Specificity Versus Generality of (Visual) Cortex
June 16 - 19, 2017
Venue:
Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg
Lehmkuhlenbusch 4
27753 Delmenhorst
Organizer:
Prof. Dr. Manfred Fahle
Universität Bremen
Specificity Versus Generality of (Visual) Cortex
June 16 - 19, 2017
Venue:
Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg
Lehmkuhlenbusch 4
27753 Delmenhorst
Organizer:
Prof. Dr. Manfred Fahle
Universität Bremen
Today, we think of the brain as a neural network. But is this a rather general purpose network where more or less every part can provide the same capabilities, or is it made up from highly specialized subsets that all contribute a specific function? Patient studies show rather specific disorders (for example for reading), but on the other hand sometimes large structural defects without any obvious symptoms. In fMRI we define regions of interest but are aware that quite a number of areas increase their blood flow outside these ROIs. Histology of cortex differs clearly between areas, but there are people who pretend analyzing in detail a small part of cortex will reveal the function of cortex as such.
The aim of the conference is to better clarify the amount of specificity that should be expected and to ask what may be the exact contributions of individual subareas - maybe we are just asking the wrong questions when we expect areas to be specific for "colour" or "motion".
Today, we think of the brain as a neural network. But is this a rather general purpose network where more or less every part can provide the same capabilities, or is it made up from highly specialized subsets that all contribute a specific function? Patient studies show rather specific disorders (for example for reading), but on the other hand sometimes large structural defects without any obvious symptoms. In fMRI we define regions of interest but are aware that quite a number of areas increase their blood flow outside these ROIs. Histology of cortex differs clearly between areas, but there are people who pretend analyzing in detail a small part of cortex will reveal the function of cortex as such.
The aim of the conference is to better clarify the amount of specificity that should be expected and to ask what may be the exact contributions of individual subareas - maybe we are just asking the wrong questions when we expect areas to be specific for "colour" or "motion".
Program
Friday, June 16, 2017
16:15 – 16:30 Prof. Dr. Manfred Fahle, Universität Bremen
Welcome
NEURONAL NETWORKS: A COMPUTATIONAL APPROACH
Chair: K. Pawelzik
16:30 – 17:30 Prof. Dr. Günther Palm, Universität Ulm
Information processing in a network of cortical areas
17:30 – 18:30 Nikolaus Kriegeskorte, Ph.D., MRC, Cambridge, UK
Deep neural networks: A new framework for understanding
biological vision and brain information processing
18:30 – 19:00 Break
19:00 – 20:00 Tomaso Poggio, Ph.D., MIT, Cambridge, USA
Is the cortex architecture optimal for computing compositional
functions? Does it determine compositionality of our mind?
20:00 Dinner at the HWK
Saturday, June 17, 2017
FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICITY: fMRI AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
Chairs: S. Brandt, M. Herrmann
09:00 – 10:00 Prof. Dr. Manfred Fahle, Universität Bremen
Specificity vs. generality of visual deficits after occipital stroke
10:00 – 11:00 Prof. Dr. Claus C. Hilgetag, UKE, Hamburg
Deriving functional contributions and interactions
from the game-theoretical analysis of brain lesions
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 12:30 Prof. Dr. Johan Wagemans, University of Leuven, Belgium
Specificity versus generality of neural mechanisms of
perceptual organization
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 14:30 Prof. Dr. Johannes Zanker, Royal Holloway University, UK
Outside and inside perspective of the Visual Word
Form Area (VWFA) - with reflections
14:30 – 15:30 Prof. Dr. John Dylan Haynes, Charité Berlin
The Distributed Nature of Working Memory
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee break
FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICITY: WITHIN THE BLACK BOX
Chairs: D. Wegener, H. Hildebrandt
16:00 – 17:00 Nancy Kanwisher, Ph.D., MIT, Cambridge, USA
(by video conference)
Functional specificity in the cortex in humans:
What it means, what it does not mean, and what the evidence shows
17:00 – 18:00 Prof. Dr. Jochem Rieger, Universität Oldenburg
Constructing models of perception and cognition
using encoding and decoding approaches
18:00 – 18:30 Break
18:30 – 19:30 Prof. Dr. Christian Büchel, UKE, Hamburg
The neural basis of fear generalization
19:30 Dinner at the restaurant "Klosterschänke Hude"
Sunday, June 18, 2017
PLASTICITY VERSUS HARD-WIRED CIRCUITS
Chairs: U. Ernst, A. Kreiter
09:00 – 10:00 Prof. Dr. Maria Concetta Morrone, University of Pisa, Italy
The plasticity of the visual brain in human: homeostatic
esponse and intra-cortical inhibition
10:00 – 11:00 Prof. Dr. David Burr, University of Florence, Italy
Cross-sensory integration and calibration during development
