The Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience of Categorization, Novelty-Detec...

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Google Tech Talks
November, 15 2007

ABSTRACT

Neurocomputational models provide fundamental insights towards
understanding the human brain circuits for learning new associations
and organizing our world into appropriate categories. In this talk I
will review the information-processing functions of four interacting
brain systems for learning and categorization:

(1) the basal ganglia which incrementally adjusts choice behaviors using environmental
feedback about the consequences of our actions,

(2) the hippocampus which supports learning in other brain regions through the creation of
new stimulus representations (and, hence, new similarity
relationships) that reflect important statistical regularities in the
environment,

(3) the medial septum which works in a feedback-loop with
the hippocampus, using novelty-detection to alter the rate at which
stimulus representations are updated through experience,

(4) the frontal lobes which provide for selective attention and executive
control of learning and memory.

The computational models to be described have been evaluated through a variety of empirical
methodoligies including human functional brain imaging, studies of
patients with localized brain damage due to injury or early-stage
neurodegenerative diseases, behavioral genetic studies of
naturally-occuring individual variability, as well as comparative
lesion and genetic studies with rodents. Our applications of these
models to engineering and computer science including automated anomaly
detection systems for mechanical fault diagnosis on US Navy
helicopters and submarines as well more recent contributions to the
DoD's DARPA program for Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures
(BICA).

Speaker: Dr. Mark Gluck
Mark Gluck is a Professor of Neuroscience at Rutgers University - Newark, co-director of the Rutgers Memory Disorders Project, and publisher of the public health newsletter, Memory Loss and the Brain. He works at the interface between neuroscience, psychology, and computer science, where his research focuses on the neural bases of learning and memory, and the consequences of memory loss due to aging, trauma, and disease. He is the co-author of "Gateway to Memory: An Introduction to Neural Network Models of the Hippocampus and Memory " (MIT Press, 2001) and a forthcoming undergraduate textbook, "Learning and Memory: From Brain to Behavior." He has edited several other books and has published over 60 scientific journal articles. His awards include the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contributions from the American Psychological Society and the Young Investigator Award for Cognitive and Neural Sciences from the Office of Naval Research. In 1996, he was awarded a NSF Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers by President Bill Clinton. For more information, see

Channel: People & Blogs
Uploaded: December 21, 2007 at 4:12 am
Author: googletechtalks

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Video Comments:
davidwizard2006 (November 2, 2008 at 9:25 am)
the iq test are mostly the prefrontal area of the brain for active memory, and also for the divergence form of deductive reasoning, but declarative learning and inductive reasoning is not determined, and that should be even more important
johnkoetsier (September 26, 2008 at 10:24 pm)
It's unfortunate that embedding has been deleted. Not too impressive of Google.
LothairApoclyane (October 12, 2008 at 7:15 pm)
yea that blows..
markomanius (September 8, 2008 at 10:03 am)
In my opinion the design of IQ test are just able to determine limited configuration of processing ability and test for limited number of subjects interconnection ability, but you can never be 100% sure if someones brain is able to process much more efficiently in totally different system, even unique one.
wildfemale (September 27, 2008 at 12:25 pm)
You know, it's a really good remark because as far as I know the intelligence itself is defined (in some cases as there is a multitude of definitions) as the ability to learn quickly and to adapt quickly to new circumstances. Yet, remember that IQ tests were created to determine whether a child will have some difficulties with learning and not to find geniuses;)
beelzebubblicious6 (September 4, 2008 at 5:43 pm)
IQ tests are largely test of prefrontal cortex function, and that's by design.
markomanius (September 8, 2008 at 9:52 am)
Still, my question is how can you be sure that IQ test is accurate in case someone does find connections that are not designed by IQ test? A lot of people are able to visually construct and interpret interactions of some kind between things that are not visual, like music or touch, words or sentences... I don't think it's accurate to measure someones IQ by "generalization" of any kind; it's a starting point but not definitive and absolute.
ssnatcherss (August 29, 2008 at 10:08 pm)
What Would William James Do?

Really interesting presentation. Neuroscience blows my mind (pun intended).
Penn666 (August 26, 2008 at 2:04 am)
This was so confusing, by the end my head was really hurting.
modelmark (July 4, 2008 at 5:46 am)
Interesting stuff. Maybe he could also use the brain model to investigate why soldiers commit suicide more often than regular guys and often get into psychological problems after combat. It might be something interesting for the navy to fund.