Meeting themes and objectives

Experiments in sensory physiology have traditionally relied on recordings in restrained animals to allow precise control over stimulus parameters and animal behaviour. However, in the real world, sensory perception involves continuous interaction between movements of the observer and sensory inputs. The conference will bring together a diverse community of researchers investigating how the brain processes and interprets sensory signals as animals actively explore their environment and guides behavior under naturalistic conditions. Talks will cover a wide range of technical, experimental, and computational approaches across sensory systems and animal species. The goal of this meeting is to encourage exchange of knowledge and ideas, foster collaboration, and enable discussion on current scientific and technological challenges in this emerging field. Broad themes of the meeting include:

• How do sensory signals, self-motion and spatial orientation interact to enable perception and behavior?
• How does sensory feedback guide animals’ movements?
• How do sensory representations in freely moving animals relate to those recorded under head restrained and / or passive conditions?
• How can new technologies enable neural recordings, behavioral quantification, and control over sensory stimulation in freely moving animals?

Confirmed speakers

Alexander Groh     Aneta Koseska     Antonin Blot     Arkarup Banerjee     Cindy Poo     Cynthia Moss     Damian Wallace     Ehud Ahissar     Florencia Iacaruso     Itai Cohen     James Knierim     Jason Kerr     Jasper Poort     Jean Laurens     Jennifer Bizley     Johnathan Whitlock     Juan Ignacio Sanguinetti Scheck     Lisa Fenk     Marie Suver     Pauline Fleischmann     Philip Parker     Riccardo Beltramo     Ronen Segev     Sepiedeh Keshavarzi     Sonja Bisch-Knaden     Tobias Rose     Valentina Emiliani    

Organisers

Sepiedeh Keshavarzi   Petr Znamenskiy   Jason Kerr

Registration

• To foster scientific discussion, all meeting participants will present a talk or poster. Registration and abstract submission will open in November 2025.
• As the number of participants is limited to 50, selected participants will be in January 2026.
• On site accomodation at Harnack House and meals for selected applicants will be provided.

Venue

The meeting will take place at Harnack House in Berlin 18-21 May, 2026. Please see the Harnack House website for directions.

Funding

The conference has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the Max Planck Society and the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior – caesar.