Sign in

Victoria Bosch

@initself.bsky.social
839 followers 620 following 68 posts

neuromantic - ML and cognitive computational neuroscience - PhD student at Kietzmann Lab, Osnabrück University. ⛓️ init-self.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
Lilian Weber @lilweb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
✨New PhD Position!✨ Come and work with us on understanding cognition with a mix of cognitive modelling and ultrasound neuromodulation! More info on the lab & position: mic-lab.de/positions/ph... Official job ad: tinyurl.com/miclab-phd 🙏Please RT - deadline is Oct 14 ‼️
mic-lab.de
Research Associate (m/f/d): Models, Interventions, and Cognition — MIC-Lab
Models and interventions of cognition.
04138
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
Neuron @cp-neuron.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
dlvr.it
The recipe for intelligence in natural and artificial systems
This review by Summerfield and Stachenfeld surveys how the dialog between neuroscience and AI research has evolved over the past decade. They highlight continued opportunities for synergy between these disciplines.
0104
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
Stanislas Dehaene @standehaene.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
An important new paper from the lab : in a few years, vision models have progressed to such an extent that they almost match human perception in the domain of geometry (but may still fall short of having a genuine language of shapes).
0176
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
CBS CoCoNUT @cbs-coconut.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
We are excited! @initself.bsky.social & @rowansommers.bsky.social will present their **Umwelt Representation Hypothesis** at our next meeting. Sep 18, 11 am (CET) [Hybrid] Find the link to the online meeting here: www.cbs.mpg.de/en/cbs-coconut or join us at MPI CBS #neuroai #neuroskyence #ai
cbs.mpg.de
CBS CoCoNUT
CBS CoCoNUT: A new interest group that comes together every two weeks to have an informal exchange about cognitive computational neuroscience.
0157
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
Pieter Barkema @pieterbarkema.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
What you see right now is not a livestream, but is delayed & edited by your brain 🧠. The brain uses a short time buffer to rewrite what you thought you saw using info that comes in later (postdiction). We study how (7T fMRI, retinotopy). Read our preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 👀 (1/N)
biorxiv.org
36420
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
Jake Quilty-Dunn @quiltydunn.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
New paper, co-authored with Justin Wood, in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social: The Nativist-Empiricist Debate Is Broken We argue that radical nativism and radical empiricism are compatible and, in some cases, both plausibly true. So something is wrong. 🧵 Author share link here, valid til Oct 31:
authors.elsevier.com
Please wait whilst we redirect you
All content on this site: Copyright © 2026 Elsevier B.V., its licensors, and contributors. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies. For all open access content, the relevant licensing terms apply.
17430
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
William Gilpin @wgilpin.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Our group discovered that reasoning models produce fractals when asked to solve hard problems. We can use nonlinear dynamics to probe the thinking processes of recurrent depth models on Sudoku, mathematics, and even ARC-AGI (1/N) arxiv.org/abs/2609.04963
24010
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Great article :) “The purpose of perceptual systems is not to provide us with discrete categories (truthful or not), but rather to help answer that most important question: What should I do next?” aligns very well with our ideas. Not so familiar with that interface theory debate-will check it out!
110
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
Tal Golan @talgolanneuro.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
How can we design experiments that make computational models disagree? One section of our new @natrevneuro.nature.com Review with @kriegeskorte.bsky.social and @heikoschuett.bsky.social examines studies that used stimulus sets designed to elicit distinct predictions from competing models. 1/16
114156
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
Adrien Doerig @adriendoerig.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
The journal version is out! www.cell.com/trends-open/... AI is turning machine consciousness into a societal issue. Biological Naturalism (BN), the idea that only biological systems can be conscious, is gaining traction. We argue: either BN is untestable, or it is compatible with functionalism.
cell.com
What biology can and cannot tell us about conscious AI
Progress in artificial intelligence is turning machine consciousness from a philosophical curiosity into a societal issue, and has led to criticism of the widespread computational functionalist framew...
