SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES

December 25, 2024

Hebb Symposium on Neurons and Biological Dynamics

May 14 - 21, 1994

 

Coordinators:

David Brillinger (University of California, Berkeley)
André Longtin (University of Ottawa)

This workshop may go from cellular level to systems level, with an eye towards interesting dynmaics and connections between dynamics and functions. D.O. Hebb's masterpiece, "The Organization of Behavior" published in 1949, sketched out how behavior might emerge from the properties of nerve cells and assemblies of nerve cells. Theis book was a landmark achievement in neurophysiological psychology. The modifiable synapse, discussed at length by Hebb and now known as the "Hebb synapse", was a lasting contribution. Since Hebb was from Nova Scotia and spent most of his professional life at McGill in the together physiological and mathematical researchers with some didactic and research talks oriented towards graduate studens and postdoctoral fellows.

In the preliminary stages of organization, some topics that may be included:

  • cellular properties with emphasis on modifiable synapes
  • network connectivity
  • spike train analyses of single nerve cells
  • system properties
  • computational schemes for perception and memory
  • the role of steady states, oscillations, coupled oscillations and chaos in information processing and rhythm generation
  • the evolving debate on what information is contained in the precise time of the spike trains, synchrony, etc.

In addition to the workshop lectures scheduled Mini-courses will be offered by D. Brillinger (University of California, Berkeley) and L. Glass (McGill University) during this period.