NOTE: It's coming time to start thinking of next semester's overarching theme. One possibility is "Synaptic plasticity", a broad topic that could include molecular mechanisms as well as population-level patterns of perceptual learning, LTP as well as neuromodulator-regulated changes.  As a BCS topic, of course, the intent would be to choose approaches relevant to behavioral, computational, and systems-level questions.  The relevance/necessity of bidirectional regulation of plasticity would be a prime topic.  Following up on synchrony-dependent timing properties of synaptic plasticity mechanisms would establish a common thread with this semester's theme.  Another, somewhat related theme is a neuroscience version of statistical learning:  anything from perceptual learning to Bayesian representations of coding to temporal difference learning to dopamine (Schultz model) to the underlying synaptic rules that give rise to relevant population level learning properties.  Thoughts?  other ideas?  Send them to Thom or bring them up at BCS. 

Spring Semester 2009-2010

For Spring semester 2009-2010, the Behavioral, Computational, and Systems Neuroscience (BCS) Journal Club will meet on Tuesdays from 12:00 to 1:15 pm in Uris Hall 205. 

The overarching theme this semester is Oscillations.  Adhering to this theme is not required, but recommended.  Please interpret it broadly. Theories of gamma, beta, and theta oscillations in the nervous system are the centroid of intent, but alpha, sleep, circadian, etc. rhythms are also spot-on as are reasonably accessible dynamical systems topics from math and engineering. 

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. 

Please contact Thomas Cleland with any questions (David Smith is on walkabout this semester).  BCS meeting archive.

26 January 2010:  Organizational Meeting

• No readings.

2 February 2010:  Thomas Cleland

• Fries, Nikolic, and Singer (2007).  The gamma cycle.  Trends in Neurosciences.  
• Optional/supplementary:  Dan and Poo (2004).  Spike Timing-Dependent Plasticity of Neural Circuits.  Review in Neuron.

In discussion, Patrick brought up Li et al (2004), a paper from Mu-ming Poo's lab showing that those presynaptic neurons that spike early, and that consequently (via STDP) have their synaptic weights upon a postsynaptic neuron strengthened, are also themselves rendered more excitable. That is, by this mechanism STDP can "work on the presynaptic neuron" as well as on its output synapse. The net effect of this can be to durably group a set of early-firing neurons together into a fully synchronous ensemble evoking activity in that postsynaptic cell.

9 February 2010:  Christina Sill

• Hasselmo, Giocomo, and Yoshida (2009).  Cellular dynamical mechanisms for encoding the time and place of events along spatiotemporal trajectories in episodic memory.  Behavioral Brain Research. 
  

16 February 2010:  Patrick Gill

• Fusi, Drews, and Abbott (2005).  Cascade models of synaptically stored memories.  Neuron.

23 February 2010:  NO MEETING

•  No Meeting.  If you come, nobody will be there except for you. 

2 March 2010:  Helene Porte

• Mahon, Vautrelle, et al (2006). Distinct patterns of striatal medium spiny neuron activity during the natural sleep-wake cycle.  J. Neuroscience.
  

9 March 2010:  Sasha Devore

• Schroeder et al. (2008).  Neuronal oscillations and visual amplification of speech.  Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 

In discussion, Guoshi brought up this modeling paper analyzing the property that visual input (lip reading) facilitates auditory input most effectively under moderate noise conditions. 

16 March 2010:  Thomas Cleland

• Fries (2005).  A mechanism for cognitive dynamics:  neuronal communication through neuronal coherence.  Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 

• Schoffelen, Oostenveld, and Fries (2005).  Neuronal coherence as a mechanism of effective corticospinal interaction.  Science. 

23 March 2010:  SPRING BREAK

• No meeting, because it's spring break.  But to keep you in good form, take a look at this paper that Shane found.  Contrary to what I presented at the beginning of the semester, these authors argue that extracellular fields per se CAN directly affect neuronal activity.  If this effect is sufficiently true to matter, this would provide another mechanism by which neuronal populations can be coordinated (or, in some circumstances, an additional problem to be overcome in trying to coordinate them).  Maybe we'll get a chance to talk about it later this semester. 

30 March 2010:  SiWei Luo

• Kalenscher et al. (2010). Reward-associated gamma oscillations in ventral striatum are regionally differentiated and modulate local firing activity.  Journal of Neurophysiology.
  

6 April 2010:  Guoshi Li

• David et al (2009).  Specific entrainment of mitral cells during gamma oscillation in the rat olfactory bulb.  PLoS Computational Biology. 

13 April 2010:  Anuttama Sheela Mohan

• TBD.

20 April 2010:  Shane Peace and Ben Johnson

• Results from planar-array multielectrode slice recordings of gamma oscillations in the mouse olfactory bulb.
  

27 April 2010:  TBD

4 May 2010:  Mike Wojnowicz

• TBD.