• Institute of Advanced Study (map)
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  • Princeton, NJ, 08540
  • United States

Cognition Lunch Salon: How Does the Brain Wire up Itself on the Fly?

Presenter: Kenji Doya (Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology, Japan)

Abstract: The standard paradigm in functional brain imaging is to ask subjects to perform tasks requiring a certain computation or not, to see which brain areas are more activated, and to conclude that those areas subserve the computation. However, we do not really know why and how those specific brain areas can be activated and connected when they are needed. As deep learning provides solutions to specific computations like image recognition and language processing, how to select and combine those networks as needed in different tasks and situations is a critical challenge in general and autonomous artificial intelligence. In this talk, we will explore possible anatomical and computational mechanisms that realize modularity and compositionality of the brain.
