First was a great talk by Andrew Whiten on animal #culture at the #LearningSalon. Whiten explains how research into social learning, and even culture, in non-human animals has exploded recently, and he explores some of the implications of that research here. You can probably skip the discussion afterwards though https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqlGMc5vAh0 (2/9) #anthropology #sociology

First was a great talk by Rosa Cao on representations in the brain at the #LearningSalon. While a lot of the focus here is on #neuroscience, it's also around how we think about representations and classification in general https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxwa1yN24JI (2/8)

First was a great conversation between #LearningSalon hosts @criticalneuro and John Krakauer on lots of topics covered at the salon in 2021, with a particular focus on the "reward is enough" paper from DeepMind that came out a bit before this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEjL-di19F0 (2/12)

First was an engaging conversation with @NeilLewisJr on #race, geography, and how to reduce disparities at the #LearningSalon. Lewis brought academic heft to the discussion that followed his talk, which was more of a listening session for questions from folks in AI/cognitive science https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1RljRk0hMg (2/8)

Last was an amazing examination of different models of the mind by @Neurograce at the #LearningSalon. Lindsay goes through the history of some of the most widely used models in #AI today, placing them in their historical context. A robust discussion on the nature of "mind" ensues. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5yYxHJ2KFM (8/8) #neuroscience

Next was a fantastic discussion with Gina Poe on the cognitive #neuroscience of #sleep at the #LearningSalon. This is the best talk on the function and benefits of sleep I've ever heard, and the Q&A following the initial talk is extremely rich as well. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp5HaIlwjN4 (6/9)

Next was a fascinating talk discussion with Marina Bedny on neural adaptation to blindness and programming exercises at the #LearningSalon. The experiments presented here were eye-opening, and the associated robust debate gives tons of insight into how to think about neuroplasticity and its limits. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTd8iGVHtSE (8/9) #neuroscience #CognitiveScience

First was a wide-ranging conversation with Gyorgy Buzsaki on the nature of the brain at the #LearningSalon. There's tons of thoughtful debate here about the extent to which neural structures are baked in versus develop over time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzM0Ry7icP8 (2/7) #neuroscience #CognitiveScience

Last was a spicy discussion with Evelina Fedorenko on the #language system in the human brain at the #LearningSalon. The key arguments here, that word meanings and processing aren't separated and that artificial networks can serve as useful models of human language processing, do break down during the ensuing debate, but that makes the whole conversation all the more instructive. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsoQFZxrv-I (9/9) #LLMs

Next was a spirited conversation with @Gualtiero on the language of thought at the #LearningSalon. Starting with a deconstruction of "digital" approaches to explaining thought, the discussion moves towards what little we know about how thought operates and what frameworks might be the most useful to examine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xg4d3fEJ90 (3/6)