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

COSYNE 2021: Abstract submission is now open

by Tomas Hromadka

==================================================== Computational and Systems Neuroscience 2021 (Cosyne) MAIN MEETING ONLINE 24 - 26 February 2021 www.cosyne.org ==================================================== IMPORTANT DATES Abstract submission is now open Abstract submission deadline: 12 November 2020 ---------------------------------------------------- MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT ---------------------------------------------------- The annual Cosyne meeting provides an inclusive forum for the exchange of empirical and theoretical approaches to problems in systems neuroscience, in order to understand how neural systems function. Cosyne 2021 will take place online, February 24 - 26, 2021. Please note that the dates have changed slightly from the initial announcement. The goal of this year’s meeting is to promote early stage investigators. Therefore, there are no invited talks from established researchers. The format will include featured contributed talks chosen from submitted abstracts, and interactive poster-like presentations (short recorded presentation + live interactions). More details to follow. All abstract submissions will be reviewed as in previous years, but reviewing will be fully double blind. The deadline for Abstract submission will be November 12, 2020. Cosyne topics include but are not limited to: neural basis of behavior, sensory and motor systems, circuitry, learning, neural coding, natural scene statistics, dendritic computation, neural basis of persistent activity, nonlinear receptive field mapping, representations of time and sequence, reward systems, decision-making, synaptic plasticity, map formation and plasticity, population coding, attention, and computation with spiking networks. When preparing an abstract, authors should be aware that not all abstracts can be accepted for the meeting. Abstracts will be selected based on the clarity with which they convey the substance, significance, and originality of the work to be presented. ---------------------------------------------------- COSYNE 2021 TUTORIAL ---------------------------------------------------- Cosyne 2021 main meeting will be preceded by an online Cosyne Tutorial Session led by Kanaka Rajan (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai) on 23 February 2021. More details will be posted on www.cosyne.org. ORGANIZING COMMITTEE General & Program Chairs: Anne-Marie Oswald (U Pittsburgh) and Srdjan Ostojic (Ecole Normale Superieure Paris) Diversity Chairs: Eva Dyer (Georgia Tech, Emory) and Eric Shea-Brown (U Washington) Publicity Chair: Adam Calhoun (Princeton) Tutorial Chair: Il Memming Park (Stony Brook) Development Chair: Michael Long (NYU) EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Stephanie Palmer (U Chicago) Zachary Mainen (Champalimaud) Alexandre Pouget (U Geneva) Anthony Zador (CSHL) PROGRAM COMMITTEE Athena Akrami (UCL) Demba Ba (Harvard) Omri Barak (Technion) Brice Bathellier (Paris) Yoram Burak (Hebrew University) Christine Constantinople (NYU) Saskia De Vries (Allen Institute) Victor de Lafuente (UNAM Mexico) Jan Drugowitsch (Harvard) Tatiana Engel (CSHL) Annegret Falkner (Princeton) Kevin Franks (Duke) Tim Hanks (UC Davis) Ann Hermundstad (Janelia) Andrew Leifer (Princeton) Sukbin Lim (Shanghai) Scott Linderman (Stanford) Mackenzie Mathis (EPFL Lausanne) Ida Momennejad (Microsoft) Cris Niell (U Oregon) Il Memming Park (Stony Brook) Adrien Peyrache (McGill Montreal) Kanaka Rajan (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai) Robert Rosenbaum (Notre Dame) Christina Savin (NYU) Marshal Shuler (Johns Hopkins) Daniela Vallentin (Max Planck Munich) CONTACT meeting [at] cosyne.org COSYNE MAILING LISTS Please consider adding yourself to Cosyne mailing lists (groups) to receive email updates with various Cosyne-related information and join in helpful discussions. See Cosyne.org -> Mailing lists for details.

Oct. 14, 2020

Online Mentoring Job Offer

by Maryam

WE WANT YOU ! ScienceBeam, which is a designer and manufacturer of neuroscience applications and organizer of neuroscience educational courses, is looking for professional, experienced and authentic mentors from all around the world for online courses. Required fields: ➢ Neuroscience ➢ Neuro-Biofeedback ➢ EEG/ERP/QEEG ➢ Cognitive Science ➢ Programming (MATLAB, Bio-Signal processing, etc.) If you are as passionate about mentoring as you are about the above-mentioned fields, and can give a few hours per week in return for an honorarium, we would love to hear from you. Apply now and send your resumes to: workshop(a)sciencebeam.com WhatsApp No: +8613380781282

