Due Date: November 23, 2009 Call For Papers: FLAIRS-2010 Special Track on Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Track URL: http://userpages.umbc.edu/~bisant/gl/CFP2010BIO.htm Papers are being solicited for a special track on Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at the 23rd International FLAIRS Conference (FLAIRS-2010). The special track will be devoted to bioinformatics and computational biology with the aim of presenting new and important contributions in this area. The areas include, but are not limited to, the following: applications such as genomics, bioinformatics, protein modeling, sequence analysis, population modeling, computational biology, biological database mining; modeling algorithms such as hidden Markov, neural networks, statistical methods, or probabilistic methods; case studies in areas of application, or over different algorithms and approaches; feature presentation , extraction, and selection such as molecular fingerprinting; post-processing techniques such as visualization, summarization, or trending; or other biological research which is related to artificial intelligence. Questions regarding the track should be addressed to: David Bisant at bisant@umbc.edu or Taghi Khoshgoftaar taghi@cse.fau.edu Call For Papers: FLAIRS-2010 Special Track on Data Mining Track URL: http://userpages.umbc.edu/~bisant/gl/CFP2010DM.htm Papers are being solicited for a special track on Data Mining at the 23rd International FLAIRS Conference (FLAIRS-2010). The special track will be devoted to data mining with the aim of presenting new and important contributions in this area. The areas include, but are not limited to, the following: applications such as Intelligence analysis, medical and health applications, text, video, and multi-media mining, E-commerce and web data, financial data analysis, intrusion detection, remote sensing, earth sciences, and astronomy; modeling algorithms such as hidden Markov, decision trees, neural networks, statistical methods, or probabilistic methods; case studies in areas of application, or over different algorithms and approaches; feature extraction and selection; post-processing techniques such as visualization, summarization, or trending; preprocessing and data reduction; data engineering or warehousing; or other data mining research which is related to artificial intelligence. Questions regarding the track should be addressed to: David Bisant at bisant@umbc.edu or Bill Eberle at weberle@tntech.edu. From tgollisch at neuro.mpg.de Wed Aug 5 17:10:40 2009 From: tgollisch at neuro.mpg.de (Tim Gollisch) Date: Wed Aug 5 17:46:16 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Postdoctoral position: Population Coding in the Retina Message-ID: <510B77F500FB6D47B27C6C1FA1782BD737E7AE3FE6@s42.neuro.mpg.de> A postdoctoral research position (2+ years) is available to investigate the neural population code of the retina in the lab of Tim Gollisch at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Munich-Martinsried. We study information processing and neural coding in the retinal network with a combination of electrophysiological and computational approaches. For more information about the group, please visit http://www.neuro.mpg.de/english/junior/visualcode/. We are looking for a highly committed scientist with experience in neuronal data analysis and good computer knowledge. The successful candidate will work on a combined computational and experimental project that aims at bringing together electrophysiological recordings from the retina, automated data analysis, and feedback to the visual stimulus generator in order to perform closed-loop experiments. These will be applied to studying population coding in the retina with methods from signal detection theory and information theory. The successful candidate will be part of a stimulating, lively, and international scientific environment provided by the Max Planck Institute (http://www.neuro.mpg.de) as well as the nearby university and Munich Center for Neurosciences (http://www.mcn.lmu.de). The research group is also associated with the Munich Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience (http://www.bccn-muenchen.de), which provides an additional platform for interactions with scientists within the Munich area and beyond. For information or to apply, please send an email to Dr. Tim Gollisch (tgollisch@neuro.mpg.de) and include a statement of research interests and a CV. --------------------------------------------- Dr. Tim Gollisch Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology Visual Coding Group Am Klopferspitz 18 82152 Martinsried-Munich, Germany Email: tgollisch@neuro.mpg.de Tel.: +49 (0)89 8578 3496 Fax: +49 (0)89 8995 0123 From bower at uthscsa.edu Wed Aug 5 17:23:23 2009 From: bower at uthscsa.edu (james bower) Date: Wed Aug 5 17:48:49 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] CNS*2010 Message-ID: <52CBACE7-D62A-4F24-A1CC-38E67B935A03@uthscsa.edu> Moderator sorry, would you mind adding this to the posting I just sent in: "interested in staying abreast of meeting developments you can follow: http://twitter.com/cns2010sa" Thanks much and sorry Jim Dr. James M. Bower Professor of Computational Neurobiology Research Imaging Center University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, Texas Department of Biology University of Texas - San Antonio Phone: 210 382 0553 Email: bower@uthscsa.edu Web: www.bower-lab.org CONFIDENTIAL NOTICE: The contents of this email and any attachments to it may be privileged or contain privileged and confidential information. This information is only for the viewing or use of the intended recipient. If you have received this e-mail in error or are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of, or the taking of any action in reliance upon, any of the information contained in this e- mail, or any of the attachments to this e-mail, is strictly prohibited and that this e-mail and all of the attachments to this e-mail, if any, must be immediately returned to the sender or destroyed and, in either case, this e-mail and all attachments to this e-mail must be immediately deleted from your computer without making any copies hereof and any and all hard copies made must be destroyed. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by e-mail immediately. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.neuroinf.org/pipermail/comp-neuro/attachments/20090805/0fb34e44/attachment-0001.html From bower at uthscsa.edu Wed Aug 5 17:14:29 2009 From: bower at uthscsa.edu (james bower) Date: Wed Aug 5 17:48:55 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] CNS*2010 to be held in San Antonio Texas in July 2010 Message-ID: <196B2282-B1AA-4352-AE07-068BE50D2975@uthscsa.edu> NEWS FLASH: CNS*2010 will be held in San Antonio Texas in July 2010 The Organization for Computational Neurosciences (http:// www.cnsorg.org) announces that the 19th annual CNS meeting will be held July 25th - 29th in San Antonio Texas. The meeting will be organized locally by Drs. James M. Bower, Charles Wilson, and Todd Troyer. Following the highly successful CNS*2009 meeting in Berlin Germany, where more than 675 conference participants engaged in a day of tutorials, 3 days of formal meetings, and more than 15 formal and informal workshops, OCNS anticipates that CNS*2010 will be as exciting and successful, as it kicks off the 20th year of the CNS meeting series. Further information on the meeting can be found at http://www.cnsorg.org/2010/ We look forward to welcoming you to beautiful San Antonio Jim Bower Charles Wilson Todd Troyer Dr. James M. Bower Professor of Computational Neurobiology Research Imaging Center University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, Texas Department of Biology University of Texas - San Antonio Phone: 210 382 0553 Email: bower@uthscsa.edu Web: www.bower-lab.org CONFIDENTIAL NOTICE: The contents of this email and any attachments to it may be privileged or contain privileged and confidential information. This information is only for the viewing or use of the intended recipient. If you have received this e-mail in error or are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of, or the taking of any action in reliance upon, any of the information contained in this e- mail, or any of the attachments to this e-mail, is strictly prohibited and that this e-mail and all of the attachments to this e-mail, if any, must be immediately returned to the sender or destroyed and, in either case, this e-mail and all attachments to this e-mail must be immediately deleted from your computer without making any copies hereof and any and all hard copies made must be destroyed. