pi3: #CNS2019

Saturday, 23 March 2019

#CNS2019

It's March, an odd-numbered year, must mean.... it's time for the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting to be in San Francisco!

I only started looking at the schedule yesterday and noticed the now-obligatory David Poeppel session on BIG stuff ¹ on Saturday (March 23, 2019):

Special Session - The Relation Between Psychology and Neuroscience, David Poeppel, Organizer, Grand Ballroom

Then I clicked on the link and saw a rare occurrence: an all-female slate of speakers!

Whether we study single cells, measure populations of neurons, characterize anatomical structure, or quantify BOLD, whether we collect reaction times or construct computational models, it is a presupposition of our field that we strive to bridge the neurosciences and the psychological/cognitive sciences. Our tools provide us with ever-greater spatial resolution and ideal temporal resolution. But do we have the right conceptual resolution? This conversation focuses on how we are doing with this challenge, whether we have examples of successful linking hypotheses between psychological and neurobiological accounts, whether we are missing important ideas or tools, and where we might go or should go, if all goes well. The conversation, in other words, examines the very core of cognitive neuroscience.

Also on the schedule tomorrow is the public lecture and keynote address by Matt Walker — Why Sleep?

Can you recall the last time you woke up without an alarm clock feeling refreshed, not needing caffeine? If the answer is “no,” you are not alone. Two-thirds of adults fail to obtain the recommended 8 hours of nightly sleep. I doubt you are surprised by the answer to this question, but you may be surprised by the consequences. This talk will describe not only the good things that happen when you get sleep, but the alarmingly bad things that happen when you don’t get enough. The presentation will focus on the brain (learning, memory aging, Alzheimer’s disease, education), but further highlight disease-related consequences in the body (cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease). The take-home: sleep is the single most effective thing we can do to reset the health of our brains and bodies.