September 2017 - Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

[publication and call for dialog] IEEE CIS Newsletter on Cognitive and Developmental Systems, 14(1), 2017
by Pierre-Yves Oudeyer 07 Sep '17

07 Sep '17

Dear colleagues, I am happy to announce the release of the latest issue of the IEEE CIS Newsletter on Cognitive and Developmental Systems (open access). This is a biannual newsletter addressing the sciences of developmental and cognitive processes in natural and artificial organisms, from humans to robots, at the crossroads of cognitive science, developmental psychology, artificial intelligence and neuroscience. It is available at: http://goo.gl/dyrg6s Featuring dialog: === "Exploring Robotic Minds by Predictive Coding Principle" == Dialog initiated by Jun Tani with responses from: Andy Clark, Doug Blank, James Marshall, Lisa Meeden, Stephane Doncieux, Giovanni Pezzulo, Martin Butz, Ezgi Kayhan, Johan Kwisthout and Karl Friston == Topic: The idea that the brain is pro-actively making predictions of the future at multiple levels of hierarchy has become a central topic to explain human intelligence and to design general artificial intelligence systems. This dialog discusses whether hierarchical predictive coding enables a paradigm shift in development robotics and AI. In particular, the dialog reviews the importance of various complementary mechanisms to predictive coding, which happen to be right now very actively researched in artificial intelligence: intrinsic motivation and curiosity, multi-goal learning, developmental stages (also called curriculum learning in machine learning), and the role of self-organization. They also underline several major challenges that need to be addressed for general artificial intelligence in autonomous robots, and that current research in deep learning fails to address: 1) the problem of the poverty of stimulus: autonomous robots, like humans, have access to only little data as they have to collect it themselves with severe time and space constraints; 2) the problem of information sampling: which experiments/observations to make to improve one’s world model. Finally, they also discuss the issue of how these mechanisms arise in infants and participate to their development. Call for new dialog: === "One Developmental Cognitive Architecture to Rule Them All?" == Dialog initiated by Matthias Rolf, Lorijn Zaadnoordijk, Johan Kwisthout == This new dialog asks whether and how it would be useful both epistemologically and in practice to aim towards the development of a “standard integrated cognitive architecture”, akin to “standard models” in physics. In par- ticular, they ask this question in the context of understanding development in infants, and of building developmental architectures, thus addressing the issue of architectures that not only learn, but that are adaptive themselves. Those of you interested in reacting to this dialog initiation are welcome to sub- mit a response by November 30th, 2017. The length of each response must be between 600 and 800 words including references (contact pierre-yves.oudeyer(a)inria.fr). Let me remind you that all issues of the newsletter are all open-access and available at: http://icdl-epirob.org/cdsnl I wish you a stimulating reading! Best regards, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer, Editor of the IEEE CIS Newsletter on Cognitive and Developmental Systems Chair of the IEEE CIS AMD Technical Committee on Cognitive and Developmental Systems Research director, Inria Head of Flowers project-team Inria and Ensta ParisTech, France http://www.pyoudeyer.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/pyoudeyer and Fabien Benureau Assistant Editor Inria Mnemosyne team http://fabien.benureau.com

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workshop on high performance computing in neuroscience
by Ted Carnevale 05 Sep '17

05 Sep '17

This year the workshop on the Neuroscience Gateway Portal (NSG) will be held on Saturday, Nov. 11, from 9 AM to noon in downtown Washington DC near the convention center, as a satellite to the Society for Neuroscience meeting. This workshop will show you how to use this NSF-supported resource in your computationally- intensive modeling and data analysis projects. It will also feature presentations from neuroscientists on how they are using high performance computing (HPC) resources in their own research. The NSG has a simple, convenient browser-based interface for running simulations and data analysis tasks on HPC hardware, and provides free CPU time. It also has a RESTful interface for programmatic access. Currently installed software includes BluePyOpt, Brian, CARLsim, Freesurfer, GENESIS, MATLAB, MOOSE, NEST, NEURON, PyNN, and the Virtual Personalized Multimodal Connectome Pipeline. The registration deadline for this workshop is Friday Oct. 27, but you should register soon because space is limited. See http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/static/courses/nsg2017/nsg2017.html for more information and a link to the registration form. --Ted

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workshop announcement - Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of Cortical Dynamics - Rovereto Italy
by Stefano Panzeri 05 Sep '17

