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 think, learn, and form memories is at the very core of what makes us human.
5 CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON LEARNING, MEMORY, AND COGNITION
How do we learn T
new tasks and store memories? To what extent do cognitive abilities like learning and memory de ne who we are?
What is consciousness?
he human brain makes
Research associated with this center will focus on issues of relevance to cognitive impairments, dementia, amnesia, learning disabilities, and mental illness.
This center will also take us closer than ever to the ability to mimic the human brain and hasten the future of arti cial intelligence. Indeed, the expertise
of theoreticians and of computer scientists is paramount 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.
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 eld of neuroeconomics—addressing these issues requires an integrated study of brain activity.
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