Welcome to the Convergent Science Network Podcast!
During the BCBT Summerschools (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014) hosting professors Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott interviewed several speakers after their lectures. Interviews are also conducted on other occasions with various scientist in converging fields.
About the hosts: Paul Verschure is ICREA Professor at SPECS, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona; Tony Prescott is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Sheffield.
The Convergent Science Network of biomimetic and biohybrid systems (CSN, www.csnetwork.eu) is a coordination action for the development of future real-world technologies. CSN is supported through the Future and Emerging Technology programs (FET) of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) work programme of Framework Programme 7 of the European Commission.
Audio (post-)production: Sytse Wierenga. Podcast site: Alberto Betella.
Thoughts, discussions, and achievements in neurobiology, biomimetic and biohybrid systems
We can learn a lot from brains and bodies when making machines and robots. But reversely, building complex machine systems can also give ideas about how brains and bodies have implemented their functioning over the evolution of ages. This podcast discusses various themes and aspects in-between robotics, neuroscience, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, biology, and technology.
Interview with Sam Wang
03-04-2018
This post-lecture interview was conducted during the BCBT Summerschool held at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, september 2010.
The architecture of the cerebellum has attracted several scientists due to its apparent simplicity. Nonetheless, what function the cerebellum performs, and how is still a subject of discussion. Sam Wang (Princeton University, USA) proposes two effects that result from simple and complex spike firing by the cerebellar neurons: an overall reset with respect to an event in realtime, and a long term plasticity learning signal. With Paul Verschure he discusses these functions, their neural architecture, and the difficulty to experimentally separate the two according to their spiking behavior. Originally a physicist, Wang finds himself much more interested in neuroanatomy than he ever thought, and sees for the future a convergence of neuro-imaging techniques together with anatomical approaches to describe and image the whole neural circuits.
About the lecturer
Sam Wang is professor at Princeton University, USA. HIs research work focuses on three areas: dendritic integration in neural circuits, brain architecture and evolution, and the cerebellum, with an emphasis on multi-photon optical methods.
Categories | Cerebellum studies | | Neuroscience
Filetype: MP3 - Size: 37.53MB - Duration: 32:40 m (160 kbps 44100 Hz)
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