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by e-mail immediately. -------------- next part -------------- Skipped content of type multipart/related From GullyBurns at gmail.com Wed Aug 5 21:36:19 2009 From: GullyBurns at gmail.com (Gully APC Burns) Date: Thu Aug 6 09:54:47 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Research Associate position in Neuroinformatics in Southern California Message-ID: <4A79DF33.2060604@gmail.com> We are hiring a Research Associate (Neuroinformatics Research Scientist) within the Biomedical Knowledge Engineering Group at the Information Sciences Institute located in Marina del Rey in Los Angeles (http://www.isi.edu/). The position will be concerned with developing the next phase of the NeuARt project (http://www.neuroscholar.org/neuart2.html), whilst integrating this work with the larger BIRN effort (at ISI, UC Irvine and UCLA). We are looking for a neuroinformatics researcher with experience of building functional applications. Detailed knowledge of (and scientific interest in) Neuroanatomy is essential. The environment at ISI is predominantly CS-oriented and so a strong CS background is also preferred. The position is funded for 5 years, and we hope that a successful applicant would consider working within the ISI community over the long term. We want to hire good people and then keep them. Additionally, we will use text-mining approaches to index the full-text scientific literature using entity recognition for brain structures and unsupervised concept discovery to link maps to ontological representations of neuroscience research. This position requires a combination of expertise in bio- or neuro- informatics, text mining, and ontology engineering, as well as advanced programming skills. Please use the following link to apply: https://jobs.usc.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1249489733170 Please also contact Gully Burns (gully@usc.edu) for any additional information. From announce at ccnconference.org Wed Aug 5 17:54:29 2009 From: announce at ccnconference.org (ccnc-announce) Date: Thu Aug 6 09:55:43 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] CCNC 2009 Online Registration OPEN Message-ID: <200908050954.29845.announce@ccnconference.org> ~ CCNC Online Registration is Now Open ~ 4th CONFERENCE ON COMPUTATIONAL COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE www.ccnconference.org To be held in conjunction with the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society at the Sheraton Boston Hotel in Boston, MA. CCN CONFERENCE DATES: Wed-Thu November 18 & 19, 2009 All three of our previous meetings have been a great success, two as satellites to Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting (2005, 2007) and in 2006 with Psychonomics. Attendance has ranged from 115-250. ____________________________________________________________________________ * ONLINE REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN at: http://www.ccnconference.org/page5.html * EXTENDED DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS: Tuesday, August 15, 2009 Abstracts are to be submitted online via the website: www.ccnconference.org. As in past years, there will be two categories of submissions: -Poster only -Poster, plus short talk (15 min) to highlight the poster Abstracts should be limited to 250 words. Women and underrepresented minorities are especially encouraged to apply. Reviewing of posters will be inclusive and only to ensure appropriateness to the meeting. Short talks will be selected on the basis of research quality, relevance to conference theme, and expected accessibility in a talk format. Abstracts not selected for short talks will still be accepted as posters as long as they meet appropriateness criteria. * NOTIFICATION OF POSTER ACCEPTANCE: Approx. August 31, 2009 * CONTRIBUTED SHORT TALK SELECTION: Approx. September 15, 2009 __________________________________________________________________________ Program: * 2009 Keynote Speakers: Neil Burgess, University College London Josh Tenenbaum, MIT * Three symposia, each including a mixture of modelers and non-modelers and focused on a common theme or issue: ** Top-Down Mechanisms of Visual Attention Moderator: Steven Bressler, Florida Atlantic University ** Our Vision for the Word: Modeling Orthographic Processing Moderators: Carol Whitney, University of Maryland, College Park Jonathan Grainger, CNRS, France ** Context, Memory, and the Brain Moderators: Michael Hasselmo, Boston University Ken Norman, Princeton University * Approximately 12 short talks will be chosen featuring selected posters. * Poster sessions * We are again planning another special issue of Brain Research for selected papers from this meeting -- no need to indicate interest with your abstract submission at the present time. * We plan to award a limited number of competitive travel fellowships for students -- look for a notice by late summer. We especially encourage applications from members of underrepresented minorities. * Registration fees: $175 ($75 for students). ____________________________________________________________________________ 2009 Planning Committee: Suzanna Becker, McMaster University Carlos Brody, Princeton University Nathaniel Daw, New York University Michael Hasselmo, Boston University David Noelle, University of California, Merced Ken Norman, Princeton University Maximilian Riesenhuber, Georgetown University Ex officio: Randall O'Reilly, University of Colorado, Boulder Jonathan Cohen, Princeton University Executive Organizer: Thomas Hazy, University of Colorado, Boulder For more information and to sign up for the mailing list visit: www.ccnconference.org From m.montemurro at manchester.ac.uk Mon Aug 10 14:26:36 2009 From: m.montemurro at manchester.ac.uk (Marcelo Montemurro) Date: Wed Aug 12 10:18:09 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Manchester Workshop on Neural Coding and Computation Message-ID: Dear All, this is the second announcement of the upcoming workshop on Neural Coding and Computation that will take place at the University of Manchester (UM). The event will bring together a number of leading international speakers to present cutting edge research on neural coding. The date, time, and venue for the workshop are as follows: 8 September 2009, from 10:00 to 17:00 The University of Manchester Faculty of Life Sciences Smith Building, Lecture Theatre The confirmed Invited speakers are the following: Matteo Carandini (UCL) Steve Coombes (University of Nottingham) Jason Kerr (Max Planck, Tuebingen) Marcelo Magnasco (Rockefeller University) Magnus Richardson (University of Warwick) Mark Van Rossum (University of Edinburgh) Some travel support will be available (priority will be given to PhD students and postdocs). The event is funded by the Mathematical Neuroscience Network, the Neuroscience Research Institute (UM), and the Faculty of Life Sciences (UM). Registration and attendance are free of charge. Please, register by filling in the form at the workshop web page ( http://www.neuroscience.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/events/CompNeuroscieneWorkshop ) Regards, Rasmus Petersen (r.petersen@manchester.ac.uk)Marcelo Montemurro ( m.montemurro@manchester.ac.uk) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.neuroinf.org/pipermail/comp-neuro/attachments/20090810/966b0f6d/attachment.html From hans.ekkehard.plesser at umb.no Tue Aug 11 14:47:50 2009 From: hans.ekkehard.plesser at umb.no (Dr. Hans Ekkehard Plesser) Date: Wed Aug 12 10:18:52 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Towards Reproducible Descriptions of Neuronal Network Models Message-ID: <4A816876.5090609@umb.no> Dear Colleagues! We would like to draw your attention to our recent review of the sorry state of neuronal network descriptions in the literature, including a proposal for a Good Model Description Practice: Nordlie E, Gewaltig M-O, Plesser HE (2009). Towards reproducible descriptions of neuronal network models. PLoS Comput Biol 5(8):e1000456. