12th International Conference on cognitive and neural systems

This interdisciplinary conference is attended each year by approximately 300 people from 30 countries around the world. As in previous years, the conference will focus on solutions to the questions:
HOW DOES THE BRAIN CONTROL BEHAVIOR?
HOW CAN TECHNOLOGY EMULATE BIOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE?

Boston University
677 Beacon Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02215 USA
http://www.cns.bu.edu/meetings/
Sponsored by the Boston University
Center for Adaptive Systems,Department of Cognitive and Neural Systems (http://www.cns.bu.edu/),and the Center of Excellence for Learning in Education, Science, and Technology (http://cns.bu.edu/CELEST) with financial support from the National Science Foundation.
The conference is aimed at researchers and students of computational neuroscience, cognitive science, neural networks, neuromorphic engineering, and artificial intelligence. It includes invited lectures and contributed lectures and posters by experts on the biology and technology of how the brain and other intelligent systems adapt to a changing world. The conference is particularly interested in exploring how the brain and biologically-inspired algorithms and systems in engineering and technology can learn. Single-track oral and poster sessions enable all presented work to be highly visible. Three-hour poster sessions with no conflicting events will be held on two of the conference days. Posters will be up all day, and can also be viewed during breaks in the talk schedule.
CONFIRMED INVITED SPEAKERS
Cynthia Breazeal (MIT Media Lab)
Computational models of embodied cognition to support human-robot teamwork
Gyorgy Buzsaki (Rutgers University) (Plenary Lecture)
Segregation of cell assembly sequences by oscillatory synchrony
Gail Carpenter (Boston University) (Plenary Lecture)
Large-scale neural systems for vision and cognition
Peter Dayan (University College London)
The misbehaviour of value
Greg DeAngelis (University of Rochester)
Roles of visual area MT in depth perception
Stephen Grossberg (Boston University)
Cortical dynamics of attentive object recognition, scene understanding, and decision making
Joy Hirsch (Columbia University)
Functional specificity and cortical mechanisms that regulate emotion and cognition: What the human face tells the human brain
Ranu Jung (Arizona State University)
Neurotechnology for making neural circuits functional
Gordon Logan (Vanderbilt University)
The mysterious story of cognitive control
Javier Movellan (University of California at San Diego)
Developing social robots: A paradigm for the scientific study of human behavior
Charan Ranganath (University of California at Davis)
Relational binding in human memory
John Reynolds (Salk Institute)
Mapping the microcircuitry of attention: Attentional modulation varies across cell classes in visual area V4
Daniel Salzman (Columbia University)
Learning about rewards and punishments in the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex
WORKSHOP ON DYNAMICS OF CORTICAL-HIPPOCAMPAL INTERACTIONS FOR MEMORY GUIDED BEHAVIOR
Neil Burgess (University College London)
Predictions of an interference model of grid cell firing
Howard Eichenbaum (Boston University)
Grid cells and place cells: Different roles in memory?
Michael Hasselmo (Boston University)
Oscillations, grid cells and episodic memory
David Redish (University of Minnesota)
Transiently prospective neural firing in CA3 at decision points
Trygve Solstad (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
Spatial representations in hippocampus and entorhinal cortex
David Touretzky (Carnegie-Mellon University)
A spin-glass model of path integration in grid cells
WORKSHOP ON COMPUTING WITH NEURAL INTERFACES
Theodore Berger (University of Southern California)
Bi-directional communication with the brain through biomimetic microelectronics
John Donoghue (Brown University)
Neural ensemble activity as a direct control signal in humans
Donald Eddington (Harvard University)
Cochlear implants
Phil Kennedy (Neural Signals)
Speech prosthesis: An analysis of single unit recordings from human cortex
Krishna Shenoy (Stanford University)
Title TBD
John Wyatt (Boston Retinal Implant Project)
Steps in the development of a retinal Implant
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
Session Topics:
* vision * object recognition
* image understanding * neural circuit models
* audition * neural system models
* speech and language * mathematics of neural systems
* unsupervised learning * robotics
* supervised learning * hybrid systems (fuzzy, evolutionary, digital)
* reinforcement and emotion * neuromorphic VLSI
* sensory-motor control * industrial applications
* cognition, planning, and attention * other
* spatial mapping and navigation
Contributed abstracts must be received, in English, by January 31, 2008. Email notification of acceptance will be provided by February 29, 2008. A meeting registration fee must accompany each Abstract. The fee will be returned if the Abstract is not accepted for presentation. Fees of accepted Abstracts will be returned on request only until April 11, 2008.
Each Abstract must fit on one side of an 8.5″ x 11″ page with 1″ margins on all sides in a single-spaced, single-column format with a font of 10 points or larger. The title, authors, affiliations, and surface and email addresses should begin each Abstract. A cover letter should include the abstract title; corresponding author and presenting author name, address, telephone, fax, and email address; requested preference for oral or poster presentation; and a first and second choice from the topics above, including whether it is biological (B) or technological (T) work [Example: first choice: vision (T); second choice: neural system models (B)].
Talks will be 15 minutes long. Posters will be displayed for a full day. Overhead, slide, and LCD computer projector facilities will be available for talks. Accepted Abstracts will be printed in the conference proceedings volume. No extended paper will be required.
Four paper copies of the Abstract should be mailed to Cynthia Bradford, Boston University, CNS Department, 677 Beacon Street, Boston MA 02215 USA. Abstracts may also be submitted electronically as M/S Word files to cindy@bu.edu using the phrase “12th ICCNS abstract submission” in the subject line. Fax submissions will not be accepted.
REGISTRATION INFORMATION: Early registration is recommended using the registration form below. Student registrations must be accompanied by a letter of verification from a department chairperson or faculty/research advisor.
STUDENT TRAVEL FELLOWSHIPS: Fellowships for PhD candidates and postdoctoral fellows who do not live in the Boston area are available to help cover travel costs. The application deadline is January 31, 2008. Email notification will occur by February 29, 2008. Fellowship applications must be submitted as paper hardcopy to the abstract submission address shown above. Each application should include the applicant’s CV; faculty or PhD research advisor’s name, address, and email address; relevant courses and other educational data; and a list of research articles. A letter from the listed faculty or PhD advisor on institutional stationery must accompany the application and summarize how the candidate may benefit from the meeting. Fellowship applicants who also submit an Abstract need to include the registration fee payment with their Abstract submission. Fellowship checks will be distributed after the meeting.