2010 'Sensory Coding and the Natural Environment'; Gordon Research Conference

描述（由申请人提供）：这是一份关于感官编码和自然环境主题的两年一次的国际会议的提案。感觉神经科学目前正经历着技术的快速发展，使实验不再局限于使用受高度简化刺激的固定动物。大量能够传输神经活动数据的植入式电极，成像技术的进步，在动物清醒和行为时利用光脉冲操纵神经元活动的可能性，以及在实验室中模拟动态和响应环境的计算资源和技术，这些只是实验方法新兴复杂性的几个例子。这些方法允许直接观察和操纵大脑，因为它在自然环境中执行自然任务。一方面，理论和实验研究表明，感官系统能够利用自然声音和场景中发现的复杂相关性来优化其处理能力。另一方面，“真实世界”的复杂性提出了特殊的挑战，例如鸡尾酒会中的声源分离问题。因此，开发适当的方法来处理这种复杂性的输入/输出关系，并开发理论概念来框架对编码原则的预测是至关重要的。这些方法和理论的进步是设计更好的助听器、感觉假肢或其他技术（如使用计算机增强的虚拟环境）来解决感觉或沟通障碍的关键。因此，本次会议旨在汇集一个跨学科的研究小组，他们具有系统和认知神经科学、感知心理学、统计学、信号处理、计算机科学和感觉辅助方面的专业知识，讨论自然环境和行为背景下感觉神经科学的研究前沿和新兴的共同原则和方法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is a proposal to support a biennial international meeting on the topic of Sensory Coding and the Natural Environment. Sensory neuroscience is currently undergoing a rapid explosion in technologies that enable experimentation that is no longer constrained to the use of immobilized animals subjected to highly simplified stimuli. Large numbers of implantable electrodes able to transmit data about neural activity, advances in imaging techniques, the possibility to manipulate neuronal activity using light impulses while animals are awake and behaving, and the computational resources and techniques to simulate dynamic and responsive environments in the laboratory are only a few examples of the emerging sophistication in experimental methods. These methods permit direct observation and manipulation of the brain as it performs natural tasks in its natural environment. On one hand, theoretical and experimental studies have shown that sensory systems are able to exploit the complex correlations found in natural sounds and scenes to optimize their processing capacity. On the other hand, the complexity of the "real world" poses particular challenges, such as the sound source separation in the cocktail party problem. It is therefore critical to develop appropriate methods for handling input/output relationships of this complexity and to develop theoretical concepts that frame predictions about coding principles. These methodological and theoretical advances are key to the design of better hearing aids, sensory prosthetics or other technologies (such as the use of computer enhanced virtual environments) to address sensory or communicative disorders. This meeting therefore aims to bring together an interdisciplinary group of researchers with expertise in systems and cognitive neuroscience, perceptual psychology, statistics, signal processing, computer science and sensory aids to discuss the forefronts of research and emerging common principles and methods in sensory neuroscience in the context of natural environments and behavior. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Characterizing natural scene statistics and the complex, adaptive neural responses they elicit is essential for shedding light on neural information processing strategies, as well as for advancing the development of neural prostheses capable of transforming sounds and images encountered during natural behavior into a format interpretable by the brain. The goal of this project is to help fund an interdisciplinary meeting to discuss the latest findings on these topics.