Leaders in the fields of neuroimaging and cognition will discuss the broad-ranging implications of their work at a conference at the Library of Congress on Wednesday, Oct. 6, beginning at 9 a.m. The conference, "Understanding Our Selves: The Science of Cognition," is being organized by the Library of Congress and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health with major funding from the Charles A. Dana Foundation.
All sessions will take place in the Montpelier Room on the sixth floor of the Library's Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E. The conference is free and open to the public; however, reservations are required. Those wishing to attend should call (202) 707-1616 and leave their names.
Sessions will focus on:
- current understanding of how the brain works when we are learning and how it is affected by disorders such as schizophrenia and depression;
- how research is being applied to preventing mental disorders and treating people afflicted with them; and
- the promise of neuroscience: what lies ahead in understanding what it means to be human.
Special exhibits will include a demonstration by scientists from the National Foundation for Functional Brain Imaging, a nonprofit organization funded primarily by the Department of Energy and based in Albuquerque, N.M.
An earlier conference, "Discovering Our Selves: The Science of Emotion" examined the physical origin of emotional activity. "Understanding Our Selves: The Science of Cognition" will explore how the human nervous system produces mental activity.
Since 1991, the Library and NIMH have cooperated in an interagency initiative, the LC/NIMH Project on the Decade of the Brain, to advance the goals set forth in a proclamation by President George Bush designating the 1990s as the Decade of the Brain.
