Functional architectures and neuronal computations in the prefrontal cortex
Etienne Koechlin1, Gregor Rainer2, and Xiao-Jing Wang3
1Pierre et Marie Curie University, 2Max-Planck-Institute, Tuebingen, 3Brandeis University

Kokopelli Parlor III

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Abstract

A great challenge in current neuroscience is to understand how the prefrontal cortex subserves the temporal and hierarchical organization of goal-directed behaviors. This workshop aims to discuss recent progress in experimental studies and computational modeling that have begun to identify general principles and key open questions concerning the prefrontal functions, their cellular and microcircuit bases. Important advances have been recently made at the functional, network and cellular levels and the workshop will bring together leading investigators from various fields including neuro-anatomy, neurophysiology, functional imaging and modeling, who have actively contributed to those recent progress. The workshop will focus on the integration of those multiple levels to better characterize information processing in the prefrontal cortex underlying working memory, executive control, decision-making and to clarify the relations between those basic functions. Main topics to be presented by speakers and discussed among participants will include: Biophysical mechanisms, neuronal coding, local network dynamics and functional architectures in the prefrontal cortex involved in integrating information from temporally dispersed events and in processing hierarchical structures of action plans in relation with expected rewards. Our aim is to especially encourage interactions between experimentalists and theoreticians to discuss emerging ideas, concepts and models that will help the field to move forward.

Schedule (Thursday and Friday)

Thursday:
8:30 - 9:00 Helen Barbas (Boston University) Specialization and synergism of prefrontal pathways for cognition, emotion and action
9:10 - 9:40 Etienne Koechlin (Pierre et Marie Curie University, Paris) Temporal and hierarchical dimensions of executive control in the human prefrontal cortex
9:50 - 10:10 Break
10:10 - 10:40 John O'Doherty (Caltech) Abstract state-based inference in human ventromedial prefrontal cortex during reward-based decision making
10:50 - 11:20 Gustavo Deco (University of Barcelona) The role of fluctuations in decision-making
4:30 - 5:00 Matthew Rushworth (Oxford) Contrasting the roles of the medial and lateral prefrontal cortices in decision-making
5:10 - 5:40 Michael Colombo (Dunedin) Neural correlates of executive control in the avian "prefrontal cortex
5:50 - 6:10 Break
6:10 - 6:40 Nicolas Brunel (Paris) Scenarios for persistent activity in cortical network models
6:50 - 7:30 Kenji Doya (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology) Short- and long-term reward prediction in cortico-basal ganglia loops

Friday:
8:30 - 9:00 Daeyeol Lee (Rochester) Reinforcement learning and decision making in prefrontal cortex
9:10 - 9:40 Gregor Rainer (Max-Planck-Institute, Tuebingen) Cooperation between prefrontal and visual cortex during working memory
9:50 - 10:10 Break
10:10 - 10:40 Aldo Genovesio (NIH) Representation of strategies and goals in the prefrontal cortex
10:50 - 11:20 Stefano Fusi (University of Bern) A neural model of flexible sensori-motor mapping: learning and forgetting on multiple timescales
4:30 - 5:00 Xiao-Jing Wang (Brandeis University) Slow reverberatory cortical dynamics underlying cognition
5:10 - 5:40 Shintaro Funahashi (Kyoto University) Neural mechanisms of spatial working memory: contributions of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the orbitofrontal cortex
5:50 - 6:10 Break
6:10 - 6:40 Guillermo Gonzalez-Burgos (Pittsburgh) Synaptic and electrical signaling and dopamine neuromodulation in microcircuits of the monkey dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
6:50 - 7:30 Min-Whan Jung (Suwon) Learning and memory in the prefrontal cortex
Gaps in the schedule are for questions/discussion.