Date: Thursday 19 February

Time:  4.30 - 6.00pm (1 hour presentation, followed by discussion and questions)

Venue: Level 7 Seminar Room, Queensland Brain Institute (Building #79) The University of Queensland, St Lucia Campus

Speaker: Professor Pankaj Sah

Title: The Neuroscience of Feedback

Professor Pankaj Sah is a neuroscientist with research interests in the role of the amygdala in learning. Professor Sah holds an MBBS from the University of New South Wales (1983) and was awarded a PhD in neuroscience from the Australian National University in 1988. Professor Sah is the  Deputy Director (Research) at Queensland Brain Institute and Director of the Science of Learning Research Centre.

Abstract: In this seminar, Professor Sah will begin by reviewing the development of the concept of reinforcement learning, beginning with Pavlov, Thorndike and Skinner in the early decades of the 20th century, and with particular reference to aversive classical conditioning and fear conditioning. He will discuss the proposed neurophysiological basis of reinforcement learning both at a cellular level - e.g. Hebbian synapses and long term potentiation (LTP) – and also at a systems/circuit level - e.g. the amygdala model of fear conditioning. He will then describe the way current neuroscience addresses questions in learning and what the implications might be for our understanding of learning in a classroom setting.

RSVP (for catering purposes): slc@uq.edu.au

Please share this invitation with other interested colleagues.

For more information on the SLRC please visit www.slrc.org.au.