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000456. You'll find a summary below. The Good Model Descriptions Practice proposes standardized tables to provide a concise overview over your model. To make it easier for you to include these tables in you own papers, we provide the LaTeX code for one of the tables at http://www.nest-initiative.org/images/a/af/NordlieGewaltigPlesserPLoS2009Fig5.tex We sincerely hope that you will find our proposal useful. Best regards, Hans Ekkehard Plesser Author Summary -------------- Scientists make precise, testable statements about their observations and models of nature. Other scientists can then evaluate these statements and attempt to reproduce or extend them. Results that cannot be reproduced will be duly criticized to arrive at better interpretations of experimental results or better models. Over time, this discourse develops our joint scientific knowledge. A crucial condition for this process is that scientists can describe their own models in a manner that is precise and comprehensible to others. We analyze in this paper how well models of neuronal networks are described in the scientific literature and conclude that the wide variety of manners in which network models are described makes it difficult to communicate models successfully. We propose a good model description practice to improve the communication of neuronal network models. -- Dr. Hans Ekkehard Plesser Associate Professor Dept. of Mathematical Sciences and Technology Norwegian University of Life Sciences Phone +47 6496 5467 Fax +47 6496 5401 Email hans.ekkehard.plesser@umb.no Home http://arken.umb.no/~plesser From Ranu.Jung at asu.edu Sat Aug 8 02:30:27 2009 From: Ranu.Jung at asu.edu (Ranu Jung) Date: Wed Aug 12 10:56:05 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Postdoctoral Position: Neural Interface for Sensory-Enabled Prostheses Message-ID: Postdoctoral Position: Neural Interface for Sensory-Enabled Prostheses A postdoctoral position is available in the engineering laboratory of Dr. Ranu Jung in the Center for Adaptive Neural Systems (http://ans.asu.edu), School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. The position is supported by an NIH-funded Bioengineering Research Partnership grant for a project to interface prosthetic hands with amputees through a direct peripheral nerve interface for providing sensory feedback. The collaborative effort includes biomedical and electrical engineers from academia, clinicians and industrial partners. The postdoctoral fellow will participate in the system integration of the implanted device and the prosthetic hand. This will require software development; implementation, design and development of electronic and mechanical interfaces; and rigorous testing and verification. Prior experience in neural engineering research and neurotechnology development or related experience is necessary. Experience with programming in Python and Matlab, CAD design, and electronic circuit design and development are highly desirable. Familiarity with regulatory requirements for human subject medical device development would be beneficial. The candidate also must be able to demonstrate excellent communication skills and the ability to work as part of a team. The postdoctoral researcher will interact with faculty, students and other postdoctoral researchers in the Center for Adaptive Neural Systems (http://ans.asu.edu ) at ASU. ASU has vibrant, interdisciplinary research communities in neuroengineering, prostheses, solid state electronics neuroinformatics, high-performance computing, neuroscience, and kinesiology. Candidates should send a curriculum vitae, a summary of research experience and interests, and the contact information (name, address, phone number and email) for three references to: Dr. Ranu Jung at ranu.jung@asu.edu The Center for Adaptive Neural Systems is focused on developing and applying new technology to address the complex problems presented by neurological disability. The scope of the Center's activities includes the design and development of new technology, the evaluation of technology in pre-clinical trials, and the transfer of these technologies to biomedical industry and clinical practice. Our multi-disciplinary research group includes biomedical engineers, kinesiologists, neuroscientists, mathematicians and clinicians. Positions are open now and applications will continue to be reviewed until positions are filled. Arizona State University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer institution. Ranu Jung, PhD Co-Director, Center for Adaptive Neural Systems, SBHSE Faculty of Bioengineering, Electrical Engineering & Neuroscience PO Box 874404 Arizona State University Tempe, AZ 85287-4404 _________________________________________ tel: +1 480 965 9052 http://ans.asu.edu fax: +1 480 727 8393 ranu.jung@asu.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.neuroinf.org/pipermail/comp-neuro/attachments/20090807/82239be4/attachment.html From Ranu.Jung at asu.edu Sat Aug 8 02:24:41 2009 From: Ranu.Jung at asu.edu (Ranu Jung) Date: Wed Aug 12 10:56:08 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Postdoctoral Position: Sensorimotor Integration in Advanced Prosthetic Systems Message-ID: Postdoctoral Position: Sensorimotor Integration in Advanced Prosthetic Systems A postdoctoral position is available in the laboratory of Dr. James Abbas in the Center for Adaptive Neural Systems (http://www.ans.asu.edu), School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. The position is supported by an NIH-funded Bioengineering Research Partnership grant for a project to interface prosthetic hands with amputees through a direct peripheral nerve interface for providing sensory feedback. The collaborative effort includes biomedical and electrical engineers from academia, clinicians and industrial partners. The postdoctoral fellow will focus on experimental evaluation of sensory perception and sensorimotor performance using this novel prosthetic system. This work will require experimental design, software development and extensive analysis of data from sensory and sensorimotor experiments. Prior experience in neural stimulation research, somatosensory perception and neural control of manipulation is highly desirable. Expertise in programming in Python or Matlab, and experience in statistical analysis of neuromotor data sets are also highly desirable. Familiarity with regulatory requirements for human subject medical device development would be beneficial. The candidate also must be able to demonstrate excellent communication skills and the ability to work as part of a team. The postdoctoral researcher will interact with faculty, students and other postdoctoral researchers in the Center for Adaptive Neural Systems (http://ans.asu.edu ) at ASU. ASU has vibrant, interdisciplinary research communities in neuromotor control, neuroengineering, prostheses, neuroinformatics, high-performance computing, neuroscience, and kinesiology. Candidates should send a curriculum vitae, a summary of research experience and interests, and the contact information (name, address, phone number and email) for three references to: Dr. James Abbas at james.abbas@asu.edu The Center for Adaptive Neural Systems (http://ans.asu.edu) is focused on developing and applying new technology to address the complex problems presented by neurological disability. The scope of the Center's activities includes the design and development of new technology, the evaluation of technology in pre-clinical trials, and the transfer of these technologies to biomedical industry and clinical practice. Our multi-disciplinary research group includes biomedical engineers, kinesiologists, neuroscientists, mathematicians and clinicians. Positions are open now and applications will continue to be reviewed until positions are filled. Arizona State University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer institution. Ranu Jung, PhD Co-Director, Center for Adaptive Neural Systems, SBHSE Faculty of Bioengineering, Electrical Engineering & Neuroscience PO Box 874404 Arizona State University Tempe, AZ 85287-4404 _________________________________________ tel: +1 480 965 9052 http://ans.asu.edu fax: +1 480 727 8393 ranu.jung@asu.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.neuroinf.org/pipermail/comp-neuro/attachments/20090807/367bc1da/attachment.html From legi at igi.tugraz.at Fri Aug 7 11:34:37 2009 From: legi at igi.tugraz.at (Legenstein Robert) Date: Wed Aug 12 11:13:28 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Positions for two Phd-students for research on large-scale brain models and learning in Graz Message-ID: <4A7BF52D.4050801@igi.tugraz.at> In the research group of Wolfgang Maass and Robert Legenstein at the Graz University of Technology in Austria (http://www.igi.tugraz.at/maass/) there are openings for two PhD students for research on large-scale brain models, synaptic plasticity, and learning and self-organization in networks of spiking neurons. A keen interest in understanding brain function as well as knowledge in machine learning, and programming skills are expected. These two PhD Students will be funded by the Marie Curie Initial Training Network Facets-ITN http://facets.kip.uni-heidelberg.de/ITN/. They will receive a strongly interdisciplinary training including extended stays in several partner laboratories from the project. Applicants for these positions in Graz should apply at http://facets.kip.uni-heidelberg.de/ITN/ ,marking TUG as the preferred partner. The application deadline is 20 August 2009. For further questions, please correspond with Robert Legenstein: robert.legenstein@igi.tugraz.at (The rules of the Marie Curie Network demand that applicants for the positions in Austria must be of non-Austrian nationality and have spent less than 12 months during the last 3 years in Austria.) -- ---------------------------------------- Dr. Robert Legenstein Institut f?r