05 Sep '17

The HBP Partnering Project SloW Dyn <https://www.flagera.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/FLAG-ERA_JTC2015_Project_…>, a FLAG-ERA <https://www.flagera.eu>Project, in collaboration with the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia <http://cncs.iit.it/> and in collaboration with the EITN <https://www.eitn.org/> (European Institute of Theoretical Neuroscience, Human Brain Project) are organizing a one day workshop on: *Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of Cortical Dynamics* Location: Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Corso Bettini 31, Rovereto, Italy Date and time: Friday September 22nd, 2017, from 9am to 6pm *Abstract:* Brain function is hypothesized to emerge from the concerted context-dependent dynamics of its networks. This workshop explores theoretical and experimental approaches for the analysis of brain dynamics at multiple spatial and temporal scales. *Confirmed speakers*: Ruth Benavides-Piccione, Cajal Institute, Madrid Maurizio Corbetta, University of Padova Egidio D'Angelo, University of Pavia Alain Destexhe CNRS, Paris Tommaso Fellin IIT, Genoa Mathieu Galtier, Rhythm, Paris Alessandro Gozzi, IIT, Rovereto Maurizio Mattia ISS, Rome Ruben Moreno-Bote, UPF, Barcelona Stefano Panzeri IIT, Rovereto Mavi Sanchez-Vives, IDIBAPS, Barcelona Davide Zoccolan, SISSA, Trieste Hosts: Stefano Panzeri and Tommaso Fellin Attendance is free, but prior registration is needed. For registration and more information, please email slowdynconference(a)gmail.com regards Stefano Panzeri

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REMINDER: Computational Neuroscience Job at the Krembil Research Institute
by Frances Skinner 05 Sep '17

05 Sep '17

Hello all, Just a reminder about the following Faculty position in Computational Neuroscience (see below). *To ensure consideration, please submit your application by September 11th for the latest.* Thank you. --------- https://www.recruitingsite.com/csbsites/uhncareers/JobDescri ption.asp?SiteID=10031&JobNumber=805761 Job Posting #8045761 Position: Computational Neuroscience Research Scientist Site: Krembil Research Institute/Toronto Western Hospital Department: Research Reports to: Director Status: Permanent Full-time The Krembil Research Institute at the University Health Network in Toronto Canada invites applicants to apply for a Scientist position in the area of Computational Neuroscience. The ideal candidate will have a PhD in a relevant field, research expertise and experience in mathematical and computational modeling, and research interests that complement those of the Institute in neurobiology and neurodegeneration. Candidates whose research interests encompasses cellular, micro/macro circuits and/or large scale brain models, and who have collaborative experimental experience are especially encouraged. The successful candidate will have the ability to establish an independent, well-funded program and will be eligible for appointment at the appropriate level within the University of Toronto. The Krembil is one the principal research institutes of the University Health Network of academic teaching hospitals associated with the University of Toronto; the Krembil is also one of the largest research institutes in Canada focusing on human neurological disease from both a basic science and clinical research perspective. The University Health Network (UHN) is Canada's largest academic medical centre, comprising four major teaching hospitals. Qualified applicants must attach their letter of interest, research plan, resume PDF format to the online application and complete some initial screening questions. The search committee will begin to review applications in September with a potential start date in Winter 2018. Posted Date: June 22, 2017 Closing Date: Until filled UHN thanks all applicants, however, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. UHN is a respectful, caring, and inclusive workplace. We are committed to championing accessibility, diversity and equal opportunity. Requests for accommodation can be made at any stage of the recruitment process providing the applicant has met the Bona-fide requirements for the open position. Applicants need to make their requirements known when contacted. -- Frances Skinner, PhD Krembil Research Institute/UHN and Univ Toronto www.skinnerlab.org

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Postdoctoral Researcher Position
by Avrama Blackwell 05 Sep '17

