Neural Circuits for Perception, Memory, Thought and Consciousness

Recent technological advances have ushered in a new era for neurobiological studies of complex cognitive functions. On the human side, advances in fMRI and other neuroimaging techniques, as well as direct neural recordings in patients have opened new directions to study large-scale neural systems. The resulting data is shedding new light on mechanisms of cognition related to memory, spatial perception, social signaling, emotion, and consciousness. Computational models have been developed to capture the organization of functional networks and integrate activity with behavioral measures. In animal studies, improved recording technologies and behavioral paradigms in monkeys and rodents, combined with theoretical and computational approaches, have led to new hypotheses about how the brain supports fundamental aspects of cognition. The blending of molecular and circuit neurobiology with cognitive neurosciences hold great promise of studying the basis of normative cognitive function as well as how disruption of normal circuits can lead to cognitive dysfunction in a range of mental disorders.

This Gordon Conference series, established in 2010, provides a forum for researchers and students to exchange data and discuss ideas on cutting-edge issues in the neurobiology of cognition. Given the broad field, each meeting has a somewhat different focus, to facilitate in-depth discussions and at the same time preserve the breadth. The program and format of the meeting are designed to foster intense interactions among investigators from different fields (e.g., between cognitive neuroscientists using human fMRI, neurophysiologists working with behaving animals, clinicians studying brain damaged patients) or across levels (from cellular and subcellular physiology, microcircuits, to large-scale brain systems), as well as between experimentalists and theorists.