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Importance of Lateral Connections in the Parietal Cortex for Generating Motor Plans

by Jeff Krichmar

Dear Colleagues, I would like to draw your attention to our recent publication on a model of Parietal Cortex and a methodology to construct neurobiologically plausible architectures. I think it might be of interest to many of you. Asher, D.E., Oros, N., and Krichmar, J.L. (2015). The Importance of Lateral Connections in the Parietal Cortex for Generating Motor Plans. PLoS ONE 10, e0134669. http://www.plosone.org/article/citationList.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F… Substantial evidence has highlighted the significant role of associative brain areas, such as the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) in transforming multimodal sensory information into motor plans. However, little is known about how different sensory information, which can have different delays or be absent, combines to produce a motor plan, such as executing a reaching movement. To address these issues, we constructed four biologically plausible network architectures to simulate PPC: 1) feedforward from sensory input to the PPC to a motor output area, 2) feedforward with the addition of an efference copy from the motor area, 3) feedforward with the addition of lateral or recurrent connectivity across PPC neurons, and 4) feedforward plus efference copy, and lateral connections. Using an evolutionary strategy, the connectivity of these network architectures was evolved to execute visually guided movements, where the target stimulus provided visual input for the entirety of each trial. The models were then tested on a memory guided motor task, where the visual target disappeared after a short duration. Sensory input to the neural networks had sensory delays consistent with results from monkey studies. We found that lateral connections within the PPC resulted in smoother movements and were necessary for accurate movements in the absence of visual input. The addition of lateral connections resulted in velocity profiles consistent with those observed in human and non-human primate visually guided studies of reaching, and allowed for smooth, rapid, and accurate movements under all conditions. In contrast, Feedforward or Feedback architectures were insufficient to overcome these challenges. Our results suggest that intrinsic lateral connections are critical for executing accurate, smooth motor plans. Best regards, Jeff Krichmar Department of Cognitive Sciences 2328 Social & Behavioral Sciences Gateway University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-5100 jkrichma(a)uci.edu http://www.socsci.uci.edu/~jkrichma

Aug. 10, 2015

Postdoc position in machine vision – Serre lab, Brown University (Providence, RI)

by Thomas Serre

The computational vision research group, headed by Dr. Thomas Serre at Brown University, has an opening for a postdoctoral fellow to work on the automated analysis of behavior. In particular, we are looking for a computer scientist interested in the development of computer vision algorithms to automate the video analysis of behavioral data with a range of applications from the study of bird cognition in the wild to rodents in their home cage to people in their homes. Candidates are expected to have a solid background in modern computer vision and machine learning methods. An interest in biology and applications of computer vision to the biological sciences would also be a strong plus but this is not a requirement for the position. The initial appointment is for 12 months, renewable for another year, and potentially longer depending on funding. The start date is negotiable though an early start is strongly preferred. Salary is commensurate with experience and is competitive. Representative recent work related to the project: H. Jhuang, E. Garrote, X. Yu, V. Khilnani, T. Poggio and A. Steele and T. Serre. Automated home-cage behavioral phenotyping of mice. In: Nature Communications 1(1), doi:10.1038/ncomms1064, 2010 H. Kuehne, A. Arlsan & T. Serre. The language of actions: Recovering the syntax and semantics of goal-directed human activities. In: Proceedings of 2014 IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR 2014), IEEE Computer Society Press, Columbus, Ohio, 2014 Research group: Our research group is located within the Department of Cognitive Linguistic & Psychological sciences at Brown University. We maintain strong ties with the computer science, engineering and applied math departments as part of the Brain Institute. Through Brown’s Center for Computation and Visualization (https://www.ccv.brown.edu) our group has access to a state-of-the-art computing facility with includes over 300K GPU cores and over 500 Teraflops of GPU computing power. Information about Dr. Serre and his research group can be found at http://serre-lab.clps.brown.edu. Requirements: Applicants are expected to have finished, or be about to finish their Ph.D. degrees. They must have a strong background in computer vision and/or machine learning, with a track record of relevant publications at top venues (such as NIPS, CVPR, ICCV, ICML or ECCV). Excellent programming skills are required (C/C++/Matlab/Python). Programming experience in CUDA and/or parallel computing would be a strong plus. Application: Please send your applications by email to thomas_serre(a)correct_university_name.edu where correct_university_name should be replaced by ‘brown'. Please include a brief statement of interests, a curriculum vita, a list of publications and contact details for 2-3 letters of reference (no letters required at this stage). There is no deadline for the application but applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible as the position will be filled as soon as a suitable applicant is found.