05 Sep '17

The Computational and Experimental Neuroplasticity laboratory (http://krasnow1.gmu.edu/CENlab/avrama.html) of Kim “Avrama” Blackwell at George Mason University invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research position / software engineer beginning Sept 1, 2017. The successful candidate will contribute to ongoing cutting-edge research in computational systems biology & neuroscience by further development of our stochastic reaction-diffusion software, NeuroRD and further development of parameter optimization software. The position involves design and implementation of new features for both softwares, providing technical support to lab members developing NeuroRD models and investigating the role of calcium dynamics and cell signaling pathways in learning and plasticity, and writing journal articles and giving presentations on the new software features. CENlab is an interdisciplinary, dynamic and creative research group at Mason’s Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, located in northern Virginia (15 miles west of Washington, D.C.). Requirements: Ph.D. in a relevant field (e.g. computer science, physics, bioinformatics, engineering) and at least one publication in reputable journal. Experience in software development (scientific software, python and C++ or JAVA preferred). Expertise with Unix operating systems. Knowledge of stochastic processes. To apply, please send curriculum vitae and cover letter to kblackw1(a)gmu.edu. Position will be filled as soon as a suitable candidate is found. The successful applicant will have office space, a unix computer workstation, and a post-doctoral level salary supplemented by excellent state employee benefits. More information: * NeuroRD website: https://github.com/neurord * Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study: http://krasnow1.gmu.edu * George Mason University: http://www.gmu.edu George Mason University is an innovative, entrepreneurial institution with national distinction in a range of academic fields. Enrollment is 30,000, with students studying in over 150 degree programs at campuses in Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William. George Mason University is an equal opportunity employer encouraging diversity.

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Open position: Research scientist in the field of data analysis
by Orth, Boris 05 Sep '17

05 Sep '17

The Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC) operates one of the most powerful supercomputing infrastructures in Europe and makes it available to researchers at Forschungszentrum Jülich, in Germany and throughout Europe. The JSC’s “Federated Systems and Data” division develops software for data analysis, data management and access to distributed storage and computing systems. The “Simulation Laboratory Neuroscience” in the “High Performance Computing in Neuroscience” division of JSC provides community-specific support for neuroscientists with respect to complex simulations and data analyses on supercomputers, as well as their methods. Both divisions closely collaborate within the “Helmholtz Analytics Framework”. We are looking to recruit a Research scientist in the field of data analysis Your Job: In many scientific disciplines, the analysis of large data sets plays a crucial role. As part of a team in JSC, you will be working interdisciplinary with scientists from other institutes of Forschungszentrum Jülich, as well as from other Helmholtz Centres, in the areas of Earth System Modelling, Structural Biology, Aerospace, Medical Imaging and Neuroscience. In particular, you will analyse, develop and optimize analysis methods and workflows applied in neuroimaging. On this basis, you will support research groups in sharing their methods and tools, and in deriving generic methods and tools. Your Profile: * A university degree in computer science, mathematics, or a related subject * Profound knowledge and experience in algorithm development * Experience in software development and programming with languages such as Python, C++, R * Knowledge and experience with methods like multivariate statistics, error analysis, machine learning, inference approaches * Interest to collaborate closely with developers and users from academia and industry * Strong proactivity * Good command of spoken and written English and ideally German Ideally, good knowledge of * Scripting languages common in the Unix environment (Bash) * Parallel programming (MPI, OpenMP) * Common programming tools and software distribution systems (e.g., Docker, Easybuild) * Analysis of large neuroimaging datasets as well as the relevant software packages (e.g., FSL, FreeSurfer, MRtrix) Our Offer: * Excellent research and computing infrastructure of one of the largest research centres in Europe, ideally situated between the cities of Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Aachen * A comprehensive further training programme, including English language courses * Flexible working hours and various opportunities to reconcile work and family life * Limited for 3 years with possible longer-term prospects * Full-time position with the option of slightly reduced working hours * Salary and social benefits in conformity with the provisions of the Collective Agreement for the Civil Service (TVöD). Forschungszentrum Jülich aims to employ more women in this area and therefore particulary welcomes applications from women. We also welcome applications from disabled persons. We look forward to receiving your application, preferably online<https://www.hrecruiting.de/obf2/bewerbermanagement.php?kunden_nr=t5ChjatkIf…> via our online recruitment system on our career site, quoting the reference number 2017-194. Contact Human Resource Development and Recruiting Judith Dresen Tel.:+49 2461 61 9700 -- Dr. Boris Orth HPC in Neuroscience Jülich Supercomputing Centre Institute for Advanced Simulation Tel +49 2461 61-9123 Fax +49 2461 61-6656 www.fz-juelich.de/ias/jsc<http://www.fz-juelich.de/ias/jsc> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH 52425 Juelich Sitz der Gesellschaft: Juelich Eingetragen im Handelsregister des Amtsgerichts Dueren Nr. HR B 3498 Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: MinDir Dr. Karl Eugen Huthmacher Geschaeftsfuehrung: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Marquardt (Vorsitzender), Karsten Beneke (stellv. Vorsitzender), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Bolt, Prof. Dr. Sebastian M. Schmidt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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ANDA 2018 - G-Node Advanced Neural Data Analysis Course, March 5 - 22, 2018, Jülich, Germany
by Frings, Maren 05 Sep '17

