SPECIAL THURSDAY MEETING!
Thought Emerges from Neural Dynamics
How Science is Unraveling the Nature of Cognition and Consciousness
Earl Miller
Picower Professor of Neuroscience
The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Sponsored by PSW Science Member Tim Thomas
Video
About the Lecture
Classic models likened brain function to networks of neurons, analogous to telegraph systems. Emerging evidence, however, suggests that higher cognition relies not only on synaptic connections but also on rhythmic oscillations. These “brain waves” are electric field dynamics that travel across the cortex and shape neuronal spiking. This view expands the brain’s functional repertoire: the “telegraph wires” of synaptic circuits also generate “radio waves” (electric fields) that rapidly distribute influence across large distances. Such fields may support large-scale coordination underlying executive control and consciousness. They may even enable energy-efficient analog computation, which may explain why our brains run on the power of a dim lightbulb about 20 watts (incandescent).
Selected Reading & Media References
Analog Cognition and Consciousness, Earl K. Miller, Scott L. Brincat, Jefferson Roy, https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/z48x7_v2
Miller, E.K., Brincat, S.L. and Roy, J.E. (2024): Cognition is an emergent property. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2024.101388.
Miller, E.K., Lundqvist, L. and Bastos, A.M. (2018): Working Memory 2.0. Neuron: DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2018.09.023
About the Speaker
Earl K Miller is the Picower Professor of Neuroscience in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is also co-founder and Chief Scientist of SplitSage and co-founder of Neuroblox. Previously he was Associate Director of The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and Director of Graduate Studies in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT.
Earl’s research centers on the neural mechanisms of cognition. His laboratory uses multiple-electrode neurophysiology, psychophysics, pharmacological manipulations, and computational approaches to study how neural activity and network dynamics support cognition. Much of his work concerns the prefrontal cortex and its role in integrating information, representing rules, controlling attention, and sup-porting flexible behavior.
Earl is known for showing how neurons in the prefrontal cortex represent learned associations, task rules, categories, and other abstract information, and for the contributions of his group to understanding mixed selectivity in cortical neurons, the role of oscillations in working memory and attention, and the effects of anesthetics, such as propofol, on cortical dynamics and consciousness.
Earl is an author on more than 200 scholarly publications, and “An Integrative Theory of Prefrontal Cortex Function” co-authored with Johnathan Cohen is one of the most-cited papers in the neurosciences.
Among other honors and awards, Earl is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is the recipient of an honorary doctorate from Kent State University, the George A Miller Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience, the Paul and Lilah Newton Brain Science Award, and the Goldman-Rakic Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Cognitive Neuroscience.
Earl earned a BA in Psychology at Kent State University, and an MA and PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience at Princeton University.
Social Media
Webpages: https://ekmillerlab.mit.edu and https://ekmillerlab.mit.edu/earl-miller/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/earlkmiller/
X (Twitter) handle(s): @MillerLabMIT
YouTube Channel(s): www.youtube.com/@MillerLabMIT
BlueSky: @earlkmiller.bsky.social