Grundlagen der Informationsverarbeitung Technische Universit?t Graz Inffeldgasse 16b/I, 8010 Graz, Austria ++43/316/873-5824 ---------------------------------- From kk at northwestern.edu Wed Aug 12 16:48:52 2009 From: kk at northwestern.edu (Konrad Koerding) Date: Wed Aug 12 17:09:20 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Postdoc position at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago In-Reply-To: <22d2b4c00908060803t8721cdciea52cbd2df7b7165@mail.gmail.com> References: <22d2b4c00908060803t8721cdciea52cbd2df7b7165@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <22d2b4c00908120748s3fe7f91bif3cbd001cbe1ad7d@mail.gmail.com> An enthusiastic and well-qualified post-doctoral researcher is required to work in the wide area of computational sensorimotor integration in the laboratory of Konrad Koerding at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Northwestern University, Chicago. Current research in the laboratory focuses on the question of decoding of neural signals, cue combination and motor control. These projects require probabilistic models and supervised as well as unsupervised learning techniques. We also test which algorithms are used by the human brain. A successful applicant is expected to bring together machine learning skills with neuroscience problems. Applicants should have a PhD and skills relevant to machine learning, Bayesian statistics or computational neuroscience and an interest in the way the nervous system solves computational problems; however applicants with a strong background in psychophysics who wish to learn computational approaches will also be considered. Experience with Matlab would be very advantageous. The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) boasts a large concentration of researchers that address various questions about movement in healthy and patient populations. The department of physiology hosts many scientists probing the neural basis of movement. Informal inquiries can be addressed by email to Professor Konrad Koerding (konrad@koerding.com). For more information about the environment see the Web Pages of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (www.ric.org), the Northwestern Department of Physiology (www.physio.northwestern.edu) and the Northwestern Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (www.northwestern.edu/pmr/). The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago is an Affirmative Action - Equal Opportunity Employer. Applicants are considered for all positions, and employees are treated during employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, marital or veteran status, the presence of a non-job-related medical condition, disability, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected status to the extent required by law. The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago embraces diversity in its work force. Applicants should supply: - one-page statement of research interests - Copy of CV (two if sent by post) - Names and contact details of three references From dglanzma at mail.nih.gov Wed Aug 12 18:13:37 2009 From: dglanzma at mail.nih.gov (Glanzman, Dennis (NIH/NIMH) [E]) Date: Wed Aug 12 18:34:32 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Dynamical Neuroscience Satellite Symposium -- Dynamical Disease In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <0EE5F9DA83318D47B16FB45A5CBA4A4A0512151D@nihcesmlbx2.nih.gov> CALL FOR POSTERS CALL FOR POSTERS CALL FOR POSTERS 17th Annual Dynamical Neuroscience Satellite Symposium - "Dynamical Disease" (Preceding the 39th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience) Thursday and Friday, October 15-16, 2009 The Buckingham Ballroom of the Allerton Hotel, 701 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois The concept of dynamical diseases has been in existence for over 30 years, with numerous re-views drawing attention to disorders that are characterized by the recurrence of certain symptoms, or exhibit oscillations that appear in the intensity of an ongoing nervous system disease. Neuropsychiatric and neurological diseases exhibiting periodicity or cyclicity include Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, Seasonal Affective Disorder, Klein-Levin Syndrome, Sleep Disorders, Binging, Epilepsy, Multiple Sclerosis, Jet-Lag and Headache. The time course of the disorders can range from seconds and minutes to months and years. This symposium will examine a number of dynamical disorders of the nervous system, with the aim of providing an overarching perspective into potential underlying mechanisms, detection, prevention and treatment strategy. Confirmed Speakers: Bard Ermentrout, Leon Glass, Isabela Granic, Suzanne Haber, Nancy Kopell, Marc Lewis, Alfred Lewy, Haim Sompolinsky, Peter Tass, Jonathan Victor and Miles Whittington Keynote Address: Winner of the 2nd Annual Swartz Prize in Computational Neuroscience Symposium Organizers: Nicholas Schiff, Weill Cornell Medical Center, and Dennis Glanzman, NIMH/NIH For programmatic information, please contact: Dennis Glanzman National Institute of Mental Health Telephone: (301) 443-1576 To register for the meeting and to submit a poster, please contact: Nakia Wilson The Dixon Group Telephone: (877) 772-9111 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.neuroinf.org/pipermail/comp-neuro/attachments/20090812/322477cb/attachment.html From pillaiaj at mail.nih.gov Wed Aug 12 18:56:18 2009 From: pillaiaj at mail.nih.gov (Ajay Pillai) Date: Wed Aug 12 19:09:41 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] POSTDOCTORAL POSITION at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, USA Message-ID: <4A82F432.70103@mail.nih.gov> POSTDOCTORAL POSITION at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, USA The Brain Imaging and Modeling Section directed by Barry Horwitz of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, NIH, is recruiting a postdoctoral researcher to work on functional brain imaging projects. The position would be initially for 2 years, with extension for several more years possible. The Brain Imaging and Modeling Section performs studies using fMRI, MEG and computational neural modeling. The emphasis in the laboratory is on studies of audition, speech and language processing. This laboratory has pioneered the use of network analysis methods and the use of biologically realistic neural modeling for understanding neuroimaging data. The successful applicant will have a Ph.D and/or MD in a relevant field, and experience with neuroimaging and/or neural modeling. Knowledge of experimental design, connectivity analysis methods, and time series analysis techniques would be particularly welcomed. MATLAB expertise and familiarity with Linux preferred. The position could start as early as Oct. 1, 2009. The search will continue until the position is filled. Salary will be commensurate with experience. The position is on the main NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, a suburb of Washington, DC. Applicants should respond with an email to Dr. Barry Horwitz, horwitzb@mail.nih.gov; include a CV and a cover letter stating one?s research interests. See http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/research/scientists/horwitzb.asp for further information about our research group. -- Ajay S. Pillai, Ph.D. Brain Imaging and Modeling Section NIDCD, National Institutes of Health Rm 8S235B, 10 Center Dr. Bethesda MD 20892-1407 Tel. +1 301-435-5141 FAX +1 301-480-5625 pillaiaj@mail.nih.gov From ffrascoli at gmail.com Thu Aug 13 01:20:26 2009 From: ffrascoli at gmail.com (Federico Frascoli) Date: Thu Aug 13 09:28:56 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] PHD Fellowship in BRAIN DYNAMICS Message-ID: PHD Fellowship in BRAIN DYNAMICS We are currently looking for one PhD student to join the Brain Dynamics group at the Brain Sciences Institute in Melbourne (Australia) by early 2010. The main focus of proposed research will be the neurophysics of the mammalian electroencephalogram (EEG), in particular the mean-field modelling of electrocortical activity. The candidate can choose among a range of theoretical projects in dynamical systems theory, nonlinear time series analysis, bifurcation theory, modelling of epilepsy and anesthesia, phase transitions in the brain and signal processing. Interested applicants should have a strong background in any of the following disciplines: theoretical physics, mathematics, biomedical or electrical engineering, quantitative biology. A first class honours degree or equivalent is expected. Proficiency in any of the following: C or C++, Fortran, Python, Matlab, Octave, Matcont, Auto, R, Mathematica, XPPAUT will be an advantage. The Brain Dynamics group is part of the Brain Sciences Institute located in Melbourne, a vibrant, multi-disciplinary team of researchers whose expertise spans several different fields that