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 Tim Pierce
05-04-2018
Tim Pierce (University of Leicester), discusses with Paul Verschure the topic of animal olfaction and the its neural substrate in order to develop computational approaches able to validate empirical findings and to lead to a tangible technological outcome
Filetype: MP3 - Size: 91.4MB - Duration: 1:39:50 m (128 kbps 44100 Hz)
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Interview with Cyriel Pennartz
05-04-2018
Cyriel Pennartz (University of Amsterdam), interviewed by Paul Verschure, focuses on the role of pre-frontal cortex in associative learning and reward prediction coding and its possible interactions with other brain areas like hippocampus and striatum.
Filetype: MP3 - Size: 82.48MB - Duration: 1:12:04 m (160 kbps 44100 Hz)
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Interview with Paul Verschure
05-04-2018
Paul Verschure (Pompeu Fabra University), interviewed by Tony Prescott and Tim Pierce, presents his theory of consciousness and its evolution, suggesting how it could be computationally explained within a biologically grounded cognitive architecture.
Filetype: MP3 - Size: 72.33MB - Duration: 52:40 m (192 kbps 44100 Hz)
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Interview with Alex Kacelnik
05-04-2018
Alex Kacelnik (Oxford University) together with Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott elaborates on animal cognition addressing tool use habits of birds from an evolutionary perspective and discussing topics like learning and problem solving.
Filetype: MP3 - Size: 90.37MB - Duration: 1:18:58 m (160 kbps 44100 Hz)
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Interview with Marc Toussaint
05-04-2018
Marc Toussaint (University of Stuttgart), interviewed by Paul Verschure, presents his computational approach to planning and optimal control introducing an hypothesis on how neural systems might solve stochastic optimal control and RL problems.
Filetype: MP3 - Size: 71.82MB - Duration: 52:18 m (192 kbps 44100 Hz)
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Interview with Sten Grillner
05-04-2018
Sten Grillner (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm), interviewed by Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott, discusses the adaptable networks that generate different motor patterns in animals, both from a neuro-scientific and a computational point of view.
Filetype: MP3 - Size: 90.77MB - Duration: 1:06:06 m (192 kbps 48000 Hz)
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Interview with Aldo Genovesio
05-04-2018
Aldo Genovesio (Università Sapienza di Roma), discusses with Paul Verschure, the role of primates pre-frontal cortex in decision making and action planning, encoding error, past-action outcome and goal directed behavior.
Filetype: MP3 - Size: 92.75MB - Duration: 1:07:32 m (192 kbps 44100 Hz)
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Interview with Friedemann Pulvermuller
05-04-2018
Friedemann Pulvermuller (Free University of Berlin) is With Paul Verschure he discusses language, semantics and the building of meaning through action, and a grounding of this in the brain science.
Filetype: MP3 - Size: 135.59MB - Duration: 1:38:32 m (192 kbps 44100 Hz)
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Interview with Peter Gärdenfors
05-04-2018
Peter Gärdenfors (Lund University) discusses with Paul Verschure how the mind can represent knowledge. He introduces a cognitive theory of conceptual spaces, built from dimensions derived from perception, action, and social grounding in society.
Filetype: MP3 - Size: 95.79MB - Duration: 1:09:33 m (192 kbps 44100 Hz)
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Interview with Peter Mombaerts
05-04-2018
Peter Mombaerts (Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, Frankfurt) discusses with Paul Verschure the genetics underlying the mammalian olfactory system as a model system for studying the formation of neural circuits during development.
Filetype: MP3 - Size: 80MB - Duration: 58:15 m (192 kbps 44100 Hz)
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