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MindTalk: Adaptivity in deep neural networks: the long road to lifelong learning

Prof. Dr. Martin Mundt Deep neural networks (DNNs) are often framed as being inspired by the brain. Although their advent has led to remarkable success stories and a plethora of large-scale applications, they however lack a key ability humans posses: the capacity for lifelong learning. That is, DNNs are primarily successful when trained on predefined training […]

MindTalk: The impact of age-related hearing loss on brain structure and function

Prof. Dr. Christiane Thiel The presentation will provide an overview of our neuroimaging studies involving elderly volunteers with uncompensated age-related hearing loss. I will demonstrate that hearing loss enhances audiovisual integration but does not trigger cross-modal responses in the auditory cortex. Instead, we found increases in the functional connectivity of the auditory cortex to visual, […]

MindTalk: AI for Neuroscience

Prof. Dr. Nergis Tömen Machine learning and neuroscience have a profoundly interconnected history with modern deep learning having its roots in neurophysiology. In the last couple of decades, breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) and neuroscience have advanced our understanding of both domains and unveiled exciting new research opportunities at their intersection. Currently, AI can help […]

MindTalk: Building a theory of sensory coding for active behavior

Prof. Dr. Wiktor Mlynarski Sensory systems are the brain’s window to the world – they represent the organism’s surrounding in order to enable successful action. To instantiate such representations efficiently and accurately, the brain must adapt to the structure of natural environments. However, nothing in the natural world is completely static – environments change, animals‘ […]

ComAI Lecture: “Science Communication and Artificial Intelligence: How AI is Changing Public Communication about Science”

Prof. Dr. Mike S. Schäfer (University of Zürich) Abstract Generative AI – producing novel outputs based on extensive digital data and human training – is changing public communication profoundly. Citizens and communication professionals use it to communicate about political and economic topics, healthcare, technology and other issues, with potentially far-reaching implications. Scholars and pundits have […]

Neurodynamics during quasi-realistic social decision making – Evidence from fMRI-informed multi-channel EEG analyses

Prof. Dr. Thorsten Fehr There is a variety of well-thought-out models explaining important aspects of complex social decision behaviour in humans. These models address biophysiological, genetical, contextual, socialisatory, internal trait and state conditions, and other potential modulators of social development, current status, and behavioural predictors. There is also some neuroscientific evidence that substantiate several model […]

Mind Talk: Flexible behavior through adaptive brain network dynamics

Prof. Dr. Tobias H. Donner Cognitive behavior rapidly adapts to changing environmental contexts. This flexibility distinguishes cognitive behavior from reflexes. I propose that this flexibility results from the rapid reconfiguration of distributed cortical networks that implement the transformations required by a given task and context. This reconfiguration is enabled by rapid plasticity mechanisms that are […]