[Neuro-IT] Call for papers: Special issue of the Journal of Integrative Neuroscience

[Ricardo Chavarriaga]

(We apologise for multiple copies of this message)

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Call for papers for a Special Issue of the Journal of Integrative 
Neuroscience on

"Multisensory Integration and Concurrent Parallel Memory Systems for 
Spatial Cognition"

  Deadline for Submission: March 15, 2007

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Spatial cognition is the ability of an animal to acquire spatial 
knowledge (e.g., spatio-temporal relations among environmental cues or
events), organise it properly, and employ it to adapt its motor 
behaviour to the specific context. Alike other high-level brain 
functions, spatial memory calls upon parallel information processing 
mediated by multiple neural substrates that interact, either 
cooperatively or competitively, to promote appropriate spatial learning. 
Similar to animals, autonomous navigating artefacts need to interact 
with their environment and learn both low-level sensory-motor couplings 
and more abstract context representations supporting their spatial 
behaviour.

At the sensory level, different perceptual modalities provide the 
navigator with a manifold description of the spatial context. The 
integration of these multimodal signals into a coherent representation 
is at the core of spatial cognition. At the action selection level, 
determining and maintaining a goal-directed trajectory involves multiple 
mnemonic processes, each of which promotes a specific solution (i.e., a 
navigation strategy) to the overall task. The capability of dynamically 
weighing the contribution of distinct memory systems is relevant to the 
issue of
adapting the spatial behaviour to the complexity of the task.

This special issue aims at promoting a multidisciplinary forum between 
experimentalists, theoreticians, and engineers in order to improve our 
understanding of biological and bio-mimetic spatial learning systems.

Topics appropriate for this Special Issue include (but are not limited to):

* the learning mechanisms (both at the synaptic plasticity level and at 
a higher level) mediating the integration of multimodal signals

* the characterisation of the spatial information properties determining 
the cue selection process during the exploration of a novel environment

* the principles underlying the minimisation of destructive interference 
between spatial memories acquired during lifelong learning

* the multiple co-existing memory systems promoting spatial navigation

* the anatomo-functional interrelations between the neural substrates 
(e.g., hippocampus, prefrontal and parietal cortices, basal ganglia, and 
cerebellum) mediating spatial learning

* the principles regulating the cooperative/competitive relations 
between these parallel memory systems and determining the on-line shift 
between distinct navigation strategies


Contributions promoting an integrative approach permitting to 
investigate the links between different description levels (e.g. between 
neural coding and behavior) are particularly welcome. Authors proposing 
theoretical or computational approaches should explicitly address issues 
like "the biological plausibility of the models" and "how the 
theoretical/simulation findings can lead to a better understanding of 
the neurobiological mechanisms underlying spatial cognition".

Drafts must be submitted to spatial.learning at gmail.com and must be 
prepared according to the "Guidelines for contributions" of the Journal 
of Integrative Neuroscience 
(http://www.worldscinet.com/jin/mkt/guidelines.shtml).

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SUMMARY of IMPORTANT DATES
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Deadline for paper submission:   March 15, 2006
Expected publication date of the special issue:    fall 2007

For sake of efficient editorial organisation, we ask those authors that 
are willing to submit a contribution, to inform us as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Angelo Arleo & Ricardo Chavarriaga


-- 
RICARDO CHAVARRIAGA
IDIAP Research Institute, Martigny, Switzerland
Phone: 41.27.7217.779  Fax: +41.27.7217712
http://www.idiap.ch/~rchava/
	                        "Cogito Cogito Ergo Cogito Sum"