Quantitative Life Sciences seminar - 8 May 2015

[Quantitative Life Sciences]

QUANTITATIVE LIFE SCIENCES SEMINAR

FRIDAY, 8 MAY 2015, 14:00
L. STASI SEMINAR ROOM - ICTP Leonardo Bldg., First floor


Sophies ROSAY
(SISSA, Trieste)

Statistical Mechanics and Neuroscience: the example of place cell modelling

Abstract

Many brain functions are thought to rely on collective behaviours of 
large numbers of interacting neurons. This makes statistical mechanics a 
valuable toolbox in the attempt to understand neural systems. This talk 
with focus on memory and the celebrated "attractor neural network" 
paradigm. After a general introduction, I will explain how these ideas 
can be applied to the so-called place cells in the hippocampus, a neural 
system thought to support the memory of space. A model is proposed that 
can be studied in great details with analytical methods commonly used 
for disordered systems. The various collective behaviours it exhibits 
are thought to be related to recent experimental results.

-- 
Erica Sarnataro
Group Secretary
Quantitative Life Sciences
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)
Trieste,  Italy
Tel. +39-040-2240623
e-mail: qls at ictp.it