Connectionists: Call for papers: Special issue of the Journal of Integrative Neuroscience

[Angelo Arleo]

(We apologise for multiple copies of this message)

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Call for papers for a Special Issue of the Journal of Integrative  
Neuroscience on

"Multisensory Integration and Concurrent Parallel Memory Systems for  
Spatial Cognition"

  Deadline for Submission: March 15, 2007

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Spatial cognition is the ability of an animal to acquire spatial  
knowledge (e.g., spatio-temporal relations among environmental cues or
events), organise it properly, and employ it to adapt its motor  
behaviour to the specific context. Alike other high-level brain  
functions, spatial memory calls upon parallel information processing  
mediated by multiple neural substrates that interact, either  
cooperatively or competitively, to promote appropriate spatial  
learning. Similar to animals, autonomous navigating artefacts need to  
interact with their environment and learn both low-level sensory- 
motor couplings and more abstract context representations supporting  
their spatial behaviour.

At the sensory level, different perceptual modalities provide the  
navigator with a manifold description of the spatial context. The  
integration of these multimodal signals into a coherent  
representation is at the core of spatial cognition. At the action  
selection level, determining and maintaining a goal-directed  
trajectory involves multiple mnemonic processes, each of which  
promotes a specific solution (i.e., a navigation strategy) to the  
overall task. The capability of dynamically weighing the contribution  
of distinct memory systems is relevant to the issue of
adapting the spatial behaviour to the complexity of the task.

This special issue aims at promoting a multidisciplinary forum  
between experimentalists, theoreticians, and engineers in order to  
improve our understanding of biological and bio-mimetic spatial  
learning systems.

Topics appropriate for this Special Issue include (but are not  
limited to):

* the learning mechanisms (both at the synaptic plasticity level and  
at a higher level) mediating the integration of multimodal signals

* the characterisation of the spatial information properties  
determining the cue selection process during the exploration of a  
novel environment

* the principles underlying the minimisation of destructive  
interference between spatial memories acquired during lifelong learning

* the multiple co-existing memory systems promoting spatial navigation

* the anatomo-functional interrelations between the neural substrates  
(e.g., hippocampus, prefrontal and parietal cortices, basal ganglia,  
and cerebellum) mediating spatial learning

* the principles regulating the cooperative/competitive relations  
between these parallel memory systems and determining the on-line  
shift between distinct navigation strategies


Contributions postulating an integrative approach permitting to  
investigate the links between different description levels (e.g.  
between neural coding and behavior) are particularly welcome. Authors  
proposing theoretical or computational approaches should explicitly  
address issues like "the biological plausibility of the models" and  
"how the theoretical/simulation findings can lead to a better  
understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying spatial  
cognition".

Drafts must be submitted to spatial.learning at gmail.com and must be  
prepared according to the "Guidelines for contributions" of the  
Journal of Integrative Neuroscience  (http://www.worldscinet.com/jin/ 
mkt/guidelines.shtml).

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SUMMARY of IMPORTANT DATES
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Deadline for paper submission:   March 15, 2006
Expected publication date of the special issue:    fall 2007

For sake of efficient editorial organisation, we ask the authors to  
inform us as soon as possible about their intention to send a  
contribution.

Sincerely,

Angelo Arleo & Ricardo Chavarriaga




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Angelo ARLEO, Ph.D.

Researcher,
Laboratory of Neurobiology of Adaptive Processes
University Pierre&Marie Curie,
Box 14, 9 quai St. Bernard, 75005 Paris, France
Phone: +33 (0)1 44 27 32 54
Mobile: +33 (0)6 89 89 07 23
Fax: +33 (0)1 44 27 22 80
email: angelo.arleo at snv.jussieu.fr
web: http://npa.snv.jussieu.fr/npa_eng.htm

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