University of California, San Diego

Center for Brain

and Cognition

V. S. Ramachandran, Director

The mission of the Center for Human Information processing (CHIP), which is now being renamed Center for Brain and Cognition (CBC) is to bring together faculty, students, and researchers who share an interest in neural mechanisms underlying human perception, cognition and emotions (and the application of knowledge about cognitive mechanisms to addressing real-world human problems). Historically, CHIP was begun by Drs. George Mandler, David Rumelhart, and J. McClelland, whose weekly seminars were legendary and became the basis for the current "neural network revolution." CHIP activities are of interest to faculty and graduate students based in the Departments of Psychology, Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, Anthropology, Communications, as well as the Salk Institute. CHIP activities include (1) a well-attended research talk series (the Friday CBC/CHIP Talks); (2) a neuroimaging data analysis facility used by researchers examining fMRI data; (3) internationally visible research activities in behavioral neurology and cognitive neuroscience, neural plasticity and rehabilitation from stroke, visual cognition and basic visual processes, the relationship of cognition and emotion, language processing, and bippsychological questions involving the relationship of stress and illness.

Historically, CHIP was concerned mainly with human information processing and especially neural network modeling. That function of CHIP has now been largely taken over by INC (Institute for Neural Computation). CHIP is now concerned mainly with understanding the neural basis of perception, cognition, language, attention and memory, and with neuro-rehabilitation, a field called "cognitive neuroscience" or behavioral neurology." To reflect this change in emphasis, we have changed the name to "Center for Brain and Cognition" (CBC),

CBC/CHIP has two distinct agendas -- a practical one and a theoretical one. The practical goal is to help develop new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of neurological and psychiatric patients, e.g., stroke and childhood autism. The theoretical agenda is to understand the neural basis of human behavior -- the question of how the activity of millions of tiny wisps of protoplasm in the brain gives rise to all the richness of our conscious experience.

It is ironic that even though we now have a vast amount of factual information about the brain (10,000 papers were presented at this year's Society for Neuroscience meeting!), even the most basic questions about the human mind remain unanswered. Why do we laugh, i.e., make a rhythmic sound and bob our heads in certain situations? Why do we cry? Why the salty liquid flowing down our cheeks when sad? What is the meaning of art? How does the human brain create and respond to art? Why do we enjoy music? What causes us to dance? What makes some of us so amazingly creative in mathematics, science, and poetry? How are metaphors represented in the brain? What is "body image" and why does it get distorted in anorexia nervosa? How did language evolve? Then there are more basic questions. How do we see color? Why can we pay attention to only one thing at a time? How do we recognize faces so effortlessly?

Neuroscientists and psychologists have, in the past, shied away from such questions, but recently our center CBC/CHIP has become well known for tackling questions such as these experimentally, questions that have traditionally been the preoccupation of philosophers. Already, there is talk in the literature and in the news media about the emergence of such new disciplines as "neuroethics," neurotheology,"

V. S. Ramachandran, Director

Harold E. Pashler, Director

David A. Swinney, Director

Rick Buxton, Director

John Smythies, Director