Abstract
The human neocortex is the organ of intelligence, responsible for perception, language, and high-level thought. How the neocortex works is considered one of the greatest unsolved scientific challenges. Progress on this problem is expected to lead to advances in AI, disease, education, and robotics.
In this talk I will introduce a framework for understanding how the neocortex works. The framework is based on a type of neuron, called a grid cell, that represents your location in the world. Grid cells exist in an older part of the brain but recent evidence indicates grid cells also exist in the neocortex. This profoundly changes how we think about the neocortex, suggesting a novel framework where everything the neocortex knows is stored in a location-based format and the essential operations of the neocortex involve processing location spaces. I will describe the framework, explain how the mechanisms evolved, and discuss several implications.
About the Johns Hopkins APL Colloquium:
The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL) Colloquium began in 1947. Held weekly, it is one of the longest standing technical and scientific lecture series in the Washington/Baltimore area. The goal of the Colloquium has been to bring to the Laboratory scientific scholars, technical innovators, industry leaders, government sponsors, and policy makers to inform, educate, and enlighten Laboratory staff on what is currently exciting, relevant, and of value to the work of APL.
Jeff Hawkins • Co-Founder