include physics, psychology, psychophysiology, biophysics and the neurosciences. Examples of research projects can be found at the Institute's webpage http://www.swinburne.edu.au/lss/bsi/ The group is involved in active collaborations with scientific institutions and universities in Australia, Canada, Germany, U.K., U.S. and Italy. The candidate will be encouraged to profit from these collaborations and spend time overseas during his/her candidature. A range of scholarships for national and international students are available, with up to AU$23,000 per year for three and a half years, tax-free. The deadline for applications is the 31st October 2009. More details on the application process can be found at http://www.research.swinburne.edu.au/higher-degrees/application/. International students are required to sit an IELTS test (or equivalent, e.g. TOEFL) with an average band score of at least 6.5, with no band less than 6.0. Swinburne also strongly encourages minorities and women to apply. Interested applicants should email A/Prof. David T. J. Liley at dliley(at)swin.edu.au or Dr. Federico Frascoli at ffrascoli(at)swin.edu.au, including a brief cv, to discuss the projects in details. Examples of the group's past projects can be seen here: http://marr.bsee.swin.edu.au/ A/Prof David T. J. Liley Dr. Federico Frascoli tel.: 0061 3 9214 8812 (David) tel.: 0061 3 9214 5595 (Federico) fax.: 0061 3 9214 6443 From yeewhye at gmail.com Thu Aug 13 16:30:44 2009 From: yeewhye at gmail.com (YeeWhye Teh) Date: Thu Aug 13 18:19:41 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] AISTATS*2010 Call for Papers In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <90231e670908130730m76c6c6f6pe293f76e8c3dbab1@mail.gmail.com> AISTATS*2010 Call for Papers Thirteenth International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics May 13-15, 2010, Chia Laguna, Sardinia, Italy http://www.aistats.org This is the thirteenth conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics (AISTATS*2010), an interdisciplinary gathering of researchers at the intersection of computer science, artificial intelligence, statistics, and related areas. Since its inception the AISTATS conference has been held every two years in North America. At the 2009 conference, with the support of the EU funded PASCAL II Network of Excellence (www.pascal-network.org), the decision was made to bring the conference to Europe for the first time. Starting in 2010 AISTATS will be held every year, alternating the venue between Europe and North America. The Conference Programme will include invited talks, contributed talks, and posters. Contributed talks and posters are selected via a rigorous peer-review process based on 8 page papers. Accepted papers will be published as a special issue in the Journal of Machine Learning Research (JMLR) Workshop and Conference Proceedings Series. As an innovation for AISTATS*2010, some time at the conference will be set aside for "breaking news" posters submitted on the basis of a one-page abstract. These are reports on ongoing or unpublished projects, projects already published elsewhere, partially developed ideas, negative results etc, and are meant as informal forums to encourage discussion. The review process of these posters will be very light-touch but presentation of these at the Conference will not lead to publication in the Proceedings. Since its inception in 1985, the primary goal of this conference has been to broaden research at the interface between artificial intelligence and statistics. Papers and abstracts on all aspects of this interface are strongly encouraged, including but not limited to: active learning and experimental design applications approximate and exact inference Bayesian statistics causality classification and regression graphical models kernel and large margin methods latent variable models model selection and structure learning neural networks online learning optimization and search unsupervised and semi-supervised learning reinforcement learning and decision making statistical databases statistical software statistical learning theory structured and relational learning visualization of datasets Submission Requirements: Peer-Reviewed Papers: Electronic submission of papers is required. Papers may be up to 8 double-column pages in length; formatting and submission information can be found on the AI and Statistics Conference Management page. Submissions will be considered if they are received by 23:59, Friday November 6th, 2009, Universal Time. Submitted papers will undergo a rigorous double-blind review process. Acceptance notifications will be emailed by February 13th, and camera-ready final versions (same format) will be due on March 13th, 2010. These papers will be presented at the Conference either as contributed talks or posters, and will be published as a special issue in the JMLR Workshop and Conference Proceedings Series. Papers for talks and posters will be treated equally in publication. Breaking-news Posters: Electronic submission of one page double-column abstracts is required. Formatting and submission information can be found on the AI and Statistics Conference Management page. Submissions will be considered if they are received by 23:59, Friday February 26th, 2010, Universal Time. Abstracts will be lightly reviewed. Acceptance notifications will be emailed by March 26th. These will be presented as "breaking news" posters at the conference and will not be published. Programme Chairs: Yee Whye Teh, University College London, U.K. Mike Titterington, University of Glasgow, U.K. General Chair: Neil Lawrence, University of Manchester, U.K. From bajajketan at yahoo.com Fri Aug 14 12:02:07 2009 From: bajajketan at yahoo.com (Ketan Bajaj) Date: Fri Aug 14 12:33:33 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] PhD thesis: "Adaptation-induced plasticity in V1: adapting and anti-adapting neurons" Message-ID: <887293.57911.qm@web55706.mail.re3.yahoo.com> Dear All, I'm pleased to announce the availability of my PhD thesis, "Adaptation-induced plasticity in V1: adapting and anti-adapting neurons". The thesis develops a model that predicts how long duration adaptation while causing a decrease in excitability of adapting neurons can cause an increase in excitability of 'anti-adapting' neurons, even without any synaptic interactions between these groups of neurons..and discusses various implications.. Available online at: http://www.ketanbajaj.com/Home/phd_thesis Abstract: http://www.ketanbajaj.com/Home/phd_thesis/abstract Best Regards, Ketan -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.neuroinf.org/pipermail/comp-neuro/attachments/20090814/065582a7/attachment.html From tatsuno at uleth.ca Fri Aug 14 22:45:15 2009 From: tatsuno at uleth.ca (Tatsuno, Masami) Date: Sat Aug 15 14:25:50 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] POSTDOCTORAL and GRADUATE STUDENT POSITIONS in Integrative Experimental and Computational Neuroscience Message-ID: <885DC6261BD3EF4FB36431DB03AA4BA8014058D9@EXCHCL2.uleth.ca> A new Integrative Experimental and Computational Neuroscience Program in The Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience ( http://ccbn.uleth.ca/ ) at The University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, is seeking applicants for a Postdoctoral and Graduate Student positions. The program was established under the sponsorship of a $20M Polaris Award from The Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research. The faculty members of the program include Bruce McNaughton, David Euston, Artur Luczak, Masami Tatsuno and Aaron Gruber. Areas of interest include (but are not limited to) information coding and self-organization of neural systems, memory consolidation, decision making and reward systems, neural network modelling, neural activity imaging, brain dynamics and information processing in sleep and waking, brain - machine interface, psychiatric illness, aging of the brain and other conditions that affect learning and memory systems (for sample research see: Takehara-Nishiuchi K, McNaughton BL. Science. 2008; Euston DR, Tatsuno M, McNaughton BL. Science. 2007; Guzowski et al. Nature Neuroscience 2, 1120-1124; Gruber AJ et al. J Comput Neurosci. 