Oct. 13, 2020

Ph.D. program (with details) in Computational/Experimental Neuroscience in Tuebingen, Germany

by Zhaoping Li

(I apologize for a previous message sent without details): Join our interdisciplinary PhD program and experience a vibrant and international training environment in Neuroscience! see https://www.kyb.tuebingen.mpg.de/imprs-mmfd for more details. Application deadline 30th Nov. 2020 More details International Max Planck Research School The Mechanisms of Mental Function and Dysfunction The ‘International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for The Mechanisms of Mental Function and Dysfunction’ (MMFD) provides state-of-the-art training and research under the guidance of leading neuroscientists, psychologists, psychiatrists and computational scientists in Tübingen. Excellent graduates with a Bachelor´s degree will enjoy an unparalleled opportunity to start their research career in neuroscience. What´s it all about? The IMPRS is a joint project of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics <https://www.kyb.tuebingen.mpg.de/2549/en> and the University of Tübingen <https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/>. It is embedded in the Graduate Training Centre of Neuroscience (GTC) <https://www.neuroschool-tuebingen.de> and thus benefits from more than 20 years of successful cooperation in the training of young neuroscientists. The IMPRS-MMFD offers a combined MSc/PhD program to outstanding BSc graduates. IMPRS students will not only receive an admission to one of the GTC´s regular MSc programs, but additionally a commitment of the IMPRS faculty to offer them a PhD position after their successful MSc graduation. The direct access to the IMPRS doctoral program for those students who are already holding a MSc degree and have already been admitted by the Graduate Training Centre is also possible. Prerequisite is the primarily supervision by one of the IMPRS faculty members (see: Application). Teaching and research in the IMPRS and at the GTC of Neuroscience are conducted entirely in English. The IMPRS MMFD was launched in January 2020 and is one of about sixty International Max Planck Research Schools <https://www.mpg.de/en/imprs> run by the Max Planck Society <https://www.mpg.de/en> in partnership with various universities and research institutions. IMPRS programs provide an extraordinary framework and working environment for graduate students, and they provide unique opportunities for interdisciplinary research projects.

Oct. 9, 2020

postdoc position in dynamical models of learning in working memory (Kilpatrick, CU Boulder)

by Zachary Kilpatrick

We are seeking a postdoctoral fellow to work on a BRAIN/NIMH/NIBIB funded project developing and validating neural circuit models of experience-driven computations in working memory. Our group is in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Colorado Boulder, and we have affiliations with the Institute of Cognitive Science and School of Medicine. The start date would likely be in Spring or Summer 2021. The position is fully funded till September 2023, with a possible extension contingent on funding. Interested applicants should contact Zack Kilpatrick (zpkilpat(a)colorado.edu <mailto:zpkilpat@colorado.edu>), along with a CV and list of 3 or more references. The aim of this project is to understand how task-relevant experience is encoded in neuronal circuits through plasticity-driven changes to network architecture (building off ideas in Kilpatrick (2018) Sci Rep <https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-25958-9>). Our mechanistic neural circuit models will be validated using data from humans (psychophysical response) and non-human primates (response + large-scale neural recordings) from the Gold (Penn), Buschman (Princeton), and Bays (Cambridge) labs. Candidates must have a strong background developing, simulating, and mathematically analyzing dynamical/mechanistic neural network models. We will build and analyze neural field models of large-scale activity using a combination of methods from stochastic processes, asymptotics, Bayesian inference, and numerical PDEs. Experience working with psychophysics and/or neural recording data is a plus but not required. Models will be fit using Bayesian parameter estimation and model comparison. Within our group, you could also work on a side project or two in decision-making, stochastic dynamics, social networks, and/or social foraging. Outside of work, the great outdoors in and around Boulder can’t be beat with over 40,000 acres of public open space, 1hr to skiing at Eldora Mtn Resort, 1hr to Rocky Mtn Natl Park, and tons of hiking and climbing. Boulder is consistently rated one of the most bike-able cities in the nation. We also have a very active local food scene with multiple restaurants receiving James Beard nominations this year. Non-stop international flights to Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, the UK, Japan, Mexico, and Canada are a 45 minute bus ride away at Denver Airport. ---------- Zachary P Kilpatrick, PhD (he/him/his) Associate Professor University of Colorado Boulder Department of Applied Mathematics http://www.colorado.edu/amath/zpkilpat <http://www.colorado.edu/amath/zpkilpat>

