MIND conference at Texas A&M: preliminary announcement

[B344DSL@UTARLG.UTA.EDU]

         Preliminary Announcement and Call for Abstracts

Conference on Neural Networks for Novel High-Order Rule Formation
Sponsored by Metroplex Institute for Neural Dynamics (MIND) and
For a New Social Science (NSS)

Texas A&M University, May 20-21, 1995


     MIND, a neural networks professional organization based in the
Dallas-Fort Worth area, and NSS, a private research foundation
based in Coral Springs, Florida, are jointly sponsoring a
conference on Neural Networks for Novel High-order Rule Formation. 
This will partially overlap a conference on Creative Concepts May
19-20 sponsored by the Psychology Department at Texas A&M and the
American Psychological Association.  This will in turn be preceded
by ARMADILLO, the region psychology meeting on Thursday, May 18
(whose registration is free for those attending either Creative
Cognition or MIND/NSS).
     Invited speakers for the MIND/NSS portion include John Taylor
(King's College, London); Karl Pribram (Radford University); Risto
Miikkulainen (University of Texas); Ramkrishna Prakash (University
of Houston); Sam Leven (For a New Social Science); and Daniel
Levine (University of Texas at Arlington).  There is space for a
limited number of contributed talks, for presentation on the Sunday
of the conference, and an arbitrary number of posters, to up for
the duration of the conference.
     MIND has sponsored six international conferences, three of
which have formed the basis for books (two in print and one now in
progress).  All but the first have been on focused topics within
the neural network field.  The topics were chosen for their
interest to a broad community, some interested primarily in
neurobiology, others in neural theory, and others in engineering
applications.  These last three topics have been Oscillations in
Neural Systems, Optimality in Biological and Artificial Networks?,
and Neural Networks for Knowledge Representation and Inference.
     NSS has co-sponsored two of MIND's conferences.  Its purpose
is, to quote from its founding statement, "turning the findings and
techniques of science to the benefit of social science."  It seeks
to develop more predictive methodological bases for areas ranging
from economics to management theory to social psychology ~ in some
cases, to replace foundational assumptions dating from the time of
David Hume and Adam Smith, based on a static and unrealistic model
of human behavior, with new foundational assumptions that draw on
modern knowledge of neuroscience, cognitive science, and neural
network theory.  This would mean that social scientific models
which assume humans always behave rationally will be replaced by
models which incorporate emotion, habit, novelty, and ~
particularly relevant for this conference ~ creative intuition.  In
the words of NSS's original statement:

We may find people less rational than we would like them,
economic models less precise, survey results less certain.
.. We of For a New Social Science seek to find real
answers instead of nostrums and mythology.  But when we
cannot find simple solutions, we choose to see our world
plainly and to open our eyes to what we do not know.



     The theme of this conference will be connectionist modeling of
the processes by which complex decision rules are deduced, learned,
and encoded.  These include, for example, rules that determine, on
the basis of some trials, which classes of actions will be
rewarded.  The myth that neural network methodology is only
relevant for low-order pattern processing and not for high-order
cognition is rapidly being disproved by recent models.  In
particular, the 1994 World Congress on Neural Networks included a
session on Mind, Brain, and Consciousness, which was one of the
most popular and successful sessions of that conference; another
such session will be held at the same Congress in 1995.  John
Taylor has developed a series of models related to consciousness,
which is interpreted partly as selective attentional (based in the
thalamic reticular nucleus) and partly as comparison of current
stimuli with episodic memories of past events (based in the
hippocampus).  Raju Bapi and Daniel Levine have constructed a
network that learns motor sequences and classifies them on the
basis of reward.  Models have been developed that mimic disruption
of specific cognitive tasks by specific mental disorders, among
them Alzheimer dementia, autism, depression, and schizophrenia. 
Sam Leven and Daniel Levine have constructed a neural network that
simulates contextual shifts in multiattribute decision making, with
specific application to consumer preference for old versus new
versions of Coca-Cola.  Finally, Haluk Ogmen and Ramkrishna Prakash
built on models previously developed by Grossberg and his
colleagues to design robots that actively explore their environment
under the influence of appetitive and aversive stimuli.
     All this work paves the way for developing neural network
models of creativity and innovation.  Part of the creative process
involves search for novel high-order rules when current rules fail
to predict expected results or to yield expected rewards.  This
process often requires transfer to a higher level of complexity of
analysis.  Hence creativity involves what Douglas Hofstadter called
a "search of search spaces."  Some current models in progress also
incorporate knowledge of different brain regions involved in
circuits for such a transfer of control.  Bapi and Levine discuss
the role of the frontal lobes in such a circuit.  In the
experiments modeled therein, macaque monkeys with prefrontal damage
can learn an invariant sequence of motor actions if it is rewarded,
but have difficulty learning any one of several reorderings of a
sequence (say, ABC, ACB, BAC, BCA, CAB, and CBA) if all are
rewarded.  This flexible sequence rule is one of many types of
complex rules that require intact frontal lobes to be learned
effectively.  Another is learning to go back and forth on alternate
trials between two food trays.  Yet another is learning to move
toward the most novel object in the environment.  Karl Pribram
hints that the frontal lobes act in concert with some areas of the
limbic system, particularly the hippocampus and amygdala.
     These theories of specific brain regions are not yet precise
or uniquely determined.  Neural network models of high-order
cognitive processes typically build on network structures that have
previously been developed for low-order processes, and may or may
not incorporate these neurobiological details.  Still, we are now
witnessing a dynamic convergence of insights from cognitive
neuropsychology along with those from experimental psychology,
cognitive science, and neural network theory.  This will be the
general theme of these two overlapping conferences.
     Registration for this conference will be $40: registration
forms are attached.  Those attending the Creative Concepts
Conference immediately preceding the MIND/NSS conference will be
able to attend for $15.  For information about transportation and
lodging in College Station, TX (roughly between Austin and Houston)
where Texas A&M is located, please contact:

     Steve Smith
     Department of Psychology
     Texas A&M University
     College Station, TX 77843
     409-845-2509
     sms at psyc.tamu.edu

If you are interested in speaking, please send an abstract by
Friday, April 7, to

     Daniel S. Levine
     Department of Mathematics
     University of Texas at Arlington
     Arlington, TX 76019-0408
     817-273-3598
     b344dsl at utarlg.uta.edu


-------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------PLEASE RETURN
THIS REGISTRATION FORM TO PROF. LEVINE
-------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------

Name ________________________________________ Phone
__________________________

Address
_________________________________________________________________
_____________

____________________________________ e-mail
___________________________________

1. I plan to attend (check all that apply):

ARMADILLO ____  Creative Concepts ____ MIND/NSS ____

2. I would like to present a talk or poster at MIND/NSS ____