Date:
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January 6 (Wed) to 8 (Fri), 2016
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Place:
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Rusutsu Resort Hotel , Hokkaido, Japan |
Registration fee : 2,000 yen ( Student : free )
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Schedule
"Dynamics of Decision Making" | |
January 6 |
Special Session |
18:10-19:00 | William T. Newsome (Stanford University) |
19:10-20:00 | Bahador Bahrami (University College London) |
20:10-21:00 | Matthew Ruthworth (Oxford University) |
21:00-23:00 | Poster session |
January 7 |
Topic Session |
15:30-16:20 | Isamu Motoyoshi(The University of Tokyo) |
16:30-17:20 | Masako Myowa-Yamakoshi (Kyoto University) |
17:30-18:20 | Kaoru Amano(CiNet) |
20:00-23:00 | Poster session |
January 8 |
Topic Session |
9:00-9:50 | Sho Yagishita(The University of Tokyo) |
10:00-10:50 | Tomoyasu Horikawa(ATR) |
11:00-11:50 | Katsuhiko Miyazaki(Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology) |
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William T. Newsome
Stanford University
Neural population dynamics in prefrontal cortex indicate changes-of-mind on single behavioral trials
The neural mechanisms underlying decision-making are typically examined by statistical analysis of large numbers of trials from sequentially recorded single neurons. Averaging across sequential recordings, however, obscures important aspects of decision-making such as 'changes of mind' (CoM) that occur at variable times on different trials. I will show that the covert decision variables (DV) can be tracked dynamically on single behavioral trials via simultaneous recording of large neural populations in prefrontal cortex. Vacillations of the neural DV, in turn, identify candidate CoM in monkeys, and show that they closely match the known properties of human CoM. Thus simultaneous population recordings can provide insight into transient, internal cognitive states that are otherwise undetectable.
References :
Dynamics of Neural Population Responses in Prefrontal Cortex Indicate Changes of Mind on Single Trials
Bahador Bahrami
University College London
In the mind of the adviser
Influencing others is not easy. What should one do to minimize the chances that her advice falls on deaf ears? What should the adviser think about? Unsurprisingly, the question is not just interesting for psychologists/neuroscientists. Even better, some general principles have already been drawn out in other fields such as Statistics and Economics. I will explain what our lab has done in the past couple of years to bring these pre-existing ideas into social cognitive sciences.
Decisions are guided by expectations about the values of future choices and these expectations are, in turn, based on past experience. The anterior cingulate cortex contains information about recent reward history based on information acquired over multiple time scales. Expectations of the value of future choices are calculated simultaneously on the basis of these timescales and used to guide decisions in different ways depending on the nature of the current environment. This has an advantage in that it allows flexible decision making based on estimates of what future decision values might be.
References :
web site
Matthew Rushworth
Oxford University
Using information over multiple time frames in anterior cingulate cortex to guide changes in behaviour
1. Multiple neural mechanisms of decision making and their competition under changing risk pressure.
3. Contrasting Roles for Orbitofrontal Cortex and Amygdala in Credit Assignment and Learning in Macaques.
Isamu Motoyoshi
Department of Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Spatiotemporal continuity of visual perception
Masako Myowa-Yamakoshi
Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University
How does sensorimotor experience from the perinatal period affect later cognitive development?
References :
1. Shinya, Y., Kawai, M., Niwa, F., & Myowa-Yamakoshi, M. (2014) Preterm birth is associated with an increased fundamental frequency of spontaneous crying in human infants at term-equivalent age. Biology Letters, vol. 10, no. 8, doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2014.0350.
2.Naoi, N., Fuchino, Y., Shibata, M., Niwa, F., Kawai, M., Konishi, Y., Okanoya, K., & Myowa-Yamakoshi, M. (2013) Decreased right temporal activation and increased interhemispheric connectivity in response to speech in preterm infants at term-equivalent age. Frontiers in Psychology, 4: 94, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00094.
3.Myowa-Yamakoshi, M. & Takeshita, H. (2006) Do human fetuses anticipate self-directed actions? A study by four-dimensional (4D) ultrasonography. Infancy, 10:3, 289-301.
Kaoru Amano
Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), National Institute of Information and Communications Technology
Toward the neural cause of human visual perception
References:
Amano, K., Arnold, D., Takeda, T. & Johnston, A. (2008): Alpha band amplification during illusory jitter perception, Journal of Vision 8(10): article 3, 1-8.
Sho Yagishita
Laboratory of Structural Physiology, Center for Disease Biology and
Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo
Synaptic basis of reinforcement learning
References:
A critical time window for dopamine actions on the structural plasticity of dendritic spines
Tomoyasu Horikawa
ATR computational neuroscience laboratory
Brain decoding of visual dream contents
Dreaming is a subjective experience during sleep, often accompanied by visual contents, whose neural basis remains unknown. Previous dream research attempted to link physiological states with dreaming, but did not demonstrate how the specific contents of visual experiences during dreaming are represented in the brain activity patterns. Brain decoding through neuroimaging analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signals has enabled the interpretation of mental contents represented in the brain activity patterns. The technique can thus be used to examine the neural representation of dreams by testing whether neural decoders can predict dream contents from brain activity patterns. In my talk, I introduce our study demonstrating decoding of visual dream contents from fMRI activity patterns during sleep. Our analysis showed that decoding models trained on stimulus-induced brain activity in visual cortical areas showed accurate classification, detection, and identification of dream contents, suggesting shared neural representations between perception and dreaming. Furthermore, additional analyses with imagery-task-induced brain activity reveal that dreaming shares neural representations with both perception and imagery in multiple brain areas with greater similarity to perception and imagery in lower and higher areas, respectively. Thus, our findings uncover unique properties of the neural representations of dreaming, characterizing the brain state of dreaming as a mixture of perception-like and imagery-like brain states. For further exploration into neural representations of our mental world, I would like to introduce several advanced techniques, which enable us to decode richer information on our mental contents. Serotonin is a neuromodulator that is extensively involved in behavioral, affective, and cognitive functions of the brain. A large number of studies have shown that reduced levels of serotonin in the central nervous system promote impulsive behaviors. In my talk, I will introduce our recent studies that showed a causal relationship between serotonin neural activation and the promotion of patience to wait for future rewards. First, the activity of the serotonin neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) increases when rats perform tasks that require them to wait for delayed rewards. Second, Local pharmacological inhibition of the DRN serotonin neural activity impairs the rats’ patience for waiting for delayed rewards. Third, Optogenetic activation of serotonin neurons in the DRN enhances the patience of mice in waiting for both the conditioned reinforcer tone and food reward. Finally, serotonin’s effect on promoting patience depends on a high probability, but not expected value, of future reward.
Katsuhiko Miyazaki
Neural Computation Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology
The role of serotonin in the regulation of waiting behavior for future rewards
References :
1. Miyazaki KW, Miyazaki K, Tanaka KF, Yamanaka A, Takahashi A, Tabuchi S, Doya K (2014) Optogenetic activation of dorsal raphe serotonin neurons enhances patience for future rewards. Current Biology 24:2033-2040.
2. Miyazaki KW, Miyazaki K, Doya K (2012) Activation of dorsal raphe serotonin neurons is necessary for waiting for delayed rewards. Journal of Neuroscience 32:10451-10457.
3. Miyazaki K, Miyazaki KW, Doya K (2011) Activation of dorsal raphe serotonin neurons underlies waiting for delayed rewards. Journal of Neuroscience 31:469-479.