Aug. 10, 2015

2nd announcement: Summerschool "Neurocomputational Models of Speech Processing", 14th to 18th of Sept. 2015, Aachen Germany

by Kröger, Bernd Joachim

Summerschool: Neurocomputational Models of Speech Processing 14th to 18th September 2015 Topic: Constructing a Neurocomputational Model of Speech Processing Date: 14th to 18th of September 2015 Location: RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany Costs: Accommodation at RWTH Aachen University Guest House or A&O-Hostel or other hotel in Aachen city: round about 80€ (Single or Double) per day; Food round about 30€ per day. Workshop is free. Accommodation and food will be arranged by Bernd J. Kröger www.SpeechTrainer.eu. Please contact bkroeger(a)ukaachen.de Next airport to Aachen, Germany: Duesseldorf International Airport, Germany Planned schedule: 1st day: 9-12am: Lecture (Bernd J. Kröger www.SpeechTrainer.eu<http://www.SpeechTrainer.eu>): Introduction to Neurocomputational Models of Speech Production including learning szenarios occurring in speech acquisition. Afternoon 2-5pm: Discussion and computer exercises in NENGO www.nengo.ca<http://www.nengo.ca> or Neural Processing Toolboxes of your choice 2nd day: 9-12am: Lecture (Bernd J. Kröger www.SpeechTrainer.eu<http://www.SpeechTrainer.eu>: Introduction to Neurocomputational Models of Speech Perception and Comprehension Afternoon 2-5pm: Discussion and Computer exercises in NENGO www.nengo.ca<http://www.nengo.ca> or Neural Processing Toolboxes of your choice 3rd day: 9-12am: Lecture (Bernd J. Kröger www.SpeechTrainer.eu<http://www.SpeechTrainer.eu>): Introduction to a physiological and acoustic model of speech production ( www.VocalTractLab.de<http://www.VocalTractLab.de> ) Afternoon 2-5pm: How to integrate VocalTractLab into an Neurocomputational Model of Speech Processing 4th and 5th day: 9am-5pm: Programming exercises and introduction to available speech data bases Please contact: Prof. Dr. Bernd J. Kröger Department of Phoniatrics, Pedaudiology, and Communication Disorders Medical School, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 30, D-52074 Aachen, Germany Email: bernd.kroeger(a)rwth-aachen.de Homepage: www.speechtrainer.eu<http://www.speechtrainer.eu>

Aug. 10, 2015

2nd call for posters/registration: Orbitofrontal Cortex and Cognition in the City of Lights, Sept 30 – Oct 2, 2015 @ Paris, France

