All Events will be held in Merrick Hall.

9a – 10a:           Breakfast & Registration – Merrick Hall, 1st Floor

10a – 11a:         Keynote Presentation – Merrick Hall, 3rd Floor

Speaker:  Rob West, Ph.D., Elizabeth P. Allen Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, DePauw University.

“Adventures of the Medial Frontal Cortex: Personal Responsibility, Ethical Decision Making, and Self-Control.”

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is an intriguing neural structure that is widely involved in cognitive, social, and affective information processing. As examples, the ACC is active when we experience physical or social pain and when we observe someone else experiencing pain; when we experience negative outcomes, such as the loss of money or points in a game; and when there is conflict between our intentions and actions. In the talk, I will consider the results of studies using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to explore the temporal dynamics (i.e., time course) of neural activity in the ACC and related brain structures in three domains including gambling, ethical decision making, and self-control. The results of these studies demonstrate that self-regulation across these domains arises from transient activity in the ACC followed by more sustained activity in the lateral frontal, parietal, and occipital cortices. Based upon these data, I propose that the pattern of transient ACC followed by sustained activity in other cortical structures represents a general property of neural interactions that cut across cognitive, social, and affective information processing, and that facilitate goal directed behavior across domains.

11a – 11:25a:       Break (Coffee available on Merrick Hall, 1st Floor)

11:30a –12:15p:   Student Oral Presentations – Merrick Hall, 3rd Floor

3 student speakers will be selected from submitted abstracts.

Each speaker will be allotted 12 mins to present + 3 mins for Questions after each talk.

12:15p – 1:15p:      Lunch

Box Lunches will be available on Merrick Hall, 1st Floor.

Seating available in Merrick Hall, 1st Floor & 2nd Floor (or outside tables, weather permitting). Seating is not available on the 3rd Floor, in order to set-up posters.

1:15p-1:30p:          Poster set-up by presenting authors.

1:30p – 3:30p:        Poster Session – Science Center Atrium (1st Floor).

Presenting authors will be assigned into 2 groups, with Group 1 requested to be present at their posters from 1:30-2:30p, and Group 2 requested to be present at their posters from 2:30p-3:30p.

3:30p – 4:30p:         Breakout Sessions – Merrick Hall, 3rd Floor & 2nd Floor rooms

Student Session (3rd Floor Merrick):  Career Panel, with panelists representing graduate schools, current graduate students, and other professionals with careers in science.

Faculty Session (Merrick Hall, Room 202):  “How to Design an Introductory Neuroscience course?”  Discussion will primarily include the challenge of breadth v. depth of topics, how many pre-reqs are needed, teaching to non-majors or undeclared majors, and goals for laboratory exercises in an introductory course as compared to advanced neuroscience courses. Discussion will be led by OWU faculty, who have recently implemented an Introductory Neuroscience course, designed for sophomores, to introduce topics related to Behavioral/Cognitive Neuroscience, Molecular/Cellular Neuroscience, and Computational Neuroscience.

4:45p – 5p:              Closing Remarks – Merrick, 3rd Floor