Big Theory, Big Data, and Big Worries in Cognitive Neuroscience

Big Theory vs. Big Data Debate at CNS2018Eve Marder, Alona Fyshe, Jack Gallant, David Poeppel, Gary Marcusimage by@jonasobleserWhat Will Solve the Big Problems in Cognitive Neuroscience?That was the question posed in theSpecial Symposium moderated by David Poeppel at the Boston Sheraton (co-sponsored by the Cognitive Neuroscience Society and the Max-Planck-Society). The format was four talks by prominent experts in (1) the complexity ofneural circuits and neuromodulation in invertebrates; (2)computational linguistics and machine learning; (3) human neuroimaging/the next wave in cognitive and computational neuroscience; and (4) language learning/AI contrarianism. These were followed by a lively panel discussion and a Q&A session with the audience.What a great format!We already knew the general answer before anyone started speaking..@gallantlab" This debate is silly "#CNS2018pic.twitter.com/cpT7tKI0xa— CNS News (@CogNeuroNews)March 24, 2018But I believe thatDr. Eve Marder, the first speaker, posed the greatest challenges to the field of cognitive neuroscience, objections that went mostly unaddressed by the other speakers. Her talk was a treasure trove of quotable witticisms (paraphrased):How much ambiguity can you live with in your attempt to understand the brain? For me I get uncomfortable with anything more than 100 neuronsIf you ' re looking for optimization (in[biological] neural networks), YOU ARE DELUSIONAL!Degenerate mechanisms produce the same changes in behavior,...
Source: The Neurocritic - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Source Type: blogs