The CEU Summer University announces the course

BRAINS AND MINDS:

THE PERCEPTUAL AND COMPUTATIONAL BASES OF HIGHER COGNITIVE PROCESSES
27 JUNE - 1 JULY, 2011 BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
Course Director:
Jozsef Fiser, Brandeis University, Department of Psychology and the Neuroscience Program, Waltham, USA

Additional Faculty:
Mate Lengyel, University of Cambridge, Department of Engineering, Cambridge, UK; Donald B. Katz, Brandeis
University, Department of Psychology and the Neuroscience Program, Waltham, USA; Nathaniel Daw, New York
University, Department of Psychology, New York, USA

BRIEF COURSE DESCRIPTION

This high-level, research-based course will focus on understanding how the arguably most abstract and most human
characteristics of human behavior, such as reasoning, aesthetics, imagination, decision making and social interactions
emerge from basic perceptual and motor behavioral processes that can be identified in lower animals as well. Since
these higher cognitive processes are strongly embedded in and determined by the “simpler” perceptual operations, a
systematic exploration of the links between the two can foster a deeper understanding of intelligent behavior in animals
and humans. This course will bring together world-class experts of different subfields. It focuses on a truly cross-
disciplinary issue: how intelligent behavior emerges and how it is constructed and represented in our brain. The
fundamental philosophy of the course is to demonstrate that some basic principles of structure learning can provide a
unifying framework for explaining human cognition both in simple as well as in the most complex domains of behavior.
In addition, the course will present how these basic principles of behavior could be implemented in the neural hardware
of the brain, thereby addressing the issue of how to bridge scientifically the gap between mind and body. To achieve
this, lectures will progress via domains of gradually increasing abstraction that humans deal with starting from the
perceptual domain of vision and taste, representing uncertainty and beliefs about observed and unobserved quantities,
through learning internal models of the environment, to making adaptive and successful implicit decisions through
concepts, and finally to conscious thinking.
The course will be organized around three key modules: (1) representation of visual scenes, tastes, and abstract
categories (2) the emergence of internal representations of these domains: models of visual learning, taste learning,
concept learning, and emergence of consciousness will be introduced and critically evaluated (3) feasibility of
implementing in the brain the models reviewed in the second module
The design of the course stresses highly interactive forms of teaching where apart from the standard lecture format, the
faculty will be encouraged to have open discussions about the relevant issues amongst each other as well as with
students, there will open debate sessions, and opportunities for hands-on experience with various experimental tools
exploring related questions. This should demonstrate the link between the high-level concepts presented and various
ways of exploring these concepts empirically. There will be a final project, in which students will be required to carry out
a mini-research project in small groups. The group will select a particular issue and develop their own opinion whether
it can be fit in the emerging view on structure learning and if so, how.
Course participants are expected to have at least started their graduate studies and have basic training in one of the
related disciplines: either the psychological sciences/neuroscience, or in mathematics/ computer science, broadly
defined. The course will also be appropriate for post-docs and junior faculty. Working knowledge of general issues in
the areas of perception, memory, linear algebra, and neural networks will be useful.

Central European University's summer school (CEU SUN), established in 1996, is a program in English for graduate students, junior or post-
doctoral researchers, teachers and professionals. It offers high-level, research-oriented, interdisciplinary academic courses as well as workshops on policy
issues for professional development, taught by internationally renowned scholars and policy experts (including CEU faculty). Application from all
over the world is encouraged. Financial aid is available.

Application deadline: February 15, 2011 CEU Summer University

For further academic information on the course and on P.O. Box: Budapest 5, P.f.: 1082, H-1245,
eligibility criteria and funding options please visit the web site (36 1) 327 3811, Fax: (36-1) 327-3124
E-mail: summeru@ceu.hu
http://www.summer.ceu.hu/brainsminds Skype: ceu-sun
Apply online: http://apply.embark.com/nondegree/ceu

Non-discrimination policy statement

Central European University does not discriminate on the basis of – including, but not limited to – race, color, national and ethnic origin, religion, gender or
sexual orientation in administering its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered
programs.