We welcome Professor Aaron Batista, from the Bioengineering Department, University of Pittsburgh, for our August NCAN Virtual Seminar Series.
He will be giving a talk on: Neural Population Principles of Learning
Here is an abstract from Dr. Batista, to get us thinking:
Abstract: When we learn a new motor skill, how does our brain change to support the performance and retention of that motor memory? Does the answer depend on the timescale at which the skill can be attained? And, what if two different skills are learned - how do they coexist without interference? To examine these questions, we record from populations of neurons in the primary motor cortex of monkeys learning new sensory-motor mappings. Because we use a brain-computer interface approach, we can be assured that the learning-related changes we see are causal to the new behavioral capacities. Powerful principles are emerging that indicate the existence of different neural population strategies for short-term learning, long-term learning, and joint consolidation of motor memories.
Date: Tuesday 24th August, 2021
Time: 11:00 am EDT/ 10:00 am CDT/ 8:00 am PDT
Meeting link: Zoom
https://neurotechcenter-org.zoom.us/j/89463050764?pwd=SThlM0hoVndNdk81MW...
Meeting ID: 894 6305 0764 Passcode: NCAN
The talk will be an hour, and we welcome everyone to join us after for an informal discussion with Aaron (up till 12:30 pm EDT).
I will send out a google calendar invite shortly.
Looking forward to seeing you all there!