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 lecturerSam 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.