Dynamics of Neural Networks: From Biophysics to Behavior

Coordinators: David Kleinfeld, Sebastian Seung, Misha Tsodyks

The workshop will be organized around three overlapping themes: perception and movement, learning and memory, and development. Roughly speaking, these functional themes correspond to three types of brain dynamics: neural activity, synaptic plasticity, and genetic regulation.

The participants in the workshop will be of three types. The core group will consist of many of the world\'s leading theoretical neuroscientists, who will visit for extended periods ranging from a few weeks to a full semester. Experimental neuroscientists who desire interaction with theorists will attend for shorter periods. Finally, we will also include a number of theorists who are interested in switching from their current field of study to neuroscience.

Most theoretical neuroscientists are one of a kind in their university departments, and see each other only briefly at occasional conferences. At these meetings, they are under pressure to present their work to the general neuroscience audience, rather than address each other directly. The ITP workshop will be different. Theorists will have the opportunity to discourse with each other at a high level, and for long enough to permit collaboration. There will be a critical mass of theorists, and we expect an explosion of research productivity to result.

We will also invite experimental neuroscientists to visit the ITP for shorter periods. Many experimentalists believe that they could benefit from interacting with theorists, but few enjoy this opportunity in their home departments. By coming to the ITP, experimentalists will be able to meet not just one, but many theorists who are working on problems related to their specialty.

The workshop will also enable motivated theorists who are presently not working in neuroscience to enter this area rapidly, through total immersion.

For more details please see the program\'s remote website.