Oct. 8, 2020

Postdoctoral position in Computational Neuroscience, Italian Institute of Technology

by Stefano Panzeri

A postdoctoral position in computational neuroscience is available at Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Italy to work with Stefano Panzeri ( https://www.iit.it/people/stefano-panzeri) The successful candidate will conduct research in the laboratory of Neural Computation of Prof. Panzeri and in collaboration with Prof. Christopher Harvey at Harvard Medical School. We investigate, by developing and using advanced data analysis methods and neural network models, how circuits of neurons in the brain encode information and use it to produce appropriate behaviors. The Neural Computation laboratory offers a wide range of interdisciplinary expertise in computational neuroscience, including both advanced neural analysis techniques and neural network modeling. The laboratory also offers a thriving, ambitious research environment which is well funded (including several grants from the NIH Brain Initiative). This gives successful candidates ample opportunities for advanced training and personal scientific growth. We seek candidates holding a PhD in a numerate or neuroscientific discipline, with a solid computational background and a keen interest in neuroscience. They must be highly motivated and creative individuals who want to work in a dynamic, multi-disciplinary research environment and be willing to interact with both experimental and theoretical neuroscientists. For recent publications relevant to this project, see: Runyan C. A., et al (2017) Distinct timescales of population coding across cortex, *Nature*: 548: 92-96. G. Pica, et al (2017) Quantifying how much sensory information in a neural code is relevant for behavior, *Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS 2017)* Panzeri S., et al (2017) Cracking the neural code for sensory perception by combining statistics, intervention and behaviour. *Neuron* 93: 491-507 Chettih and Harvey (2019) Single-neuron perturbations reveal feature-specific competition in V1. *Nature* 567, 334 Chong, E. et al (2020) Manipulating synthetic optogenetic odors reveals the coding logic of olfactory perception. *Science* 368, 1329. The deadline for applications is *Oct. 27th, 2020*. Applications will be examined as soon as they are received and until the position is filled. Interested applicants are strongly encouraged to email Stefano Panzeri ( stefano.panzeri(a)iit.it) as soon as possible, to informally inform him of their interest for the position and initiate a discussion about research projects. Formal applications should be submitted, before the deadline, through the following web site: https://iit.taleo.net/careersection/ex/jobdetail.ftl?lang=en&job=20000039 Thanks Stefano Panzeri

Oct. 8, 2020

Two research fellow positions in Neuromorphic Olfaction

by Michael Schmuker

We have two Research Fellow positions available, funded through the NSF/MRC NeuroNex grant “Odor to Action”, an international consortium of 16 world-leading research groups from the US, Canada, and the UK. The consortium will apply their joint expertise in computational and experimental neuroscience, behavioural studies, fluid dynamics, and fragrance chemistry to unlock how brains use natural stimuli to generate adaptive natural behaviours. Apply to join an interdisciplinary team of computational neuroscientists, AI researchers and computer scientists to investigate the neuro-computational principles of the sense of smell and translate them into approaches for machine and robot olfaction. Our team will investigate real-time machine olfaction using biologically realistic spiking networks, on neuromorphic hardware, embodied in robots, performing olfactory navigation in real time. We will also use machine learning to analyse experimental data provided by collaborators and to gain a deeper insight into fragrance space. For more information and to apply, please head to https://www.jobs.herts.ac.uk <https://www.jobs.herts.ac.uk/> , search for job vacancy 029755. Informal inquiries via email are welcome! — Dr Michael Schmuker AFHEA Professor of Neural Computation Biocomputation Group University of Hertfordshire https://biomachinelearning.net

Oct. 6, 2020

Post-doc in Computational Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Italy

by Silvia Ferrara

The ERC Project INSCRIBE Invention of Scripts and their Beginnings<https://site.unibo.it/inscribe/en>, based at the University of Bologna, Italy, seeks candidates for a postdoctoral position in interdisciplinary research with expertise in computational neuroscience. The selected candidate will straddle the borders of neuroscience, cognition and the evolution of graphic codes, in order to apply quantitative methods to large databases with the goal of establishing commonalities worldwide in the evolution of symbols from a broadly cognitive, and more specifically, motor-driven and visual perspective. The ideal candidate will have earned a PhD in either neuroscience or neural computational sciences, with extensive skills in statistical methods. His/her research results will be published in general audience, as well as specialized open-access, peer-reviewed journals, and will be presented at scientific conferences. The position is renewable on a yearly basis, up to three consecutive years and can be held remotely. Deadline: 28 October 2020. For more information on how to apply: https://site.unibo.it/inscribe/en/jobs or contact: s.ferrara(a)unibo.it. Thank you Silvia Ferrara Full Professor Department of Classical Philology University of Bologna Via Zamboni 32, 40126 Bologna, Italy https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/s.ferrara ERC Consolidator 2017 Principal Investigator INSCRIBE Invention of Scripts and their Beginnings<https://site.unibo.it/inscribe/en> Resident Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies (ISA) University of Bologna Senior Research Fellow, Sapienza School for Advanced Studies (SSAS) Sapienza, University of Rome

