Emergence of cognition from action
Gyorgy Buzsaki, MD. Ph.D. Professor of Neural Sciences, NYU School of Medicine
Host: Brett Foster
Abstract
A fundamental goal of the brain is to predict the future. More complex brains evolved multiple hierarchical loops between their outputs and inputs to make prediction more reliable in increasingly more complex environments and at longer time scales. With extensive training these prediction mechanisms have become ‘internalized’. At the center of this model are self-organized neuronal coalitions in multiple interactive loops in which neuronal activity can be propelled forward without external cues. The implication of this conjecture is that brain networks are endowed by internal mechanisms that can generate a perpetually changing neuronal activity even in the absence of environmental inputs. Effective exchange of information among cortical networks can be maintained by the multiple rhythms the brain generates. I will discuss examples and mechanisms of this framework, focusing on hippocampal networks and memory.
