[CTN] Grad student meeting - Re: [ctn-faculty] Seminar on Burstprop: a theory of learning Feb 22 at 14:30

[Bryan Tripp]

Hi everyone,

Graduate students and post-docs are invited to meet with Professor Naud from 12-1 on Tuesday at this link:

https://uwaterloo.zoom.us/j/92071765694?pwd=TGU2NDN4MGo1eFNHY0RPNlRiWVJvQT09

For students who may be new to this, here are a few tips for successful meetings with speakers:

  *   Spend at least a few minutes beforehand looking into the speaker's research, allowing time for a more detailed look at any of their work that is of particular interest or relevance to you.
  *   Think in advance of at least one question you might want to ask them (e.g., on their research or on career advice they may have).
  *   Be ready with a 1-minute elevator pitch of your research in case you are asked about it. Polish doesn't matter in this context, but you want to be reasonably organized and understandable.

Bryan

Bryan Tripp, PhD

Director, Biomedical Engineering

Associate Professor, Systems Design Engineering & Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience
University of Waterloo


________________________________
From: ctn-faculty <ctn-faculty-bounces at artsservices.uwaterloo.ca> on behalf of Britt Anderson <britt at uwaterloo.ca>
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2022 10:37 AM
To: CTN Mailing List General <ctn at artsservices.uwaterloo.ca>
Subject: [ctn-faculty] [CTN] Seminar on Burstprop: a theory of learning Feb 22 at 14:30

Richard Naud of the University of Ottawa has wide interests in neural
coding (http://www.neurodynamic.uottawa.ca/neuralcoding/index.html) and
will be giving a UWloo Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience seminar this
coming Tuesday, Feb 22 at 14:30. The title and abstract for his talk
are:

Title: Burstprop: a mechanistic theory for the orchestration of learning
in cortex

Abstract: Synaptic plasticity is believed to be a key physiological
mechanism for learning. It is well established that it depends on pre-
and postsynaptic activity. However, models that rely solely on pre- and
postsynaptic activity for synaptic changes have, so far, not been able
to account for learning complex tasks that demand credit assignment in
hierarchical networks. Burstporp is a theory that exploit the fact that
synaptic plasticity is regulated by high-frequency bursts of spikes, it
allows pyramidal neurons higher in a hierarchical circuit to coordinate
the plasticity of lower-level connections. Using simulations and
mathematical analyses, we have demonstrated that, when paired with
short-term synaptic dynamics, regenerative activity in the apical
dendrites and synaptic plasticity in feedback pathways, a
burst-dependent learning rule can solve challenging tasks that require
deep network architectures. To end, I will provide a discussion on the
biological plausibility of burstprop as a theory for the coordination of
synaptic plasticity in the brain.

The meeting number and password for the zoom connection will follow
soon.

Thanks, Britt





--
Britt Anderson, PhD & MD
Director, Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience
Assoc. Prof., Dept. of Psychology
University of Waterloo, Canada
https://brittlab.uwaterloo.ca
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