[CTN] CTN Colloquium - Stephanie Palmer - October 24, 3:30 E5 2004p.m.

[Sue Ann Campbell]

Hello Everyone,

Just a reminder that there is a CTN colloquium tomorrow: Tuesday,
October 24, 3:30 p.m. in E5 2004.

The speaker is Stephanie Palmer <https://oba.bsd.uchicago.edu/faculty/stephanie-palmer-phd> from the University of Chicago.
Title and abstract are below.

Prof. Palmer is visiting for the day. Please contact me if you are interested in meeting with her.

Regards,

Sue Ann

Title: How behavioral and evolutionary constraints sculpt early visual processing


Abstract:

Biological systems must selectively encode partial information about the environment, as dictated by the capacity constraints at work in all living organisms. For example, we cannot see every feature of the light field that reaches our eyes; temporal resolution is limited by transmission noise and delays, and spatial resolution is limited by the finite number of photoreceptors and output cells in the retina. Classical efficient coding theory describes how sensory systems can maximize information transmission given such capacity constraints, but it treats all input features equally. Not all inputs are, however, of equal value to the organism. Our work quantifies whether and how the brain selectively encodes stimulus features, specifically predictive features, that are most useful for fast and effective movements. We have shown that efficient predictive computation starts at the earliest stages of the visual system, in the retina. We borrow techniques from statistical physics and information theory to assess how we get terrific, predictive vision from these imperfect (lagged and noisy) component parts. In broader terms, we aim to build a more complete theory of efficient encoding in the brain, and along the way have found some intriguing connections between formal notions of coarse graining in biology and physics.


_______________________________________________


Dr. Sue Ann Campbell (she/her)

Professor and University Research Chair

Department of Applied Mathematics

Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience<https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-theoretical-neuroscience/>

Associate Dean, Research

Faculty of Mathematics

University of Waterloo

Waterloo ON N2L 3G1

https://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~sacampbe/

President, Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Society<https://caims.ca/>


I acknowledge that I live and work on the traditional territory of the Chonnonton, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo main campus is located on the Haldimand tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River.

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