45819
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Thank you so much, Alireza! :)
010
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Interesting paper, thanks for sharing! Super relevant given the independent evolution of photoreceptor system: there are *good* solutions for perception. From the URH: similar solutions can emerge when constraints overlap on a deeper structural level without requiring them to be globally optimal.
120
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Thank you, very happy our ideas resonate!!
010
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
One would need annotations beyond the QA data about the semantic content as well - I guess it’s a question what one would like to know about the dynamics that could be expressed in natural language. Attribution techniques like LRP could be more suitable (which features are relevant when and where?).
010
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Thank you so much! We use non time resolved data, but it could be possible! (we have preliminary results for decoding from timeresolved intracranial electrode data, TVSD).
110
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Our article "The Umwelt Representation Hypothesis: rethinking Universality" is out now in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social, with my amazing colleagues: @rowansommers.bsky.social @adriendoerig.bsky.social @timkietzmann.bsky.social Many thanks to the journal and reviewers for their thoughtful feedback!
3130
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Our proposal: To understand representational alignment between both artificial neural networks and brains, don't look for the *one world model*, but use the toolbox of neuroconnectionism to map the space of ecological constraints that lead to systematic (mis)alignment instead. 7/n
1180
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
The URH: representations are shaped by the slice of reality a system can sense, act on, and cares about: its Umwelt. Alignment is explained by overlap of ecological constraints, not convergence onto a veridical world model. Universality cannot explain both similarity *and* systematic difference. 6/n
Top: Our visualization of the Funktionskreis (see von Uexkull). Umwelts are shaped by development and learning under constraints, through interaction of the system and the world, mediated by sensors and effectors.
Bottom: Both human and ANN vision are shaped by analogous biological and artificial constraints. The content and effect of these constraints determine representational alignment between compared systems.
1265
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
A bee can see UV patterns on flowers, we can't. Dogs have a better sense of smell, but are dichromatic. Some people see The Dress as black/blue, others as white/gold... Are these differences "world modeling failures"? We propose an alternative account: the Umwelt representation hypothesis (URH). 5/n
Dandelion under both UV light coloration (left) and visible light coloration (right). Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UV_coloration_in_flowers#/media/File:Dandelion-SAD-2022.jpg
181
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Universality assumes a globally optimal world model that all systems strive for. As a consequence, misalignment is due to failure of world modelling; similarity is universal signal, differences are idiosyncratic noise (Anna Karenina scenario). 4/n
180
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
This led to the proposal of Universality: different information-processing systems (ANNs and brains) all converge upon the same representational structures, because they learn a shared model of reality. A prime example of this is the Platonic Representation Hypothesis. 3/n
180
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Background: Recent studies find a striking representational alignment between a variety of ANNs, despite differences in architecture, objective, and even across language and vision (e.g. Huh et al. 2024). This finding expands to representations found in the brain (see e.g. Chen & Bonner, 2025). 2/n
180
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Are brains and artificial neural networks converging onto universal representations? There is a seductive idea making the rounds in NeuroAI / machine learning: train systems well enough, and they all converge on the same representation of reality (i.e. a unique world model). We have thoughts™ 1/n
cell.com
The Umwelt Representation Hypothesis: rethinking Universality
Recent studies reveal striking representational alignment between artificial neural networks (ANNs) and biological brains, leading to proposals that all sufficiently capable systems converge on univer...
818176
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Our article "The Umwelt Representation Hypothesis: rethinking Universality" is now out in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social, with my amazing colleagues: @rowansommers.bsky.social @adriendoerig.bsky.social @timkietzmann.bsky.social Many thanks to the journal and reviewers for their thoughtful feedback.
cell.com
The Umwelt Representation Hypothesis: rethinking Universality
Recent studies reveal striking representational alignment between artificial neural networks (ANNs) and biological brains, leading to proposals that all sufficiently capable systems converge on univer...
