Department of Physics and Institute for Brain and Neural Systems Present:

“Frontiers in the Interaction Between Physics and Biology”

Professor Brian Blais (Bryant University)
November 29th 2005, 4:00 PM; Barus and Holley, Room 751

"Plasticity in the Brain: A Physicist's Perspective on Learning and Memory"

Abstract:

When approaching a new problem, as a physicist, one starts writing down the simplest possible theories. “Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler” is the motto, attributed to Albert Einstein, but describing the methods used throughout the history of physics. The theories are then modified when new data are available, when predictions are falsified, and when simpler descriptions are shown to work.

In this presentation, I begin with some basic observations of plasticity in the brain, and present some theories which explain them. Through the mutual interaction of theory and experiment, I demonstrate the methods by which one can test theories of the brain, and when to modify them. The journey will take us from phenomenological descriptions of learning down to the cellular and molecular processes underlying learning and memory.