Cognitive Neural Computation
2013 Spring Graduate Course in Cognitive Science and Brain Science Programs
  • Instructor: Prof. Byoung-Tak Zhang
  • TA: Kwonill Kim
  • Classroom: 014-207-1
  • Time: Friday 10:00-12:30
  • Reference:
    • [1] 23 Problems in Systems Neuroscience, J. van Hemmen and T. Sejnowski (Eds.), Oxford University Press, 2006.
    • [2] How to Create a Mind: The Secret of Human Thought Revealed, R. Kurzweil, Viking, 2012.
  • Evaluation:
    • - Two open-book exams (60%)
    • - Presentation and term paper (30%)
    • - Participation and discussion (10%)
  • Course Description:
    • This course reviews the recent advancements in computational systems neuroscience and discusses the brain-inspired cognitive computing architectures for the next-generation artificial intelligence and machine learning. We address the following questions: How does the mind arise from the brain? How does the brain make sense of the world? How can the brain produce decisions and actions so fast and reliably in constantly changing environments? What principles does the brain use to encode, learn, store, recall, and forget information? How can we use these principles to create a brain-like cognitive computer that learns?

  • Lecture Schedule

  • Week Topics Slides
    Week 1
    (3/8)
    • From cognitive brain science to brain-like computation
    • Brain as a cognitive neural computer
    • Computational vision, language, and motion
    • Lifelong learning with perception-action cycle
    Week 2
    (3/15)
    • Michael Arbib [Keywords] & Stephen Grossberg & Terry Sejnowski
    • Ray Kurzweil [2], The biologically inspired digital neocortex (Ch. 7, ·ùÁ¦È¯) & The mind as computer (Ch. 8, ·ùÁ¦È¯)

    Week 3
    (3/22)
    • Jeff Hawkins [Keywords] & Tomasso Poggio
    • Laurenz Wiskott: How does our visual system achieve shift and size invariance? (Ch. 16, ±èÅÂÁØ)
    • L. F. Abbott: Where Are the Switches on This Thing? (Ch. 21, ÀÌ»ó¿ì)



    Week 4
    (3/29)
    • Jack Gallant [Keywords] & Itzhak Fried
    • Francis Crick & Christof Koch: What are the neuronal correlates of consciousness? (Ch. 23, ±è°æ¹Î)
    • Terrence J. Sejnowslzi: What Are the Projective Fields of Cortical Neurons? (Ch. 19, ±èÁ¾±Ô)



    Week 5
    (4/5)
    • Earl Miller & Gyorgy Buzsaki [Keywords]
    • Gilles Laurent: Shall we even understand the fly's brain? (Ch. 1, õȿ¼±)
    Week 6
    (4/12)
    • Karel Svoboda
    • C. van Vreeswijk: What is the neural code? (Ch. 8, À̹üÁø)
    • Tal Kenet et al.: Are single neurons soloists or are they obedient members of a huge orchestra? (Ch. 9, Anwar Sajid)


    Week 7
    (4/19)
    Layout
    Week 8
    (4/26)
    • Exam 1
    Week 9
    (5/3)
    • Stephen Smith & Seth Grant [Keywords]
    • Wulfram Gerstner: How can the brain be so fast? (Ch. 7, ÀÌÃæ¿¬)
    • Joachin Fuster & Gerald Edelman
    • V. S. Ramachandran & Edward Hubbard: Synesthesia: What does it tell us about the emergence of qualia, metaphor, abstract thought, and language? (Ch. 22, ¹è¼öÁ¤)


    Week 10
    (5/10)
    • Clay Reid [Keywords] & Markus Meister
    • Steven Zucker: Which computation runs in visual cortical columns? (Ch. 11, ÀÌÇö¹Î)


    Week 11
    (5/17)
    • Holiday (Buddha's Birthday)
    Week 12
    (5/24)
    • Tony Bell & Bruno Olshausen [Keywords]
    • Bruno Olshausen and David Field: What is the other 85 percent of V1 doing? (Ch. 10, ÀÌ»óÀ±)
    • C. E. Carr, S. Iyer, D. Soares, S. IGzlluri, and J. Z. Simon: Are Neurons Adapted for Specific Computations? (Ch. 12, ±èÁøÈ­)




    Week 13
    (5/31)
    • Mark Gluck & Geoffrey Hinton & Tom Mitchell
    • Andreas V. M. Herz: How Is Time Represented in the Brain? (Ch. 13, ÀÌÀç¼±)
    • David McAlphine & Alan Palmer: How general are neural codes in sensory systems? (Ch. 14, À¯½Â¹ü)
    • Georg M. Iclump: How Does the Hearing System Perform Auditory Scene Analysis? (Ch. 15, ¹Ú¿¹½½)







    Week 14
    (6/7)
    Week 15
    (6/14)
    • Exam 2
    Week 16
    (6/21)
    • Reviews and discussion

    This page is maintained by Kwonill Kim
    Last update: 2013.03.07.