CFP: Neural Models Brain & Cognitive Disorders

Fri Oct 17 13:06:54 EDT 1997

                    SECOND INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON
            NEURAL MODELING OF BRAIN AND COGNITIVE DISORDERS 

            ** Initial Announcement and Call for Abstracts **

  Sponsors: National Institute of Mental Health
            Whitaker Foundation
            Univ. of Maryland Inst. for Advanced Computer Studies
            Center for Neural Basis of Cognition, CMU & Univ. of Pittsburgh 
            Adams Super Center for Brain Studies, Tel Aviv
            Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, UMCP

  A workshop on Neural Modeling of Brain and Cognitive Disorders will be 
  held on June 4 - 6, 1998 at the University of Maryland, College Park, just 
  outside of Washington, DC.  The focus of this meeting will be on the 
  lesioning of neural network models to study disorders in neurology,
  neuropsychology and psychiatry, such as Alzheimer's disease, amnesia, aphasia,
  depression, epilepsy, neglect, parkinsonism, schizophrenia, and stroke.  
  These models attempt to explain how specific pathological neuroanatomical 
  and neurophysiological changes can result in various clinical manifestations, 
  and to investigate the functional organization of the symptoms that result 
  from specific brain pathologies. A Proceedings consisting of abstracts from 
  the presentations will be available for attendees.

  The emphasis at the workshop will be on reviewing and discussing new 
  contributions to this field since the first meeting was held in 1995. 
  Many of the invited contributions from the first workshop appeared in a 
  World Scientific book last year; see web page indicated below.

                     ***   CALL FOR ABSTRACTS   ***

  Individuals wishing to present a poster related to any aspect of the
  workshop's themes should submit an abstract describing the nature of their 
  presentation. The single page submission should include title, author(s), 
  contact information (address and email/fax), and abstract. One inch margins 
  and a typesize of at least 10 points should be used.  Abstracts will be 
  reviewed by the Program Committee; those accepted will be  published in the 
  workshop proceedings.  Six copies of the camera-ready abstract should be 
  mailed TO ARRIVE by February 1, 1998 to James A. Reggia, Dept. of Computer 
  Science, A.V. Williams Bldg., University of Maryland, College Park, 
  MD 20742 USA.  

  Web Page
  --------
  The latest information about this meeting can be found at

             http://www.cs.umd.edu/~reggia/workshop/

  Travel Fellowships: 
  ------------------
  Funding is expected for a few fellowships to offset travel cost of 
  students, postdocs, and/or residents.  Further details will be forthcoming. 

  CME Credit:
  ----------
  The possibility of offering CME credits for attendance is currently 
  being explored.

  Program Committee: 
  -----------------
  Rita Berndt (UMAB), Avis Cohen  (UMCP), Tim Gale (Univ. Hertfordshire), 
  Helen Gigley  (ONR), Dennis Glanzman (NIMH), Barry Gordon (Hopkins),
  Michael Hasselmo (Harvard), James McClelland (CMU), James Reggia (UMCP),
  Eytan Ruppin (Tel Aviv), Greg Siegel (San Diego), Nitish Thankor (Hopkins).

  Registration and Further Information: 
  -----------------------------------

  To receive registration materials (distributed most likely
  in January/February), please send your name, address, email
  address, phone number and fax number to Cecilia Kullman, UMIACS,
  A. V. Williams Bldg., University of Maryland, College Park, MD 
  20742 USA. (Tel: (301) 405-0304, Fax: (301) 314-9658, and 
  email: cecilia at umiacs.umd.edu).

  Further questions about conference administration, hotel reservations, 
  etc. should also be directed to Ms. Kullman.

  For questions about the workshop technical/scientific content or 
  abstract submissions, please contact Jim Reggia (address above,  
  Fax: (301) 405-6707,  email: reggia at cs.umd.edu).

  Preliminary List of Speakers
  ----------------------------

  PARKINSONISM/OTHER BASAL GANGLIA DISORDERS

    Discussant and Chair: Steven Wise, NIMH

    Jose Contreras-Vidal, Arizona State University
    A Neural Network Model of the Effects of L-dopa Therapy in Parkinson's
    Disease

    Donald Borrett, Toronto East General Hospital
    Recurrent Neural Networks and Parkinson's Disease

    Rolf Kotter, University of Dusseldorf
    Striatal Mechanisms in Parkinson's Disease: Insights from
    Computer Modeling

  LANGUAGE/COGNITIVE DISORDERS

    Discussant and Chair: Gary Dell, University of Illinois

    Kate Mayall, University of Birmingham 
    A Connectionist Model of Peripheral Dyslezia

    Jay McClelland, Carnegie-Mellon University 
    Reopening the Critical Period: A Hebbian Account of Interventions 
    that Induce Change in Language Perception

    Risto Miikkulainen, University of Texas at Austin
    Dyslexic and Aphasic Impairments in a Self-Organizing Model 
    of the Lexicon

    David Plaut, Carnegie-Mellon University 
    Systematicity and Specialization in Semantics: A Connectionist Account 
    of Optic Aphasia

  STROKE AND EPILEPSY

    Discussant and Chair: Mark Hallett, NINDS

    Bill Lytton, Univ. of Wisconsin & Wm. S. Middleton VA Hospital 
    Modeling Recovery from Experimental Ablation

    Jim Reggia, University of Maryland 
    Modeling the Interhemispheric Effects of Stroke 

    Eytan Ruppin, Tel-Aviv University
    The Pathogenesis of Spreading Tissue Damage Following Acute Focal
    Stroke:  A Computational Investigation

    Terry Sejnowski, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Salk Institute
    Thalamic Model of Absence Epilepsy

  NEGLECT AND RELATED DISORDERS 

    Discussant and Chair: Marlene Behrmann, Carnegie Mellon University

    Mike Mozer, University of Colorado 
    Modeling Neglect of Objects and Space

    Alexandre Pouget, Georgetown University
    A Neural Theory of Hemineglect

    Richard Shillcock, University of Edinburgh 
    Connectionist Modelling of Unilateral Visual Neglect: the
    Crossover Effect in Line Bisection

    Rita Sloan Berndt & Carol Whitney, University of Maryland 
    Positional Reading Errors: A New Interpretation of Right
    Neglect Dyslexia

  AMNESIA/ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

    Discussant and Chair: John Lisman, Brandeis University

    Pablo Alvarez,  Boston University
    A Neural Model of Retrograde Amnesia and Memory Consolidation

    Mike Hasselmo,  Harvard University
    Memory Function and Dysfunction in a Network Simulation of the Hippocampal
    Formation

    David Horn, Tel Aviv University
    Response of Multimodular Memory Networks to Different Lesion Types

    Mark Gluck, Rutgers University
    Empirical Tests of Models of Hippocampal Function with Amnesic and
    Elderly Populations

  SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHIATRY

    Discussant and Chair: William Carpenter, Maryland Psychiatric Research
                                                Center and UMAB

    Jonathan Cohen, University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie-Mellon University
    The Role of Dopamine in Regulating Access to Prefrontal Cortex: Normal 
    Function and Disturbances in Schizophrenia

    Ralph Hoffman,  Yale University
    Modeling Postnatal Neurodevelopment, Psychosis Induction, and the
    Locus of Action of Antipsychotic Drugs

    Sunjay Berdia, Yale University 
    Neural Network Modeling of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test

    Greg Siegle, San Diego State Univ. and Univ. of California, San Diego 
    A Neural Network Model of Affective Interference in Depression

  THE FUTURE: SCIENTIFIC AND FUNDING EXPECTATIONS

    Dennis Glanzman, National Institute of Mental Health