Canonical Neural Computation 2009

A workshop at Villa La Pietra, Florence, 17-19 April 2009

In the quest to understand the brain's operation, there is great hope and increasing evidence that key circuits and mechanisms are modular, and are repeated across species, brain areas, and modalities, to apply similar computations to different problems. What are these canonical neural computations, and what are the underlying circuits and mechanisms?

This workshop put together some of the top researchers involved in the analysis of neural mechanisms and computations. The goal shared by these researchers is to bridge levels of analysis, species, brain areas or modalities.

By bringing these researchers together we aimed to define a roadmap for immediate further research. The agenda will be set in advance by a collaborative statement listing specific goals/aims for this program of research. This statement was used as a platform for discussion and was refined as the meeting progressed. The final document can be found here.

In addition to the researchers, the attendees included journal editors and program directors from funding bodies, who provided guidance and support for this roadmap. Among these attendees were Drs. Andrew Rossi (National Institute of Mental Health), Sarah Caddick (Gatsby Charitable Foundation), Charles Yokoyama (Neuron), Hannah Bayer (Nature Neuroscience), and Claudia Wiedemann (Nature Reviews Neuroscience). They provided advice on how to design, implement, and communicate a transformative program of research involving multiple researchers aimed towards a common goal.

The workshop took place in Florence at NYU's La Pietra Conference Center on 17-19 April 2009. Generous funding was provided by the Swartz Foundation. For reasons of space, attendance was by invitation only.

Organizers

Schedule

Friday, 17 April 2009

7:45 AM Breakfast

9:00 AM Matteo Carandini, University College London

Normalization and competition in visual cortex

9:30 AM Discussion

9:45 AM Eero Simoncelli, New York University

Why normalization - some statistical justifications

10:15 AM Discussion

10:30 AM coffee break

11:00 AM Dora Angelaki, Washington University

A divisive normalization model of multi-sensory integration

11:30 AM Discussion

11:45 AM David Heeger, New York University

Normalization model of attention

12:15 PM Discussion

12:30 PM Lunch

2:00 PM Panel discussion: Research opportunities

Hirsh Cohen, Swartz Foundation

Andrew Rossi, NIMH

Sarah Caddick, Gatsby Charitable Foundation.

3:00 PM Odelia Schwartz, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Gain control in neural populations and natural scene statistics

3:30 PM Discussion

3:45 PM Dario Ringach, University of California Los Angeles

Implications of normalization for population coding

4:15 PM Discussion

4:30 PM Coffee break

5:00 PM Shihab Shamma, University of Maryland

Task difficulty and performance induce adaptive patterns in auditory cortex

5:30 PM Discussion

5:45 PM David McAlpine, University College London

Accumulating gain adaptation in the ascending auditory pathways

6:15 PM Discussion

6:30 PM Dinner

Saturday, 18 April 2009

7:45 AM Breakfast

9:00 AM Nicholas Priebe, UT Austin

Variability and invariance in cortical responses

9:30 AM Discussion

9:45 AM Frances Chance, UC Irvine

Gain modulation by subtractive and divisive mechanisms of inhibition

10:15 AM Discussion

10:30 AM Coffee break

11:00 AM John Reynolds, Salk Institute

Mapping the microcircuitry of attention

11:30 AM Discussion

11:45 AM Adrienne Fairhall, University of Washington

Intrinsic contributions to adaptive coding

12:15 PM Discussion

12:30 PM Lunch

2:00 PM Discussion session: future directions (4 subgroups)

theory/computation

physiology-systems

physiology-mechanisms

human/clinical

3:00 PM Nicole Rust, University of Pennsylvania

Commonalities of computation across the motion and object recognition pathways

3:30 PM Discussion

3:45 PM Sam Solomon, University of Sydney

One model or more? Gain control in the context of parallel visual pathways

4:15 PM Discussion

4:30 PM Coffee break

5:00 PM Larry Abbott, Columbia University

Nonlinear dimensional reduction for discrimination in the fly olfactory system

5:30 PM Discussion

5:45 PM Rachel Wilson, Harvard Medical School

Gain control in an olfactory circuit

6:15 PM Discussion

6:30 PM Banquet dinner (at La Pietra)

Sunday, 19 April 2009

7:45 AM Breakfast

9:00 AM Josh Solomon, City University London

Contextual influences on perceived orientation: gain control or not?

9:30 AM Discussion

9:45 AM Concetta Morrone, Istituto di Neurofisiologia CNR, Pisa

Cross-orientation inhibition measured with fMRI

10:15 AM Discussion

10:30 AM Coffee break

11:00 AM Anthony Norcia, Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute

Normal and abnormal development of gain control and contextual interactions

11:30 AM Discussion

11:45 AM Steven Dakin, UCL

Abnormal gain control and sensory processing deficits in schizophrenia

12:15 PM Discussion

12:30 PM Lunch

2:00 PM Discussion session: future directions (4 subgroups)

theory/computation

physiology-systems

physiology-mechanisms

human/clinical

3:00 PM Massimo Scanziani, University of California San Diego

Dynamic range and hippocampal inhibitory circuits

3:30 PM Discussion

3:45 PM Michael Hausser, University College London

Dendritic computation

4:15 PM Discussion

4:30 PM Coffee break

5:00 PM Kevan Martin, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich

Mapping the matrix: circuits, cells, and cynapses in neocortex

5:30 PM Discussion

5:45 PM J Anthony Movshon, New York University

Encoding and decoding with feedforward computations in cortical networks

6:15 PM Discussion

6:30 PM Dinner