000
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
Steven Scholte @neurosteven.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
New preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...: brain alignment in DNNs is almost fully complete at 3% of training. Features involved in classification are largely independent of those that predict the brain. With @niklasmuller.bsky.social , @irisgroen.bsky.social. @marcelvangerven.bsky.social
1359
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
Sander van Bree @sandervanbree.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Excited to share our preprint! w/ @martinhebart.bsky.social To understand how primates visually process objects in the world, we rely on both research in human and macaque IT. But what representations of object space are actually shared between them? biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Quick thread 🧵
biorxiv.org
Shared and Distinct High-Dimensional Object Spaces in Human and Macaque Inferotemporal Cortex
Human and macaque studies of inferotemporal cortex (IT) have shaped our understanding of object vision, yet the extent of their representational alignment and the precise nature of this correspondence...
26626
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Obligatory pictures of pittoresque Tübingen - had a lovely time here, presenting our work on CorText at the ICCSSS summer school. @iiccsss.bsky.social Thank you for the invitation!
090
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
Ryuto Yashiro @ryuto-yashiro.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Excited to share our new paper: "Probing the content of semantic representations in body-selective regions" We propose a framework based on object co-occurrence to interpret semantic representations of natural scenes predicted by LLM embeddings. doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
doi.org
Probing the content of semantic representations in body-selective regions
Abstract. Recent advances in neural networks trained on natural language have revealed that category-selective regions encode complex semantics and contextual information of natural scenes in addition...
12811
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
Alireza Modirshanechi @modirshanechi.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Excited to share that I'll be starting as a junior professor and Emmy Noether awardee at the University of Göttingen this October! 🥳 🚀 I'll be hiring #phd students and #postdoc across #machinelearning, #neuroscience and #cogsci: modirlab.github.io/open-positio... Please spread the word! 🙏
PhD ad informationPostdoc ad informationInformation about Göttingen and equal opportunities
1217059
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
CogCompNeuro @cogcompneuro.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
All session recordings from #CCN2026 in New York City are now available on YouTube. Thank you again to all speakers, attendees, and sponsors for making this exciting event possible.
youtube.com
CCN 2026 - YouTube
Videos from CCN 2026, held in New York City, USA, August 3-6 2026 For full details of the 2026 program, visit https://2026.ccneuro.org/schedule-of-events/
04711
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Thank you for sharing, Dirk! We hope our paper makes a useful conceptual contribution to the debate on universality and world models, curious about your thoughts! :)
020
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
Trends in Cognitive Sciences @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Online Now: The Umwelt Representation Hypothesis: rethinking Universality
dlvr.it
The Umwelt Representation Hypothesis: rethinking Universality
Recent studies reveal striking representational alignment between artificial neural networks (ANNs) and biological brains, leading to proposals that all sufficiently capable systems converge on universal representations of reality. We argue that this claim of Universality is premature. We introduce the Umwelt Representation Hypothesis, which proposes that alignment arises not from convergence toward a single global optimum but from overlap in the ecological constraints under which systems develop. We review empirical evidence showing that representational differences between species, individuals, and ANNs are systematic and adaptive, which is difficult to reconcile with Universality. Finally, we reframe ANN model comparison as a method for mapping clusters of alignment in the ecological constraint space rather than as a search for a single optimal world model.
04019
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
Vlad Ayzenberg @vayzenb.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Excited to share our review in @cp-neuron.bsky.social with @lauriebayet.bsky.social and @mickbonner.bsky.social! We describe how implementing principles from child development can advance the mechanistic plausibility and capacities of AI models We packed A LOT into this review, here's a quick 🧵
16829
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
This looks like a great GAC topic, Eivinas! Looking forward :)
110
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
But a footnote to the term 'world model': What world does a world model represent? arxiv.org/abs/2604.17960
arxiv.org
The Umwelt Representation Hypothesis: Rethinking Universality
Recent studies reveal striking representational alignment between artificial neural networks (ANNs) and biological brains, leading to proposals that all sufficiently capable systems converge on univer...
0145
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
Dota Tianai Dong @dotadotadota.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
1/5 Over a decade of comparing deep neural networks to the human brain—but what have we actually learned? Our new @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social Feature Review synthesizes a decade of brain–DNN comparisons, asking what they reveal about brain function across vision and language.