by Mehdi Khamassi

[Please accept our apologies if you get multiple copies of this message] Dear colleagues, The "Orbitofrontal Cortex and Cognition in the City of Lights" meeting will take place in Paris, France, on Sept 30th - Oct 2nd 2015. Confirmed speakers are: Tim Behrens, Yogita Chudasama, Howard Eichenbaum, Lesley Fellows, Jay Gottfried, Shannon Gourley, Christina Gremel, Ben Hayden, Patricia Janak, Thorsten Kahnt, Daeyeol Lee, Elisabeth Murray, Yael Niv, John O'Doherty, Camillo Padoa-Schioppa, Mathias Pessiglione, Angela Roberts, Peter Rudebeck, Matthew Rushworth, Geoffrey Schoenbaum, Wolfram Schultz, Matthew Shapiro, Philippe Tobler, Jonathan Wallis, Catharine Winstanley. The deadlines for poster submission and registration (via the website: http://ofc2015.isir.upmc.fr) have both been extended to September 6^th . Please circulate widely and encourage your colleagues and team members to attend. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ORBITOFRONTAL CORTEX AND COGNITION IN THE CITY OF LIGHTS (OFC 2015) Sept 30-Oct 2, 2015, Paris, France Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière, Hôpital La Pitié Salpêtrière, Paris, France. & Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France. http://ofc2015.isir.upmc.fr ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PRESENTATION: The Third Quadrennial Meeting on Orbitofrontal Cortex Function which will take place in Paris, France, on Sept 30th – Oct 2nd 2015 at the Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière, Paris, France. The objective of this three day meeting is to bring together researchers with a deep interest in the role of the orbitofrontal cortex in supporting cognition (behavior, learning, decision-making) across species. The meeting is the third, following up on similar meetings in 2007 and 2011. As such, it is intended to focus specifically on new ideas and research that has influenced the field over the past 4 years and that appear likely to lead the way into the next 4 years. The meeting consists of both invited talks and poster sessions. The invited talks are loosely organized into six different sessions that are titled to reflect the various stages of processing underlying cognition. Talks will be relatively short with ample time for questions and discussion after each talk and sub-group of talks. Poster sessions will be interspersed to allow participants to interact and present their own unique findings of relevance to advancing our understanding of this fascinating brain region. CONFIRMED SPEAKERS: Tim Behrens (Oxford University, UK) Yogita Chudasama (McGill University, Canada) Howard Eichenbaum (Boston University, USA) Lesley Fellows (McGill University, Canada) Jay Gottfried (Northwestern University, USA) Shannon Gourley (Emory University, USA) Christina Gremel (UCSD, USA) Ben Hayden (University of Rochester, USA) Patricia Janak (John Hopkins, USA) Thorsten Kahnt (Northwestern University, USA) Daeyeol Lee (Yale University, USA) Elisabeth Murray (NIMH, USA) Yael Niv (Princeton University, USA) John O'Doherty (Caltech, USA) Camillo Padoa-Schioppa (Washington Univ. St Louis, USA) Mathias Pessiglione (INSERM-ICM, France) Angela Roberts (Cambridge University, UK) Peter Rudebeck (Mount Sinai School, USA) Matthew Rushworth (Oxford University, UK) Geoffrey Schoenbaum (NIDA-NIH, USA) Wolfram Schultz (Cambridge University, UK) Matthew Shapiro (Mount Sinai School, USA) Philippe Tobler (University of Zurich, Switzerland) Jonathan Wallis (University of California at Berkeley, USA) Catharine Winstanley (University of British Columbia, Canada) IMPORTANT DATES: September 6, 2015 Deadline for Poster Submission September 6, 2015 Deadline for Registration Sept 30-Oct 2, 2015 Symposium Venue ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: Jay Gottfried (Northwestern University, USA) Mehdi Khamassi (CNRS / UPMC, Paris, France) Elisabeth Murray (NIMH, USA) Mathias Pessiglione (INSERM / ICM, France) Geoffrey Schoenbaum (NIDA-NIH, USA) CONTACT INFORMATION : Website, registration, poster submission and detailed program: http://ofc2015.isir.upmc.fr Contact: ofc2015 [ at ] isir.upmc.fr / ofc2015-registration(a)isir.upmc.fr <mailto:ofc2015-registration@isir.upmc.fr> -- Mehdi Khamassi, PhD Researcher (CNRS) Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique (UMR7222) CNRS - Université Pierre et Marie Curie Pyramide, Tour 55 - Boîte courrier 173 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France tel: + 33 1 44 27 28 85 fax: +33 1 44 27 51 45 cell: +33 6 50 76 44 92 http://people.isir.upmc.fr/khamassi

Aug. 7, 2015

Starlab is looking for a Neuroscience Data Scientist

by Aureli Soria-Frisch

Starlab Barcelona is hiring! We are looking for a Data Scientist to help us achieve novel and challenging milestones. Starlab, a private R&D company based in Barcelona (Spain) and Oxford (UK), is looking for an exceptional data scientist with a very hands-on attitude to join our neuroscience team. The successful candidate will work at the forefront of neuroscience research with a focus on real-world applications in close contact with our sister company Neuroelectrics, a world leader in wireless neuromonitoring and neuromodulation technologies. See more at: http://www.starlab.es/js-2015-07-neuroscience-data-scientist/ ________________________________________ Aureli Soria-Frisch (Dr.-Ing.) R&D Manager Neuroscience Research - Starlab Consulting Division Barcelona Offices: Av. Tibidabo, 47 bis - 08035 Barcelona - Spain tel. +34 93 254 03 70, +34 93 254 03 66, Ext -39 United Kingdom Offices: Building R103 - Room 1-11 - Harwell Oxford - Didcot OX11 0QX - UK tel. +44 1865589777 skype aureli.soria-frisch e-mail aureli.soria-frisch(a)starlab.es linkedin es.linkedin.com/pub/aureli-soria-frisch/6/b93/294/ ________________________________________ Starlab, Living Science http://starlab.es Click here to read our e-mail confidentiality and data protection policy

