Prof. Marcel Just
'The new science of thought imaging: Using machine learning to break the brain’s code for representing concepts'
Date: October 26th, 2021
Abstract: Recent computational techniques, particularly machine learning, are being applied to fMRI brain imaging data, making it possible for the first time to relate patterns of brain activity to specific thoughts. Our early work focused on the identification of the neural signatures of individual concrete concepts, like the thought of an apple or a hammer. It progressed to identifying many other types of concepts, such as emotions, abstract concepts, and sentences.
One application of this approach is to instruction in science courses, and another is to neuropsychiatry, where it has been possible to identify suicidal ideation in terms of alterations of a normative pattern of concept representation.
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Prof. Marcel Just is a D.O. Hebb Professor of Psychology Director of the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging at Carnegie Mellon University. He holds an NIMH Senior Scientist Award. He was the co-editor of the Journal of Memory and Language, and gave the journal its current name. He is interested in understanding the structure of representations and how new concepts are acquired during language comprehension, problem-solving and multi-tasking and using neuroimaging techniques in typical as well as clinical populations. His neurocomputational model of how thinking takes place, 4CAPS Cognitive Neuroarchitecture has been appreciated by a wide range of scholars within the cognitive sciences. He has edited several books such as 'Development and Brain Systems in Autism' with Prof. Kevin A. Pelphrey, 'New Methods in Reading Comprehension Research' (Routledge Revivals) with Prof. David E. Kieras and 'Cognitive Processes in Comprehension' (Carnegie Mellon Symposia on Cognition).
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Prof. Pawan Sinha
Dr. Pawan Sinha
"Butterfly effects" in Perceptual development effects" in Perceptual development
Date: August 5th, 2021
Abstract: How might atypicalities in early perceptual development impact later proficiencies? We consider one sliver of what is likely to be a complex and multifaceted answer. In the specific context of children who have been created for congenital blindness, we and others have found some consistent deficits in post-operative recognition performance. These deficits have typically been attributed to the pre-operative deprivation the children experienced during 'sensitive periods' of development. However, we suggest that there may be an additional factor at work: Differences in *post-operative* visual experiences of newly-sighted children relative to those of typically developing infants. These differences may skew early visual learning and lead to abnormalities in recognition processes. We call these 'butterfly effects' given that they involve potentially large consequences of small initial perturbations in visual experience. Such hypothesized butterfly effects have relevance for three goals: accounting for observed deficits in newly-sighted children, understanding why some aspects of normal visual development unfold in the way they do, and formulating effective training regimens for computational vision systems.
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Pawan Sinha is a tenured professor of vision and computational neuroscience in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. His laboratory focuses on understanding how the human brain learns to interpret and recognize complex sensory signals, such as images and videos to create more powerful and robust AI systems. He founded Project Prakash in 2005 for providing treatment to children with severe visual impairments. He is a recipient of the Pisart Vision Award from the Lighthouse Guild, the inaugural Asia Game Changers Award, the PECASE – US Government’s highest award for young scientists, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship in Neuroscience, the John Merck Scholars Award, the Jeptha and Emily Wade Award for creative research, the Troland Award from the National Academies, the Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIT Delhi, and the Oberdorfer Award from the ARVO Foundation.
Dr. Frans B. M. Waal
'Morality before Religion: Empathy, Fairness and the Primate Brain'
Date: February 23rd, 2021
Abstract: Homo homini lupus – “man is wolf to man” - is an old Roman proverb that permeates large parts of law, economics, and political science. The proverb fails to do justice to our species’ thoroughly social nature as well as to canids, which are among the most cooperative animals. For the past quarter century, this cynical view has also been promoted by an influential school of biology, but Charles Darwin himself saw things differently. He believed in continuity between animal social instincts and human morality. Modern psychology and neuroscience support the idea that morality evolved before humans developed religions. This lecture will review how empathy comes naturally to a great variety of animals, including humans. Dr. de Waal has found many cases of one individual coming to another's rescue in a fight, putting an arm around a previous victim of attack, or other emotional responses to the distress of others. By studying social behaviors in animals, such as bonding, the herd instinct, the forming of trusting alliances, and conflict resolution, de Waal demonstrates that animals and humans are preprogrammed to reach out, questioning the assumption that humans are inherently selfish. He argues that understanding empathy's survival value in evolution can help to build a more just society based on a more accurate view of human nature.
