BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Memory codes and their transformation in bee brain - Randolf Menze
 l\, Frieie University of Berlin
DTSTART:20130128T163000Z
DTEND:20130128T180000Z
UID:TALK42014@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:P.H. Marchington
DESCRIPTION:Honeybees contradict the notion that insect behaviour tends to
  be relatively inflexible and stereotypical: they live in colonies and exh
 ibit complex social\, navigational and communication behaviours as well as
  a relatively rich cognitive repertoire. Because these relatively complex 
 behaviours are controlled by a brain consisting of only 1 million or so ne
 urons\, honeybees offer an opportunity to study the relationship between b
 ehaviour and cognition in neural networks that are limited size and comple
 xity. I shall report electro- and optophysiological studies aiming to char
 acterize memory traces at the single neuron and network level. The key str
 ucture will be the mushroom body\, a high order integration centre of the 
 insect brain. At its input sites the memory trace appears to be coded in t
 he combinatorics of multiple sensory inputs\, and at its output sites in m
 ultiple processing categories that represent the acquired values. This fra
 mework offers a structure for experimental and modeling approaches and pre
 vents us from believing that the properties of the memory trace can be cap
 tured by just assuming flexible and experience dependent sensory-interneur
 on-motor connections. Rather we have to search for the coding/recoding\, e
 valuating and predicting processes involved in storing the contents of mem
 ory\, the engram. I conclude that the memory engram will not be found in s
 ingle of neurons. Rather it results from distributed network properties th
 at add their respective contents when memory is formed\, processed (consol
 idated)\, and retrieved. \n\nSuggested reading: \nMenzel\, R. 2012. The Ho
 neybee as a model for understanding the basis of cognition. Nature Reviews
  Neuroscience 13\, 758-768. \n
LOCATION:Hodgkin-Huxley Room\, Department of Physiology Development and Ne
 uroscience
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR