How sparse are engrams for concepts?

I missed this one when it came out earlier this year in Scientific American. One of the authors, Christof Koch is Chief Scientific Officer at the Allen Brain Institute, which collaborated with Krasnow on the DIADEM challenge.

The key point is that certain scientific questions can only be asked in a particular methodological context–in this case, epileptic surgical patients. I’m not sure I agree with the conclusion however–there is an awful lot of alternative evidence supporting the notion of widely distributed engrams. Koch would argue (I think) that the methods that support the distributed hypothesis are flawed. Functional brain imaging using MRI for example has both poor spatial and temporal resolution compared to the electrophysiological data from these patients.

But if functional brain imaging is flawed in this way, it’s also conservative–very sparse representations would be invisible. In fact, the representations that show us are widely distributed. See the work of Tom Mitchell and colleagues, here.

The Institute and digital reconstruction of neurons

A terrific conference is winding up at the Krasnow Institute today, the web site is here. Organized by Krasnow’s own NeuroMorpho.org, under the visionary leadership of Giorgio Ascoli, with the sponsorship of Burroughs Wellcome Fund USA and MBF Bioscience, the conference has brought together some of the best and the brightest in the field. To my mind, this is the single most important event for scientists working in this arena since the DIADEM challenge event of several years ago.

Small conferences like this one are a key example of what Krasnow does really well for the global advanced studies community. For readers who may have heard about the White House BRAIN project, or the Connectome, all of those initiatives depend of advances in automated digital reconstruction of neurons.

Krasnow’s own Hippocampome Project is an example of how this type of data can be mined and harvested to yield new neurobiological knowledge, in this case, about the brain region most clearly identified with learning and memory in mammals (such as us).

Work politics…

Not the Dem/GOP variety. I mean the palace intrigue kind. There’s way too much of it. And I mean in general…it’s deeply embedded in every institution that I visit, at least here in the States.

This type of politics represents  a real challenge because it distracts us from why we are really here. Essentially it eats productivity. It creates a constant need for workers to keep a weather eye out for political threats increasing cognitive load while decreasing the brain power that might be used for creativity, invention, problem-solving and other useful tasks.

Business schools should work towards some solutions to this problem. And so should organizational psychologists.

In the meantime, I head off to my Alma Mater for reunion tomorrow. I expect to find more of the same there, but perhaps will be happily surprised.

Tyler Cowen on the difference between UVA and GMU as far as credential signaling…

The blogpost is here. Read it and the comments, they make for a really interesting case study on where higher education might be heading.

Money quote to get you interested:

“It’s a well-known fact — well-known around GMU that is — that GMU graduates earn higher average salaries than do UVA grads (direct linkhere), that is for four year undergrads in their first year of employment.”

Convocation at the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study….

Krasnow’s convocation was yesterday. We celebrated our new PhD graduates with their families. This was one of those wonderful occasions when the years of hard work, often uncertain, and fraught with risk, come into full fruition.

 The setting is the Institute’s beautiful great room with its backdrop of modern art and tulip poplar trees…and yes, that’s me in the academic regalia behind the lectern.

Earlier in the day, the entire University came together for commencement. The Patriot Center was a sea of green, my colleagues were resplendent in their dean’s regalia and our dynamic new President presided over the awarding of thousands of new degrees.

So now, it’s on to summer! I’m off to New Mexico tomorrow for a series of meetings at Sandia National Laboratory. On the way to the airport, I’ll stop off at the National Science Foundation for a morning orientation meeting–I’m beginning a three year term on the SBE Advisory Committee.

I hope to post along the way….