2006; Luczak A et al. Neuron 2009). Preference for positions will be given to candidates with demonstrated quantitative skills and/or with experience in electrophysiological recordings. Successful candidates will be expected to play a major role in experimental projects with electrophysiological (50-200 simultaneously recorded neurons) and/or optical imaging recordings and the analysis of forthcoming data. Candidates should email a letter of interest describing their research career goals, skills and experience, their C.V., and the names of three references (please do not have reference letters sent unless requested) to the search coordinator, Masami Tatsuno ( tatsuno@uleth.ca ). Applicants should put "CCBN Polaris recruitment" in the header of their email. Salary scales will be competitive with NIH standards for postdoctoral and graduate trainees. Lethbridge is located two hours from Calgary (see http://www.hbi.ucalgary.ca/ ), 90 minutes from the Canadian Rockies ( http://www.watertonpark.com/ ; http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/index_e.asp ) and is a safe, family friendly environment. From wsenn at cns.unibe.ch Sun Aug 16 11:06:51 2009 From: wsenn at cns.unibe.ch (Walter Senn) Date: Mon Aug 17 09:55:46 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Biological Cybernetics: vol 101, issue 1 --- Table of Content Message-ID: <4A87CC2B.1020700@cns.unibe.ch> Biological Cybernetics: vol 101, issue 1 --- Table of Content BC Forum "The Wilson?Cowan model, 36 years later" Alain Destexhe, Terrence J. Sejnowski. Page 1 -2 http://www.springerlink.com/content/72315122217u73h3/ Original Paper "Spatiotemporal dynamics of pattern formation in the primary visual cortex and hallucinations" H. Henke, P. A. Robinson, P. M. Drysdale, P. N. Loxley. Page 3 - 18 http://www.springerlink.com/content/943380407111j88g/ "Robust path integration in the entorhinal grid cell system with hippocampal feed-back" D?vid Samu, P?ter Ero"s, Bal?zs Ujfalussy, Tam?s Kiss. Page 19 - 34 http://www.springerlink.com/content/a6002xn630417g78/ "Optimal motor control may mask sensory dynamics" Sean G. Carver, Tim Kiemel, Noah J. Cowan, John J. Jeka. Page 35 - 42 http://www.springerlink.com/content/u4h202vm7tg5m07t/ "Activity patterns in networks stabilized by background oscillations" Frank Hoppensteadt. Page 43 - 47 http://www.springerlink.com/content/487430xuw3157276/ "Energy efficient walking with central pattern generators: from passive dynamic walking to biologically inspired control" B. W. Verdaasdonk, H. F. J. M. Koopman, F. C. T. van der Helm. Page 49 - 61 http://www.springerlink.com/content/g80112r7t27v7581/ "Complementary responses to mean and variance modulations in the perfect integrate-and-fire model" Joanna Pressley, Todd W. Troyer. Page 63 - 70 http://www.springerlink.com/content/6x722632325h18k5/ "Short-window spectral analysis using AMVAR and multitaper methods: a comparison" Hariharan Nalatore, Govindan Rangarajan. Page 71 - 80 http://www.springerlink.com/content/w310t38urr6u4qh4/ Biological Cybernetics, all issues: http://www.springerlink.com/content/100465/ From zkarssen at atlantis-press.com Thu Aug 20 20:54:45 2009 From: zkarssen at atlantis-press.com (Zeger Karssen - Atlantis Press) Date: Fri Aug 21 09:42:20 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] New journal announcement: International Journal of Computational Intelligence System In-Reply-To: <20090715112854.rl8i9j67u0owss08@mail.inaf.cnrs-gif.fr> References: <20090715112854.rl8i9j67u0owss08@mail.inaf.cnrs-gif.fr> Message-ID: <907F843D-545E-4674-A17B-BA561ABB429D@atlantis-press.com> New journal announcement: International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems We have founded a new journal in the field of Computational Intelligence: http://www.atlantis-press.com/publicatios/ijcis. The International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems (IJCIS) publishes research papers in the field of computational intelligence, especially targeting articles demonstrating the use of techniques and methods orginating from computational intelligence research and theory. IJCIS is included in the Science Citation Index-Expanded, in Scopus and in EI/Compendex. We look forward receiving your submissions and subscriptions. Best wishes, Zeger Karssen Publishing Director Atlantis Press, Amsterdam-Paris Email: zkarssen@atlantis-press.com Web: www.atlantis-press.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.neuroinf.org/pipermail/comp-neuro/attachments/20090820/b0b4680a/attachment.html From zkarssen at atlantis-press.com Fri Aug 21 10:23:40 2009 From: zkarssen at atlantis-press.com (Zeger Karssen) Date: Fri Aug 21 11:02:40 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Correction: New journal announcement: International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems Message-ID: <55e994310908210123o43a0ed7dj57cd1cb56e263592@mail.gmail.com> *New journal announcement: International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems* The link in our last message contains an error, it should be: http://www.atlantis-press.com/publications/ijcis . Please excuse us for this error. Atlantis Press ------------ *New journal announcement: International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems* We have founded a new journal in the field of Computational Intelligence: http://www.atlantis-press.com/publications/ijcis . The International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems (IJCIS) publishes research papers in the field of computational intelligence, especially targeting articles demonstrating the use of techniques and methods orginating from computational intelligence research and theory. IJCIS is included in the Science Citation Index-Expanded, in Scopus and in EI/Compendex. We look forward receiving your submissions and subscriptions. Best wishes, Zeger Karssen Publishing Director Atlantis Press, Amsterdam-Paris Email: *zkarssen@atlantis-press.com* Web: *www.atlantis-press.com* -- Zeger Karssen Publishing Director Atlantis Press, Amsterdam-Paris Email: zkarssen@atlantis-press.com Web: www.atlantis-press.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.neuroinf.org/pipermail/comp-neuro/attachments/20090821/81995f97/attachment.html From michele at tnb.ua.ac.be Fri Aug 21 12:05:25 2009 From: michele at tnb.ua.ac.be (Michele Giugliano) Date: Fri Aug 21 12:17:14 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] 3 years PhD-candidate fellowship Message-ID: <4A8E7165.1000001@tnb.ua.ac.be> Dear All, a 3 years PhD-candidate fellowship is available immediately at the Dept. of Biomedical Sciences, laboratory of Theoretical Neurobiology, University of Antwerp (Belgium) in the context of the Marie Curie Initial Training Network "Cerebellar-Cortical Control: Cells, Circuits, Computation, and Clinic". I am seeking a talented and enthusiastic PhD international candidate with a strong background in physics, engineering, or life sciences and with some knowledge of neuroscience. On the grounds set by previous works (ref. Cereb Cortex, 2008; J Neurosci 2007; Biol Cybern 2009), the project will involve the use of in vivo noisy stimulation paradigms to probe the responsiveness of individual cerebellar neurons, aiming at an efficient description of the neurons? input-output relationship. Multi-electrode silicon probe recordings will be simultaneously employed to unveil correlated firing between various cerebello-cortical cell types. Previous experience / exposure to cellular neurophysiology and in vivo electrophysiology is a strong plus. Basic mathematical skills and good programming experience are very strong advantages, as is general computer and electronic proficiency. The laboratory is located in Antwerp, home town of the painter Rubens, 2nd city in Belgium, and receptacle of monuments, museums and churches. It is the 2nd largest harbour in Europe and the world?s top centre for diamond processing. Only ~3h away from London or Koln, and 2h from Paris or Amsterdam by train, and also served by Brussel airport, Antwerp is located at the center of Europe. Applications including a CV, a letter of reference and a 500 words description of the applicant?s motivation, should be sent electronically to michele.giugliano_AT_ua.ac.be until December 2nd, 2009 (mass-emails will be trashed). Any inquiries should be addressed at Prof. Michele Giugliano at michele.giugliano_AT_ua.ac.be. Yours MG -- Michele Giugliano, PhD Dept. of Biomedical Sciences University of Antwerp Campus Drie Eiken (CDE) - D.T.532 Universiteitsplein 1 B-2610 Wilrijk (Belgium) email: michele.giugliano_AT_ua.ac.be url: http://www.ua.ac.be/michele.giugliano From a.k.seth at sussex.ac.uk Fri Aug 21 20:17:25 2009 From: a.k.seth at sussex.ac.uk (Anil Seth) Date: Mon Aug 24 10:02:32 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Doctoral research studentship available at Sussex University Message-ID: <4A8EE4B5.8080900@sussex.ac.uk> Apologies for cross-posting: *Self-modelling for Control, Cognition, and Consciousness* *Closing date for applications: September 14th 2009 Expected start date: October 1st 2009* Funding is available from Autumn 2009 for a full-time DPhil (PhD) in the area of self-modelling for control, cognition, and consciousness, supervised by Prof. Owen Holland and Dr. Anil Seth. The studentship is part of the EU FP7 project ECCEROBOT: Embodied Cognition in a Compliantly Engineered Robot (www.eccerobot.org ). Self-modelling, particularly of the body, is a powerful strategy for controlling the movements and actions of