DNN models of the brain are getting bigger. Are we replacing one complicated system in vivo with another in silico?
In new work, we seek the *smallest* DNN models of visual cortex, balancing prediction with parsimony.
It turns out these compact models are surprisingly small!
rdcu.be/e5H8G
Can electrical microstimulation be used to steer cortical population activity on- and off-manifold? Our new preprint says yes — using data-driven control in macaque PFC. Joint work with @gbarzon.bsky.social, Anandita De, Isaac Moran, Conner Carnahan, and Luca Mazzucato.
From the top of my head, here some recent ones:
"Two views on the cognitive brain" by @johnwkrakauer.bsky.social, @dlbarack.bsky.social
"Reconstructing computational system dynamics from neural data with recurrent neural networks" by @durstewitzlab.bsky.social et al
1/3
After several years of work, my lab is starting to put out our first papers on learning in a unicellular organism (Stentor coeruleus).
Here we show evidence for a form of associative learning in Stentor:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
This paper on how the brain may do gradient descent is very cool: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A new preprint, co-authored with @johnwkrakauer.bsky.social:
The Deliberation Taboo
Cognitive science is, nominally, the science of thinking. We argue that the field has no theory of what thinking is and, even worse, that the topic has largely dropped out of focus. 1/
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Interdisciplinarity Through Research Collaboration & Philosophy and Neuroscience Mentorship Program applications are due 2.28.26. Visit our website for more information.
What is the function of episodic memory? Today at The Memory Palace, Muhammad Ali Khalidi (CUNY) shares ideas on the functions of episodic memory, and how this capacity might link individual cognition and joint agency.
open.substack.com/pub/thememor...
Hierarchy in neuronal representations of multiple tasks in prefrontal cortex https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.10.705211v1
ITRC project benefits for early career researchers: 📄 Results in 2 publications (academic and public-facing), 🎓 training on translating work for a popular audience, 💰 project funding, 💼SPAN2027 conference presentation, 🤝 hands on interdisciplinary research + more! 🏅 @danafoundation.bsky.social 🧠
Very happy to see "Pretending not to know reveals a capacity for model-based self-simulation", a collaboration with @chazfirestone.bsky.social and @ianbphillips.bsky.social, out in Psych. Science!
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177...
🧵
Our paper is out in @natneuro.nature.com!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We develop a geometric theory of how neural populations support generalization across many tasks.
@zuckermanbrain.bsky.social
@flatironinstitute.org
@kempnerinstitute.bsky.social
1/14
Can you easily distinguish between value, valence, and salience?
Probably not, but the prefrontal cortex of mice seems to achieve this by creating a sort of multidimensional orthogonal neural space, where each dimension corresponds to one of these subjective elements
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Congrats!
Promotional poster for the XIV Workshop on Philosophy of Biology and Cognitive Sciences. The poster features a dark green background with stylized yellow and red floral illustrations around the edges. Large yellow text announces the workshop title. The event will take place 18–19 June at UNED, Edificio de Humanidades, Paseo de la Senda del Rey 7, Madrid. The keynote speakers listed are Alejandro Fábregas-Tejeda (KU Leuven), Enara García (SDU), and José Antonio Pérez-Escobar (UNED). The poster highlights a Call for Abstracts (CfA) with an extended deadline of 1st February. Contact information is provided at xivpbcs@gmail.com
Final days to submit an abstract to #PBCS2026! If you are an early-career scholar looking for a supportive environment to discuss your work & meet international peers, consider applying! Another plus this year: The workshop will be in Madrid! sites.google.com/view/xivpbcs... #HPbio #philsci #philsky
every epstein file drop underscores how elite power operates through shared socio-economic networks, regardless of people's ideological differences, populist posturing, or public feuds
Cool paper
The hippocampal map has its own attentional control signal!
Our new study reveals that theta #sweeps can be instantly biased towards behaviourally relevant locations. See 📹 in post 4/6 and preprint here 👉
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🧵(1/6)
Our experiences have countless details, and it can be hard to know which matter.
How can we behave effectively in the future when, right now, we don't know what we'll need?
Out today in @nathumbehav.nature.com , @marcelomattar.bsky.social and I find that people solve this by using episodic memory.
*Multi-region computations in the brain*
When two regions are better than one...
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
#neuroskyence
due date is about a month away 👀
Alex Pretti was a colleague at the VA. We hired him to recruit for our trial. He became an ICU nurse- I lover working with him. He was a good kind person who lived to help and these fuckers executed him.
White. Hot. Rage.
Aaaand we're back!!
Two Postdocs in Philosophy of Mind (one ot two years), Centre for Philosophical Psychology, University of Antwerp
- to work with me!
Deadline: March 20, 2026
More info on PhilJobs
What kinds of cognitions are possible? Are there discrete classes of cognition? Here's our new paper with @brigan.bsky.social @jordiplam.bsky.social @mitibennett.bsky.social @mkhochb.bsky.social and @drmichaellevin.bsky.social arxiv.org/abs/2601.12837 We explore basal, neural and human-AI spaces.
This is wild
🧠 CALL FOR SYMPOSIA ABSTRACTS 🌴 SPAN is now accepting abstracts for a special session at the PSA. Put a group and a topic together and submit your idea via email by March 1st 🥳
The 52nd annual meeting of the SPP will be at JHU, June 17-20
📣 Submit your work by January 16! 📣
like are you fucking kidding me
