Brain Behavior Quantification & Synchronization Workshop

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) BRAIN Initiative is hosting a Brain Behavior Quantification and Synchronization (BBQS) workshop on March 1 – 2, 2022 from 1:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. ET.

The objective of the workshop is to stimulate discussion on the advances necessary for a more comprehensive understanding of behavior, by bringing together innovators in sensor and data analysis, translational and basic cognitive neuroscientists conducting human and animal studies, evolutionary, behavioral and social scientists, computational scientists, and ethicists. This effort will support the development and validation of next-generation tools and analytic approaches to precisely and comprehensively quantify spontaneous and learned behaviors with simultaneously recorded brain activity and data from the physical and social environment.

• The focus of Day 1 sessions is on the big picture of the BBQS effort and its goals, and to identify opportunities for cross-fertilization across the fields participating in the workshop.
• The focus of Day 2 sessions is on parallel breakout discussions (one on human/clinical and one on organismal/comparative research).

Researchers will identify the gaps and limitations in existing technologies and discuss strategies for achieving the goals of BBQS. Experts in the technology space will present their recent advances to facilitate multi-disciplinary team-building. Innovators of sensor technologies will be included so that they can hear from researchers what their unmet needs are and where sensor development/modification could be useful. This will be foundational in building a network of neuroscientists, behavioral and social systems scientists, and engineers interested in comprehensive measurement and analysis of behavior.