Date: Wednesday, August 27
Time: 09:30-13:00
Location: Auditorium
Chair: John C. Fentress (Dalhousie University, Halifax and Oregon, Canada)

When we look at behavior we face many challenges. The first is what we watch for, and thus what we record. The human eye, or ear, cannot help but miss much. Our perceptions are limited, and often driven by prejudices we do not perceive. The question is then what do we do. Sometimes we have to develop technologies to aid us. At other times we simply need to do our best to think more clearly.

The participants in this symposium have each contributed importantly to our understandings of behavior, from complementary but individual perspectives. The dual themes of this symposium are streams and patterns in behavior, across levels and perspectives of analysis. The term streams is simply a reflection of how ever else we think about behavior, behavior is a dynamic process. The term pattern refers to the fact that we break behavior into units, pieces. We apply nouns, and try to identify.

Patrick Bateson has led multiple aspects of understanding behavior, and will launch our symposium in his keynote address. Wayne Aldridge and Kent Berridge have made important contributions to see how patterns of behavioral expression are brought into the realm of brain science. M. Cabanac and A. J. Cabanac remind us that whatever the value in taking mechanical notes in animals we should not let ourselves ignore possibilities of higher order functions such as potential animal consciousness. Ilan Golani and Yoav Benjamini have pioneered ways to link spatial aspects of behavior and their temporal properties together. Alan Kaluev has expanded our perceptions to show ways we can link movement properties to deep issues such as emotionality. Magnus Magnusson has led the way in pursuing how we link temporal and sequential aspects of behavior together.

We will end the symposium with a chance for the audience can ask questions, offer ideas, and maybe even complain!

Program

• 09:30 Introduction
  John C. Fentress (Dalhousie University, Halifax and Oregon, Canada)
  

• 09: 35 Stepping outside the traditional “science” box
  John C. Fentress (Dalhousie University, Halifax and Oregon, Canada)
  

• 09:55 Measuring consciousness in animals
  M. Cabanac and A. J. Cabanac (Laval University, Quebec, Canada)
  

• 10:15 Problems of behavior measurements
  Ilan Golani and Yoav Benjamini (Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel)
  

• 10:35 Understanding brain affective states by measuring animal grooming pattering
  Allan V Kalueff and Justin L LaPorte (National Institute of Mental Health, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, USA)
  

• 10:55 Coffee break
  

• 11:30 Observing versus seeing, perception versus detection, and data versus nature
  Magnus S. Magnusson (University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland)
  

• 11:50 Brain systems for action sequences
  J.W. Aldridge and K.C. Berridge (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA)
  

• 12:10 Discussion
  

• 12:30 End of session