natural and artificial embodied agents. It is also involved at many levels in the development and functioning of cognition, and plays a role in several theories of consciousness. We are seeking a research student to investigate and demonstrate the use of self-modelling for control and cognition in a sophisticated humanoid robot, and to extend the approach in the direction of functions associated with consciousness. For more details, and for instructions on how to apply, see http://www.jobs.ac.uk/jobs/FK878/Research_Studentship/. -- Anil Seth, D.Phil. Reader, EPSRC Leadership Fellow, Dept of Informatics, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QJ, UK W: www.anilseth.com, T: +44 1273 678549, From tcp1 at leicester.ac.uk Sat Aug 22 11:27:30 2009 From: tcp1 at leicester.ac.uk (Pearce, Dr T.C.) Date: Mon Aug 24 10:03:26 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Research Associate in Biorobotics Message-ID: <6260DB6471291D4F81C5A06E379C83A885B8A7CB80@EXC-MBX3.cfs.le.ac.uk> Research Associate in Biorobotics Centre of Bioengineering Department of Engineering Salary Grade ?30,594 to ?35,469 p.a. Available immediately until 30 June 2010 with the possibility of extension Ref: SEN00002 The postholder will undertake and deliver research in the integration and mobile robotics aspects of the EU Research Grant "Biosynthetic Infochemical Communication (iChem)". The Research Associate will be responsible for original and further development of the biosynthetic components and their integration forming a mobile robotics platform that uses infochemical communication. This will include real-time implementation and testing of neuromorphic models of antennal lobe processing with the mobile robotics platform and development of real-time algorithms to support chemically guided behaviours in mobile robots. The evaluation and assessment of chemical information transmission supported by a infochemical communication system is also a key aim. The post will be based at Leicester but will also involve some travel within Europe. Applicants should have a PhD (or close to completing a PhD) in a relevant area and a background in autonomous robotics, computational neuroscience and/or neuromorphic engineering. Experience in real-time mobile robotics implementations and computer programming and hardware development is essential. More information about the project can be found at http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/eed/research/ichem/ Closing Date: 25 August 2009 (late applications can be sent by email) Promoting equality of opportunity throughout the University For further information and to apply on-line, please visit our website and the ref code above: http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/personnel Times Higher Education University of the Year 2008-9 -- T.C. Pearce, PhD Reader in Bioengineering, Department of Engineering, University of Leicester Leicester LE1 7RH United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)116 223 1307 Fax: +44 (0)116 252 2619 URL: http://www.neurolab.le.ac.uk/ E-mail: t.c.pearce@leicester.ac.uk -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.neuroinf.org/pipermail/comp-neuro/attachments/20090822/90950584/attachment.html From tcp1 at leicester.ac.uk Sat Aug 22 11:32:59 2009 From: tcp1 at leicester.ac.uk (Pearce, Dr T.C.) Date: Mon Aug 24 10:03:33 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Research Associate in Computational Modelling of Antennal Lobe Processing Message-ID: <6260DB6471291D4F81C5A06E379C83A885B8A7CB81@EXC-MBX3.cfs.le.ac.uk> Research Associate in Computational Modelling of Antennal Lobe Processing Centre of Bioengineering Department of Engineering Salary Grade ?30,594 to ?35,469 p.a. Available immediately until 30 June 2010 with the possibility of extension Ref: SEN00003 The postholder will undertake and deliver research in the computational neuroscience aspects of the EU Research Grant "Biosynthetic Infochemical Communication (iChem)" a summary of which is given below. The Research Associate will be responsible for original and further development an existing model of antennal lobe sensory processing for extracting blend specific information from receptor input. The final model will be implemented in real-time to process data from genetically modified olfactory receptors. The work will involve spatiotemporal spike train analysis of extracellular antennal lobe recordings for use in fitting the model closely to biological data. Predictions using the model will then be used to guide experimental work at one of the Consortia Partner's sites, Max Planck Institute Chemical Ecology, Jena. The post will be based at Leicester but will also involve some travel within Europe. Applicants should have a PhD (or close to completing a PhD) in a relevant area and a background in computational neuroscience. Experience in spike train analysis as well as building and testing neuronal models is desirable. More information about the project can be found at http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/eed/research/ichem/ Closing Date: 25 August 2009 (late applications can be sent by email) Promoting equality of opportunity throughout the University For further information and to apply on-line, please visit our website and the ref code above: http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/personnel Times Higher Education University of the Year 2008-9 -- T.C. Pearce, PhD Reader in Bioengineering, Department of Engineering, University of Leicester Leicester LE1 7RH United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)116 223 1307 Fax: +44 (0)116 252 2619 URL: http://www.neurolab.le.ac.uk/ E-mail: t.c.pearce@leicester.ac.uk -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.neuroinf.org/pipermail/comp-neuro/attachments/20090822/d58b4226/attachment.html From wsenn at cns.unibe.ch Sun Aug 23 23:35:02 2009 From: wsenn at cns.unibe.ch (Walter Senn) Date: Mon Aug 24 10:04:06 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Biological Cybernetics: vol 101, issue 2 --- Table of Content Message-ID: <4A91B606.8070102@cns.unibe.ch> Biological Cybernetics: vol 101, issue 2 --- Table of Content "Emergence of network structure due to spike-timing-dependent plasticity in recurrent neuronal networks. I. Input selectivity?strengthening correlated input pathways" Matthieu Gilson, Anthony N. Burkitt, David B. Grayden, Doreen A. Thomas, J. Leo van Hemmen Page 81 - 102 http://www.springerlink.com/content/8441p585w93u0576/ "Emergence of network structure due to spike-timing-dependent plasticity in recurrent neuronal networks. II. Input selectivity?symmetry breaking" Matthieu Gilson, Anthony N. Burkitt, David B. Grayden, Doreen A. Thomas, J. Leo van Hemmen Page 103 - 114 http://www.springerlink.com/content/1731u1wv847x7xn5/ "Modelled temperature-dependent excitability behaviour of a generalised human peripheral sensory nerve fibre" Jacoba E. Smit, Tania Hanekom, Johan J. Hanekom Page 115 - 130 http://www.springerlink.com/content/u0v2g8424844l672/ "Predictive feedback in human simulated pendulum balancing" Peter Gawthrop, Ian Loram, Martin Lakie Page 131 - 146 http://www.springerlink.com/content/x5126211472w3502/ "Stability switches, oscillatory multistability, and spatio-temporal patterns of nonlinear oscillations in recurrently delay coupled neural networks" Yongli Song, Valeri A. Makarov, Manuel G. Velarde Page 147 - 167 http://www.springerlink.com/content/r447k4rg5283j71l/ Biological Cybernetics, all issues: http://www.springerlink.com/content/100465/ From pprodrigues at liaad.up.pt Mon Aug 24 12:31:03 2009 From: pprodrigues at liaad.up.pt (Pedro Pereira Rodrigues) Date: Wed Aug 26 10:13:13 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Discovery Science 2009 - Early Registration Deadline Message-ID: <4A926BE7.9090603@liaad.up.pt> *** Apologies for cross-posting *** Discovery Science 2009 3-5 October, Porto, Portugal *** Early Registration Deadline *** This is a kind reminder that the Discovery Science 2009 early registration deadline, for registrations with reduced fee, is 1 September 2009 Please check the conference web site for details http://ds09.liaad.up.pt/ Looking forward to meeting you in Porto! The Conference Chairs From randy.oreilly at colorado.edu Wed Aug 26 09:13:37 2009 From: randy.oreilly at colorado.edu (Randall O'Reilly) Date: Wed Aug 26 10:13:17 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Emergent version 5.0.0 available Message-ID: <927B7EC8-2B5A-452F-849F-EE63008EE0EE@colorado.edu> A major new release of the Emergent neural network simulation software is now available for download: http://grey.colorado.edu/emergent/index.php/Main_Page It contains many new features and fixes, as described here: http://grey.colorado.edu/emergent/index.php/Changes_5.0.0 Including: Undo/Redo, efficient threading, integrated web browser for documentation and