Page 18 - ESTABLISHING THE INSTITUTE FOR BRAIN AND NEURAL SCIENCES

The hallmark of human evolution is higher cognitive function, such as learning and memory formation, decision- making, attention and awareness, social behavior, and group interactions. How we form memories, think, and learn is at the very basis of what makes us human.
5 CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON LEARNING, MEMORY, AND COGNITION
How do we learn
new tasks and store memories? To what extent do cognitive abilities like learning and memory defne who we are?
What is consciousness?
•R esearch associated with this center will seek answers to these questions and their relevance to cognitive impairments, dementia, amnesia, learning disabilities, and mental illness.
The human brain makes complex, multi-dimensional computations
that far outstrip the capacity of any modern machine. From understanding the process of working memory, the impact of attention, the consolidation and storage of some memories while others are suppressed or erased, optimal decision-making and the implications for the emerging feld of
neuroeconomics—addressing these issues requires an integrated study of brain activity.
This center will also take us closer than ever to the ability to mimic the human brain and hasten the future
of artifcial intelligence. Indeed, the expertise of theoreticians and of computer scientists is paramaont if we are to develop algorithms and computational models of cognition. Such expertise, combined with that of neuroscientists, can also pave the way towards advanced machine learning and ‘smart’ technologies, and inform the future of AI smartly and safely.
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