April 2011 - 5th Waterloo Brain Day

Why a Brain Day?

The brain is a horrendously complex and poorly understood system that poses both an immense challenge -- and possibly rich rewards -- to neuroscientists, psychologists, philosophers, and computer scientists. To celebrate Waterloo's recent establishment of the Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience (CTN), which integrates these approaches to the brain, and to highlight the already established Cognitive Science Program, we have invited four internationally renowned speakers to present generally accessible lectures from each of these perspectives.

Past brain day lecturers include David van Essen, Patricia Churchland, William Bechtel, Geoff Hinton, Jack Gallant, Carl Craver, Terry Sejnowski, Keith Holyoak, Jay McLelland, Tony Movshon, Larry Barsalou, Mel Goodale, John Hopfield, Jesse Prinz, and David Sheinberg.

Date: Wed April 6, 2011
Place: Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology building (PAS), room 2083, University of Waterloo

Speakers:
Jonathan Cohen (Princeton University) - Psychology
Peter Strick (University of Pittsburgh) - Neuroscience
Sebastien Seung (Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Computational Neuroscience
Ned Block (New York University (NYU) - Philosophy

Schedule:
8:30 Refreshments
9:00 Welcome
9:15 Sebastien Seung (MIT)
       Title: The Computational Challenges of Connectomics
10:30 Refreshments Provided
10:45 Peter Strick (Pittsburgh)
        Title: The Neural Substrate for Disorders of Movement,
                Cognition and Affect
12:00 Lunch (not provided)
1:30 Jonathan Cohen (Princeton)
       Title: Understanding the Adaptive Regulation of Cognitive Control:
               Normative, Computational and Empirical Approaches
2:45 Refreshments Provided
3:00 Ned Block (NYU)
       Title: Consciousness, Rich or Sparse?
4:15 Reception (PAS Lounge) - Cash Bar

Sponsored by:
University of Waterloo Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience
Cognitive Science Program
Faculty of Arts