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 12:30 Prof. Dr. Michael Morgan, City University, London, UK
Hard-wired 'labelled lines' for sub-modalities in Vision:
History and new experiments
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch
PECIFICITY OF CORTICAL FUNCTIONS: FACES AND CONNECTIONS
Chair: T. Fehr, C. Grimsen
13:30 – 14:30 Prof. Dr. Nikos K. Logothetis, Max Planck Institute for
Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen
Electrical microstimulation: Mapping monosynaptic
connectivity & cortico-thalamo-cortical loops
14:30 – 15:30 Leslie G. Ungerleider, Ph.D., NIMH, Bethesda, USA
(by video conference)
Functional architecture of face processing in the primate brain
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee break
16:00 – 17:00 Winrich Freiwald, Ph.D., Rockefeller University, NY, USA
On the neural machinery of face recognition
17:00 – 18:00 Prof. Dr. Li Zhapoping, University College, London, UK
The contribution of V1's saliency map to analysis
of complex objects
18:00 – 20:00 Guided Tour of Bremen
20:00 Dinner at the restaurant "Kaffeemühle" Bremen
Monday, June 19, 2017
09:00 Farewell
Program
Friday, June 16, 2017
16:15 – 16:30 Prof. Dr. Manfred Fahle, Universität Bremen
Welcome
NEURONAL NETWORKS: A COMPUTATIONAL APPROACH
Chair: K. Pawelzik
16:30 – 17:30 Prof. Dr. Günther Palm, Universität Ulm
Information processing in a network of cortical areas
17:30 – 18:30 Nikolaus Kriegeskorte, Ph.D., MRC, Cambridge, UK
Deep neural networks: A new framework for understanding
biological vision and brain information processing
18:30 – 19:00 Break
19:00 – 20:00 Tomaso Poggio, Ph.D., MIT, Cambridge, USA
Is the cortex architecture optimal for computing compositional
functions? Does it determine compositionality of our mind?
20:00 Dinner the HWK
Saturday, June 17, 2017
FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICITY: fMRI AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
Chairs: S. Brandt, M. Herrmann
09:00 – 10:00 Prof. Dr. Manfred Fahle, Universität Bremen
Specificity vs. generality of visual deficits after occipital stroke
10:00 – 11:00 Prof. Dr. Claus C. Hilgetag, UKE, Hamburg
Deriving functional contributions and interactions
from the game-theoretical analysis of brain lesions
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 12:30 Prof. Dr. Johan Wagemans, University of Leuven, Belgium
Specificity versus generality of neural mechanisms of
perceptual organization
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 14:30 Prof. Dr. Johannes Zanker, Royal Holloway University, UK
Outside and inside perspective of the Visual Word
Form Area (VWFA) - with reflections
14:30 – 15:30 Prof. Dr. John Dylan Haynes, Charité Berlin
The Distributed Nature of Working Memory
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee break
FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICITY: WITHIN THE BLACK BOX
Chairs: D. Wegener, H. Hildebrandt
16:00 – 17:00 Nancy Kanwisher, Ph.D., MIT, Cambridge, USA
(by video conference)
Functional specificity in the cortex in humans:
What it means, what it does not mean, and what the evidence shows
17:00 – 18:00 Prof. Dr. Jochem Rieger, Universität Oldenburg
Constructing models of perception and cognition
using encoding and decoding approaches
18:00 – 18:30 Break
18:30 – 19:30 Prof. Dr. Christian Büchel, UKE, Hamburg
The neural basis of fear generalization
19:30 Dinner at the restaurant "Kosterschänke Hude"
Sunday, June 18, 2017
PLASTICITY VERSUS HARD-WIRED CIRCUITS
Chairs: U. Ernst, A. Kreiter
09:00 – 10:00 Prof. Dr. Maria Concetta Morrone, University of Pisa, Italy
The plasticity of the visual brain in human: homeostatic
esponse and intra-cortical inhibition
10:00 – 11:00 Prof. Dr. David Burr, University of Florence, Italy
Cross-sensory integration and calibration during development
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 12:30 Prof. Dr. Michael Morgan, City University, London, UK
Hard-wired 'labelled lines' for sub-modalities in Vision:
History and new experiments
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch
SPECIFICITY OF CORTICAL FUNCTIONS: FACES AND CONNECTIONS
Chair: T. Fehr, C. Grimsen
13:30 – 14:30 Prof. Dr. Nikos K. Logothetis, Max Planck Institute for
Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen
Electrical microstimulation: Mapping monosynaptic
connectivity & cortico-thalamo-cortical loops
14:30 – 15:30 Leslie G. Ungerleider, Ph.D., NIMH, Bethesda, USA
(by video conference)
Functional architecture of face processing in the primate brain
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee break
16:00 – 17:00 Winrich Freiwald, Ph.D., Rockefeller University, NY, USA
On the neural machinery of face recognition
17:00 – 18:00 Prof. Dr. Li Zhapoping, University College, London, UK
The contribution of V1's saliency map to analysis
of complex objects
18:00 – 20:00 Guided tour of Bremen
20:00 Dinner at the restaurant "Kaffeemühle" Bremen
Monday, June 19, 2017
09:00 Farewell
The workshop is fully booked.
Registration is no longer possible.
The workshop is fully booked.
Registration is no longer possible.