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

描述（由申请人提供）：这是一项支持关于感觉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在经历技术的快速爆炸，使实验不再局限于使用受到高度简化刺激的固定动物。大量能够传输神经活动数据的可植入电极、成像技术的进步、在动物清醒和行为时使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，这些只是实验方法日益复杂的几个例子。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，感觉系统能够利用自然声音和场景中的复杂相关性来优化其处理能力。 另一方面，“真实的世界”的复杂性提出了特别的挑战，例如鸡尾酒会问题中的声源分离。 因此，至关重要的是，开发适当的方法来处理这种复杂的输入/输出关系，并开发理论概念，框架预测编码原则。这些方法和理论上的进步是设计更好的助听器、感觉假体或其他技术（如使用计算机增强的虚拟环境）以解决感觉或交流障碍的关键。 因此，本次会议的目的是汇集一个跨学科的研究人员与系统和认知神经科学，知觉心理学，统计学，信号处理，计算机科学和感官辅助的专业知识，讨论研究的前沿和新兴的共同原则和方法在感觉神经科学的背景下，自然环境和行为。 公共卫生相关性：表征自然场景的统计数据和它们引起的复杂的自适应神经反应对于揭示神经信息处理策略以及推进能够将自然行为期间遇到的声音和图像转换为大脑可解释的格式的神经假体的开发至关重要。该项目的目标是帮助资助一个跨学科会议，讨论这些主题的最新发现。

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.