PRINCIPLES OF AUTONOMOUS NEURODYNAMICS 2009
La Jolla, California
July 27-29, 2009

Call For Presentations: PRINCIPLES OF AUTONOMOUS NEURODYNAMICS 2009 ONLINE REGISTRATION

Register online at:
http://www.utoronto.ca/sand/PAND2009/register.html

Presentations should be 15 minutes in length. We encourage entries from a diversity of backgrounds and welcome both exploratory and advanced research. Sessions are meant to be fun, dynamic and will include open discussions.

Conference Scope
Dates
Accommodations
La Jolla, San Diego and Activities
Accessibility and Child Care
Conference Topics
Organizing and Scientific Committee
Meeting Sponsors
Why Autonomous Neural Systems?
Why Autonomous Neurodynamics and Neurological Conditions?
Meeting Background

CONFERENCE SCOPE

Autonomous Neurodynamics describes interactive systems that can change activity both in response to and independently of the environment. Presentations will focus on the theoretical underpinnings and implications of autonomous dynamics in relation to neural activity, cognition, social systems and general network dynamics. Sessions may encompass a broad array of approaches including presentations from mathematics, physics, philosophy, psychology, computational and theoretical neurosciences.

DATES

Research presentations: Monday July 27 - Wednesday July 29, 2009
Post-presentation activities (Sea, Surf & Desert Adventures): Wednesday, July 29 - Sat, August 1, 2009

Recommended latest arrival: Sunday, July 26, 2009
Recommended earliest departure, presentations portion only: Thursday, July 30, 2009
Recommended earliest departure, California Adventure participants: Sunday, August 2, 2009

ACCOMMODATIONS

Click here for additional information on accommodations.

LA JOLLA, SAN DIEGO AND ACTIVITIES

The conference will take place in La Jolla, California. La Jolla is major international hub for neuroscience research (sometimes called "neuron valley") and the home to UCSD and the Salk institute. The UCSD Cognitive Science Department was the first of its kind in the world. The picturesque town is located on the legendary palm-lined shores of Southern California and only minutes away from the city of San Diego with its many attractions. As in previous years, the conference presentations will be followed by an outdoor adventure in which ideas are exchanged and collaborations planned in a more informal, free and dynamic environment. This year the post-presentation events will include surfing, diving and a desert excursion. Limited spots. First-come first-served policy

Additional excursion information will be made available on this page.

ACCESSIBILITY AND CHILD CARE

All presentations will take place in wheelchair accessible venues. Limited grants to assist with child care arrangements may be available, please indicate requirement during online registration.

CONFERENCE TOPICS

SAND conference presentations typically encompass a wide range of themes that have included:

Physiology, Sensorimotor Systems & Behavior Neuroanatomy Neurogenetics and Pathobiology Pharmacology Hormones and Reproduction Nutrition and Biochemistry Personal Narratives Gender and Social Sciences

Neurology and Clinical Perspectives Neuropsychoanalysis Dynamical Systems Embodied Modeling / Autonomous Agents Nonlinear Analysis Computation and Information Processing Network Theory The Role of Noise / Stochasticity / Randomness

In addition to these topics we welcome novel approaches and interdisciplinary research that can synthesize findings from various fields. Presentations may also consider the implications of research findings on ethical theory, autonomy and health. We particularly encourage presentations that examine changes in neurodynamics in neurological conditions such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s that can have a tremendous impact on an individual’s autonomy and quality of life. Investigations may also include more common conditions in which changes in neural dynamics impact volitional activity such as sleep.

ORGANIZING AND SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE:

• Ping Wang, Computational Neurobiology Laboratory (CNL), Salk Institute, USA (CHAIR)
• Ann Lam, University of Saskatchewan, Canada & Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, Salk Institute, USA (CO-CHAIR)
• Elan Liss Ohayon, University of California Riverside & CNL, Salk Institute, USA (CO-CHAIR)
• Peter Carlen, University of Toronto, Toronto Western Research Institute, Canada
• Ariel Garten, Toronto, Canada
• Janina Hesse, CNL, Salk Institute, USA
• Kathryn Hum, University of Toronto Epilepsy Research Program, Canada
• Stiliyan Kalitzin, Dutch Epilepsy Clinics Foundation (SEIN), The Netherlands
• Yariv Levy, Computer Science Department, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA
• Piotr Suffczynski, Warsaw University, Poland

MEETING SPONSORS:

• The Institute for Neural Computation (INC), University of California San Diego (UCSD)
• Department of Cognitive Science, University of California San Diego (UCSD)
• Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies
• The University of Toronto Epilepsy Research Program (UTERP)
• Collaborative Program in Neuroscience, University of Toronto (PIN)
• Stichting Epilepsie Instellingen Nederland (SEIN)
• Institute of Experimental Physics, Warsaw University

Clearly neural systems can perform incredibly complex computations but what are the features that underlie their autonomy? How do healthy embodied brains remain independent from the dynamics of the world while also being responsive? How do neural networks find balance yet avoid infinite repetition or silence?

Emerging techniques in complexity sciences and neural modeling provide the tools to explore dynamics in such systems but have yet to explain how daily computational tasks are accomplished in a continuous and autonomous fashion. These questions regarding system autonomy are often independently explored in physics, mathematics, philosophy and other fields. The issue of increasing freedom in systems is at the foundations of cognitive and social sciences.

WHY AUTONOMOUS NEURODYNAMICS AND NEUROLOGICAL CONDITIONS?

The most devastating aspect of a neurological condition is often the impact on independent activity. For example, in epilepsy the changes in neurodynamics result in an acute and often devastating loss of freedom, in which an individual's autonomy is lost and regained in very sudden and dramatic ways. The generally unpredictable nature of this transition to a state of partial or total functional neuronal impairment makes epilepsy more a dynamical system condition than a product of any single factor. Why and how does the transition occur and why and how does the epileptic state terminate? Are these transitional states a by-product of a complex neuronal system meant for autonomous operation in changing environments? Do these transitions hint at fundamental neuronal mechanisms? At the other extreme, aging is an example of a process in which changes to neurodynamics come about very gradually but can be no less devastating.

Neuroscience researchers are often focused on controlling phenomena, forgetting that an important goal is to increase individual autonomy. There are many routes to changing neural dynamics (increasing activity, stopping a seizure), the difficulty is ensuring that as a consequence the individual becomes more autonomous rather than less so. What can theories of autonomous systems tell us about treating these conditions? What can these conditions tell us about how complex systems maintain freedom in the environment?

MEETING BACKGROUND

The first meeting of the Society for Autonomous Neurodynamics was held at the University of Toronto, in August 2004. Subsequent meetings took place at the Institute of Experimental Physics, Warsaw University (2005), the Marine Biology Station, Eilat (2006), Université Laval in Québec (2007) and SEIN in the Netherlands (2008).

The meetings have included empirical scientists, theoreticians and personal reports. They have proven to be cognitively intense, high-energy, autonomous events in a fun and informal atmosphere. The gatherings also mark the continuation of an international collaboration on the subject between researchers in the Netherlands and Canada including the Dutch Epilepsy Clinics Foundation (SEIN), the University of Amsterdam and the University of Toronto Epilepsy Program.