UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM presents "Decoding of irregular neural activity by depressing synapses in the cerebellum" Johannes Luthman (Bio- Neural Computation Research Group, University of Hertfordshire, UK) 27 October 2010 (Wednesday) Lecture Theatre A161 Hatfield, College Lane Campus 1 -2 pm Everyone is Welcome to Attend Refreshments will be available Abstract: Computational neuroscience aims at understanding information processing in the brain, using computer simulations of neuron models as one of its tools. I will begin this talk by introducing the concept of biologically realistic neuron modelling and will base it on the example of a modelled neuron of the cerebellar nuclei (a CN neuron), which I have been working with in my ongoing PhD programme. The cerebellum is the "small brain" at the lower back of the head, primarily thought to be involved in motion control. The cerebellar nuclei are gatekeepers, controlling what information the cerebellum projects to the rest of the brain and body. The neurons do so by sending action potentials (or spikes, collectively called a neuron's firing) down their long projections, called axons. This talk will lead on to one of the two main projects of my PhD programme, the decoding of regular and irregular output of the cerebellar Purkinje neurons, which send inhibitory signals to the CN neuron. I will propose that the naturally occurring variations in the elapsed time between consecutive Purkinje cell spikes may be remapped by the Purkinje-to-CN neuron synapses onto variations of the CN neuron spiking rate. This transformation is based on a synaptic mechanism called short-term depression (STD), which low-pass filters high frequency components of the Purkinje cell spike train and results in a mapping of Purkinje cell irregularity onto CN neuron firing rate. --------------------------------------------------- Hertfordshire Computer Science Research Colloquium http://homepages.stca.herts.ac.uk/~nehaniv/colloq