The Brain Conference: Dynamics of the brain – temporal aspects of computation

Rungstedgaard, Denmark

Event Dates: 09—12 Jun 2019

  • 09/06/2019
  • 10/06/2019
  • 11/06/2019
  • 12/06/2019

The brain is an extraordinarily complex dynamical system whose critical operations run over timescales ranging from the sub-millisecond (e.g., auditory perception), to the circadian (e.g., sleep and homeostatic phenomena), to weeks and years (e.g., learning and memory). Brain circuits express collective properties that can be detected macroscopically, such as traveling waves or oscillations, but recent developments also reveal, through large scale recordings of neuron populations, smaller-scale spatiotemporal phenomena such as transient dynamics (spatio-temporal multi-neuronal activation patterns in response to odours, in preparation for action, in “replay” during sleep). Those dynamics suggest strong constraints on the orchestration of activity in brain circuits. This conference will explore experimental and theoretical approaches to understand the underpinnings of such dynamics and their relevance for computation in the brain.

Left and Right panels: Depictions of dynamics of neural populations. Left: in the insect early olfactory system (adapted from Mazor and Laurent, 2005). Right: in the mammalian hippocampus. Central panel: two-photonmicrosope image of hippocampal dentate and CA1 regions of thy1-GFP mice (images by Stephan Junek and Laurent Moreaux, MPI Brain Research).

Organised by FENS in collaboration with Lundbeck Foundation, awarder of The Brain Prize, these bi-annual conferences bring together outstanding researchers in key areas of contemporary neuroscience to discuss current concepts and define challenges for future research.

Co-Chairs

Gilles Laurent
MPI Brain  Research, Frankfurt, Germany

Ila Fiete
MIT, USA

For enquiries and press registration, please contact: brain@fens.org

The Brain Conferences Committee

Location

Rungstedgaard, Hovedgaden, Hørsholm, Denmark