Schedule

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)

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)