This recently inaugurated Gordon Conference series provides a forum for researchers and students to exchange data and discuss ideas on cutting-edge issues in the neurobiology of cognition. Given the broad field, each meeting has a somewhat different focus, to facilitate in-depth discussions and at the same time preserve the breadth. The program and format of the meeting are designed to foster intense interactions among investigators from different fields (e.g., between cognitive neuroscientists using human fMRI and neurophysiologists working with behaving animals) or across levels (from cellular and subcellular physiology, microcircuits, to large-scale brain systems), as well as between experimentalists and theorists.