help, screencast tutorials, improved 3D viewer, improved virtual 3D environment simulator, improved gui-based programming environment, and many bug fixes. Emergent projects from the "Computational Explorations in Cognitive Neuroscience" textbook (O'Reilly & Munakata, 2000, MIT Press) are available for the new version at: http://grey.colorado.edu/CompCogNeuro/index.php/CECN1_Projects - Randy From pprodrigues at liaad.up.pt Fri Aug 28 11:25:38 2009 From: pprodrigues at liaad.up.pt (Pedro Pereira Rodrigues) Date: Fri Aug 28 11:39:42 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] 3rd Call for Papers - Data Streams Track - ACM SAC 2010 Message-ID: <4A97A292.6000006@liaad.up.pt> ** Apologies for cross-posting ** ACM Symposium on Applied Computing The 25nd Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing Lausanne, Switzerland, March 22 - 26, 2010. http://www.acm.org/conferences/sac/sac2010/ Data Streams Track http://www.liaad.up.pt/~jgama/SAC10/ Important dates (strict): Paper Submission: 8 September, 2009 Author Notification: 19 October, 2009 Camera-ready Copy: 2 November, 2009 Call for Papers The rapid development in information science and technology in general and in growth complexity and volume of data in particular has introduced new challenges for the research community. Many sources produce data continuously. Examples include sensor networks, wireless networks, radio frequency identification (RFID), customer click streams, telephone records, multimedia data, scientific data, sets of retail chain transactions, etc. These sources are called data streams. A data stream is an ordered sequence of instances that can be read only once or a small number of times using limited computing and storage capabilities. These sources of data are characterized by being open-ended, flowing at high-speed, and generated by non stationary distributions. Topics of interest: We are looking for original, unpublished work related to algorithms, methods and applications on data streams. Topics include (but are not restricted)to: Data Stream Models Data Stream Management Systems Data Stream Query Languages Continuous queries and Summarization from Data Streams Sampling Data Streams Single-Pass Algorithms Scalable Algorithms Change Detection Algorithms Clustering on Data Streams Classification and Regression on Data Streams Association Rules on Data Streams Feature Selection on Data Streams Visualization Techniques for Data Streams Evaluation of Data Streams Models Data Stream applications Sensor Networks Real-Time Applications Paper Submission Guidelines: Papers should be submitted in PDF using the SAC 2010 conference management system: http://sac.cs.iupui.edu/SAC2010/. The paper should omit authors and affiliations. Author names and addresses must not appear in the body of the paper, self-reference must be in the third person, attribution to the author(s) must be in the form of "author", and bibliographical entries by the author(s) must also be in the form of "author". This is to facilitate blind review. Only the title should be shown at the first page without the author's information. Each submitted paper will be fully refereed and undergo a blind review process by at least three referees. The conference proceedings will be published by ACM. All accepted papers should be submitted in ACM 2-column camera ready format for publication in the symposium proceedings. The maximum number of pages allowed for the final papers is 5 pages (about 4000 words), with the option (at additional expense) to add up to three (3) more pages. There is a set of templates to support the required paper format for a number of document preparation systems at: http://www.acm.org/sigs/pubs/proceed/template.html From andras.lorincz at elte.hu Mon Aug 31 08:12:42 2009 From: andras.lorincz at elte.hu (andras.lorincz@elte.hu) Date: Tue Sep 1 12:59:33 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] Hippocampal formation: information-theoretical model Message-ID: Dear All: I would like to draw your attention to a recent information-theoretically motivated model of the entorhinal-hippocampal (ECHC) loop [1]. I also present a general representational architecture that links the computational functions of the ECHC loop in association with sensory processing and reinforcement learning [2]. Related publications can be found here http://nipg.inf.elte.hu [1] @article{lorincz09here, author = {A. Lorincz and G. Szirtes}, title = {Here and now: how time segments may become events in the hippocampus}, journal = {Neural Networks}, year = {2009}, volume = {22}, pages = {738-747}, url = {http://nipg.inf.elte.hu/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=27&func=file info&id=179}, } Abstract: The hippocampal formation is believed to play a central role in memory functions related to the representation of events. Events are usually considered as temporally bounded processes, in contrast to the continuous nature of sensory signal flow they originate from. Events are then organized and stored according to behavioral relevance and are used to facilitate prediction of similar events. In this paper we are interested in the kind of representation of sensory signals that allows for detecting and/or predicting events. Based on new results on the identification problem of linear hidden processes, we propose a connectionist network with biologically sound parameter tuning that can represent causal relationships and define events. Interestingly, the wiring diagram of our architecture not only resembles the gross anatomy of the hippocampal formation (including the entorhinal cortex), but it also features similar spatial distribution functions of activity (localized and periodic, 'grid-like' patterns) as found in the different parts of the hippocampal formation. We shortly discuss how our model corresponds to different theories on the role of the hippocampal formation in forming episodic memories or supporting spatial navigation. We speculate that our approach may constitute a step toward a unified theory about the functional role of the hippocampus and the structure of memory representations. [2] @incollection{lorincz09learning, author = {A. Lorincz}, title = {Learning and Representation: From Compressive Sampling to the 'Symbol Learning Problem'}, booktitle = {Handbook of Large-Scale Random Networks}, year = {2009}, editor = {B. Bollobas and R. Kozma and M. Dezso}, volume = {18}, series = {Bolyai Society Mathematical Studies}, pages = {445-488}, address = {Berlin, Germany}, publisher = {Springer}, url = {http://nipg.inf.elte.hu/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=27&func=file info&id=176}, } Abstract: In this paper a novel approach to neurocognitive modeling is proposed in which the central constraints are provided by the theory of reinforcement learning. In this formulation learning is (1) exploiting the statistical properties of the system's environment, (2) constrained by biologically inspired Hebbian interactions and (3) based only on algorithms which are consistent and stable. In the resulting model some of the most enigmatic problems of artificial intelligence have to be addressed. In particular, considerations on combinatorial explosion lead to constraints on the concepts of state-action pairs: these concepts have the peculiar flavor of determinism in a partially observed and thus highly uncertain world. We will argue that these concepts of factored reinforcement learning result in an intriguing learning task that we call the symbol learning problem. For this task we sketch an information theoretic framework and point towards a possible resolution. ___________________ Andras Lorincz ECCAI Fellow Department of Software Technology and Methodology E?tv?s Lor?nd University P?zm?ny P?ter s?t?ny 1/C Budapest, Hungary, H-1117 http://nipg.inf.elte.hu http://people.inf.elte.hu/lorincz -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.neuroinf.org/pipermail/comp-neuro/attachments/20090831/134e9d96/attachment.html From ryad.benosman at upmc.fr Mon Aug 31 22:58:32 2009 From: ryad.benosman at upmc.fr (R.B Benosman) Date: Tue Sep 1 13:16:28 2009 Subject: [Comp-neuro] DELAYED (3rd Symposium on Language and Robots - LANGRO'2009) Message-ID: =================================================================== 3rd Symposium on Language and Robots - LANGRO'2009 September 9-11, Paris, France http://isir.robot.jussieu.fr/langro09/ =================================================================== Our apologies for the delay in annoucing this news. Due to some technical problems, the conference organization schedule could not be satisfied. The organization committee has decided to postpone the event to the next spring. The exact calendar will be announced soon. We apologize again for the induced inconveniences. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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