Aug. 7, 2015

Workshop on parallel computing resource for modeling and brain image analysis

by Ted Carnevale

What: Using the Neuroscience Gateway Portal for Parallel Simulations A Satellite Symposium at the 2015 Society for Neuroscience Meeting Where: Lodation to be announced in downtown Chicago, IL When: 9 AM - Noon on Saturday, October 17, 2014 Speakers to include: Amit Majumdar, Subha Sivagnanam, and Padraig Gleeson Registration deadline: Friday, October 2, 2015 This workshop is for neuroscientists who need to use parallel supercomputers for large modeling projects, or analysis and visualization of brain imaging data. With support from NSF, we have been developing the Neuroscience Gateway Portal (NSG) http://www.nsgportal.org/, which * provides free CPU time on NSF-supported high performance computing resources * has a browser-based interface that simplifies the tasks of uploading models, specifying job parameters, monitoring job status, and storing and retrieving output data * already has many widely-used simulatiors optimally installed and configured, including NEST, Pynn, Brian, GENESIS3, NEURON and MOOSE. Also available is the FreeSurfer suite of tools for analyzing and visualizing structural and functional brain imaging data. The workshop will combine didactic presentations by NSG's developers, discussions with experienced users, and hands on instruction in how to use the portal. Come find out how the NSG can be useful in your own research! For more information and the online registration form see http://www.neuron.yale.edu/neuron/static/courses/nsg2014/nsg2014.html --Ted

Aug. 4, 2015

Book: Bayes' Rule With MatLab

by James Stone

I'd like to announce the publication of this book: Bayes' Rule With MatLab A Tutorial Introduction to Bayesian Analysis by JV Stone Reviews, synopsis, and table of contents can be found here: http://jim-stone.staff.shef.ac.uk/BookBayes2012/BayesRuleBookMain.html regards, Dr Jim Stone University of Sheffield, UK. http://jim-stone.staff.shef.ac.uk/BookBayes2012/books_by_jv_stone/index.html

Aug. 4, 2015

Job Posting: Research Engineer or Scientist in Machine Learning

by Behnood Gholami

*Research Engineer/Scientist, Machine Learning* *AreteX Engineering – New York, NY* AreteX Engineering, a medical technology startup company accelerating the use of information technology in healthcare, has an immediate opening for a Research Engineer/Scientist in its office located in New York City, SoHo district. AreteX is a former resident of the Harvard Innovation Lab (ilab) and a current resident of the NYU Incubator. The company has received grants from the Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation. The position involves developing machine learning algorithms for innovative biomedical technologies involving physiological signal processing and big data. We are looking for a self-motivated, highly talented individual with an excellent background in machine learning (statistical learning theory). The successful candidate will work closely with a team of physicians, nurses, engineers, and scientists in designing new clinical decision support systems. Candidates with experience in the analysis of experimental data derived from---but not limited to---auditory/visual/cross-sensory psychophysical, EEG, ECG, and galvanic-skin conductance, data would be given a higher priority. *Minimum Requirements:* - MS or PhD in computer science, electrical engineering, biomedical engineering, applied mathematics, or a similar discipline. - Expertise and innovation in methods, theory, and application of machine learning and data mining with a broad understanding of methodological approaches and proficiency in practice. - Expert abilities to work with new data sets regardless of prior exposure to current topic. - Strong interest in research and learning new technologies. - Proficient at writing technical papers/reports/presentations. - Experience with Python. - Familiarity with large data sets, cloud-based development and deployment, open source practices and frameworks is a plus. - Applicants must be U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals or U.S. permanent residents. *Responsibilities* - Collaborate with a team of machine learning, control engineering, and signal processing researchers. - Provide technical expertise to address supervised and unsupervised learning problems in an applied research environment. - Develop and deploy modern machine learning and statistical methods (CART and Random Forests, deep learning, clustering and classification algorithms, Bayesian models, neural networks, support vector machines, and probabilistic graphical models) for finding patterns and models from physiological data. *Preferred Qualifications:* - Prior expertise and exposure using non-invasive human physiological measures such as EEG, ECG, galvanic-skin conductance, or other categorically similar methodologies. - Prior experience in feature extraction from physiological signals. - Experience working with quantitative methods of neural data analysis. - Experience with speech, audio, or video technologies. Send your cover letter and CV to info(a)aretexeng.com. -- -- Behnood Gholami, Ph.D. Chief Executive Officer AreteX Engineering 137 Varick St., 2nd Floor New York, NY 10013 Phone: (347) 774-1617

