2011 Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience

TENTATIVE TOPICS AND SPEAKERS

Cognitive control, the ability to flexibly guide cognition and behavior in the service of our goals and in the face of competition, is a fundamental human capacity and a central focus of concern for cognitive neuroscience.  Cognitive control depends upon a distributed network of cortical structures, together with their subcortical connections, with a central role for the prefrontal cortex, within which recent computation, imaging and neuropsychological studies have suggested supports cognitive control through a hierarchical topographic organization.  The neural systems that support cognitive control are supported through a delicate balance of local circuit function and neuromodulation and are uniquely sensitive to disrupted development, injury and disease.  During this first week of the course, we will focus on the anatomy of the cognitive control network, its computational properties, the role of development and neuromodulation in prefrontal functioning, and the effects of disordered development and disease on these processes.

Monday (6/27): Overview of Cognitive Control

8:30     Breakfast

9:00     Welcome and Introductory Remarks (Deanna Barch and Cameron Carter)

9:30     Overview of the mechanisms of cognitive control 1. – Cameron Carter

10:45    Break

11:00    Overview of the mechanisms of cognitive control 2. – Deanna Barch

12:30   Lunch

2:00     Workshop:  Anatomy and physiology of Cortical-thalamic-striatal loops supporting cognitive control – Helen Barbas 

5:00     Adjourn

7:00     Complete UCSB’s Human Subjects Training Module during free time

Tuesday (6/28): Hierarchical Control and Dynamic Control

8:30     Breakfast

9:00     Cognitive, Neurobiological and Computational Models of Control -- Matt Botvinick

11:00    Break

11:30    Motivation and Reward Components of Control -- Todd Braver

12:30    Lunch Break

2:00     Motivation and Reward Components of Control Continued -- Todd Braver

2:45     Break

3:00     Workshop: Computational Models of Cognitive Control -- Randy O’Reilly

5:00     Adjourn

Wednesday (6/29): Individual differences in Cognitive and Emotional Control

8:30     Breakfast

9:00     Dopamine, Cognitive Control and Decision-Making -- Michael Frank

10:00    Break

10:15    Emotion Regulation and Prefrontal-Limbic Systems -- Kevin Ochsner

11:30    Cognitive and Emotional Control Interactions:  Basic Mechanisms and Individual Differences -- Greg Hajcak

12:30    Lunch

2:00     Workshop: fMRI, ERP, Cognitive Control and Individual Differences -- Michael Frank, Kevin Ochsner, Greg Hajcak

5:00     Adjourn

Thursday (6/30): Development and Cognitive/Emotional Control

8:30     Breakfast

9:00     Early Development of Cognitive Control -- Yuko Munakata

10:30    Break

10:45    Later Development of Cognitive Control – Bea Luna

12:15    Lunch

1:30     The Development of Emotional Regulation -- Danny Pine

3:00     Break

3:30     Workshop on ERP/EEG -- Steve Luck

5:00     Adjourn for Dinner

6:30     fMRI Research and Scientific Conduct: When Crossing the Line -- Michael Miller

Friday (7/1): Psychiatric Disorders and Cognitive Control

8:30     Breakfast

9:00     Mood Disorders -- Deanna Barch

10:00   Break

10:15    Schizophrenia -- Cameron Carter

11:15   ADHD -- Joel Nigg

12:15   Lunch

1:30     Anxiety Disorders – Sonia Bishop

2:30     Break

2:45     Autism – Marjorie Solomon

3:45     Workshop on Clinical Studies of Cognitive Control – Deanna Barch & Cameron Carter

5:00     Adjourn

5:30     BBQ at Goleta Beach

2011 Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience

Week 2: Higher Cognition: Numerical and Relational Processing

Course Director: Silvia Bunge, Ph.D.

Human capacity for abstract, higher-order thought is truly remarkable. Research on the neural underpinnings of higher cognition has advanced significantly over the last decade, with the acknowledgment that even the most complex of human capacities can and must be broken down into its component processes. This course focuses on two key aspects of higher cognition: basic numerical processing and its role in the understanding of mathematical concepts, and basic relational processing and its role in various forms of fluid reasoning, such as transitive inference and analogical reasoning.

Monday (7/4)

12:30 Lunch

1:30 Neuroanatomy Review - Harker Rhodes

2:30 Clinical Case Reviews - Bob Rafal

Tuesday (7/5): Introduction to Week 2

8:30 Breakfast

9:00 Introductory remarks (Silvia Bunge)

9:15 Defining fronto-parietal networks using task fMRI and resting fcMRI – Steve Petersen

10:45 Break

11:00 Monkeys, Mathematics, and the Developing Brain – Jessica Cantlon

12:30 Lunch

2:00  Brain Dissection – Scott Grafton and colleagues

5:00 Adjourn

Wednesday (7/6): Numerical cognition

8:30 Breakfast

9:00 Cognitive neuroscience of mathematical skill development – Vinod Menon

10:00 Gene-brain-behavior relationships in disorders affecting numerical cognition – Susan Rivera

11:00 Discussion

11:15 Break

11:30 Typical and atypical developmental trajectories of numerical cognition: Evidence from brain and behavior – Daniel Ansari

12:30 Lunch

1:30 fMRI data collection or analysis (see group assignment). Students who are signed up for an rs-fMRI demo today or tomorrow should begin by attending a lecture by Steve Nelson from 1:30-2:15.

5:00 Adjourn

Thursday (7/7): Relational reasoning

8:30 Breakfast

9:00 Relational Reasoning: Research in Chimps – Daniel Povinelli

10:30 Break

10:45 Role-based relational reasoning: The foundation of human thinking – Keith Holyoak

12:30 Lunch

1:30 fMRI data analysis (see group assignment)

5:00 Adjourn

Friday (7/8): Factors that influence cognition

8:30 Breakfast

9:00 Spontaneous thought processes – Kalina Christoff

10:15 Integrating Neural and Neuronal Mediators Between Differing Genes and Differing Cognition – Adam Green

11:00 Break

11:15 Individual Differences in Cognitive Function – Jeremy Gray

12:30 Lunch

1:30 Time to finalize student presentations

4:00 Student presentations

6:00 Farewell Banquet Dinner