ICCNS 2009

THIRTEENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COGNITIVE AND NEURAL SYSTEMS May 27–30, 2009

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 Center of Excellence for Learning in Education, Science, and Technology (http://cns.bu.edu/CELEST) with financial support from the National Science Foundation

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?

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 Marisa Carrasco (New York University) How attention affects perception Paul Cisek (University of Montreal) The blurry borders between deciding and doing John Gabrieli (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Development of learning systems in the human brain Mary Hayhoe (University of Texas) Adaptive gaze control in natural environments David Knill (University of Rochester) Adaptive Bayesian priors for depth perception Richard Krauzlis (The Salk Institute) The soft underbelly of vision and action: The role of the brainstem in defining what’s behaviorally relevant William Marslen-Wilson (MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge) Neurobiological foundations for human language: General and specific constraints Alexandre Pouget (University of Rochester) Generalized probabilistic population codes Robert Remez (Columbia University) Specificity and versatility in the perceptual organization of speech: Findings and implications Wolfram Schultz (University of Cambridge) (Plenary Speaker) Efficient reward processing through subjective, predictive, and adaptive coding Barbara Shinn-Cunningham (Boston University) How learning influences everyday communication David Van Essen (Washington University) Functional specialization of cerebral cortex in humans and nonhuman primates Stan Williams (Hewlett Packard) (Plenary Speaker) The memristor: An inorganic synapse for neural computation WORKSHOP ON OBJECT AND SPATIAL LEARNING, RECOGNITION, AND ATTENTION: FROM CIRCUITS TO CONSCIOUSNESS Ed Connor (Johns Hopkins University) Neural representation of object shape in ventral pathway visual cortex James DiCarlo (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Untangling object recognition: How does the ventral visual stream achieve invariant object representation? Stephen Grossberg (Boston University) Neural dynamics of attentive object and scene learning and recognition Nancy Kanwisher (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Feedback of visual object information to foveal retinotopic cortex Aude Oliva (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Remembering thousands of images with high fidelity Carl Olson (Carnegie Mellon University) What neurons in monkey inferotemporal cortex tell us about human perception Keiji Tanaka (RIKEN Brain Science Institute) Representation of object categories in activity patterns of inferotemporal cell population WORKSHOP ON THE NEURAL BASIS OF MENTAL DISORDERS Ann Graybiel (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Learning and memory mechanisms of the basal ganglia Ralph Hoffman (Yale University) Steps towards developing an artificial patient with schizophrenia David Plaut (Carnegie-Mellon University) Surface dyslexia and semantic dementia: Beyond single-case studies in cognitive neuropsychology Terje Sagvolden (University of Oslo) Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder as RED – A reinforcement/extinction disorder Roger Traub (IBM Watson Research Center) Fast and very fast 75 Hz) oscillations in neuropsychiatric disease 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, 2009. Email notification of acceptance will be provided by February 28, 2009. A meeting registration fee must accompany each abstract. The fee will be refunded if the abstract is not accepted for presentation. Fees of accepted abstracts will be returned upon written request only until April 10, 2009.

Abstracts must not exceed one 8.5"x11" page in length, with 1" margins on top, bottom, and both sides in a single-column format with a font of 10 points or larger. The title, authors, affiliations, surface, and email addresses should begin each abstract. A separate cover letter should include the abstract title; name and contact information for corresponding and presenting authors; 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)].

Contributed talks will be 15 minutes long. Posters will be displayed for a full day. Overhead, slide, and computer projector facilities will be available for talks. Accepted abstracts will be printed in the conference proceedings volume. No extended paper will be required.

Abstracts should be submitted electronically as Word files to cindy@bu.edu using the phrase “13th ICCNS abstract submission” in the subject line or as paper hard copy (four copies of the abstract with one copy of the cover letter and the registration form) to Cynthia Bradford, Boston University, CNS Department, 677 Beacon Street, Boston MA 02215 USA. Fax submissions of the abstract 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, 2009. Email notification will occur by February 28, 2009. Fellowship applications should be sent 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; a list of research articles; and a letter from the faculty or PhD advisor summarizing how the applicant may benefit from the meeting. Fellowship applicants who also submit an abstract must include the registration fee payment with their abstract submission. Fellowship checks will be distributed after the meeting.