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Although we often focus on our failings\, the brain can perform with remarkable efficiency. In some c ases\, this performance approaches fundamental limits\, as with photon coun ting or diffraction-limited imaging in vision. Many people have explored tu rning these observations around and using optimization as a principle from which the behaviors and mechanisms of neural circuits can be derived\, but this has been controversial. I will review arguments for and against these ideas\, then show how new measurements on the statistical structure of natu ral signals sharpen the discussion in the case of visual motion estimation. Finally\, I will present progress on the landscape of optimization\, argui ng that classical objections to this principle may be misplaced. Hopefully\ , these examples help to renew your interest in optimization as the basis f or theories of neural coding and computation.
Bialek's research has addressed a wide range of theoretical physics problems motivated by th e phenomena of life\, across scales ranging from single molecules to flocks of birds. He is the recipient of numerous honors\, including the Max Delbr uck Prize in Biological Physics from the American Physical Society and the Swartz Prize for Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience from the Societ y for Neuroscience. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a m ember of the National Academy of Sciences.
CATEGORIES:CTCN Events LOCATION:Neuroscience Research Building Auditorium GEO:38.635602;-90.254892 ORGANIZER;CN="Shea":MAILTO:shea.stewart@wustl.edu URL;VALUE=URI:https://neuroscience.wustl.edu/events/event/ctcn-seminar-seri es-william-bialek/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Chicago BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 DTSTART:20250309T080000 TZNAME:CDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR