All events, All years

Mood temporal dynamics characterized with computational and engineering-based approaches

Lecture
Date:
Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Hour: 11:30 - 12:30
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Dr. Hanna Keren
|
The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine Bar-Ilan University

:The non-linearity and variability in individual mood responses pose multiple analytic and experimental challenges. These challenges limit our understanding of mental health disorders with aberrant mood dynamics such as depression, and the development of more effective treatments. Computational approaches can help overcome some of these challenges by creating and modeling individual mood transitions. I will describe a study where closed-loop control approach was used to generate individual mood transitions and then a computational modeling approach was used to characterize the temporal effects on these mood changes. This study showed that early events exert a stronger influence on reported mood compared to recent events (a primacy weighting), in contrary to previous theoretical accounts which assumed that recent events are most influential on mood. This Primacy model accounted better for mood reports compared to a range of alternative temporal representations, in random, consistent, or dynamic reward environments, across different age groups, and in both healthy and depressed participants. Moreover, I will show how this temporal relation between early experiences and mood is mediated by specific neural signals. Interestingly, in repetitive reward environments or resting-state conditions, we found that mood reports consistently decline over time, stressing the importance of accounting for temporal effects in mood responses. These findings hold implications for the timing of events when addressing mood and behavior in experimental and in clinical settings.

Beyond the arcuate fasciculus: A multiplicity of language pathways in the human brain

Lecture
Date:
Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall
Prof. Michal Ben-Shachar
|
The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center Bar-Ilan University

Early models of the neurobiology of language targeted a single white matter pathway, the left arcuate fasciculus, as the critical language pathway in the human brain. Current models, supported by structural and functional imaging data, describe a more elaborate scheme of semi-parallel and bilateral white matter pathways that implement a variety of linguistic processes. In this talk, I will describe our current understanding of the language connectome, and highlight some recent additions to this scheme, including the frontal aslant tract and cerebellar pathways. I will expand on the role of ventral language pathways in extracting word structure, and on the role of dorsal and cerebellar pathways in mediating speech fluency and written text production. Our experimental approach combines diffusion MRI and targeted behavioral measurements, relating specific aspects of language processing with structural tract properties assessed in the same individual. Our findings show that cognitive associations with tractometry generalize across independent samples, languages, modalities and tasks. I will discuss the implications of our findings in the context of dual stream models of spoken and written language processing.

Reprogramming the topology of the nociceptive circuit in C. elegans reshapes sexual behavior

Lecture
Date:
Monday, June 12, 2023
Hour: 11:00 - 12:15
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Vladyslava Pechuk
|
Dr. Meital Oren Lab

The effect of the detailed connectivity of a neural circuit on its function and the resulting behavior of the organism, is a key question in many neural systems Here, I study the circuit for nociception in C elegans which is composed of the same neurons in the two sexes, that are wired differently I set out to elucidate how the topological design of a compact neuronal circuit affects its behavioral output, how genetic sex affects the connectivity and dynamics of a circuit, and how specific circuit components orchestrate together to establish the behavioral sexual dimorphism I used behavioral assays, optogenetics calcium and glutamate imaging, measurement of protein expression, artificial connectivity, molecular and genetic tools, and show that the nociceptive sensory neurons respond similarly in the two sexes, yet the animals display sexually dimorphic behaviors to the same aversive stimuli To uncover the role of the downstream network topology in shaping behavior, I measured the neuronal activity of a key interneuron, and found dimorphic responses to the stimulus as well as dimorphic intrinsic basal interneuron activity I then showed that neuron specific genetic sex plays a role in shaping connectivity and circuit dynamics, and proceed to an artificial subtle synaptic rewiring which flips behavior between sexes Interestingly, when presented with aversive cues, rewired males were compromised in finding mating partners, suggesting that network topologies that enable efficient avoidance of noxious cues have a reproductive " My results present a deconstruction of the design of a neural circuit that controls sexual behavior, and how to reprogram it

Local and long-range inputs contributing to sequence generation in the zebra finch

Lecture
Date:
Tuesday, June 6, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Prof. Michael A. Long
|
NYU School of Medicine

: A central question in neuroscience is how local processing and long-range influences work together to create behaviorally relevant neural dynamics. We address this issue by examining the song control pathway in the zebra finch. We find sufficient synaptic information is present in a key cortical structure to enable propagation of song-related sequences. We further demonstrate that long-range inputs from the motor thalamus can engage this circuitry in the service of behavior and large-scale brain synchronization. Our findings suggest that thalamic inputs may play an important initiating role for behaviorally-relevant cortical activity across species.

Volatile cortical working memory representations crystalize with practice

Lecture
Date:
Thursday, June 1, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Prof. Peyman Golshani
|
David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA

Working memory (WM), the process through which information is transiently maintained and manipulated over a brief period of time, is essential for most cognitive functions. However, the mechanisms underlying the generation and stability of WM neuronal representations at the population level remain elusive. To uncover these mechanisms, we trained head-fixed mice to perform  an olfactory working memory task and used optogenetics to delineate circuits causal for behavioral performance. We used mesoscopic and light bead  two photon imaging to record from up to 35,000 secondary motor cortical neurons simulataneously across multiple days and show differential stabilization of different task parameters with learning and practice of the task. We find that cortical working memory representations causal for task performance are highly volatile but only stabilize after multiple days of practice well after task learning. We hypothesize that representational drift soon after learning may allow for higher levels of flexibility for new task rules.  I will also review some of the new open-source tools developed for large-scale imaging of neural activity patterns in freely behaving animals.

Cognitive neuroscience of learning and memory in human infants

Lecture
Date:
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall
Prof. Nick Turk-Browne
|
Dept of Psychology, Yale University

In this talk, I will present the approach my lab has developed for performing fMRI studies in awake infants during cognitive tasks. I will share some of our recent studies and highlight some of the big open questions that remain to be addressed, with potential to reveal the brain systems underlying how infants perceive and attend to their environment, why infants are such proficient learners, and why we all have amnesia for infant experiences. Despite countless limitations and challenges at present, this work suggests that awake infant fMRI could become more feasible, useful, and ubiquitous in cognitive neuroscience.

The neurocircuit underlying social approach and avoidance behavior

Lecture
Date:
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall
Prof. Camilla Bellone
|
Dept of Basic Neurosciences Faculty of Medicine University of Geneva

The ability to approach or avoid conspecifics is essential for survival in many species, and the nature of the social interaction often determines it. Positive or rewarding interactions with conspecifics lead individuals to approach them, while aversive or threatening interactions lead individuals to avoid them. The rewarding or aversive nature of these interactions is defined as social valence. I will discuss the neuronal circuits and mechanisms underlying social valance encoding.  

Illuminating neural computations with structured light and sound wavefronts

Lecture
Date:
Sunday, May 21, 2023
Hour: 12:30
Location:
Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall
Prof. Shy Shoham
|
Neural Interface Engineering lab, NYU

Features and Objects as Perceptual Attractors: Theory, Paradigm, and Results from The Rat’s Whisker System

Lecture
Date:
Monday, May 15, 2023
Hour: 11:00 - 12:15
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Guy Nelinger, Student Seminar - PhD Thesis Defense
|
Prof. Ehud Ahissar Lab

Perceivers experience the world around them as organized, with sensory impressions clearly separated into entities. What makes a perceptual object, and what framework relates it to its composing features? A key insight is that under natural conditions, feature and object information is acquired actively, via sensor movements. Motor and sensory variables affect one another reciprocally, forming a closed-loop system. I therefore hypothesize that percepts signifying an object emerge when the motor-sensory loop’s dynamics converge towards a stable attractor. Using snout and whisker tracking data from freely-moving behaving rats, I outline such an attractor for object detection. I demonstrate that whisker-object contact elicits robust signals on a motor-sensory phase-plane, comprised of the derivatives of whisker base-angle and base-curvature. Over consecutive contact epochs, trajectories on the phase-plane converge to a specific area. The area is characterized by a basin of attraction during contact, more so than in free-air whisking. Differences in head-movement behavior are associated with proximity to the attractor, suggesting that the animal makes use of this proposed coding-scheme. Finally, to build upon these insights, I present a novel paradigm for the study of volitional perceptual exploration, in both rewarded and unrewarded contexts. It supports high-resolution study of motor-sensory development starting at birth, throughout task-learning and until mastery. Taken together, these results highlight a novel framework for the study of the perception of features and objects as motor-sensory attractors.

Smell and our unconscious sense of self

Lecture
Date:
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
Hour: 13:00 - 14:00
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Prof. Benjamin D. Young
|
Institute for Neuroscience University of Nevada, Reno

Benjamin D. Young Ph.D. is an associate professor in philosophy and interdisciplinary neuroscience at the University of Nevada, Reno. Previously he held a Kreitman Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at Ben-Gurion University, as well as Visiting Assistant Professorship and Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Cognitive Science at Hebrew University. He conducts empirically informed philosophical research with a particular emphasis on olfaction focusing on non-conceptual content, qualitative consciousness in the absence of awareness, and the perceptible objects of smell. His most recent projects include co-editing the textbook Mind, Cognition, and Neuroscience and the collection Theoretical Perspectives on Smell. Ben is finishing a book on smell tentatively titled Stinking Philosophy! and beginning to work on a book about the unconscious mind. Previously he showed how olfaction calls into question the general neuroscientific theories of consciousness and the relationship between access and phenomenal consciousness. Dr. Young’s current research extends this framework and examines the role that smell plays in allowing us to recognize our embodied material composition and what we can perceive about others from their smell both with and without subjective awareness. For more information about Ben’s research see https://www.unr.edu/philosophy/faculty-staff/benjamin-young

Pages

All events, All years

Mood temporal dynamics characterized with computational and engineering-based approaches

Lecture
Date:
Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Hour: 11:30 - 12:30
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Dr. Hanna Keren
|
The Azrieli Faculty of Medicine Bar-Ilan University

:The non-linearity and variability in individual mood responses pose multiple analytic and experimental challenges. These challenges limit our understanding of mental health disorders with aberrant mood dynamics such as depression, and the development of more effective treatments. Computational approaches can help overcome some of these challenges by creating and modeling individual mood transitions. I will describe a study where closed-loop control approach was used to generate individual mood transitions and then a computational modeling approach was used to characterize the temporal effects on these mood changes. This study showed that early events exert a stronger influence on reported mood compared to recent events (a primacy weighting), in contrary to previous theoretical accounts which assumed that recent events are most influential on mood. This Primacy model accounted better for mood reports compared to a range of alternative temporal representations, in random, consistent, or dynamic reward environments, across different age groups, and in both healthy and depressed participants. Moreover, I will show how this temporal relation between early experiences and mood is mediated by specific neural signals. Interestingly, in repetitive reward environments or resting-state conditions, we found that mood reports consistently decline over time, stressing the importance of accounting for temporal effects in mood responses. These findings hold implications for the timing of events when addressing mood and behavior in experimental and in clinical settings.

Beyond the arcuate fasciculus: A multiplicity of language pathways in the human brain

Lecture
Date:
Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall
Prof. Michal Ben-Shachar
|
The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center Bar-Ilan University

Early models of the neurobiology of language targeted a single white matter pathway, the left arcuate fasciculus, as the critical language pathway in the human brain. Current models, supported by structural and functional imaging data, describe a more elaborate scheme of semi-parallel and bilateral white matter pathways that implement a variety of linguistic processes. In this talk, I will describe our current understanding of the language connectome, and highlight some recent additions to this scheme, including the frontal aslant tract and cerebellar pathways. I will expand on the role of ventral language pathways in extracting word structure, and on the role of dorsal and cerebellar pathways in mediating speech fluency and written text production. Our experimental approach combines diffusion MRI and targeted behavioral measurements, relating specific aspects of language processing with structural tract properties assessed in the same individual. Our findings show that cognitive associations with tractometry generalize across independent samples, languages, modalities and tasks. I will discuss the implications of our findings in the context of dual stream models of spoken and written language processing.

