Connectionists: Postdoc opening at the interface of cognitive science and machine learning

[Rava A. da Silveira]

The lab of Rava Azeredo da Silveira invites applications for a *Postdoctoral
Researcher* position at the *interface of theoretical/computational
cognitive science and machine learning* at the Institute of Molecular and
Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB) in Switzerland, an associated institute
of the University of Basel.

Research questions will be chosen from a range of topics involving models
of decision making, learning, and memory, with a particular focus on the
structure of human inference, the nature of internal representations/latent
variables, and behavioral variability. While the projects will be primarily
theoretical, they will involve data analysis and may be complemented with
behavioral experiments or carried out in collaboration with experimental
labs.

Candidates with backgrounds in mathematics, statistics, artificial
intelligence, physics, computer science, engineering, and psychology are
welcome. Experience with data analysis and proficiency with numerical
methods, in addition to familiarity with neuroscience topics and
mathematical and statistical methods, are desirable. Equally desirable are
a spirit of intellectual adventure, eagerness, and drive.

The positions will come with highly competitive work conditions and
salaries.

*Application deadline:*

For full consideration, please apply by 15 March 2021.

*How to apply:*

Please send the following information *in one single PDF, to *
*silveira at iob.ch* <silveira at iob.ch>*:*

1.     letter of motivation;

2.     statement of research interests, limited to two pages;

3.     curriculum vitæ including a list of publications;

4.     any relevant publications that you wish to showcase.

In addition, please arrange for three letters of recommendations to be sent
to the same email address. In all email correspondence, please include the
mention “APPLICATION-POSTDOC” in the subject header, otherwise the
application will *not* be considered.

***

*The Silveira** Lab* focuses on a range of topics, which, however, are tied
together through a central question: How does the brain represent and
manipulate information?

Among the more concrete approaches to this question, the lab analyses and
models neural activity in circuits that can be identified, recorded from,
and perturbed experimentally, such as visual neural circuits in the retina
and the cortex. Establishing links between physiological specificity and
the structure of neural activity yields an understanding of circuits as
building blocks of cerebral information processing. On a more abstract
level, the lab investigates the representation of information in
populations of neurons, from a statistical and algorithmic—rather than
mechanistic—point of view, through theories of coding and data analyses.
These studies aim at understanding the statistical nature of
high-dimensional neural activity in different conditions, and how this
serves to encode and process information from the sensory world.

In the context of cognitive studies, the lab investigates mental processes
such as inference, learning, and decision-making, through both theoretical
developments and behavioral experiments. A particular focus is the study of
neural constraints and limitations and, further, their impact on mental
processes. Neural limitations impinge on the structure and variability of
mental representations, which in turn inform the cognitive algorithms that
produce behavior. The lab explores the nature of neural limitations, mental
representations, and cognitive algorithms, and their interrelations.
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