Fall Semester 2012-2013
For Fall Semester 2012-2013, the Behavioral, Computational, and Systems Neuroscience (BCS) Journal Club will meet on Tuesdays from 11:45 to 1:00 pm in Uris Hall 205.
Papers and notes from previous semesters can be found in the BCS meeting archive.
The semester's theme is assessing and comparing methods of inference regarding neural activity*. * How do local field potential (LFP) data relate to data from studies based on spike trains, BOLD, fMRI, calcium or voltage-dependent optical signals, immediate-early gene histology, or other measures of neural activity? What artifacts may arise from the use of particular techniques and do they threaten the supposed findings of a given paper? As always, please interpret BCS themes broadly -- they are meant to focus rather than to exclude.
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BCS will continue its "minimal Powerpoint" policy of Fall 2011. In order to make discussions more engaging and less formal, we encourage presentations to be primarily "chalk talks", in which concepts are sketched rather than figures shown. Mixed media are OK too, in which a complex figure can be put onto a slide or simply zoomed up on from the PDF file of the original paper, but drawing the figure tends to convey stronger understanding than does flashing a figure up on the wall. We also emphasize that you do not have to present papers in their entirety, much less multiple papers. Having everybody read up thoroughly on something small and focused usually makes for a better experience than everybody skimming one or more full papers. You may want to present only one exciting concept, exemplified by one or more figures drawn from one or more papers. That's great. Focus on the concepts, and don't feel compelled to master every detail of every paper that you want to include in your presentation. Do what you feel is best, but please do not just put the figures of a paper into a slide show and describe the paper.
That said, presenting your own work is always welcome, and in this case often it will be in Powerpoint format and formally organized. Not a problem.
To add yourself to the BCS-L mailing list, send a plain-text email to bcs-L-request@cornell.edu with the body of the message saying simply join. The subject line doesn't matter. Sending the message leave instead will unsubscribe you from the list. See Cornell's Lyris HowTo page for further details.
You can enroll in the BCS Journal Club for graduate or undergraduate credit (1-2 CR, S/U) as a Topics in Biopsychology seminar: PSYCH 6271-101 (class number 8699). The course requires that you present at least once during the semester and participate actively overall. You are welcome to attend without enrolling, of course, but we do appreciate you enrolling if you plan to attend the whole semester and to present.
Please contact Thomas Cleland or David Smith with any questions.
4 September 2012: Organizational Meeting
- No readings. Please come prepared to choose a day to present from the many opportunities below.
11 September 2012: Dave Bulkin
- Stimulus contrast modulates functional connectivity in visual cortex. Nauhaus I, Busse L, Carandini M, Ringach DL. Nat Neurosci. 2009.
- Network Rhythms Influence the Relationship between Spike-Triggered Local Field Potential and Functional Connectivity. Ray S, Maunsell JH. J Neurosci. 2011.
- Robustness of traveling waves in ongoing activity of visual cortex. Nauhaus I, Busse L, Ringach DL, Carandini M. J Neurosci. 2012.
18 September 2012: TBA
- This slot is available for your turn to lead the discussion - reserve it before it's too late!
25 September 2012: TBA
- This slot is available for your turn to lead the discussion - reserve it before it's too late!
2 October 2012: TBA
- This slot is available for your turn to lead the discussion - reserve it before it's too late!
9 October 2012: Fall Break
- No meeting this week.
16 October 2012: SFN
- SFN Conference - should we have a meeting?
23 October 2012: TBA
- This slot is available for your turn to lead the discussion - reserve it before it's too late!
30 October 2012: TBA
- This slot is available for your turn to lead the discussion - reserve it before it's too late!
6 November 2012: TBA
- This slot is available for your turn to lead the discussion - reserve it before it's too late!
13 November 2012: TBA
- This slot is available for your turn to lead the discussion - reserve it before it's too late!
20 November 2012: TBA
- This slot is available for your turn to lead the discussion - reserve it before it's too late!
27 November 2012: TBA
- This slot is available for your turn to lead the discussion - reserve it before it's too late!