Canonical Neural Computation

A series of workshops at Villa La Pietra, Florence

The goal of the workshops is to identify key neural computations that are repeated in multiple species and brain regions. Such canonical neural computations would be repeated modularly to apply the same set of algorithms to different problems.

Identifying canonical neural computations is essential as they constitute a bridge between circuits and behavior. The circuits perform computations, and the computations result in behavior.

The canonical computations can be discovered in various ways: from the responses of neuronal populations and systems, from the underlying circuits, from behavior in the healthy brain and from dysfunction in disease. The organizers and speakers reflect these different approaches.

The first meeting was held in 2009 and it ended with a manifesto, available online. The second and third meetings were held in 2012 and in 2015. For reasons of space, attendance at these meetings was by invitation only.

A fourth and last meeting, open to the public, took place in New York in 2018.