KEYNOTE Speakers
Sylvain Baillet
Canada
Speech title: Neurophysiological signaling of brain predictive mechanisms.
Sylvain Baillet is Professor of Neurology & Neurosurgery, Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science at the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, and Tier-1 Canada Research Chair in Neural Dynamics of Brain Systems. His main research contributions are in brain imaging methods and multimodal, quantitative electrophysiology, with emphasis on
These advances also applied to EEG – a technique widely used in research, clinics, and wearable devices. Through international collaborations, he leads impactful open-source software developments (Brainstorm: 25,300 user accounts), efforts for data harmonization (MEG-BIDS) and data sharing (the Open MEG Archive/OMEGA). Sylvain trained 130 students who produced 300 publications.
He obtained a total of $34M in research funding in his career so far. As program leader, Sylvain founded 2 MEG core units in Canada and the US; he was Director of the McConnell Brain Imaging Centre (MNI, 2013-17) and is now the Associate Dean for Research of McGill’s Faculty of Medicine, the top research-intensive medical school in Canada. https://www.mcgill.ca/neuro/
ABSTRACT: “Systems neurophysiology of predictive mechanisms of human perception and cognition."
Sylvain Baillet, Keynote Speaker, Abstract
Abstract:
A difficult research question in systems neuroscience concerns the mechanistic elucidation of information integration by the brain: How do sensory inputs interact with ongoing neural activity? What is the nature of the convergence or tension between external inputs and the mental representations of our environment? How are these mechanisms altered in disease?
We recently proposed a model of systems dynamics in hierarchical brain networks based on polyrhythmic oscillatory brain activity. This mechanistic framework implements a generic form of contextual predictive inference of the input
signals of brain networks. In essence, this vision is aligned with the principles of perceptual inference, which predict that spontaneous brain activity during wakefulness constantly implements the self’s representation of its environment and the possible consequences of its actions.
Inspired by this framework, I will review a series of neurophysiological data that account for this hypothesis in a diversity of brain functions. In particular, we recently proposed to train artificial neural networks on naturalistic stimuli to produce encoding models of neural activity that account for contextual uncertainty and prediction errors in perception. I will show how we used this approach to reveal the corresponding brain signaling pathways for natural speech processing.
Related recent papers:
Shafiei G, Baillet S, Misic B (2022) Human Electromagnetic and Haemodynamic Networks Systematically Converge in Unimodal Cortex and Di- verge in Transmodal Cortex, PLoS Biology Aug 1;20(8):e3001735
Samiee S, Vuvan D, Florin E, Albouy P, Peretz I, Baillet S (2022)
Cross-frequency Brain Network Dynamics Support Pitch Change Detection, Journal of Neuroscience, May 4;42(18):3823-3835
Albouy P, Martinez-Moreno ZE, [Zatorre RJ, Baillet S] (2022) Supra- Modality of Neural Entrainment: Rhythmic Visual Stimulation Causally Enhances Manipulation Abilities in Auditory Working Memory, Science Advances, 8(8):eabj9782
da Silva Castanheira J, Orozco Perez HD, Misic B, Baillet S (2021) Brief Segments of Neurophysiological Activity Enable Individual Differentiation, Nature Communications, 12: 5713
Lennert T, Samiee S, Baillet S (2021) Coupled Oscillations Enable Rapid Temporal Recalibration to Audiovisual Asynchrony, Communications Biology, 4:559
Donhauser P & Baillet S (2020) Two Distinct Neural Time Scales for Predictive Speech Processing, Neuron, Jan 22;105(2):385-393.e9
Morillon B & Baillet S (2017) Motor Origin of Temporal Predictions in Auditory Attention, Proc Natl Acad Sci, 114 (42):E8913-E8921
Albouy P, Weiss A, Baillet S & Zatorre RJ (2017) Selective Entrainment of Theta Oscillations in the Dorsal Stream Causally Enhances Auditory Working Memory Performance, Neuron, Apr 94(1):193–206
Baillet S (2017) MEG for Brain Electrophysiology & Imaging, Nature Neuroscience, 20(3): 327–339
Prof. Dr. Dario Farina
Chair of Neurorehabilitation Engineering
Department of Bioengineering
Imperial College London, London, UK
Speech title: Neural Control of Movement: A Motor Neuron Centric View
Dario Farina, Professor and Chair in Neurorehabilitation Engineering, Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, UK
Dario Farina is currently Full Professor and Chair in Neurorehabilitation Engineering at the Department of Bioengineering of Imperial College London, UK. He has previously been Full Professor at Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark, (until 2010) and at the University Medical Center Göttingen, Georg-August University, Germany, where he founded and directed the Department of Neurorehabilitation Systems (2010-2016). Among other awards, he holds a Honorary Doctorate degree in Medicine from Aalborg University, Denmark, and has been the recipient of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Early Career Achievement Award, the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award, the IEEE EMBS Technical Achievement Award. His research focuses on biomedical signal processing, neurorehabilitation technology, and neural control of movement. Professor Farina has been the President of the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology (ISEK) (2012-2014) and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the official Journal of this Society, the Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, and an Editor for many other international Journals, including Science Advances and IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering. Professor Farina has been elected Fellow IEEE, AIMBE, ISEK, EAMBES, AAIA, Sigma Xi.
Talma Hendler
Tel Aviv University, Israel
Speech title: How does the brain talk with our mind?
Dr Talma Hendler (MD PhD); Full Professor of psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience at Tel Aviv University, and the founding director of the Sagol Brain Institute, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center; Israel. Dr Hendler has pioneered the use of functional-MRI and its combined acquisition with EEG in Israel, by establishing the first research facility for studying human brain functions non-invasively (https://www.
Under her two decade directorship the institute has grown to include several research pillars using computational neuroimaging, sleep-research, immersive neuroscience and functional neurophysiology and psychoactive labs. Throughout the years the Sagol Brain Institute has become a world-model for how to rapidly translate basic research ideas into clinical utility in brain-medicine, and in biomed commercial initiatives such as the spinoff company GrayMatters Healthhttps://graymatters.
In her own lab, Dr Hendler has excelled in both theoretical formulation and methodological development in cognitive-affective neuroscience and in brain computer interface approaches using multi-modal imaging and machine learning. She has been known for her critical contribution to major scientific questions in the field of brain and emotions with a strong focus on stress and trauma.
Using multi-level measurements (neuroimaging, behavioral and biological) along with naturalistic dynamic tasks (movies, music, interactive games and VR) in longitudinal designs, her work revealed neurobehavioral markers for individual differences in emotional experiences and in the effect of traumatic stress, untangling cause and effect of life adversities.
This work resulted in >200 peer-reviewed papers and six patents and was supported by numerous national and international grants. Dr Hendler won several prizes including, more recently, the prestigious voucher of a leading scientist in Europe by the flagship EU program of Human Brain Project.