Schedule
The MAIN 2021 Schedule
All the talks will be streamed on Crowdcast. The link you need to use to connect to the MAIN 2021event and attend the talks throughout the two days (Nov 29-30th) is the following:
https://www.crowdcast.io/e/main2021
Make sure you connect and "Save your spot" as soon as possible. Do not wait until the last-minute, as we are expecting many attendees. The full program and links to specific sessions are provided below.
Monday Nov 29, 2021 / MAIN 2021 - Day 1
All times are provided in ET (eastern time zone)
Co-chairs: Paul Cisek (Université de Montréal) & Andrea Green (Université de Montréal)
8:00-8:20 Opening remarks from the MAIN Organizing Committee by Karim Jerbi (Université de Montréal & Mila)
8:20-9:00 Jean-Remi King - Language, A.I.'s myopia and the human brain
9:00-9:40 Guangyu Robert Yang (MIT McGovern Institute, MA, USA) - Next-generation recurrent network models for cognitive neuroscience
9:40-10:20 Joshua Vogelstein (John Hopkins University, MD, USA) - Lifelong Learning: Theory and Practice
10:20-10:30 break
10:30-11:30 James DiCarlo (MIT McGovern Institute, MA, USA) (Keynote #1) - Reverse Engineering the Neural Mechanisms of Visual Intelligence
11:30-12:30 Panel discussion: Reverse engineering the Brain / James DiCarlo (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA, USA), Surya Ganguli (Stanford University, CA, USA), Joshua Vogelstein (John Hopkins University, MD, USA), Irina Rish (Université de Montréal & Mila) [Moderator: Paul Cisek (Université de Montréal)]
12:30 -13:20 Lunch & Networking + Lightning talks
Chair: Guillaume Lajoie (Université de Montréal & Mila)
13:20-14:00 Bing W. Brunton (University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA) - Tracking turbulent plumes with deep reinforcement learning
14:00-14:40 Alex H. Williams (NYU & Flatiron Institute, NY, USA) - Principled methods for comparing neural representations across biological and artificial networks
14:40-15:20 Marieke Mur (University of Western Ontario) - Representational transformations in the human visual system
15:20-15:30 break
15:30-16:30 Surya Ganguli (Stanford University, CA, USA) (Keynote #2) - Mathematical theories of neural computation: from perception and navigation to semantic cognition
16:30-17:30 Student Panel discussion: Career paths in Neuro-AI / Raymond Chua (McGill University), Jean-Baptiste Poline (McGill University), Irina Rish (Université de Montréal & Mila), Hao Ting Wang (Université de Montréal) [Moderator: Charlotte Maschke (McGill University)]
17:30-18:30 ✿ Social + Networking (for in-person participants)
Tuesday Nov 30, 2021 / MAIN 2021 - Day 2
All times are provided in ET (eastern time zone)
Chair: Blake Richards (McGill University & Mila)
8:00-8:20 Opening remarks for Day 2 and pre-recorded Lightning talks
8:20-9:00 Marta Garrido (University of Melbourne, Australia) - What can sensory prediction errors tell us about altered states of consciousness?
9:00-9:40 Erik Hoel (Tufts University, MA, USA) - Scientific theories of consciousness are a priori falsified
9:40-10:20 Biyu Jade He (Neuroscience Institute, NYU, NY, USA) - Predictive mechanisms in perception
10:20-10:30 break
10:30-11:30 Alison Gopnik (University of California at Berkeley, CA, USA) (Keynote #3) - The phenomenology and neuroscience of exploration and what it tells us about babies, psychedelics and the numinous
11:30-12:30 Panel discussion: Consciousness and representation in brains and machines / Yoshua Bengio (Université de Montréal & Mila), Dan Dennett (Tufts University, MA, USA), Alison Gopnik (University of California at Berkeley, CA, USA), Anil Seth (University of Sussex, UK) [Co-moderators: Lucia Melloni (Max Planck for Empirical Aesthetics) and Karim Jerbi (Université de Montréal & Mila)]
12:30 -13:20 Lunch & Networking + Lightning talks
Chair: Becket Ebitz (Université de Montréal)
13:20-14:00 Ahmed El Hady (University of Konstanz / Princeton University) - Towards a mechanistic understanding of foraging behaviors
14:00-14:40 Yalda Mohsenzadeh (The Brain and Mind Institute, Western University) - The role of brain recurrent processes in visual recognition
14:40-15:20 Xaq Pitkow (Baylor College of Medicine & Rice University, TX, USA) - Mathematical Mind Reading
15:20-15:30 break
15:30-16:30 Lucina Q. Uddin (University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA) (Keynote #4) - Brain dynamics and flexible behaviors
16:30-17:30 Panel discussion: Inspiring the future : Activism and Advocacy in Neuro-AI / Ahmed El Hady (University of Konstanz / Princeton University), Jordan Harrod (Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, MA, USA), LLana James (AI, Medicine and Data Justice Post-Doctoral Fellow - Queen's University), Jason E. Lewis (Concordia University) - [Co-moderators: Danielle Nadin (Black In Neuro) & Karim Jerbi (Université de Montréal & Mila)]
17:30-18:30 ✿ Prizes + Closing remarks
19:00 Party time 🍕🍟🎵✨ In-person event in Montreal, MC Hall, 3715 Av. Lacombe (vaccine passport required / Limited capacity)