Reprogramming the topology of the nociceptive circuit in C. elegans reshapes sexual behavior

Lecture
Date:
Monday, June 12, 2023
Hour: 11:00 - 12:15
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Vladyslava Pechuk
|
Dr. Meital Oren Lab

The effect of the detailed connectivity of a neural circuit on its function and the resulting behavior of the organism, is a key question in many neural systems Here, I study the circuit for nociception in C elegans which is composed of the same neurons in the two sexes, that are wired differently I set out to elucidate how the topological design of a compact neuronal circuit affects its behavioral output, how genetic sex affects the connectivity and dynamics of a circuit, and how specific circuit components orchestrate together to establish the behavioral sexual dimorphism I used behavioral assays, optogenetics calcium and glutamate imaging, measurement of protein expression, artificial connectivity, molecular and genetic tools, and show that the nociceptive sensory neurons respond similarly in the two sexes, yet the animals display sexually dimorphic behaviors to the same aversive stimuli To uncover the role of the downstream network topology in shaping behavior, I measured the neuronal activity of a key interneuron, and found dimorphic responses to the stimulus as well as dimorphic intrinsic basal interneuron activity I then showed that neuron specific genetic sex plays a role in shaping connectivity and circuit dynamics, and proceed to an artificial subtle synaptic rewiring which flips behavior between sexes Interestingly, when presented with aversive cues, rewired males were compromised in finding mating partners, suggesting that network topologies that enable efficient avoidance of noxious cues have a reproductive " My results present a deconstruction of the design of a neural circuit that controls sexual behavior, and how to reprogram it

Local and long-range inputs contributing to sequence generation in the zebra finch

Lecture
Date:
Tuesday, June 6, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Prof. Michael A. Long
|
NYU School of Medicine

: A central question in neuroscience is how local processing and long-range influences work together to create behaviorally relevant neural dynamics. We address this issue by examining the song control pathway in the zebra finch. We find sufficient synaptic information is present in a key cortical structure to enable propagation of song-related sequences. We further demonstrate that long-range inputs from the motor thalamus can engage this circuitry in the service of behavior and large-scale brain synchronization. Our findings suggest that thalamic inputs may play an important initiating role for behaviorally-relevant cortical activity across species.

Volatile cortical working memory representations crystalize with practice

Lecture
Date:
Thursday, June 1, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Prof. Peyman Golshani
|
David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA

Working memory (WM), the process through which information is transiently maintained and manipulated over a brief period of time, is essential for most cognitive functions. However, the mechanisms underlying the generation and stability of WM neuronal representations at the population level remain elusive. To uncover these mechanisms, we trained head-fixed mice to perform  an olfactory working memory task and used optogenetics to delineate circuits causal for behavioral performance. We used mesoscopic and light bead  two photon imaging to record from up to 35,000 secondary motor cortical neurons simulataneously across multiple days and show differential stabilization of different task parameters with learning and practice of the task. We find that cortical working memory representations causal for task performance are highly volatile but only stabilize after multiple days of practice well after task learning. We hypothesize that representational drift soon after learning may allow for higher levels of flexibility for new task rules.  I will also review some of the new open-source tools developed for large-scale imaging of neural activity patterns in freely behaving animals.

Cognitive neuroscience of learning and memory in human infants

Lecture
Date:
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall
Prof. Nick Turk-Browne
|
Dept of Psychology, Yale University

In this talk, I will present the approach my lab has developed for performing fMRI studies in awake infants during cognitive tasks. I will share some of our recent studies and highlight some of the big open questions that remain to be addressed, with potential to reveal the brain systems underlying how infants perceive and attend to their environment, why infants are such proficient learners, and why we all have amnesia for infant experiences. Despite countless limitations and challenges at present, this work suggests that awake infant fMRI could become more feasible, useful, and ubiquitous in cognitive neuroscience.

The neurocircuit underlying social approach and avoidance behavior

Lecture
Date:
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
Hour: 12:30 - 13:30
Location:
Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall
Prof. Camilla Bellone
|
Dept of Basic Neurosciences Faculty of Medicine University of Geneva

The ability to approach or avoid conspecifics is essential for survival in many species, and the nature of the social interaction often determines it. Positive or rewarding interactions with conspecifics lead individuals to approach them, while aversive or threatening interactions lead individuals to avoid them. The rewarding or aversive nature of these interactions is defined as social valence. I will discuss the neuronal circuits and mechanisms underlying social valance encoding.  

Illuminating neural computations with structured light and sound wavefronts

Lecture
Date:
Sunday, May 21, 2023
Hour: 12:30
Location:
Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall
Prof. Shy Shoham
|
Neural Interface Engineering lab, NYU

Features and Objects as Perceptual Attractors: Theory, Paradigm, and Results from The Rat’s Whisker System

Lecture
Date:
Monday, May 15, 2023
Hour: 11:00 - 12:15
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Guy Nelinger, Student Seminar - PhD Thesis Defense
|
Prof. Ehud Ahissar Lab

Perceivers experience the world around them as organized, with sensory impressions clearly separated into entities. What makes a perceptual object, and what framework relates it to its composing features? A key insight is that under natural conditions, feature and object information is acquired actively, via sensor movements. Motor and sensory variables affect one another reciprocally, forming a closed-loop system. I therefore hypothesize that percepts signifying an object emerge when the motor-sensory loop’s dynamics converge towards a stable attractor. Using snout and whisker tracking data from freely-moving behaving rats, I outline such an attractor for object detection. I demonstrate that whisker-object contact elicits robust signals on a motor-sensory phase-plane, comprised of the derivatives of whisker base-angle and base-curvature. Over consecutive contact epochs, trajectories on the phase-plane converge to a specific area. The area is characterized by a basin of attraction during contact, more so than in free-air whisking. Differences in head-movement behavior are associated with proximity to the attractor, suggesting that the animal makes use of this proposed coding-scheme. Finally, to build upon these insights, I present a novel paradigm for the study of volitional perceptual exploration, in both rewarded and unrewarded contexts. It supports high-resolution study of motor-sensory development starting at birth, throughout task-learning and until mastery. Taken together, these results highlight a novel framework for the study of the perception of features and objects as motor-sensory attractors.

Smell and our unconscious sense of self

Lecture
Date:
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
Hour: 13:00 - 14:00
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
Prof. Benjamin D. Young
|
Institute for Neuroscience University of Nevada, Reno

Benjamin D. Young Ph.D. is an associate professor in philosophy and interdisciplinary neuroscience at the University of Nevada, Reno. Previously he held a Kreitman Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at Ben-Gurion University, as well as Visiting Assistant Professorship and Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Cognitive Science at Hebrew University. He conducts empirically informed philosophical research with a particular emphasis on olfaction focusing on non-conceptual content, qualitative consciousness in the absence of awareness, and the perceptible objects of smell. His most recent projects include co-editing the textbook Mind, Cognition, and Neuroscience and the collection Theoretical Perspectives on Smell. Ben is finishing a book on smell tentatively titled Stinking Philosophy! and beginning to work on a book about the unconscious mind. Previously he showed how olfaction calls into question the general neuroscientific theories of consciousness and the relationship between access and phenomenal consciousness. Dr. Young’s current research extends this framework and examines the role that smell plays in allowing us to recognize our embodied material composition and what we can perceive about others from their smell both with and without subjective awareness. For more information about Ben’s research see https://www.unr.edu/philosophy/faculty-staff/benjamin-young

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Mini-Symposium-Windows into the Mind:New Approaches to Brain and Cognition

Conference
Date:
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Hour:
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research

Homepage

Neurodegenerative diseases, stem cells and inflammation-new prospects for therapy

Conference
Date:
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Hour:
Location:
Dolfi and Lola Ebner Auditorium

Metabolism and the Metabolic Disorder

Conference
Date:
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Hour:
Location:
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research

Homepage

The enigma of inflammation in A.L.S: What can be learned from other

Conference
Date:
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Hour:
Location:
Dolfi and Lola Ebner Auditorium

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Measuring Behavior and Physiology: Bridging the Genotype Phenotype Gap

Conference
Date:
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Hour: 08:00 - 16:30
Location:
Dolfi and Lola Ebner Auditorium

Homepage

Olfaction: from receptors to behavior

Conference
Date:
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Hour: 08:00 - 16:30
Location:
Dolfi and Lola Ebner Auditorium

Homepage

A Conference on Neurodegenerative Diseases in Memory of Late Prof. Irith Ginzburg (1943-2008)

Conference
Date:
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Hour:
Location:

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Second Nachmansohn Memorial Symposium: Molecular Approaches to the Nervous System

Conference
Date:
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Hour:
Location:

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Minerva-Weizmann Workshop on Active Sensing in Touch Vision and Smell

Conference
Date:
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Hour:
Location:

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Benoziyo Center for Neurological Diseases - Fourth Annual Symposium

Conference
Date:
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Hour:
Location:

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