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Dr. Frans B. M. de Waal is a Dutch/American ethologist and biologist known for his work on the behavior and social intelligence of primates. His first book, Chimpanzee Politics (1982) compared the schmoozing and scheming of chimpanzees involved in power struggles with that of human politicians. Ever since, de Waal has drawn parallels between primate and human behavior, from peacemaking and morality to culture. His scientific work has been published in technical articles in journals such as Science, Nature, Scientific American, and outlets specialized in animal behavior. His popular books - translated into over twenty languages - have made him one of the world's most visible primatologists. His latest books are Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? (Norton, 2016) and Mama’s Last Hug (Norton, 2019). De Waal is C. H. Candler Professor Emeritus at Emory University and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. He has been elected to the (US) National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. In 2007, In 2007, he was selected by Time as one of The Worlds’ 100 Most Influential People Today.
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Prof. Michael Posner
'Combining Mouse and Human Studies to Reveal Mechanisms of Learning'
Date: October 14th, 2020
Abstract: Optogenetics has made it possible to control the activity of cells in appropriately treated mice. What can be learned about human cognition from studies of mice? We reported that meditation training can enhance frontal lobe theta rhythms and improve white matter connectivity in humans as measured indirectly by DTI. Optogenetics allowed us to show directly that imposing frontal rhythms in mice can improve improve white matter and reduce fear. We are now examining the role of attention and memory networks in mouse skill learning. Attention networks operate on the hippocampal memory network through pathways involving both the thalamus and the entorhinal cortex. Optogenetics allows us to suppress these pathways separately either in the attention to memory route (top down) or the memory to attention (bottom up route). So far, we are finding that, for the thalamic pathway, attention works on memory using purely top down control, a rather surprising result. We plan to study the entorhinal pathway soon where we expect more bottom up processing.
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Michael Posner is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Psychology, Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Oregon and Adjunct Professor at the Weill Medical College in New York (Sackler Institute). Having studied undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of Washington and PhD at the University of Michigan, he acquired expertise in understanding brain networks responsible for attention and learning. His is prominently known for creating a scientific paradigm to study the shift of attention, called Posner's cueing paradigm. He has published seminal research articles on attentional networks in the human brain, cognitive control and human performance. The diversity of his work on human as well as animal systems from the psychological, neurobiological as well as developmental perspectives makes him one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century. He received the National Medal of Science in 2009 which is the United States' highest scientific honour. His awards also include the William James Fellow Award, John Carty Award for the Advancement of Science and awards from the National Academy of Sciences​
Ms. Juhi Baskar
Category Selectivity in the Ventral Visual Pathway: Computational Models and Developmental Origins
Date: October 2nd, 2020
Abstract: Cortical regions that respond selectively to faces, places, and bodies provide important evidence for domain-specific theories of human cognition, development, and evolution. But these claims of category selectivity lack computational precision and remain vulnerable to empirical refutation. I will first describe work in which we constructed deep convolutional artificial neural network (ANN)-based encoding models that accurately predict the observed response to novel images in the FFA, PPA, and EBA, outperforming descriptive models and experts. We then use these models to subject claims of category selectivity to their strongest tests to date, by screening for and synthesizing images predicted to produce the highest response in each region. We find that these high-response-predicted images were all obvious members of the hypothesized preferred category for that region, strengthening evidence for domain specificity in the human brain. I will then consider the question of how these selective regions get wired up in development, and will describe new work demonstrating that these regions are all present, and already category selective, in young infants. I will then consider the roles of domain-specific predispositions, and experience in cortical development.
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Prof. Nancy Kanwisher received her B.S. and Ph.D. from MIT, working with Professor Molly Potter. After a postdoc as a MacArthur Fellow in Peace and International Security, and a second postdoc in the lab of Anne Treisman at UC Berkeley, she held faculty positions at UCLA and then Harvard, before returning to MIT in 1997, where she is now an Investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, a faculty member in the Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, and a member of the Center for Minds, Brains, and Machines. Kanwisher uses brain imaging and other methods to discover the functional organization of the human brain as a window into the architecture of the mind. Kanwisher has received the Troland Award, the Golden Brain Award, the Carvalho-Heineken Prize, and a MacVicar Faculty Fellow teaching Award from MIT, and she is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. You can view her short lectures about human cognitive neuroscience for lay audiences and newcomers to the field here: www.nancysbraintalks.mit.edu.
Prof. Nancy Kanwisher
Dr Shrikant Bharadwaj
Abstract: We have two eyes for a reason – our ability to perceive 3D and compute distance and direction is highly enhanced with the two eyes work together as a team. Such an ability of the two eyes to work as a team is highly dependent on the similarity of inputs in the two eyes. There are instances – physiological, pathological and iatrogenic – when such a similarity in visual inputs is disrupted in space and time. Spatially, one eye may see this world more distorted than the other eye and, in time, one eye may see things with a slight delay relative to the other eye. What are the consequences of such inter-ocular differences in spatial and temporal input to the two eyes? What happens when such differences become part of one’s natural viewing? What mechanism does the visual system adapt to handle such inter-ocular differences and what implications do these have when treating patients in the clinic? These questions will be discussed in my talk with evidence for some adaptive behavior by the visual system to handle such inter-ocular differences in visual input.
