iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

In the paper at hand, doi.org/10.64898/202..., @ncondruz.bsky.social, with @blufzzz.bsky.social and @chaichinta.bsky.social, shows that only one! extra ingredient is enough for a more complete repertoire: Nonlinearity! Check it out!

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But those networks can *only* produce ballistic, i.e., transient, non-repetitive, simple-ish movements. Q: What about the other 99%*? - A: They are not transient. - *Check your statistacs. Results vary depending on individual effort & lifestyle. Your own movements may well ALL be ballistic.

Google Search Screenshot: "what about the other 99% of movements?" -- Answer: "The other 99% live ordinary everyday lives focused on routine work, family responsibilities, and balancing the cost of housing food and daily expenses. In other words they are not transient!" -- Note: It *seems like* the image was altered for humourous intent.

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The trick in building them was strong excitatory recurrence tamed by tight inhibition. These networks were barely stable, so that the right preparatory input sent them into rich transients, which were read out as muscle-like activity: Balanced Dalian amplification at work. doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...

Based on experiments by Churchland et al, we, w/ Guillaume Hennequin, Wulfram Gerstner, Jake Stroud et al started building models that reproduced whole repertoires of dynamics. Those dynamics were lovely, but ballistic. doi.org/10.1038/s415... doi.org/10.1038/natu... doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...

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2 tweeprints to go. Good morning! If you've moved already today, you probably asked yourself: how? How did I even get up? Not the hangover. How does your nervous system orchestrate your muscles so well? We've been asking ourselves, too: How can fixed networks produce so many firing patterns?

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This work was a true grassroots collaboration, driven by the grit & perseverance of @douglasftome.bsky.social, Meizhen Meng, Xiaochen Sun, & Li Yao. It was supported in the labs of Yingxi Lin, @clopathlab.bsky.social, & mine. The paper's now in review, but we haven’t heard back yet. Fingers crossed.

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...that turned out to be true. Using new Fos & Npas4 KO strategies that targeted the expression of transcription-specific synaptic plasticity during associative learning experiments supported our model’s prediction. Our findings expand the role of plasticity to controlling memory-guided computations

The model could capture the known roles of Fos- & Npas4-dependent ensembles in memory generalization & discrimination. It also predicted that blocking Fos-, or Npas4-dependent synaptic plasticity should disrupt generalisation, or discrimination, respectively, without impairing memory recall, and....

Meizhen Meng, Xiaochen Sun & Li Yao found Fos / Npas4 dependent neuronal ensembles in mouse DG engaging plasticity in feedforward excitatory synapses / recurrent inhibitory synapses. @douglasftome.bsky.social built models to see if such specific plasticity could help regulate ensemble computations.

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Next, in "composite engrams", doi.org/10.64898/202..., we begin with asking if activity-dependent transcription & synaptic plasticity can go beyond supporting memory storage, to regulate memory guided computations. (Yes, they can)

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Liam Lynch - United States WHATEVER

Wait till you find out that Ingrams ≠ Inhgrams. doi.org/10.1016/j.co... 🤯 🫣😂. It still beats "Inhibitory are-we-there-yet,-how-much-longer,-what-time-is-it-I-gotta-go-to-the-bathroom,-are-we-there-yet,-I-am-bored-are-we-there-yet engrams". 😜

static.klipy.com

ALT: Liam Lynch - United States WHATEVER

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Benjammins Grand Curtain Reveal

PS: Currently under review at @plos.org / cb (which strangely doesn't have an @ on bluesky?), & we got pretty decent reviews (yay! 🙏🙏, merci bien), so, fingers crossed. Revisions coming soon, will update the biorxiv when it's time.) As mentioned, we figured, let the world see it before #bernstein26

static.klipy.com

ALT: Benjammins Grand Curtain Reveal

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Inhibitory Plasticity Balances Excitation and Inhibition in Sensory Pathways and Memory Networks

This work was lead by the impressive @kaniamaciej.bsky.social, and supported by @bconfavreux.bsky.social. It's a continuation of old work on inhibitory gating doi.org/10.1038/nn.2... & plasticity doi.org/10.1126/scie.... It's been great fun watching Maciej build on these ideas for full effect.

doi.org

Plasticity at inhibitory synapses maintains balanced excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs at cortical neurons.

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Neat: #inhgrams also form when we don't specify them via strong E-I connections. When we embed only EE engrams, the functional inhgram self-assembles from pre-existing E–I–E loops. We can predict it from random connectivity before the engram is embedded. So inhgrams ihmerge imhmaculately. Ihmmmh!!!

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What does this buy us? For one thing, networks can separate overlapping memories via disinhibition, even when two assemblies share half their inhgram, allowing for selective recall. Maybe sparse inhibitory populations could act as "organisers", helping to pick the right engram to reactivate.

