Cognition Across Scales and Species, Including Artificial Intelligence and Neuromodulation

No known object is as complex as the human brain. As scientists seek to comprehend its operational principles, we must apply a multidisciplinary approach. The 2026 Gordon Conference for the Neurobiology of Cognition spans inter-related areas of cognitive, systems, and computational neuroscience most relevant for understanding how brain circuits give rise to our abilities to think, feel, act, decide, plan, and learn. The conference is designed to spark new avenues for discussion among participants with a broad range of scientific backgrounds whose paths might not normally cross. Individual sessions draw upon a mix of approaches for studying neural circuits at multiple spatial and temporal scales, in both humans and animal models, and the mechanisms by which such circuits give rise to cognition and behavior.

The conference program will bring together the latest techniques and approaches including electrophysiology of neural populations, imaging of neural circuits at multiple spatial scales and in concert with novel molecular tools, interrogation of the human brain via neuroimaging and electrophysiology, and computational approaches inspired by rapid advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning. This year, special attention is given to discussing the interface of cognitive neuroscience and artificial intelligence, and advances in transcranial and intracranial neuromodulation in the context of basic research and clinical treatment . A consistent theme throughout the conference is understanding how the elaborate architecture of the brain, governed by fundamental electrical, molecular, and mathematical principles, supports subjective experience and directs external behavior. The confluence of perspectives at this meeting promises to cast new light on some of the most challenging and fascinating questions about how the brain works.