[CogSci] [WEBINAR] Neural Mechanisms Online, 8 May: Russell POLDRACK

[Fabrizio Calzavarini]

We are excited about the next Neural Mechanisms webinar this Friday. As always, it is free. You can find information about how and when to join the webinar below or at the Neural Mechanisms website—where you can also join sign up for the mailing list that notifies people about upcoming webinars, webconferences, and more!  

_________________________________Neural Mechanisms Online(website)
8 May 2020
Webinar
h14-16 Greenwhich Mean Time (check your local time here)
JOIN @ https://unito.webex.com/unito-en/onstage/g.php?MTID=e1f0704af1bbf3b25acefeb6cc57162a2the link will be activated 10 mins before the talk. Practical information below
The Physics of Representation* Paper HERE *
(do not quote nor circulate without permission)
AuthorRussell POLDRACK(Stanford University)

Discussants
Adina Roskies (Dartmouth College)
Gualtiero Piccinini (University of Missouri, St. Louis)
Michael Anderson (Western University)  

The concept of “representation” is used broadly and uncontroversially throughout neuroscience, in contrast to its highly controversial status within the philosophy of mind and cognitive science. In this paper I first discuss the way that the term is used within neuroscience, in particular describing the strategies by which representations are characterized empirically. I then relate the concept of representation within neuroscience to one that has developed within the field of machine learning (in particular through recent work in deep learning or “representation learning”). I argue that the recent success of artificial neural networks on certain tasks such as visual object recognition reflects the degree to which those systems (like biological brains) exhibit inherent inductive biases that reflect on the structure of the physical world. I further argue that any system that is going to behave intelligently in the world must contain representations that reflect the structure of the world; otherwise, the system must perform unconstrained function approximation which is destined to fail due to the curse of dimensionality, in which the number of possible states of the world grows exponentially with the number of dimensions in the space of possible inputs. An analysis of these concepts in light of philosophical debates regarding the ontological status of representations suggests that the representations identified within both biological and artificial neural networks qualify as first-class representations.



Practical information

How to join the webinarConference will be hosted by Cisco WebEx, a professional software made available by the University of Turin, Italy. All you need is a computer and a web browser. Ten minutes before the scheduled starting time, click on the Webex link (button "JOIN") placed above. Enter your name and you email address (the password is already entered). Once the information is entered correctly you will be directed to download the necessary plugins to start your WebEx meetings. Depending on your computer’s settings, you may be blocked from running the necessary software. If this happens, click Cancel, and go back to your browser’s window waiting to open WebEx. 
--> You can make a pre-check by following the instructions at this page.

Audio settingBefore entering the webinar, make sure that the microphone and the audio devices of your computer are working. Once you have entered the seminar, select "Using computer for audio" in your audio connection window. --> Do NOT select "I will call in"! If the audio connection window does not open automatically, select "Communicate" in the bar on the top of your WebEX window, and than select "Audio Connection". --> Do not call any phone number!
AttendeesYou will join the event as an Attendee. Attendees can hear and see everything. For technical reasons, they cannot see the list of the other attendees, but they shall not worry: they are not alone! Also, they cannot show their video, and their microphone is muted by default. However, if they have questions for the speaker, after the presentation of her/his paper (40-45 minutes) and the panelists' questions, they might require to speak by using the command raise hand (see making questions).
View If you want a larger view of the slides during the speaker's presentation, select "View" in the bar on the top of your WebEX window, and than select "Full screen". Making questionsDuring the question time, you can make questions to the speaker by clicking the raise hand icon. The icon is a small stylized hand in the lower right corner of your Webex window. We (i.e. the organizers) will enable you to make your question.
TroubleshootingFor every problem, please consult our troubleshooting page (https://www.neuralmechanisms.org).

--
The Neural Mechanisms Online team Fabrizio Calzavarini & Marco Viola


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.cognitivesciencesociety.org/pipermail/announcements-cognitivesciencesociety.org/attachments/20200506/041229e7/attachment.html>