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In doi.org/10.64898/202... we strengthen EE and EI to form an engram (that also includes inhibitory neurons). Co-active I-to-E & I-to-I plasticity stabilises the network and silences the engram. We can then reactivate it by partial excitatory drive or by silencing the inhgram i.e. by disinhibition

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Ok, here's the thread on #inhgrams. Everybody loves #engrams, but are inhibitory neurons just chopped liver, stabilizers, bystanders? Or active participants in memory acquisition, maintenance and recall? We make all inhibitory synapses plastic, to let them loose. Will they form their own #inhgrams?

This is a schematic of embedded engrams and the presumed inhgrams, in a network of leaky integrate-and-fire neurons.

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Tim Vogels @tpvogels.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Playing Pong with spikes, dancing rate networks, composite engrams & #ihngrams4engrams. The labs most recent work-in-progress, now on biorxiv.com. Stay tuned for more Pong doi.org/10.64898/202... Dale doi.org/10.64898/202... Composite engrams doi.org/10.64898/202... Ihngrams doi.org/10.64898/202...

Small sub panel of the "Dale" paper's Fig. 1 ,depicting a humanoid dancing with joy. The paper is about how motor cortex can orchestrate a rich and flexible repertoire of network dynamics for rhythmic and goal-directed movements. Computational studies have begun to illuminate the mechanistic origins of this repertoire, but a comprehensive model that can explain the emergence of both transient and self-sustained dynamics is still missing. Condruz et al. show that three simple ingredients: Dalean connectivity, stability, and nonlinear neural responses, suffice to reverse-engineer networks that produce transient, steady-state, and self-sustained periodic activity. A single dynamical principle underlies this repertoire: the interaction of non-normal amplification, inherent to Dalean networks, with neuronal nonlinearity, so to ignite and sustain multi-stable, controllable dynamics. The approach yields entire families of connectivity matrices that require no hand-tuning or learning of weights. Without fitting them to data, these networks reproduce the population-level signatures of motor cortex, implying that the richness of cortical dynamics need not be sculpted by learning, but may emerge from simple biological ingredients. But really, we just feel like dancing with JOY!!

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Here is a note from my daughter this morning. #whenlifegivesyoulemons

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Reposted by Tim Vogels

Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience @bernsteinneuro.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

📅 The detailed schedule for the #BernsteinConference 2026 is now available! Explore the conference programme and start planning your visit to Frankfurt. We look forward to welcoming you this September! 👉 bit.ly/4z0knle #BernsteinNetwork #CompNeuro #Neuroskyence

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Reposted by Tim Vogels

Marcel Krueger @marcelkrueger.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

In Ireland, data centres used 22% of the country’s total energy in 2024 – more than all urban households combined in that same year. An incredible 80% of Dublin's electricity use can be attributed to data centres. Via the excellent @eurcorrespond.bsky.social. europeancorrespondent.com/en

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Reposted by Tim Vogels

Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Gentle reminder to my biosci tweeps that there are graduate students and postdocs in non-STEM disciplines at your University. Their compensation may differ somewhat from what is most familiar to you.

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Reposted by Tim Vogels

Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience @bernsteinneuro.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

⏰ Last-minute reminder! Only 48 hours left to submit your Poster abstracts and Travel Grant applications for the #BernsteinConference 2026! 🗓️ Deadline: July 1 All information 👉 bit.ly/4rQowo6... #CompNeuro #Neuroskyence #BernsteinNetwork

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Reposted by Tim Vogels

elizabethginexi.bsky.social @elizabethginexi.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

This is the NIH grant screening disfavored words list published by Nature: media.nature.com/original/mag...

media.nature.com

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Tim Vogels @tpvogels.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

…using deep lab cut, obvs.

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Reposted by Tim Vogels

Ryan Moulton @moultano.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

I spent the last month obsessed with finding colors that can't be displayed on a conventional screen. This is what I found. moultano.wordpress.com/2026/06/19/w...

moultano.wordpress.com

Where to Find the Colors Your Screen Can’t Show You

An atlas of the vibrance of the real world

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Btw, Borg-Graham et al. also didn't seem to have seen (& thus cited) Carl. But: his (and Sompo's) paper is now 30 years old (Dec.6th 1996) & many (experimental) papers on E/I Balance still lack acknowledgement (with a citation, that is, /end {theorist's gripe}), much like theory skips Moore & more 🤷‍♂️

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Visual input evokes transient and strong shunting inhibition in visual cortical neurons - Nature

Yeah, I suppose, though they don't specifically address the aspect of co-tuning? There is also Borg-Graham, Monier & Frégnac, 1998 www.nature.com/articles/30735, though some say here, too, "almost doesn't count". Really, the idea emerged slowly, nebulously, until Carl turned on the light.

nature.com

Nature - Visual input evokes transient and strong shunting inhibition in visual cortical neurons

And why, you ask, am I thinking of this now? --- Just trying to find all the papers we didn't cite in a draft that's going out swoon, and guess which one we forgot? 🤦‍♂️🫣

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Heya @cimoore444.bsky.social, tell us the story around that paper again? I remember you told me not having heard of Carl vanVreeswijk's work; thinking everyone knew E and I were tightly locked; not worth a bigger fuss? Then, five years on, it was big news, albeit published by elseone? Story time!

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