05 Sep '17

ANDA 2018 - G-Node Advanced Neural Data Analysis Course March 5 - 22, 2018 Haus Overbach, Juelich-Barmen, Germany Techniques to record neuronal data from populations of neurons are rapidly improving. Simultaneous recordings from hundreds of channels are possible while animals perform complex behavioral tasks. The analysis of such massive and complex data becomes increasingly challenging. This advanced course aims at providing deeper training in state-of-the-art analysis approaches in systems neuroscience. The course is addressed to excellent master and PhD students and young researchers who are interested in learning advanced techniques in data analytics and in getting hands-on experience in the analysis of electrophysiological data. Internationally renowned researchers will give lectures on statistical data analysis and data mining methods with accompanying exercises. Students will define and perform their own analyses on provided data to solve a challenge. Participants are required to have a strong interest in data analysis, a background in a mathematical or related field, knowledge of algebra, matrix operations, and statistics, and need to have solid programming experience (preferably in Python). Date and Venue March 5 - 22, 2018 Haus Overbach, Juelich-Barmen, Germany Faculty · Moshe Abeles, Bar-Ilan Univ, Israel · Michael Denker, Juelich Research Center and RWTH Aachen Univ, Germany · Alain Destexhe, CNRS, Gif sur Yvette, France · Sonja Grün, Juelich Research Center and RWTH Aachen Univ, Germany · Björn Kampa, RWTH Aachen, Germany · Christian Machens, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Portugal · Martin Nawrot, University of Cologne, Germany · Yifat Prut, Hebrew Univ Jerusalem, Israel · Alexa Riehle, CNRS, Marseille, France · Jonathan Victor, Weill Cornell Medical College, USA · Thomas Wachtler, G-Node, LMU Munich, Germany Topics covered Single neuron properties and statistics · Stochastic processes · Surrogate methods · Detection of spatio-temporal patterns · Unitary Events · Statistical analysis of massively parallel spike data · Higher-order correlation analyses · Spike-LFP relationship · Population coding · State space analysis · Machine learning · Data mining · Data management, reproducibility, data sharing · Elephant toolbox Requirements Applicants should be familiar with linear algebra, probability, differential and integral calculus and experienced using Python or Matlab. Preparatory reading material will be provided. Students should bring their own laptops and should be able to install software on their system. Students that do not have a suitable laptop should indicate this immediately after acceptance to the course. We will be able to provide a small number of laptops for the time of the course. Course Fee A course fee of 800 Euros will be charged to accepted students. The course fee contributes to covering accommodation and meals, including coffee breaks. A few stipends will be available to support students with documented need of funding. Housing Accommodation in 2-bed rooms for students will be provided at the course site. How to apply The application should include · a letter of motivation (max 1 page) · curriculum vitae (please indicate the relevant courses you have taken) · description of programming experience · a letter of recommendation. Please send all documents as a single PDF file to <advanced-course(a)g-node.org<mailto:advanced-course@g-node.org>>. Deadlines Applications must be received by October 15, 2017. Early application is encouraged because number of participants is limited. For further information see https://portal.g-node.org/advanced-course-2018/ Organizers · Sonja Grün, Juelich Research Center and RWTH Aachen Univ, Germany · Martin Nawrot, University of Cologne, Germany · Thomas Wachtler, G-Node, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany Dr. Maren Frings Scientific Coordinator Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-6) Computational and Systems Neuroscience & Institute for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6) Theoretical Neuroscience Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH and JARA 52425 Jülich, Germany Building 15.22 Room 4004 Phone +49 2461 61-9468 Fax +49 2461 61-9460 m.frings(a)fz-juelich.de<mailto:m.frings@fz-juelich.de> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH 52425 Juelich Sitz der Gesellschaft: Juelich Eingetragen im Handelsregister des Amtsgerichts Dueren Nr. HR B 3498 Vorsitzender des Aufsichtsrats: MinDir Dr. Karl Eugen Huthmacher Geschaeftsfuehrung: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Marquardt (Vorsitzender), Karsten Beneke (stellv. Vorsitzender), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Bolt, Prof. Dr. Sebastian M. Schmidt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Bernstein 2017 Workshop, "The Neural Code: Universal Grammar or Area-Specific Mechanisms?"
by Hazem Toutounji 04 Sep '17

