Sign in

Hugo Ninou

@hugoninou.bsky.social
194 followers 259 following 23 posts

I am a PhD student working at the intersection of neuroscience and machine learning. My work focuses on learning dynamics in biologically plausible neural networks. #NeuroAI

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Hugo Ninou
Jérémie Beucler @jeremiebeucler.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
1/13 New paper with @wimdeneys.bsky.social accepted at @cognitionjournal.bsky.social 🥳 Is creativity intuitive? 👩‍🎨 A 🧵👇
the heading of the paper "Intuitive insight: Fast associative processes drive sound creative thinking" at Cognition
1183
Reposted by Hugo Ninou
Jérémie Beucler @jeremiebeucler.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
1/10 🚨 New preprint: Using Large Language Models to Estimate Belief Strength in Reasoning 🚨 When asked: "There are 995 politicians and 5 nurses. Person 'L' is kind. Is Person 'L' more likely to be a politician or a nurse?", most people will answer "nurse", neglecting the base-rate info. A 🧵👇
Abstract

Accurately quantifying belief strength in heuristics-and-biases tasks is crucial yet methodologically challenging. In this paper, we introduce an automated method leveraging large language models (LLMs) to systematically measure and manipulate belief strength. We specifically tested this method in the widely used “lawyer-engineer” base-rate neglect task, in which stereotypical descriptions (e.g., someone enjoying mathematical puzzles) conflict with normative base-rate information (e.g., engineers represent a very small percentage of the sample). Using this approach, we created an open-access database containing over 100,000 unique items systematically varying in stereotype-driven belief strength. Validation studies demonstrate that our LLM-derived belief strength measure correlates strongly with human typicality ratings and robustly predicts human choices in a base-rate neglect task. Additionally, our method revealed substantial and previously unnoticed variability in stereotype-driven belief strength in popular base-rate items from existing research, underlining the need to control for this in future studies. We further highlight methodological improvements achievable by refining the LLM prompt, as well as ways to enhance cross-cultural validity. The database presented here serves as a powerful resource for researchers, facilitating rigorous, replicable, and theoretically precise experimental designs, as well as enabling advancements in cognitive and computational modeling of reasoning. To support its use, we provide the R package baserater, which allows researchers to access the database to apply or adapt the method to their own research.
1133
Hugo Ninou @hugoninou.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
Excited to present my latest work, “Curl Descent: Non-Gradient Learning Dynamics with Sign-Diverse Plasticity,” this Friday at 11:00 AM at NeurIPS 2025! Come by spotlight poster #3014 🎉 I’d love to discuss it with you: neurips.cc/virtual/2025...
neurips.cc
NeurIPS Poster Curl Descent : Non-Gradient Learning Dynamics with Sign-Diverse PlasticityNeurIPS 2025
030
Reposted by Hugo Ninou
Friedemann Zenke @fzenke.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
1/6 New preprint 🚀 How does the cortex learn to represent things and how they move without reconstructing sensory stimuli? We developed a circuit-centric recurrent predictive learning (RPL) model based on JEPAs. 🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025... Led by @atenagm.bsky.social @mshalvagal.bsky.social
314242
Hugo Ninou @hugoninou.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
🚨New spotlight paper at Neurips 2025🚨 We show that in sign-diverse networks, inherent non-gradient “curl” terms arise, and can, depending on network architecture, destabilize gradient-descent solutions or paradoxically accelerate learning beyond pure gradient flow. 🧵⬇️ www.arxiv.org/abs/2510.02765
arxiv.org
Curl Descent: Non-Gradient Learning Dynamics with Sign-Diverse Plasticity
Gradient-based algorithms are a cornerstone of artificial neural network training, yet it remains unclear whether biological neural networks use similar gradient-based strategies during learning. Expe...
1134
Reposted by Hugo Ninou
Leo Kozachkov @leokoz8.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Big week for astrocyte research: 3 new Science papers link astrocytes to behavior. We're excited to add to the momentum with our new PNAS paper: a theory, grounded in biology, proposing astrocytes as key players in memory storage and recall. w/ JJ Slotine and @krotov.bsky.social (1/6)
13513
Reposted by Hugo Ninou
Friedemann Zenke @fzenke.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
1/6 Why does the brain maintain such precise excitatory-inhibitory balance? Our new preprint explores a provocative idea: Small, targeted deviations from this balance may serve a purpose: to encode local error signals for learning. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... led by @jrbch.bsky.social
518257
Reposted by Hugo Ninou
Jonathan Kadmon @kadmonj.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
(1/6) Excited to share a new preprint from our lab! Can large, deep nonlinear neural networks trained with indirect, low-dimensional error signals compete with full-fledged backpropagation? Tl;dr: Yes! arxiv.org/abs/2502.20580.
arxiv.org
Training Large Neural Networks With Low-Dimensional Error Feedback
Training deep neural networks typically relies on backpropagating high dimensional error signals a computationally intensive process with little evidence supporting its implementation in the brain. Ho...
56322
Hugo Ninou @hugoninou.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
🚨 Paper Alert! 🚨 1/n Thrilled to share our latest research, now published in Nature Communications! 🎉 This study dives deep into how the cerebellum shapes cortical preparatory activity during motor adaptation. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #neuroskyence #motorcontrol #cerebellum #motoradaptation
nature.com
Cerebellar output shapes cortical preparatory activity during motor adaptation - Nature Communications
Functional role of the cerebellum in motor adaptation is not fully understood. The authors show that cerebellar signals act as low-dimensional feedback which constrains the structure of the preparator...
45116
Reposted by Hugo Ninou
Joao Barbosa @jbarbosa.org · 16/12/2024
Created a starter pack of neuroscience in/from Paris. Let me know if you want to be added (the 'from' can include those not in Paris anymore) or just tap in if you want to know what we're talking about! Regardless, please re-tweet! go.bsky.app/3Zs9w5w
286239
Reposted by Hugo Ninou
Antonino Greco @agreco.bsky.social · 17/10/2024
For the Blueskyers interested in #NeuroAI 🧠🤖, I created a starter pack! Please comment on this if you are not on the list and working in this field 🙂 go.bsky.app/CscFTAr
11012050