Author: Julie Pryor

2015 McGovern Symposium: Welcoming Remarks

Anne Trafton |

In this video, Mehrdad Jazayeri of the McGovern Institute welcomes guests to the McGovern Institute annual symposium, “Internal Models of Sensorimotor and Cognitive Function,” which was held on Monday April 27, 2015.

Theories of motor control have advanced the idea that the brain uses internal models to generate reliable motor commands and predict the sensory consequences of those commands. At this symposium, ten speakers explored the recent advances in the study of internal models in perception, cognition and action, and discussed the extent to which they reveal the common computational principles across neural circuits and behaviors.

Stanley Center & Poitras Center Joint Translational Seminar Series: Dr. Stephan Heckers

Anne Trafton |

April 28, 2015

“How can we make progress in psychiatric research?”

Abstract: In this talk I will combine a review of my own research with a critical reflection on progress made in psychiatry research. My research has focused on mechanisms and consequences of hippocampal dysfunction in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. While hippocampal pathology is now established as a robust finding in psychotic disorders, it has not yet provided an avenue for better detection nor guided the development of new treatments. When reflecting on how to make progress in psychiatry research, I have become aware of some fundamental misconceptions about psychiatric diagnoses. While psychiatric diagnoses can guide clinical management, they are not good starting points for researchers. I will review several options for how to advance psychiatry research that is not constrained by current models of psychiatric disorder.

Neuroanatomy Lesson

Anne Trafton |

With the help of neuro artist & grad student Rosa Lafer-Sousa, MIT professor Nancy Kanwisher goes to ludicrous extremes to show you where in the head some of the functionally specific brain regions lie.

Watch more of Nancy’s brain lectures at: http://nancysbraintalks.mit.edu

2015 Scolnick Prize Lecture: Dr. Charles Gilbert

Anne Trafton |

Dr. Charles Gilbert of The Rockefeller University delivers the annual Scolnick Prize Lecture on Friday, March 20, 2015. Charles Gilbert has been a pioneer in understanding the function of visual cortex. His work addresses fundamental questions about visual perception, and has also provided important insights into how the brain recovers from injury and degenerative disease.

2015 McGovern Institute Spring Symposium

Anne Trafton |

Theories of motor control have advanced the idea that the brain uses internal models to generate reliable motor commands and predict the sensory consequences of those commands. More recently, the concept of internal models has been used to formalize the computations that bear on cognitive control in an uncertain and dynamic environment. In this symposium, we will explore the recent advances in the study of internal models in perception, cognition and action, and discuss the extent to which they reveal the common computational principles across neural circuits and behaviors.

DATE: Monday April 27, 2017
TIME: 8:30am – 5:30pm
LOCATION: MIT Bldg 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium)
QUESTIONS? Laura Halligan | laurahal@mit.edu | 617.715.5396

 

REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED

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2015 Spring Symposium

 

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8:30 am CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST IN ATRIUM

8:45 – 9:00 am ROBERT DESIMONE & MEHRDAD JAZAYERI, McGovern Institute
Welcoming Remarks

SESSION I Chair: Mark Harnett

9:00 – 9:35 am NATE SAWTELL, Columbia University
Internal model mechanisms in cerebellar circuitry: Insights from electric fish

9:35 – 10:10 am THOMAS JESSELL, Columbia University
Circuits for fast and flexible motor control

10:10 – 10:45 am RICHARD MOONEY, Duke University
Motor – auditory interactions in mice and songbirds

10:45– 11:05 am BREAK

11:05 – 11:40 am KATHLEEN CULLEN, McGill University
Neural correlates of sensory prediction errors: Evidence for internal models of voluntary self-motion in the primate cerebellum

11:40 – 12:15 pm BYRON YU, Carnegie Mellon University
Internal models for interpreting neural population activity during sensori-motor control

12:15 – 1:30 pm POSTER SESSION AND LUNCH

SESSION II Chair: Rebecca Saxe

1:30 – 2:05 pm MARC SOMMER, Duke University
Neuronal circuits for seeing while moving

2:05 – 2:40 pm JÖRN DIEDRICHSEN, University College London
Recalibration or learning de-novo? When to abandon an internal model

2:40 – 3:15 pm AMY BASTIAN, Kennedy Krieger Institute
Cerebellar contributions to moving, sensing and learning

3:15 – 3:35 pm BREAK

3:35 – 4:10 pm DANIEL WOLPERT, University of Cambridge
Internal models for sensorimotor control and decision making

4:10 – 4:45 pm JOSH TENENBAUM, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The game engine in your head: Modeling common sense-scene understanding with probabilistic programs

4:45 – 5:45 pm PANEL DISCUSSION
Thomas Jessell, Kathleen Cullen, Daniel Wolpert, Josh Tenenbaum

5:45 pm RECEPTION AND POSTER SESSION IN ATRIUM

 

2015 Sharp Lecture in Neural Circuits: Dr. Cornelia Bargmann

Anne Trafton |

Dr. Cornelia “Cori” Bargmann of The Rockefeller University delivered the fourth annual Sharp Lecture in Neural Circuits on Tuesday, March 2, 2015. Bargmann studies how genes, experience and neural circuits influence behavior in the nematode worm C. elegans.