Oct. 6, 2020

Call For Abstracts - Workshop on Affective Shared Perception (WASP)

by Pablo Vinicius Alves De Barros

Dear all, We are delighted to invite you to submit an abstract, and to participate in our Workshop on Affective Shared Perception (WASP), hosted by the International Conference on Developmental Learning and Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL-EPIROB2020). Please find below all the information! Cheers, Pablo I. Aim and Scope Our perception of the world, in particular, the ones which are influenced by affective understanding, depends both on sensory perception and prior knowledge. Most of the current research on modeling affective behavior as computer models ground their contribution to pre-trained learning models, which are purely data-driven, or on reproducing existing human behavior. Such approaches allow for easily reproducible solutions that fail when applied to complex social scenarios. Understanding shared perception as part of the affective processing mechanisms will allow us to tackle this problem and to provide the next step towards a real-world affective computing system. The goal of this workshop is to present and discuss new findings, theories, systems, and trends in computational models of affective shared perception. The workshop will feature a multidisciplinary list of invited speakers with experience in different aspects of social interaction, which will allow a rich and diverse debate about our overarching theme of affective shared perception. The workshop is scheduled to happen on the 30th of October of 2020 virtually. It will start at 15h00 CET and it will have a total duration of 3h30min. The participation is free, and a Zoom room will be available shortly before the workshop starts. II. Registration The registration to the workshop is free, but to guarantee a place to attend the workshop, please register here: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=XkYvv3Ufb0u-Kb9TJzvB2u5… III. Potential Topics Topics include, but are not limited to: - Affective perception and learning - Affective modulation and decision making - Developmental perspectives of shared perception - Machine learning for shared perception - Bio-inspired approaches for affective shared perception - Affective processing for embodied and cognitive robots - Multisensory modeling for conflict resolution in shared perception - New psychological findings on shared perception - Assistive aspects and applications of shared affective perception IV. Invited Speakers Prof. Dr. Ginevra Castellano - Uppsala University, Sweeden Prof. Dr. Ellen Souza - Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Brazil Prof. Dr. Yukie Nagai - The University of Tokyo, Japan V. Submission Prospective participants in the workshop are invited to submit a contribution as an abstract with a maximum of 350 words. Submission information: https://www.whisperproject.eu/wasp2020 The abstracts will be peer-reviewed by experts from all over the world. To encourage the integration with the local affective computing communities, we will allow student abstracts to be submitted in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Each accepted abstract will be presented as a 5 min video (in English!) that will be shared on the workshop's social media. During the workshop, all the videos will be streamed and the authors will have a joint live Q/A with the audience for 60minutes. Participants can also opt-in for participating in our Frontiers Research Topic on Affective Shared Perception ( https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/16086/affective-shared-percepti…) The same abstract sent to the workshop can be sent as an abstract submission to the research topic. If you want to opt-in for the research topic, only English submissions will be accepted. - Abstract submission deadline: 12th of October - Notification of acceptance: 17th of October - Frontiers Research Topic Abstract Deadline: 24th of October - Video submission: 24th of October VI. Organizers Pablo Vinicius Alves De Barros, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genova, Italy Alessandra Sciutti, Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), Genova, Italy VII. Acknowledgment The workshop is organized in the framework of the Starting Grant wHiSPER (G.A. No 804388) funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. ---------------------------------------- Dr. Pablo Barros Postdoctoral Researcher - CONTACT Unit Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia – Center for Human Technologies Via Enrico Melen 83, Building B 16152 Genova, Italy email: pablo.alvesdebarros(a)iit.it website: https://www.pablobarros.net<http://www.pablobarros.net><https://www.p> twitter: @PBarros_br

