iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jeanne Sentenac: how do you pull one item out of working memory? In low-rank RNNs, the cue breaks the memory plane attractor and rotates the relevant subspace onto the readout. poster #247

050

Clara Hornung: nucleus basalis stimulation broadens single-neuron tuning yet improves working memory. How come? We find an explanation: at the population level it widens the angle between target and distractor coding directions in dlPFC. Better separation doesn't imply stronger code poster #341

@arghavanaslani.bsky.social : working memory codes sit all over cortex, but only PFC, LIP and FEF decoding errors track behavioral error trial by trial but stable sensory codes don't. poster #343

150

Philipp Werthmann: "everything is everywhere" is still compatible with local computation. Data-constrained RNNs across 6 monkey areas trace motion from MT, color from V4, choice from LIP, and task context broadcast by dlPFC. poster #342

140

Bruna Lopes: shape distances compare neural population geometry across regions and animals across many datasets and reveal previously hidden patterns. poster #340

Lubna S. Abdul: across 7 cortical areas, monkeys' flexible categorization carries current trial signals everywhere, but history signals remain only in PFC which holds prospective, retrospective and reward signals in 3 orthogonal subspaces. poster #339

@mtschiersch.bsky.social : both prefrontal hemispheres redundantly store the whole visual field -- until load exceeds capacity, when they split items and specialize. Monkey recordings + a two-area ring attractor model, with the key prediction confirmed in monkey and humans. poster #289

Maciej Kania @kaniamaciej.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I am sad to miss @bernsteinneuro.bsky.social conference this year, but please consider checking out the work from our lab and collaborations. We'll bring 7 posters, check the details below if interested and go say hi to the first authors! abstracts.g-node.org/conference/B...

1265

Reposted by Joao Barbosa

Train your model on a task, or fit it to biological data? And once it's optimized, what does it tell us about the brain? 🧠 In our #BernsteinConference satellite workshop, we'll discuss these questions through the lenses of different optimization methods. Check it out in Room 3.104! 🤓😉

44320

Reposted by Joao Barbosa

Eryk Salvaggio @eryk.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I started researching ML before I built a synth, but you can get a great intuitive understanding of interaction within a generative system by building a modular analog synthesizer and watching how your components interact, and seeing what surprises emerge and what stays predictable as you scale up.

Steve Porcaro of "Toto" with a wall-sized modular synthesizer - basically a massive nest of tangled wires -- the Polyfusion 'Damius'. Photo by Jim Gardner - https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesthephotographer/120916737/

39311

Reposted by Joao Barbosa

Sandra Romero Pinto @sromeropinto.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Happy to have this finally out! TL;DR: The evolution of beliefs over time can be formulated as a dynamical system, and OFC neural activity appears to implement this system with its own dynamics. These emerge without explicit supervision—when animals learn to predict value in simple Pavlovian tasks

14518

Reposted by Joao Barbosa

Guillaume Bellec @bellecguill.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I have a postdoc position open in my NeuroAi lab in Vienna 👌👾🧪🧠 And I will be at Bernstein (workshop only), please reach out if you are interested

1158

Reposted by Joao Barbosa

Anil Seth @anilseth.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

1/ Conscious AI and Biological Naturalism. A long time in the making, but the full collection is *out now* in Behavioural and Brain Sciences I deeply thank all my many commentators for their wise, broad, and deep opinions on this critical topic.I also thank them for their saintly patience. 🙏🏽

37327

Reposted by Joao Barbosa

Nima Dehghani @neurovium.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

XJ Wang left ?!? What a loss for the US (and NYU) Everyday I get some news that a prominent scientist is leaving. The chaos of the science budget and downfall of the American science are spiralling down very fast. This is disheartening. www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

eurekalert.org

World-renowned computational neuroscientist professor Xiao-Jing Wang joins HKU as Chair Professor

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) announces the appointment of Professor Xiao-Jing Wang, a pioneer in theoretical and computational neuroscience, to its faculty as a Chair Professor. Professor Wang wi...

1277

Reposted by Joao Barbosa

megan peters 🧠 @meganakpeters.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Neuromatch Impact Scholars are smart, dedicated, motivated, and have also gone thru at least one of our courses! Mentoring them can lead to publications and other important outputs! Apply to mentor today -- fantastic opportunity!

0159

Reposted by Joao Barbosa

Tarryn Balsdon @tarrynbalsdon.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The best thing about having to defend another thesis is the opportunity to feel grateful to all the people who have helped me along the way! Thank you for your advice, feedback, moral support, I hope to pay it forward

Picture of me and the final slide of my HDR defence - a long list of names of people who have helped me along the way

01019

Joao Barbosa @jbarbosa.org · 18/09/2026

Wait how's this tool different from what i do all the time: download paper and code and have discussions about the paper, run simulations and tests etc?