Aug. 4, 2015

The KARA ONE Database: Phonological Categories in imagined and articulated speech

by frank

We are making 24 GB of a new dataset, called Kara One, freely available. This database combines 3 modalities (EEG, face tracking, and audio) during imagined and articulated speech using phonologically-relevant phonemic and single-word prompts. It is the result of a collaboration between the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute (in the University Health Network) and the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto. In the associated paper (abstract below), we show how to accurately classify imagined phonological categories solely from EEG data. Specifically, we obtain up to 90% accuracy in classifying imagined consonants from imagined vowels and up to 95% accuracy in classifying stimulus from active imagination states using advanced deep-belief networks. Data from 14 participants are available here: http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~complingweb/data/karaOne/karaOne.html [1]. If you have any questions, please contact Frank Rudzicz at frank(a)cs.toronto.edu. Best regards, Frank PAPER Shunan Zhao and Frank Rudzicz (2015) Classifying phonological categories in imagined and articulated speech. _In Proceedings of ICASSP 2015_, Brisbane Australia ABSTRACT This paper presents a new dataset combining 3 modalities (EEG, facial, and audio) during imagined and vocalized phonemic and single-word prompts. We pre-process the EEG data, compute features for all 3 modalities, and perform binary classiﬁcation of phonological categories using a combination of these modalities. For example, a deep-belief network obtains accuracies over 90% on identifying consonants, which is signiﬁcantly more accurate than two baseline support vector machines. We also classify between the different states (resting, stimuli, active thinking) of the recording, achieving accuracies of 95%. These data may be used to learn multimodal relationships, and to develop silent-speech and brain-computer interfaces. Links: ------ [1] http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~complingweb/data/karaOne/karaOne.html

Aug. 3, 2015

PhD Studentships – Centre for Robotics and Neural Systems (CRNS), Plymouth University, UK

by Roman Borisyuk

PhD Studentships – Centre for Robotics and Neural Systems (CRNS), Plymouth University, UK Following on the exceptional performance of Plymouth University in the UK Research Excellence Framework 2014, the university is now advertising the availability of 50 PhD studentships for study commencing in 2015/16. Of these studentships, at least two will be allocated to research projects and supervisors of the Centre for Robotics and Neural Systems (CRNS), within the Faculty of Science and Engineering. The first studentship can cover any topic within the CRNS research areas: * Cognitive and Humanoid Robotics * Computational Neuroscience * Artificial Intelligence The second studentship will focus on Autonomous Systems, possibly with relevance to unmanned marine systems, and will be in collaboration with the School of Marine Science and Engineering: For more details on the CRNS research projects, interests and supervisors, see: https://www1.plymouth.ac.uk/research/crns/Pages/default.aspx For general information on the studentships and application procedure, see: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/student-life/your-studies/the-graduate-school/fu… We recommend that in the application form and cover letter you specify a research topic and preferred supervisor. You are also encouraged to contact the individual supervisors before applying, for informal discussion. The application deadline is 15 September 2015 Roman Borisyuk, DSc, PhD Professor of Computational Neuroscience School of Computing and Mathematics University of Plymouth A224, Portland Sq Plymouth, PL4 8AA UK Phone: +44 (0) 1752 584949 E-mail: RBorisyuk(a)plymouth.ac.uk<mailto:RBorisyuk@plymouth.ac.uk> ________________________________ [http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/images/email_footer.gif]<http://www.plymouth.ac.uk/worldclass> This email and any files with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the recipient to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient then copying, distribution or other use of the information contained is strictly prohibited and you should not rely on it. If you have received this email in error please let the sender know immediately and delete it from your system(s). Internet emails are not necessarily secure. While we take every care, Plymouth University accepts no responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan emails and their attachments. Plymouth University does not accept responsibility for any changes made after it was sent. Nothing in this email or its attachments constitutes an order for goods or services unless accompanied by an official order form.

Aug. 3, 2015