UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE
		 COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM

			      presents

               "Pauses as Neural Code in the Cerebellum"

			  Dr. Volker Steuber 
	      (Bio- and Neural Computation Research Group, 
                      University of Hertfordshire)


		      10 October 2007 (Wednesday)

         		  Lecture Theatre E350
		       Hatfield, College Lane Campus
			       3 - 4 pm

	       Coffee/tea and biscuits will be available.
			  [Catering Permitting]

		    Everyone is Welcome to Attend
			  [Space Permitting]



Abstract:

The cerebellum is one of the main structures of the brain involved in
movement control and motor learning and often considered the part of
the brain we know most about. Many theories of cerebellar function
assume that motor learning is based on synaptic plasticity and
associative memory in the cerebellar cortex. We have studied
associative memory based on synaptic plasticity in biologically
realistic models of cerebellar neurons, and have tested our modelling
predictions in experiments. Our simulations and experiments predict
that the cerebellar cortex uses a novel neural code, where information
is stored in the duration of pauses in neural activity rather than
spike times or mean firing rates. We are currently investigating this
novel neural code in a realistic model of the whole cerebellar
network. The construction of the network involves further development
of the neural network construction and visualisation software
neuroConstruct.



--------------------------------------------------
Hertfordshire Computer Science Research Colloquium
http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~nehaniv/colloq