Neurosociety Media Centre/Projects

FP6

ERA-Net Neuron a strategically operating group of relevant research funding organisations in Europe and a coordinated implementation of research programmes in the area of research into brain diseases. Quote from the website: "In order to disseminate the results of its activities, the ERA-Net NEURON publishes on a regular basis flyers, newsletters and reports about scientific workshops... Eventually this will lead to a structured European health research policy in this area. Its dissemination products can be found here".

COST

Electric Neuronal Oscillations and Cognition (ENOC) to study complex cognitive functions by analysis of temporal and spatial synchronisation of frequency-specific oscillations; the application of the concept frequency-specific synchronised oscillations may lead to a new scientific paradigm for understanding brain-mind processes. ENOC MoU pdf

Neural regeneration and plasticity (NEREPLAS) to increase the knowledge on the neuronal processes underlying functional recovery following traumatic, ischemic or degenerative damage of the nervous system, and their relationship with those neural processes involved in motor and cognitive learning. NEREPLAS MoU (pdf)

Advanced Methods For The Estimation Of Human Brain Activity And Connectivity (NEUROMATH) to increase the knowledge on the mathematical methods able to estimate the cortical activity and connectivity in the human brain from non invasive neuroelectric and hemodynamic measurements.Neuromath MoU

Consciousness: A Transdisciplinary, Integrated Approach to increase the understanding of (1) the defining features, (2) the behavioural markers, (3) the computational principles, and (4) the neural mechanisms associated with conscious experience in humans and animals, and to identify the clinical, societal, and ethical implications of such findings. Because the proposed Action also has societal relevance, it is also targeted towards the educational and mental health care communities. MoU pdf

COST Action BM0601, “Advanced Methods For The Estimation Of Human Brain Activity and Connectivity”

COST Action A28 on ‘Human Rights, Peace and Security in EU Foreign Policy’

COST Action IS0702, ‘The Role of the EU in UN Human Rights Reform’) will

ESF

EUROCORES programmes

Consciousness in a Natural and Cultural Context (2006-2009) The leading idea behind the CNCC programme is that consciousness is both a cultural and a biological phenomenon. This implies overcoming the debate between dualism - according to which consciousness cannot be reduced to physical phenomena - and neurophysiological reductionism - maintaining that the central nervous system is the sole physical cause of conscious experience. There is more to consciousness than just brain activity, but this does not make consciousness something apart from physical reality. The aim of CNCC is to create a powerful platform for international and interdisciplinary research on the nature, origins, and dynamics of consciousness.

Research Networking Programmes

European Neuroscience and Society Network to establish a multidisciplinary forum for timely and necessary engagement with these issues, through the development of research strategies, conferences and workshops that will bring together leading European neuroscientists and social scientists for sustained discussions and cross-disciplinary exchanges about the present and future impact of advances in the neurosciences on our lives. See ENSN website

European Social Cognition Network 2 (2009-2014) Bringing together researchers from neurosciences, developmental psychology, behavioural economics, anthropology, linguistics, etc to create a platform that facilitates European research collaboration in the field of social cognition.

Evolution of Social Cognition: Comparisons and integration across a wide range of human and non-human animal species (2008-2013) aims to provide an evolution-based approach by presenting a broader view of cognition in diverse animal species. It brings together researchers (and laboratories) which have a different scientific background and work on different species. Providing a new forum to exchange views and discuss both long-debated and newly-emerging problems of comparative cognition and a unified system to collate research methods and results across various species.

Exploratory Workshops

Modularity For Versatile Motor Learning: From Neuroscience To Robotics And Back (April 2009) Experts in neurophysiology, computational neuroscience, robotics, and neural networks will explore how modularity, the partitioning of the control process into sensorimotor primitives that can be flexibly combined, may enable versatile motor learning in biological and artificial systems, and whether constructing a modular robotic controller might bring new insights to neuroscience.

Social, Cognitive And Affective Dimensions Of Collaborative Learning Interactions: Towards An Integrated Analysis (May 2009) This workshop will explore theoretical and methodological foundations for an approach to analysing communicative interactions in collaborative learning situations, integrating social, cognitive and affective dimensions of activity. Specialists in educational sciences, linguistics and psychology will elaborate the common approach by confronting analyses along different dimensions, on a common interaction corpus. The workshop will give rise to a common book publication, and response to the HERA JRP call, 2009.

The Dreaming Mind-Brain, Consciousness And Psychosis: Bridging The Gap From The Phenomenology Of Mentation To Neurones (May 2009) The aim is to bring together neuroscientists, psychiatrists, neurologists, psychologists and philosophers to discuss the validity of this hypothesis, its implications for research in severe mental conditions such as schizophrenia and our understanding of consciousness and the mind-brain relationship

Music And The Brain: New Perspectives For Stimulating Cognitive And Sensory Processes (July 2009) Recent findings in the neuroscience of music urge scientists to create a bridge between basic research and applied research aimed at rehabilitating brain functions (e.g., auditory processing, language, and motor processes). Interdisciplinary research involving clinical and cognitive neuroscientists is needed to capitalize on existing knowledge about the brain in order to devise effective rehabilitation programs.

Neuroesthetics: When Art And The Brain Collide (September 2009) Art and neuroscience are both crucial in the process of interbreeding in the seminal field of neuroesthetics. Art provides a unique window on mental processes and conversely neuroscience expands our understanding of the elusive aspects of aesthetic experience. The workshop aims at gathering the most skilled and innovative researchers in this new field of research. The meeting will allow the consolidation of a growing academic community which is now scattered in several separate departments, also due to the highly interdisciplinary nature of neuroesthetics.

The Adolescent Brain. New Insights From Clinical And Animal Models (October 2009) Adolescence, the transitional period between childhood and adulthood, is often characterized by extreme-oriented behaviours, possibly mediated by discontinuities in brain development. Discussion of recent evidence from humans and animal models may point to new directions in research so as to better understand neurobiological basis of normative adolescence, and, in turn, the neural and genetic factors underlying the increased vulnerability of adolescents to psychopathology, including drug abuse.

Qualities In Perception Science (November 2009) Perceptively speaking, quality is not reducible to quantity. However, when dealing with qualitative phenomena, many sciences read then only in quantitative terms. As far as cognitive science is concerned, this means treating qualities only as stimuli. The conference aims to suggest that before developing any model of perceptive data, one should develop an unbiased and detailed description of observables. Formal model will have to be developed only subsequently, and should possibly maintain a link to the carefully described observables.

Communication Of Deaf-Blind People As A Model For Exploring Language Modality, Social Communication, And Neural Plasticity (November 2009) The aim is to bring together researchers studying functional imaging of tactile communication, the role of visual and haptic feedback in gesture and sign language, the role of the face, and representations of space in language, in order to jointly develop an agenda for research using deaf-blind communication as a model system for exploring cognition, language and interaction.

Research Conferences

Law and Neuroscience: our growing understanding of the Human Brain and its impact on our Legal System (October 2009) Series on Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (from 2011 onwards). The aim is to establish a dialogue between neuroscientists, legal practitioners, researchers in sociolegal studies and social scientists, to further mutual understanding and make some realistic evaluations of the potential developments at the intersection of neuroscience and law.

Other

DISCOS Disorders and Coherence of the Embodied Self Marie Curie Research Training Network. An interdisciplinary project of both the biomedical sciences and the humanities to investigate the fundaments of the human person. The major breakthrough to be expected from DISCOS will be an integrative framework for research and interventions on the embodied human self that will overcome the fragmentation of approaches and disciplines in the field.