Oct. 5, 2020

GEM2021 - Registration open

by Vinita Samarasinghe

Registration has opened! *GEM 2021**- Generative Episodic Memory: Interdisciplinary perspectives from psychology, neuroscience and philosophy* https://for2812.rub.de/gem2021 <https://for2812.rub.de/gem2021> 16-18 February 2021 The workshop will take place in virtual space and is free of charge. The main workshop will be preceded by a PhD symposium, for which submissions are now being accepted via EasyChair https://easychair.org/cfp/gem2021 <https://easychair.org/cfp/gem2021> Keynote Speakers: Karl-Heinz Bäuml - University Regensburg, Germany Dorthe Berntsen - Aarhus University, Denmark Amy Criss - University of Syracuse, USA Dorothea Debus - University of Konstanz, Germany David Huber - University of Massachusetts, USA Sarah Robins - University of Kansas, USA Call for papers The DFG-funded research consortium “FOR 2812 – Constructing scenarios of the past” https://for2812.rub.de <https://for2812.rub.de> is proud to announce a call for papers for its first workshop on generative episodic memory. We invite submissions for talks and posters https://easychair.org/cfp/gem2021 <https://easychair.org/cfp/gem2021>. Episodic memories are widely regarded as memories of personally experienced events. Early concepts about episodic memory were based on the storage model, according to which experiential content is preserved in memory and later retrieved. However, overwhelming empirical evidence suggests that the content of episodic memory is – at least to a certain degree – constructed in the act of remembering. Even though very few contemporary researchers would oppose this view of episodic memory as a generative process, it has not become the standard paradigm of empirical memory research. This is particularly true for studies of the neural correlates of episodic memory. Further hindering progress are large conceptual differences regarding episodic memory across different fields, such as neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology. This interdisciplinary workshop therefore aims to bring together researchers from all relevant fields to advance the state of the art in the research on generative episodic memory. FOR 2812 “Constructing scenarios of the past: A new framework in episodic memory” consists of 9 researchers. Seven from the Ruhr University Bochum and two from the University of Münster. The consortium adopts an interdisciplinary approach and investigates generative episodic memory from a conceptual, modeling, and experimental perspective using a common conceptual framework: scenario construction. Paper submission deadlines [GMT +1 (CET)]: Abstract submission - 15.11.2020 Notification of acceptance - 19.12.2020 Submission guidelines: Abstracts must be submitted in English and be no longer than 1 page. Submitted work must be original and unpublished. Abstracts must be submitted electronically through the GEM 2021 paper submission site on EasyChair https://easychair.org/cfp/gem2021 <https://easychair.org/cfp/gem2021>. Authors will receive confirmation of receipt of their abstracts including an ID number after submission. You can edit your submission at any time before the deadline. We will consider only the final version. Program committee: Nikolai Axmacher - Faculty of Psychology - Ruhr University Bochum Sen Cheng - Institute for Neural Computation - Ruhr University Bochum Gerald Echterhoff - Faculty of Psychology - University of Münster Albert Newen - Faculty of Philosophy - Ruhr University Bochum Ricarda Schubotz - Faculty of Psychology - University of Münster Markus Werning - Faculty of Philosophy - Ruhr University Bochum Laurenz Wiskott - Institute for Neural Computation - Ruhr University Bochum Oliver Wolf - Faculty of Psychology - Ruhr University Bochum All questions regarding the workshop should be emailed to for2812(a)rub.de Coordinator - Vinita Samarasinghe Secretary - Christiane Dahl -- Vinita Samarasinghe M.Sc., M.A. Science Manager Arbeitsgruppe Computational Neuroscience Institut für Neuroinformatik Ruhr-Universität Bochum, NB 3/26 Postfachnummer 110 Universitätstr. 150 44801 Bochum Tel: +49 (0) 234 32 27996 Email: samarasinghe(a)ini.rub.de

Oct. 5, 2020

Postdoc position in learning and decision making in Chicago

by Thorsten Kahnt

A postdoc position is available in the Kahnt Lab at Northwestern University. The work will involve neuroimaging (fMRI), neurostimulation (TMS), and computational modeling to study learning and decision making in humans. Research in the Kahnt Lab (www.Kahntlab.org) focuses on the neural systems supporting learning, decision making, and olfaction in humans. Experimental techniques include behavioral testing, fMRI, diffusion MRI, olfactory psychophysics, and TMS. We utilize advanced data analysis techniques and computational modeling. The ideal candidate will have relevant research experience and will bring a unique perspective and background to the lab. Start date is flexible, but a start in 2020 is preferred. Please send your application package (cover letter, CV, and 1-3 selected publications) as a single PDF to thorsten.kahnt(a)northwestern.edu. Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. For more information see: www.kahntlab.org/s/postdoc_job_posting_2020-5e32.pdf Thorsten Kahnt, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Neurology Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine 320 E Superior St, Searle 11-463 Chicago, IL 60611 thorsten.kahnt(a)northwestern.edu kahntlab.org twitter.com/kahntlab

Oct. 4, 2020