14421
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
megan peters 🧠 @meganakpeters.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
I am *thrilled* to share this review in @currentbiology.bsky.social out today, by yours truly, @myoo.bsky.social, @michalk.bsky.social, Taro Toyoizumi, @tyrellturing.bsky.social, @taylorwwebb.bsky.social, & @hakwan.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🧵👇
sciencedirect.com
Looking to the brain to improve energy efficiency of AI
Modern artificial intelligence (AI) systems have achieved remarkable capabilities, but at an extraordinary energy cost. Training and running large-sca…
210235
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
Martin Wiener @martinwiener.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Alpha rhythm determines speech perception rate? And speeding it up makes unintelligibly fast speech comprehensible? This is nuts! www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
pnas.org
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
25722
Reposted by Victoria Bosch
Lorenzo Posani @lorenzoposani.com · 15/07/2026
Out today on @nature.com! Connecting neural specialization, population geometry, and their functional implications across the cortical hierarchy. So grateful for this beautiful and fun collaboration with @shuqiw.bsky.social, S Muscinelli, L Paninski, and @stefanofusi.bsky.social!
nature.com
Rarely categorical, highly separable representations along the cortical hierarchy - Nature
Cortical circuits prioritize diversity over categorical structure, supporting a computational regime geared towards high-dimensional, highly separable neural representations.
213545
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Thank you Giacomo :)
010
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Congratulations to the formidable Linda Ariel Ventura, who wrote this paper based on her BSc thesis (!), and will give a talk at CogSci on July 23, 10:45. Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2602.03490 #CogSci2026 With: @ariel-ventura.bsky.social @martisamuser.bsky.social @timkietzmann.bsky.social fin/
arxiv.org
Path Integration and Object-Location Binding Emerge in an Action-Conditioned Predictive Sequence Network
Adaptive cognition requires structured internal models of objects and their relations. Predictive neural networks are often proposed to learn such world models, but how these are instantiated and how ...
131
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Action-conditioned prediction can induce internal mechanisms resembling ingredients of cognitive maps: path integration + flexible binding. A minimal task and model gives us a tractable window into how these emerge. 9/
100
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
We also test out-of-distribution generalization. Even when a token is spatially restricted during training, the network can bind it to new OOD positions at test time. This points to a flexible binding operation, rather than reliance on fixed label-location co-occurrences. 8/
100
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Interventions show that the in-context memory is both plastic and stable. The network can add new token-location bindings late in a scene sequence, even after extensive exposure. Yet, overwriting an existing binding is gradual, suggesting richer memory dynamics than a simple dictionary. 7/
100
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Decoding analyses reveal two key ingredients: Path integration: the network represents absolute position despite receiving only relative displacements. Object-location binding: token identity and position are represented together, not merely as separately decodable variables. 6/
100
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
What mechanism supports this? A simple transition cache would store local links like: “from A, saccade → B” But the network can answer queries involving withheld/unseen displacements, suggesting something more structured than memorized transitions. 5/
100
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
After training, the frozen network is tested on entirely new scenes. As it samples a scene sequentially, prediction accuracy improves without any weight updates! So the model learns the structure of a novel scene in-context: which tokens are present, where they are, and how they relate. 4/
100
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Scenes contain a few letter tokens placed in continuous 2D space. A recurrent neural network (GRU) sees the current token plus a saccade-like displacement, and must predict the token it will encounter next. 3/
100
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
If a system learns to predict what it will sense next, conditioned on its own actions, can it acquire a structured model of its ‘world’? We study this in a minimal setting using small recurrent neural networks: no semantics, no visual statistics, just in-context action-conditioned prediction. 2/
100
Victoria Bosch @initself.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Excited to share that our paper has been accepted for a talk at #CogSci2026: Path Integration and Object-Location Binding Emerge in an Action-Conditioned Predictive Sequence Network Linda Ariel Ventura, Victoria Bosch, Tim C. Kietzmann, and Sushrut Thorat. Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2602.03490. ⛓️
arxiv.org
Path Integration and Object-Location Binding Emerge in an Action-Conditioned Predictive Sequence Network
Adaptive cognition requires structured internal models of objects and their relations. Predictive neural networks are often proposed to learn such world models, but how these are instantiated and how ...
13011