[WTI-trainee] APHINE Presents Paul Middlebrooks, January 15th, 11:00am: a discussion on the Conceptual Challenges of Interpreting Neural Data

[Natalia Castelo Branco Matos]

[image: APHINE logo]
*Dear all,*

Happy New Year! We’re thrilled to begin a new semester of APHINE with an
upcoming session in our Neurophilosophy Seminar Series, featuring *Professor
Paul Middlebrooks *from Carnegie Mellon University. We’ll also share more
information about our journal club soon—stay tuned.

📅 Date: Thursday, January 15th, 2026
🕒 Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
📍 Location: 100 College Street, Room 1116

*About the speaker:* Dr. Middlebrooks is a neuroscientist and Special
Faculty Research Associate at Carnegie Mellon University. He is also the
creator and host of the *Brain Inspired* podcast, where he explores ideas
at the intersection of neuroscience, AI, cognitive science, and philosophy.

*About the talk:* In this session of the Applied Philosophy in Neuroscience
(APHINE) series, guest speaker Paul Middlebrooks will explore the
often-hidden conceptual frameworks that shape how we interpret neural
activity. While neuroscientific progress is often measured in terms of data
acquisition and computational power, the questions we ask—and the
conclusions we draw—are deeply rooted in philosophical assumptions.

Paul will discuss how these foundational ideas have guided his recent
analyses and, more importantly, how they are shaping the future direction
of his research. This talk offers an experimental “first look” at bridging
empirical discovery and the philosophical drivers that give our data
meaning. Join us for a unique discussion on how reflecting on how we think
can unlock new frontiers in understanding the brain.


Looking forward to seeing you there,

Best,

APHINE Organizers
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/wti-trainee/attachments/20260108/1b8ca8e1/attachment.html>