The goal of this workshop was to bring together neuroscientists as well as
theorists who work on the regulatory mechanisms of adaptive systems, either
biological or artificial.
Neuromodulators such as dopamine, serotonin,
norepinephrine, and acetylcholine
have widespread influences on information processing in the brain. Recent
neurobiological studies revealed their specific roles such as prediction of
future reward and punishment, regulation of accuracy and diversity of behaviors,
and the rate of memory update. Computational studies of 'metalearning,' the
way of adapting global parameters and structures in a learning system, can
be helpful in understanding the roles and the dynamics of neuromodulators.
We invited researchers who are working on the the biological mechanisms of
neuromodulators and the computational theory of metalearning, as well as those
who are interested in the neurochemical basis and computational mechanisms
of the mind.
This workshop was conveniently scheduled after the 9th International Catecholamine Symposium held in Kyoto from March 31st to April 5th, 2001.
Minoru Asada, Osaka University
Gary Aston-Jones, University of Pennsylvania
Kenji Doya, CREST, JST & ATR International
Barry J. Everitt, University of Cambridge
Michael Hasselmo, Boston University
Okihide Hikosaka, Juntendo University
Takeshi Inoue, Hokkaido University
Tadashi Isa, National Institute for Physiological Sciences
Shin Ishii, Nara Institute of Science and Technology
Sham Kakade, University College London
Takashi Matsumoto, Waseda University
Toshiyuki Sawaguchi, Hokkaido University
Wolfram Schultz, University of Fribourg
Yuko Sekino, Gumma University
Shigeto Yamawaki, Hiroshima University
Kenji Doya
Research Director
Metalearning, Neuromodulation and Emotion, CREST, JST
Head
Department of Computational Neurobiology
ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories