International School on Neural Nets "E.R. Caianiello" JOINTLY ORGANIZED BY IIASS International Institute for Advanced Scientific Studies and EMFCSC Ettore Majorana Foundation and Center for Scientific Culture 8th Course: Computational Neuroscience: Cortical Dynamics 31 Oct.- 6 Nov. 2003 Ettore Majorana Centre Erice (Sicily) ITALY homepage: http://www.sa.infn.it/NeuralGroup/CorticalDynamicsSchool2003/ *Directors of the Course:* Maria Marinaro (Dept. of Physics "E.R. Caianiello", Univ. of Salerno, Italy) Peter Erdi (Kalamazoo College, USA & KFKI Res. Inst. Part. and Nucl. Phys. Hung. Acad. Sci. Hungary) *Lecturers:* Luigi Agnati - Dept. of Neuroscience Karolinka Inst.,Sweden & Modena Univ. Italy Peter Dayan - Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, UCL, UK Peter Erdi - CCSS Kalamazoo College USA & KFKI Hung. Accad.of Science Hungary Bruce P Graham - Dept of Computer Science and Mathematics, Univ. of Stirling, UK John Hertz - Nordita, DK Zhaoping Li - Univ. College of London, UK Ronen Segev - School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University, Israel Ivan Soltesz - Dept. of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Univ. of California, USA Misha Tsodyks - Dept. of Neurobiology Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel Ichiro Tsuda - Dept. of Mathematics, Hokkaido University, Japan Alessandro Treves - Sissa, Cognitive Neuroscience, Trieste, Italy **** **Scientific Program ** Recently the amount of experimental data available to computational neuroscience community grows steadily, due to the development of new experimental technique.The data obtained with these modern techniques allows a degree of comparison with modeling results that so far was not possible. At the same time new and stronger theoretical ideas are being developed from all over the world, borrowing ideas and tools from different fields of science, such as physics and mathematics. The goal of the school is to present an up-to-date description of the experimental and theoretical results and of the current efforts to investigate processing, transmission and imprinting of information in the brain, focusing on cortical area. Cortical areas play a key role in important functions like those related to the memory. A systematic description of cortical rhythms and cortical neural plasticity will be given, from its structural basis to its functional significance. The school is devoted to students with different scientific background (physics, mathematics, biology, neuroscience, etc.) who wish to learn recent developments in computational neuroscience and cortical dynamics. The basic concepts will be introduced, with emphasis on the underlying physical concepts, common principles and connections between experimental data and biophysically-based as well abstract models. Then cortical dynamics will be investigated, focusing on recent developments and open problems. **Registrations:** Applications must be received before May 15 2003 in order to be considered by the selection committee. Registration fee of 900 Euro includes accomodation with full board. Application form and additional information are available from http://www.sa.infn.it/NeuralGroup/CorticalDynamicsSchool2003/. Applications should be sent by ordinary mail to the codirector of the school: Prof. Maria Marinaro IIASS Via Pellegrino 19, I-84019 Vietri sul Mare (Sa) Italy or by fax to: +39 089 761 189 (att.ne: Prof. M. Marinaro) or by electronic mail to: iiass.vietri(a)tin.it subject: summer school **Location** The "Ettore Majorana" International Centre for Scientific Culture takes its inspiration from the outstanding Italian physicist, after whom the Centre was named. Embracing 110 Schools, covering all branches of Science, the Centre is situated in the old pre-mediaeval city of Erice where three restored monasteries provide an appropriate setting for high intellectual endeavour. These monasteries are now named after great Scientists and strong supporters of the "Ettore Majorana" Centre. There are living quarters in all three Monasteries for people attending the Courses of the Centre. **The John von Neumann (1903-1957) Centenary will be celebrated during the meeting.**