010

Reposted by Joao Barbosa

COSYNE @cosynemeeting.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

📢Have work to share with the computational and systems neuroscience community? Abstract submissions for #COSYNE2027 are now open. Deadline: 18 October 2026, 11:59 p.m. AoE Submit your abstract: www.cosyne.org/abstracts-su... #Neuroscience

06840

Reposted by Joao Barbosa

Saints-Pères Paris Institute for the Neurosciences @sppin-cnrs.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

@sppin-cnrs.bsky.social @cnrs.fr is organizing #NeuralNet2026 in Paris on Nov. 25–27 ! Join the 15th annual meeting of GDR NeuralNet @upcite.bsky.social , bringing together researchers working across systems neuroscience, neural data, computational modeling, NeuroAI & data science.

1169

Reposted by Joao Barbosa

Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I feel so confident saying the native intelligence of this generation is not the problem. The looting & wholesale sabotage of their educational infrastructure is.

241361336

Joao Barbosa @jbarbosa.org · 10/09/2026

Very cool! But you could have called both cities Barcelona 😀

Ali Shiravand @alishiravand.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Reposted by Joao Barbosa

Maybe the most practical democratic response to AI is to tax the economic value it creates and give that value back to people before human labor loses "too much" of its economic leverage.

041

Reposted by Joao Barbosa

Matteo Carandini @carandinilab.net · 09/09/2026

If you thought "everything is everywhere" in the brain: inactivations reveal a clear distinction of labor. Sensory areas sense, colliculus promotes eligible actions (!), and prefrontal cortex integrates. The role of superior colliculus in a logistic decision www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

210532

Reposted by Joao Barbosa

jake @yetanotheruseless.com · 08/09/2026

lab-sniping (v): * want problem Z solved? * tweet about how you are kinda making progress on Z using Lab A's model * wait for Lab B to freak out and throw 10,000 agents at it * problem Z solved!

41727

Reposted by Joao Barbosa

Anil Seth @anilseth.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

1/2 Why AI is unlikely to become conscious – my 2026 TED talk is now online. What do you think about the prospects for 'conscious AI'? www.ted.com/talks/anil_s...

87222

Reposted by Joao Barbosa

Ignacio Saez, PhD @ignaciosaezphd.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

📣 We're hiring! The Saez Lab at Mount Sinai is seeking a postdoctoral researcher with experience in intracranial recordings, electrophysiology, BCIs, mood disorders, and/or computational modeling, to explore the neural basis of human cognition. 🗓️ Apply by September 30, 2026. Please share widely!

02223

Could you please unpack a bit what you mean when you say 'scale dependent'?

Here’s a google docs: l1nk.dev/hk1mx6e If you lose this post, remember my home page (jbarbosa.org) I link this document there, too. It is still a work in progress, but I will try to update it as I find out new things. If you find something unclear or just wrong, don’t hesitate to comment on it!

020

My main advice is to come do a (short) postdoc in France and get familiar with the system. If you can’t do that, I started this document where I dumped some tips from the top of my head. 8/

I would love to help change that, so don’t hesitate to reach out if you are interested in coming over here! Of course, I can’t do more than explaining the corners of the labyrinth I have myself explored, but perhaps that’s all you need. 7/

We are trying (search Choose France 2026), but it could be much easier. There are tens of new PI positions in France every year, but most applicants are French or people already based in France. One of the reasons for this is the labyrinth one has to go through to get a permanent position. 6/

But there is a problem: French academia is very French. Don’t get me wrong, I love my French colleagues! But to become the powerhouse it has the potential to be, we need to attract more international researchers. 5/

PINTS — Paris Île-de-France Neuroscience, Theory, and Systems

several conferences every year (including an annual conference of systems, cognitive and computational neuroscience with 200+ attendees, pints.fr). There's also awesome research happening, with more than 200 PIs across all fields (parisneuro.fr). 4/

pints.fr

PINTS is a one-day meeting bringing together the Paris Île-de-France neuroscience, theory, and systems community.

neuralnetworkingnight.github.io

There’s a good amount of funding opportunities, especially for those starting their group (search ANR JCJC), and a growing ecosystem for networking: Many seminars (www.neurocalendar.eu) happening every day (including monthly seminars in a bar, neuralnetworkingnight.github.io), 3/

Neural Network Night

I've been in France for more than 6 years now, two of them leading a small computational neuroscience research group (jbarbosa.org). I'm grateful for the opportunities this country has given to me and genuinely believe it is strategically a good idea to come be my colleague! For example: 2/

jbarbosa.org

Joao Barbosa

Grace Lindsay @neurograce.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Looking for a (neuroscience) PI position in France? You still have time to do it this year, but you need to act fast. If you have no idea how to do it, start by reading this! l1nk.dev/hk1mx6e 1/

12010

Reposted by Joao Barbosa

"*you* will get kicked out of the university if you commit fraud, but a professor won't"

1313