04 Sep '17

Dear Colleagues, We would like to draw your attention to the upcoming workshop *The Neural Code: Universal Grammar or Area-Specific Mechanisms?* at the *Bernstein Conference 2017*, which will take place preceding the conference on *September 12-13* in *Göttingen, Germany*. *Abstract:* The brain responds to sensory stimuli with complex, yet structured, patterns of action potentials, which in turn gives rise to perception, action, remembrance and other facets of the organism's mental life. Finding order in the complexity of neural activity, and the quest for the neural code, occupied much of both experimental and theoretical neuroscience in the last decades. Several general theories of how the brain might encode and transfer information have been suggested, partly backed by experimental evidence. Attractor dynamics, binding by synchrony, brain oscillations acting at multiple temporal scales and Bayesian coding are some of the more prominent proposals into this direction. The debate whether these strategies are different facets of a fundamental neural grammar, or are local codes within functionally distinct brain regions, is far from settled. The aim of the workshop is to bring together experts in the field of neural coding, in order to discuss basic mechanisms of information encoding and the deeper question of whether there is a unifying grammar of neural representations. Schedule: Tue, Sept 12, 2017 13:00 Damian Battaglia, Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France *Do oscillations modulate information processing? From routing states to computing modes* 13:45 Mattia Rigotti, Physical Sciences Department, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY *Functional role of the dimensionality of neural responses* 14:30 General discussion 15:00 Coffee Break 15:30 Máté Lengyel, University of Cambridge, UK *A sampling-based neural code of uncertainty in V1 (and I bet elsewhere, too)* 16:15 Nicolas Brunel, University of Chicago, Chicago, USA *Statistics of connectivity in networks optimizing information storage: fixed point attractors vs sequences* 17:00 Misha Tsodyks, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel *Population spikes codes for processing and working memory* 17:45 General discussion Wed, Sept 13, 2017 9:00 Stefano Panzeri, Neural Computation Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy *The relationship between cross-cell coupling and the timescales of population coding across cortex* 9:45 Thilo Womelsdorf, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA *Neural coding and inter-areal integration of goal-relevant information using spike bursts* 10:30 *Coffee break* 11:00 Pascal Fries, Ernst Strüngmann Institute for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Frankfurt am Main, Germany *Rhythms for Cognition: Communication through Coherence* 11:45 Genaral discussion Kind regards, Eleonora Russo and Hazem Toutounji -- Dr. rer. nat. Hazem Toutounji Postdoctoral Researcher in Theoretical Neuroscience Central Institute of Mental Health Medical Faculty Mannheim of Heidelberg University Square J5, 68159 Mannheim, Germany office: +49-621-1703-2366

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PhD Opportunities in the Department of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine
by Jeff Krichmar 04 Sep '17

04 Sep '17

Dear colleagues, The Department of Cognitive Sciences at the University of California, Irvine is seeking graduate students for admission in Fall 2018. We invite exceptional and highly motivated candidates to apply for full-time PhD research in computational neuroscience, machine learning, computational vision, neural networks, and neurorobotics. Students will have the opportunity to work in the Cognitive Anteater Robotics laboratory (PI: Jeff Krichmar), the Neuromorphic Machine Intelligence laboratory (PI: Emre Neftci), and the newly established Visual Perception laboratory (PI: Zyg Pizlo) at UC Irvine. For more information about ongoing research see: · http://www3.psych.purdue.edu/~zpizlo/ · http://nmi-lab.org/ · http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma/CARL/ Projects include: · Cognitive robotics for decision-making, planning, perception, and memory. · Efficient coding in the brain. · Models of neuromodulation. · Neurobiologically inspired vision models. · Models of human problem solving. · Neuromorphic engineering and machine learning · Spike-based computation Applicants should have strong mathematical and computer programming skills, as well as good communication skills. Successful applicants will receive funding toward their Ph.D. for at least 5 years. Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. UCI has more than 30,000 students and offers 192 degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more information about the Cognitive Sciences graduate program, please see: http://www.cogsci.uci.edu/graduate/index.php Jeff Krichmar Professor Department of Cognitive Sciences University of California, Irvine Email: jkrichma(a)uci.edu Website: http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma Emre Neftci, PhD (ETH Zurich) Assistant Professor Neuromorphic Machine Intelligence Lab (http://nmi-lab.org/), Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine Email: eneftci(a)uci.edu Zygmunt Pizlo Professor Falmagne Endowed Chair in Mathematical Psychology Department of Cognitive Sciences University of California, Irvine Email: zpizlo(a)uci.edu

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[Extended Deadline-CFP] - HAI 2017 Workshop: Representation Learning for Human and Robot Cognition
by Amir Aly 04 Sep '17

04 Sep '17

CALL FOR PAPERS **Apologies for cross posting ** The full day workshop: "*Representation Learning for Human and Robot Cognition*" In conjunction with the *5th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction* *- Bielefeld - Germany - October * *17th, 2017* *Webpage: **http://cognitive-mirroring.org/en/events/hai2017_workshop/* <http://cognitive-mirroring.org/en/events/hai2017_workshop/> *I. Aim and Scope *Creating intelligent and interactive robots has been subject to extensive research studies. They are rapidly moving to the center of human environment so that they collaborate with human users in different applications, which requires high-level cognitive functions so as to allow them to understand and learn from human behavior. To this end, an important challenge that attracts much attention in cognitive science and artificial intelligence, is the “Symbol Emergence” problem, which investigates the bottom-up development of symbols through social interaction. This research line employs representation learning based models for understanding language and action in a developmentally plausible manner so as to make robots able to behave appropriately on their own. This could open the door to robots to understand syntactic formalisms and semantic references of human speech, and to associate language knowledge to perceptual knowledge so as to successfully collaborate with human users in space. Another interesting approach to study representation learning is “Cognitive Mirroring”, which refers to artificial systems that could make cognitive processes observable, such as the models that could learn concepts of objects, actions, and/or emotions from humans through interaction. A key idea of this approach is that robots learn individual characteristics of human cognition rather than acquiring a general representation of cognition. In this way, the characteristics of human cognition become observable and can be measured as modifications in model parameters, which is difficult to verify through neuroscience studies only. In this workshop, we invite researchers in artificial intelligence, cognitive science, cognitive robotics, and neuroscience to share their knowledge and research findings on representation learning, and to engage in cutting-edge discussions with other experienced researchers so as to help promoting this research line in the Human-Agent Interaction (HAI) community. *II. Keynote Speakers * 1. *Beata Joanna Grzyb *– Radboud University – The Netherlands 2. *Thomas Hermann*– Bielefeld University – Germany 3. *Tetsuya Ogata *– Waseda University – Japan 4. *Erhan Oztop *– Ozyegin Universiy – Turkey 5. * Stefan Wermter *– University of Hamburg – Germany *III. Submission * 1. For paper submission, use the following EasyChair web link: *Paper Submission <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=rlhrc2017>*. 2. Use the ACM SIGCHI format: *ACM SIGCHI Templates <http://www.sigchi.org/publications/chipubform>*. 3. Submitted papers should be limited to 2-4 pages maximum. The primary list of topics covers the following points (but not limited to): - Computational model for high-level cognitive capabilities - Predictive learning from sensorimotor information - Multimodal interaction and concept formulation - Human-robot communication and collaboration based on machine learning - Learning supported by external trainers by demonstration and imitation - Bayesian modeling - Learning with hierarchical and deep architectures - Interactive reinforcement learning * IV. Important Dates * 1. Paper submission: *15-September-2017* 2. Notification of acceptance: *25-September-2017* 3. Camera-ready version: *5-**October-2017* 4. Workshop: *17-October-2017* *V. Organizers * 1. *Takato Horii *– Osaka University – Japan 2. *Amir Aly *– Ritsumeikan University – Japan 3. *Yukie Nagai *– National Institute of Information and Communications Technology – Japan 4. * Takayuki Nagai *– The University of Electro-Communications – Japan -- *Amir Aly, Ph.D.* Senior Researcher Emergent Systems Laboratory College of Information Science and Engineering Ritsumeikan University 1-1-1 Noji Higashi, Kusatsu, Shiga 525-8577 Japan

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