January 2020 - Comp-neuro - lists.cnsorg.org

IMRF 2020 | CALL FOR ABSTRACTS | Deadline March 01, 2020

by Marc Ernst

**** IMRF 2020 | CALL FOR ABSTRACTS | Deadline March 01, 2020 **** IMRF - the International Multisensory Research Forum - is now accepting abstracts to be considered for poster and talk presentations at the IMRF 2020 Meeting. The IMRF 2020 is taking place in Ulm, Germany June 22-25, 2020. The IMRF hosts around 300 contributions from all over the world on topics of multisensory perception, ranging from neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, computer science, behavioral biology and its applications. With this it is the major conference in this field. Abstracts should be submitted through the IMRF 2020 web-page <https://cops.ifp.uni-ulm.de/imrf2020/index.php/imrf-2020/registration-submi…>. They should be no more than 300 words. Each individual may present only one contribution. Presenters should be first author. An author can be co-author on more than one contribution. Submission Deadline: March 1, 2020 Decisions will be made by end of March. Registration will open shortly. For more information see the IMRF 2020 web-page <https://cops.ifp.uni-ulm.de/imrf2020/index.php> You can submit your abstracts here <https://cops.ifp.uni-ulm.de/imrf2020/index.php/imrf-2020/registration-submi…>. Looking forward to see you in Ulm later this year, On behalf of the IMRF 2020 organizing team --------------------------------------------------------- Prof. Dr. Marc Ernst Appl. Cognitive Psychology Faculty for Computer Science, Engineering, and Psychology Ulm University Albert-Einstein-Allee 43 89081 Ulm room: 43.3.103 phone: +49-731-50 320 50 sekr: +49-731-50 320 51 fax: +49-731-50 320 59 mobile: +49-152-22 543 156 marc.ernst(a)uni-ulm.de <mailto:marc.ernst@uni-ulm.de>

Jan. 24, 2020

NeuroBridges 2020 School announcement

by Ahmed El Hady

*/NeuroBridges 2020 Summer school , Cluny, France/* */( September 6th - September 17th, 2020)/* *//* I would like to bring to your attention the NeuroBridges 2020 Summer School <http://decision-making-lab.com/NeuroBridges/neurobridges2020.html> <http://decision-making-lab.com/NeuroBridges/neurobridges2020.html> NeuroBridges <https://www.facebook.com/NeuroBridges/>is a one-of-a-kind series of scientific meetings in brain research, which brings together Mediterranean and Middle Eastern scientists, in order to promote international scientific cooperation in system and computational neuroscience. A major goal of this school is to serve as a bridge between experimental and theoretical neuroscientists, addressing system-level questions. This year the school will primarily focus on the neural basis and computational principles underlying decision making. *The forthcoming NeuroBridges 2020*will be a ten-day summer school. Students will attend lectures delivered by a group of leading neuroscientists, experimentalists as well as theoreticians, which will address the fundamental questions in the field of decision making. In addition to the lectures, the students will work in groups on small research projects. The school is intended for graduate students and postdocs, primarily (but not only) from the Middle East and the Mediterranean region either working in their home countries or abroad. We will consider applicants with some background in related fields in neuroscience or cognitive psychology. Through the online application system, you will be asked to provide personal details, academic background, a motivation letter that should include a paragraph about your quantitative skills and a CV. In addition, we request two recommendation letters. The school will take place between *September 6 and September 17, 2020* in Le Centre de Conferences Internationales de Cluny (CCIC) <http://www.ccic.eu/index.html>. Cluny is a small medieval town in Burgundy, France, located about 400km southeast of Paris (accessible by fast train, TGV). All costs of registration and accommodation will be covered by the organizers. A limited number of travel grants will also be available. *NeuroBridges* is co-organized by Ahmed El Hady <http://scholar.princeton.edu/ahmedelhady/home> (Princeton Neuroscience Institute, USA), Yonatan Loewenstein <http://elsc.huji.ac.il/loewenstein/home>(Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) and David Hansel <https://neurophys.biomedicale.parisdescartes.fr/members/david-hansel/> (CNRS, Paris, France). Review of applications will end in May 2020. *2020 Faculty:* Carlos Brody (Princeton) <https://pni.princeton.edu/faculty/carlos-brody> Ahmed El Hady (Princeton) <http://scholar.princeton.edu/ahmedelhady/home> David Hansel (CNRS) <https://neurophys.biomedicale.parisdescartes.fr/members/david-hansel/> Ifat Levy (Yale) <https://medicine.yale.edu/profile/ifat_levy> Yonatan Loewenstein (Hebrew U.) <https://elsc.huji.ac.il/faculty-staff/yonatan-loewenstein> Najib Majaj (NYU) <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Najib_Majaj> Mike Shadlen (Columbia U.) <https://neuroscience.columbia.edu/profile/michaelshadlen> Eyal Winter (Hebrew U.) <http://www.ma.huji.ac.il/%7Emseyal/> Yoram Yovell (Hadassah Hebrew U. Medical Center) <http://yovell.co.il/en/> The deadline for application is *April 1st, 2020 *and the following is the website including the link for the online application: http://decision-making-lab.com/NeuroBridges/neurobridges2020.html <http://decision-making-lab.com/NeuroBridges/neurobridges2019.html> <http://decision-making-lab.com/NeuroBridges/neurobridges2019.html> For more information, please contact neurobridges2020(a)gmail.com <mailto:neurobridges2018@gmail.com>.

