Until recently, the study of neuroethology has focused on sensory mechanisms underlying specific adaptive behaviors and around issues of plasticity in brain and behavior. However, in the last 5 years conceptual breakthroughs and novel approaches have been developed with regard to important and interrelated areas of analysis. This conference will consider (1) research on how environmental cues shape adaptive control mechanisms and how complex signals affect the behavior of individuals and groups. These issues bear directly on (2) context-dependent choice, emergent properties of group behavior, and the evolution of behavioral phenotypes. New translational approaches include population genetics and modeling, in conjunction with more familiar neuroethological methods. Further, the realization that knowledge gained from analyzing circuitry and behavior is not invariably sufficient to test hypotheses has lead to (3) exciting advances in developing neuromorphic entities that allow rigorous tests of circuit capabilities in defined behavioral settings. These approaches have far reaching implications for robotics and neural prosthetics. (4) Insight into how the brain processes sensory data to provide adaptive behavior has achieved new impetus from genetic tools that target specific elements of neural circuitry to provide defined functional alterations that are behaviorally testable. This proposed 3rd Gordon Research Conference on Neuroethology will provide a timely discussion of these issues and about the development and future directions of the study of sensory perception, brain, and behavior. The conference is intended for the broad neuroethological community at all professional levels including advanced graduate and postdoctoral trainees. ? ?
