Breakthroughs in Understanding Natural Behaviour and its Neural Underpinnings

To determine how activity in the brain generates natural behaviour has always been recognised as a ‘Grand Challenge’. Despite inspiring success stories, such as the hippocampus and its ‘cognitive maps’, until recently, the field was hampered by lack of (1) techniques for recording neural activity in freely moving animals (especially mice) and (2) techniques for automatic measurement of the precise behaviour of freely moving animals.

Key innovations over the past decade have radically changed what is possible. Powerful methods have been developed for quantifying and classifying animal behaviour, based on cutting edge machine learning and computer vision; at the same time, methods for recording neural activity from freely moving animals have advanced greatly. These methods are generating dramatic new insights into our central question.

The purpose of this meeting is to stimulate progress in the field by bringing together research both on the latest developments in technology and in applying that technology to further our understanding of the neural basis of natural behaviour. Inspired by the intellectual tradition of neuroethology, the meeting spans approaches including computational theory, behavioural quantification, genetic manipulation and electrophysiology and imaging.