Jan. 24, 2020

[jobs] several positions in embodied computational models of body representations @CTU Prague

by Matej Hoffmann

** *Dear colleagues, * * there are several positions open in the humanoid, cognitive, neuro-, and collaborative robotics group coordinated by Dr. Matej Hoffmann (https://sites.google.com/site/matejhof/) at the Department of Cybernetics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague. The positions include PhD, post-doc, and tenure-track. Group webpage: https://cyber.felk.cvut.cz/research/groups-teams/humanoids/ The topics are in the context of the newly starting 5-year project entitled “Whole-body awareness for safe and natural interaction: from brains to collaborative robots” for excellence in fundamental research from the Czech Science Foundation (see https://cyber.felk.cvut.cz/news/new-gacr-expro-project <https://cyber.felk.cvut.cz/news/new-gacr-expro-project/>for more information) and include: * Employing humanoid robots with artificial skin to construct embodied computational models of body and peripersonal space representations * Neural network models of multisensory integration and peripersonal space * Physical human-robot interaction with special focus on tactile and proximity sensing * Social human-robot interaction focusing on touch and interpersonal distance Open positions: PhD student. The topic will be co-defined with the student depending on his skills and interests. The standard duration of the PhD study is 4 years. The funding corresponds to a gross salary of CZK 40 000 per month (approx. 1600 EUR), plus direct bonuses for scientific achievements such as top-tier publications. Postdoc. The postdoc will independently conduct research and will also be involved in shaping the research of the group and supervising students. The gross salary will be in the range of CZK 50 000-70 000 per month (approx. 2000-2700 EUR) depending on qualification, plus direct bonuses for scientific achievements such as top-tier publications. Tenure-track. This position is open in the humanoids group or in the broader context of Vision for Robotics and Autonomous Systems group (https://cyber.felk.cvut.cz/research/groups-teams/vras/) and the Research Center For Informatics (http://rci.cvut.cz/) Robots and infrastructure The humanoids group has at its disposal several humanoid robots (iCub - procurement being finalized, 2 Naos - 1 with whole-body sensitive skin) and collaborative or lightweight manipulators (KUKA LBR iiwa, UR10e with Airskin, Kinova Gen3). Additional infrastructure includes several robot hands (Barrett Hand BH8-282, QB Soft Hand) and grippers, a 3D Motion Capture System, Impact measuring devices (GTE), and integrated devices for collaborative robots (http://smartrobots.it/) The group has also access to the facilities of the Research Center for Informatics such as a high-performance computational cluster. International collaborations There is a large group of international experts who have agreed to act as collaborators/advisors on the project. These include experts in - developmental psychology: Dr. Kevin O’Regan (CNRS, Paris), Prof. Jeffrey J. Lockman (Tulane University, New Orleans) - cognitive psychology and neuroscience: Prof. Matthew Longo (Birkbeck University, London), Prof. Tobias Heed (Bielefeld), Prof. Andrea Serino (University of Lausanne), Dr. Jean-Paul Noel (Center for Neural Science at New York University), Drs. M.Gori and Giulia Cappagli (Italian Institute of Technology, Dr. S. Signorini (IRCSS Fondazione Mondino Pavia) - physical human-robot interaction: Prof. Sami Haddadin (TU Munich), Dr. Arash Ajoudani (Italian Institute of Technology), Dr. Michael Zillich (Blue Danube Robotics – manufacturer of Airskin) - social human-robot interaction: Dr. Alessandra Sciutti (Italian Institute of Technology), Dr. Hagen Lehmann (University of Macerata) How to apply. The application should include: ** -**Motivation letter (max. 1 page) ** - *CV (including 2 reference persons)* ** -***1 Letter of recommendation (can be from 1 of the reference persons above)*** Please send the applications or inquiries to matej.hoffmann(a)fel.cvut.cz <mailto:matej.hoffmann@fel.cvut.cz>with (“[PhD / Postdoc / tenure-track] application” in the subject). The positions are open until filled. Best regards, Matej Hoffmann * -- Matej Hoffmann, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Cybernetics Faculty of Electrical Engineering Czech Technical University in Prague https://sites.google.com/site/matejhof/home +420 224 357 387

Jan. 23, 2020

PhD and MSc Opportunities in Computational Neuroscience and Neuroimaging at the University of Toronto

by John Griffiths

The Whole Brain Modelling Group (PI Dr. John Griffiths; www.grifflab.com) at the CAMH Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics ( www.krembilneuroinformatics.ca) and University of Toronto is looking for PhD and MSc students with a strong background in computational neuroscience and/or neuroimaging. The focus of the Group’s work is computational models of large-scale brain activity, with particular emphases on neural dynamics as measured by M/EEG and fMRI, oscillations, brain stimulation (TMS, TDCS), neural plasticity, and macro-connectomics. The student shall conduct research in one or more of these areas. They will have the opportunity to shape the details of the project based on their specific interests, as well as to contribute to other ongoing projects on a range of topics, including: neuroinformatics of whole-brain modelling, mapping and modelling anatomical connectivity and microstructure with DWI in relation to ageing and stroke, and multi-scale modelling of the thalamocortical system in relation to sleep, pharmacological neuromodulation, and neuropsychiatric disease. The successful candidate should have, minimally, an undergraduate degree in neuroscience, engineering, physics, mathematics, psychology, or related area, and a demonstrable track record of research experience and interest in computational neuroscience and/or neuroimaging. Expertise in one or more modern scientific computing programming language (Python, Matlab, Julia, R, C++) is essential. The candidate should also have familiarity with one or both of: i) neuroimaging data analysis (s/d/fMRI and/or M/EEG), and ii) computational modelling using numerical simulations (particularly modelling of neural population activity with mean-field/neural mass/neural field techniques, either with custom implementations or with tools such as The Virtual Brain Platform or Dynamic Causal Modelling). Full details of the position and application instructions can be found at www.grifflab.com/positions/ For informal inquiries, please email Dr. John Griffiths at john.griffiths(a)camh.ca with the title “PhD in Whole Brain Modelling” in the subject line ( Note: students interested in a September 2020 start at the University of Toronto should get in touch immediately to leave time for approaching application deadlines ) -- Dr. John D. Griffiths Independent Scientist @ Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics, CAMH, Toronto Assistant Professor @ Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto www.grifflab.com

Jan. 23, 2020

[publication and call for dialog] IEEE CIS Newsletter on Cognitive and Developmental Systems

by Pierre-Yves Oudeyer

Dear colleagues, we are happy to announce the release of the latest issue of the IEEE CIS Newsletter on Cognitive and Developmental Systems (open access). This is an annual 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, machine learning and neuroscience. It is available at: https://tiny.cc/2072iz <https://tiny.cc/2072iz> Featuring dialog: === "Leveraging Adaptive Games to Learn How to Help Children Learn Effectively" == Dialog initiated by Georges Kachergis with responses from: Jennifer Zosh, Roberta Golinkoff, Kathy Hirsch-Pasek, Rebecca Dore, Brenna Hassinger-Das, Benedict du Boulay and Ken Koedinger. == Topic: Fundamental research aiming to understand better how children learn and develop can have a major societal impact. One key example is education: in the last decades, several advances enabled to show how certain learning and teaching techniques could improve significantly comprehension and memorization in children. A major challenge consists in translating these advances into real classroom practices, a challenge at the core of “translational educational sciences”. In this newsletter, a dialog initiated by Georges Kachergis highlights how adaptive learning technologies, e.g. educational apps, can be both an efficient channel for this translation, and an opportunity for further understanding how to foster efficient learning in the class- room. Several experts of this domain provide their point of view and discuss various challenges to be addressed, ranging from establishing strong collaborations between developmentalists, app developers and teachers, to deploying large-scale ecologically valid experimentations. They also offer a perspective on how artificial intelligence can play a key role in impactful educational apps, enabling to implement per- sonalized and motivating learning strategies. Call for new dialog: === «How to Evaluate Open-ended Learning Agents? » == Dialog initiated by Clément Moulin-Frier == Topic: Then, a new dialog initiation is proposed by Clément Moulin-Frier on a fundamental question for the future of AI: How to evaluate open-ended learning agents? While impressive progress was made recently in reinforcement learning, as shown by performance in benchmarks with a set of pre-defined external objectives, a major challenge is now to build autonomous agents that can progressively discover and learn open repertoires of skills in open worlds. Several steps in this direction have been made in the last decade, such as algorithms enabling agents to imagine their own goals and self-organize their learning curriculum (initially in the CDS community, and recently extended in the machine learning community). Another related line of work is open-ended evolution in multi-agent systems with co-evolution. However, a key challenge is how to measure progress in this area, as traditional RL benchmarks were not constructed to address open-ended learning. I invite all readers interested to participate to this dialog to send me their response by June 30th, 2020. The length of each response must be between 600 and 800 words including references (contact pierre-yves.oudeyer(a)inria.fr <mailto:pierre-yves.oudeyer@inria.fr>). Let us remind you that all issues of the newsletter are all open-access and available at: https://goo.gl/ZjjZNz <https://goo.gl/ZjjZNz> I wish you a stimulating reading! Best regards, Pierre-Yves Oudeyer, Editor of the IEEE CIS Newsletter on Cognitive and Developmental Systems Research director, Inria Head of Flowers project-team Inria, Univ. Bordeaux and Ensta ParisTech, France http://www.pyoudeyer.com <http://www.pyoudeyer.com/> Twitter: https://twitter.com/pyoudeyer <https://twitter.com/pyoudeyer> and Fabien Benureau, Editorial Assistant Cognitive NeuroRobotics Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology 1919-1 Tancha, Onna, Okinawa Japan http://fabien.benureau.com <http://fabien.benureau.com/> Email: fabien.benureau [at] oist [dot] jp

Jan. 23, 2020

UK PhD opportunities in Computational/Mathematical Biology or Neuroscience (EPSRC funded, 3.5 yrs, Sept 2020 start)

by James Rankin

*PhD in Computational/Mathematical Biology or Neuroscience (EPSRC funded, 3.5 yrs, Sept 2020 start) * There are a number projects proposed in Computational and Mathematical Biology or Neuroscience in the following call (follow Research Theme link to Mathematical biology and medicine). General information & apply (funding is primarily targeted at currently UK-based students): http://www.exeter.ac.uk/studying/funding/award/index.php?id=3830 Deadline is soon: 30th January. Contact: j.a.rankin(a)exeter.ac.uk or m.goodfellow(a)exeter.ac.uk