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Dr Shrikant Bharadwaj completed PhD in Vision Science from the University of California Berkeley School of Optometry, USA. After completing his post-doctoral training in Vision Science at the Indiana University School of Optometry, USA, Dr. Bharadwaj returned to the L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) in Hyderabad a DBT Ramalingaswami Fellow in 2009. Dr. Bharadwaj has since then established the Visual Optics research laboratory at LVPEI with the overall agenda of understanding how the optics of the eye influences spatial vision and depth vision. Dr. Bharadwaj uses a combination of experimental, behavioral and computational techniques to address this research agenda. Dr Bharadwaj also serves on the editorial board of Nature Scientific Reports, Optometry and Vision Science and the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology. In addition to his research work, Dr. Bharadwaj also serves as Director of the Brien Holden Institute of Optometry and Vision Sciences, L V Prasad Eye Institute and also teaches at the institute’s Bausch & Lomb School of Optometry.
How does the visual system handle inter-ocular differences in space and time – lessons from human disease models
Date: August 27, 2018
Abstract: How we perceive the world around us depends on the quality of vision our eyes enable. Modern technology has inproved medical diagnostics as well as procedures to tackel greusome visual defects. While the overwhelming progress makes us feel secure, we still need to understand how biological systems interact with medical procedures and prosthetics. Virtual reality simulatinhg devices come handy for this purpose.
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Juhi Baskar received a Bachelor’s degree from SASTRA University in Bioengineering. After completing her undergraduate thesis at Weill Cornell Medical College, she went on to pursue her Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. In graduate school, she began to explore the applications of augmented reality in healthcare, specializing in the same. She now heads the application of virtual and augmented reality in healthcare and medical education at L V Prasad Eye Institute’s Center for Innovation.
Democratizing eye-care with medical technology
Date: April 6, 2018
Ms. Juhi Baskar
Abstract: Neuronal research has been a challenging area since the beginning of cell culture. The critical factores necessary for planting, sustaining and using cell/tissues are hard to control in vivo. However, recent advancements in tissue culture technology has made possible the culture of neurons for direct implantation in case of seizures or hemorrhage.
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Prof. Geeta Vemuganti is the Founder Dean and Professor at the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Hyderabad. During her tenure at the L. V. Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI), she was an ocular pathologist and the head of the department at the Ophthalmic Pathology Service and Stem Cell Laboratory. She has done pioneering work in stem cell therapy. She is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences. The Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India awarded her the National Bioscience Award for Career Development, one of the highest Indian science awards, for her contributions to biosciences in 2004. She was recently elected as a fellow of the Telangana Academy of Sciences (TAS).
Regeneration and Restoration of Neural cells: Current perspectives
Date: February 16, 2018
Prof. Geeta Vemuganti
Abstract: We all have a ear for music, don't we? Some prefer classical, some prefer jazz, some prefer electronic music, but the inherent sensibility to appreciate sounds is common among all of us. Our society, culture, economic status, etc influence out taste in music. These factors also shape how our minds work. The question is, does your choice in music say something about you cognition?
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Dr. Vinoo Alluri is a cognitive scientist working in the areas of Music Cognition and Computational Neuroscience. Her research has primarily involved investigating music processing in the brain in the novel naturalistic paradigm, which she introduced as part of her PhD and has henceforth focussed on developing, validating, and improving methods concerning the same. She is also interested in understanding the effect of musical expertise on brain functioning and on behavioural aspects related to musical reward, depression, and addiction.
The Musical Brain
Date: November 3, 2017.
Dr. Vinoo Alluri
Abstract: Neurons communicate through making connections that are vital to our holistic cognition. These networs are complex and plastic, hence they keep on chaning during our lifetimes in unpredictable ways. However, neuronal modelling has enabled us to study these networks in their dynamic states and derive knowledge of the resulting cognitive functions. We can harness this information for developing medical diagnostics and treatments for serious diseases.
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Dr. Mohan Raghavan works in the department of biomedical engineering at IIT Hyderabad. With a dual background in technology and the life sciences, his research interests are in computational and integrative neuroscience and works on understanding and harnessing the predictive power of integrative frameworks in neuroscience. His lab brings together multiscale, multidisciplinary results in the motor system and spinal cord to create virtual systems.
He is also the founder and head of the Centre for Healthcare Entrepreneurship at IITH where he leads efforts to ensure that technology crosses lab thresholds and makes lives better for the common man. He believes in the power of individual enterprise and entrepreneurship as a complement to public institutions in achieving universal healthcare.
