One of the fundamental problems in neuroscience today is to understand how the activation of large populations of neurons give rise to higher order functions of the brain including learning, memory, cognition, perception, action and ultimately conscious awareness.  Electrophysiological recordings in behaving animals over the past forty years have revealed considerable information about what the firing patterns of single neurons encode in isolation, but it remains largely a mystery how collections of neurons interact to perform these functions.

Recent technological advances have provided a glimpse into the global functioning of the brain. These technologies include functional magnetic resonance imaging, optical imaging methods including intrinsic, voltage-sensitive dye, and two-photon imaging, high-density electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography, and multi-microelectrode array electrophysiology.

At the same time, our understanding of how neuronal ensembles carry information has allowed the development of brain-machine interfaces (BMI) to enhance the capabilities of patients with sensory and motor deficits. Knowledge of how neuronal ensembles encode sensory stimuli has made it possible to develop perceptual BMIs for the hearing and visually impaired. Likewise, research in how neuronal ensembles decode motor intentions has resulted in motor BMIs by which people with severe motor disabilities can
control external devices.

The conference's mission is to bring together leading scientists from around the globe, to present recent findings on the functioning of neural ensembles and to discuss new ideas.

Confirmed Speakers:
Dora Angelaki (Baylor College of Medicine)
Sliman Bensmaia (University of Chicago)
Davi Bock (HHMI Janelia Farm)
Emery Brown (MIT)
EJ Chichilnisky (Salk Institute)
Anne Churchland (Cold Spring Harbor)
Michael Dickinson (University of Washington)
David Dickman (Baylor College of Medicine)
Catherine Dulac (Harvard University)
Suzanne Haber (University of Rochester)
Michael Hasselmo (Boston University)
Peter Latham (UCL)
Jean Livet (INSERM)
Tirin Moore (Stanford)
John O'Keefe (UCL)
Leslie Osborne (University of Chicago)
Panayiota Poirazi (FORTH / IMBB)
Hans Scherberger (German Primate Center, DPZ)
Elad Schneidman (Weizmann Institute)
Idan Segev (Hebrew University)
Peter Strick (University of Pittsburgh)
Tali Tishby (Hebrew University)

Abstracts must be received by (deadline extended!): March 14, 2012 March 28, 2012

Further information on the conference website

Organizers:
Nicho Hatsopoulos (University of Chicago)
John Pezaris (Massachusetts General Hospital)
Catherine Ojakangas (University of Chicago)
Yiota Poirazi (Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology)
Thanos Siapas (MIT)
Andreas Tolias (Bernstein Center Tübingen, Baylor College of Medicine)