Jan. 23, 2020

postdoc position in reinforcement learning and decision making

by Gershman, Samuel Joseph

The Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at Harvard University (Director: Sam Gershman) is seeking 1-2 postdoctoral fellows to work in the area of reinforcement learning and decision making. The start date is on or after October 1, 2020. The position is for 3 years. Requirements for this position are: (1) Experience with fMRI and/or human behavioral experiments. (2) A strong technical background in Bayesian and reinforcement learning models. Interested applicants should e-mail gershman(a)fas.harvard.edu<mailto:gershman@fas.harvard.edu> with a CV, statement of interest (not to exceed 2 pages), and a link to a publications page. For more information on the lab's research, please visit http://gershmanlab.webfactional.com/ Harvard is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Jan. 22, 2020

Phd position in perceptual decision making @ TU Darmstadt

by Jäkel, Frank

The Models of Higher Cognition group (PI: Frank Jaekel) at the TU Darmstadt Centre for Cognitive Science is looking for a PhD student in the area of perceptual decision making. In a joint DFG-project with the Neurophysiology group at the University of Mainz (PI: Maik Stuettgen) we are investigating neural and cognitive processes underlying criterion learning. We are looking for candidates who are interested in theory and modeling (signal detection theory, probabilistic models, reinforcement learning, neural networks) as well as psychophysical experiments in humans. Informal inquiries can be sent to jaekel(a)psychologie.tu-darmstadt.de<mailto:jaekel@psychologie.tu-darmstadt.de>. More information on the Models of Higher Cognition group can be found here: https://www.psychologie.tu-darmstadt.de/mhc and the full job ad is here: https://www.tu-darmstadt.de/universitaet/karriere_an_der_tu/stellenangebote…

Jan. 22, 2020

Two fully-funded PhD positions on infant neuroimaging and computational modelling at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

by Lorijn Zaadnoordijk

Join us! Two PhD fully-funded scholarships are available to study the foundations of cognition using infant neuroimaging and computational modelling. Apply before Jan 31 for China Scholarship Council funding, or before Mar 1 for funding from our ERC FOUNDCOG project. How does the human mind develop? The FOUNDCOG team will address this question using neuroimaging of infants, in their critical first year after birth, to capture the development of the brain and its functions. We will interpret the results by comparing them to computational models of learning from artificial intelligence. In addition to characterising the development of the human mind, we aim to understand how it is disrupted by brain injury and to produce new diagnostic tools for neonatologists. 1) PhD Scholarship in Infant Neuroimaging, to start in September 2020 2) PhD Scholarship in Computational Modelling, to start in September 2020 · Includes fees, stipend and travel for 4 years, with funding from the ERC FOUNDCOG project · Excellent candidates from outside of the EU will also be considered · Selection will begin in March 2020, and the position will remain open until filled For more information, see: http://cusacklab.org/vacancies.html

Jan. 22, 2020

study abroad programs in Budapest

by Balazs Ujfalussy

Dear All: BSCS-US announces its two programs in Budapest for 2020. 1. Our regular program: BSCS - BUDAPEST SEMESTER IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE: FROM PHILOSOPHY TO NEUROSCIENCE will be held in the Fall of 2020, see http://www.bscs-us.org/ <http://www.bscs-us.org/>. Program start/end dates August 31 - December 4, 2020. Inquiry: bscs(a)bscs-us.org <mailto:bscs@bscs-us.org> 2. We have also a summer program Systems Neuroscience: a study abroad summer program http://www.sysneuro-semester.org/ <http://www.sysneuro-semester.org/> Program start/end dates June 15 - Aug 7, 2020 The BSCS Systems Neuroscience Program takes place at and academically supervised by the Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Semmelweis University Medical School, Budapest Inquiry: Péter Érdi (SysNeuro Director; BSCS Co-Director) perdi(a)kzoo.edu <mailto:perdi@kzoo.edu> bscs(a)bscs-us.org <mailto:bscs@bscs-us.org>

Jan. 22, 2020