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Posts by Samuel Eckmann

This is so, so well-articulated.

2 weeks ago 10717 3901 98 353
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Feature-tuned synaptic inputs to somatostatin interneurons drive context-dependent processing Combining intracellular and extracellular recordings, calcium imaging, and holographic circuit mapping, Hendricks et al. identify a feature-specific pyramidal cell-to-somatostatin interneuron microcir...

This paper looks interesting, I look forward to reading it:

www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

But, my guess is that there's an interpretation based on *prediction*, rather than "context modulation", that would be more theoretically relevant.

#neuroscience 🧪

2 weeks ago 24 3 0 0
Image of News in focus article from Nature entitled "How bioRxiv changed the way biologists share ideas - in numbers"

Image of News in focus article from Nature entitled "How bioRxiv changed the way biologists share ideas - in numbers"

The impact of bioRxiv in numbers

@richardsever.bsky.social

4 weeks ago 54 25 0 0

I am looking for a theory/computational POSTDOC position in EU or east coast US. I am interested in how learning and plasticity shape population dynamics & representational geometries & how these changes are reflected in behavior.

If you are at #COSYNE2026 & interested, hit me up in Whova, not here

1 month ago 13 9 1 0

1/7 🧠 My journey into development begins with this work and question: how does the brain's spatial navigation system develop? We found that the neural networks for spatial navigation (tori and rings) are preconfigured and only later anchor gradually to the world with experience! 🧵

1 month ago 153 61 7 15
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Episodic memory encoding fluctuates at a theta rhythm of 3–10 Hz Nature Human Behaviour - Biba et al. show that episodic memory encoding fluctuates at a theta rhythm of 3–10 Hz.

I am excited to share my first paper, showing that episodic memory formation is theta rhythmic, is now published in Nature Human Behavior! Check it out here: rdcu.be/e6pzS. Thanks to my PI, Katherine Duncan, and to my collaborators for their support on this journey! Stay tuned for iEEG follow up 🧠

1 month ago 119 46 3 3
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Dendrites help neuroscientists see the forest for the trees Dendritic arbors provide just the right scale to study how individual neurons reciprocally interact with their broader circuitry—and are our best bet to bridge cellular and systems neuroscience.

Dendritic arbors provide neuroscience with an ideal opportunity to study how individual neurons interact with their broader circuitry and are the field’s best bet to bridge cellular and systems neuroscience, writes @justinkohare.bsky.social.

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/dendrites/de...

1 month ago 37 17 0 2
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Compact deep neural network models of the visual cortex Nature - Parsimonious deep neural network models can be used for prediction of visual neuron responses.

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

1 month ago 127 47 3 4

1/6
Do neighboring #PlaceCells in #Hippocampus CA1 map neighboring locations in space? 🧠🗺️
Is there micro-scale spatial topography in the hippocampus?
See our latest paper from @kavlintnu now out in @pnas.org www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

2 months ago 30 8 1 0

Temporal Coding rather than Circuit Wiring allows Hippocampal CA3 Neurons to Dynamically Distinguish Different Cortical Inputs www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02...

1 month ago 6 2 0 0
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Place cells in CA1 lack topographical organization of firing locations | PNAS Topography is a well-described and well-known concept for cortical organization in primary sensory and motor cortices of mammalian brains. Similar ...

A half-century old question may have its final answer. Using high-resolution #Mini2P microscopes, we find no evidence of local topography in #PlaceCells. Place fields of neighbouring cells are no more similar than those of randomly selected cells. 🧠🗺️ Out now in @pnas.org www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

2 months ago 149 44 4 8

New preprint from the lab! Stefan Sun and @q-perrenoud.bsky.social collaborated to look at how sensory experience affects the adult cortex. Using ephys and 2-photon imaging, they found that varied visual experience reorganizes dendrite-targeting inhibitory circuits in V1.

2 months ago 24 7 1 0
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Pavlov would have been shocked and stoked by this study!

It meticulously shows that what matters most for cue-reward learning is the duration between rewards: the longer this duration, the fewer the number of trials needed for behavioral and DA learning

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

2 months ago 40 11 2 1

Motor sequence generation _without_ cortico-thalamic loops!

2 months ago 2 0 0 0
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Visual language models show widespread visual deficits on neuropsychological tests - Nature Machine Intelligence Tangtartharakul and Storrs use standardized neuropsychological tests to compare human visual abilities with those of visual language models (VLMs). They report that while VLMs excel in high-level obje...

Our latest paper, “Visual language models show widespread visual deficits on neuropsychological tests”, is now out in Nature Machine Intelligence: www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Non-paywalled version:
arxiv.org/abs/2504.10786

Tweet thread below from first author @genetang.bsky.social...

2 months ago 70 36 1 2
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Position-independent emergence of neocortical neuron molecular identity, connectivity and function - Nature Neuroscience Even when neocortical neurons form in abnormal locations, they retain their identity and function, revealing that brain circuit formation can be guided by intrinsic developmental programs rather than ...

I'm very excited to finally see this one out in @natneuro.nature.com ! It has been an incredible journey alongside extremely talented people! Thanks to everyone involved and enjoy the reading! 1/n
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

3 months ago 52 20 7 2

We had a lot of fun doing these experiments! Theta sweeps in MEC and internal direction signals in parasubiculum track moving objects during pursuit and reverse during backward movement. Simultaneously recorded HD cells in other areas remain locked to head direction across behaviors:

2 months ago 33 14 1 0
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I agree so long as the computational models make predictions that other models do not, and those predictions are then tested.

2 months ago 3 1 1 1
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"How much of the brain's learned algorithms depend on the fact it is a brain?" arxiv.org/abs/2601.02063 The brain is a neural network, but also a biological organ (unlike artificial neural networks). How much does this matter to cognition?

2 months ago 38 8 0 1
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What's the relation between voltage and calcium in dendrites? Xiang Wu studied this in CA2 hippocampal pyramidal cells in behaving mice. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

2 months ago 59 18 1 0
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Beyond Trafficking: Auxiliary Proteins as Multi-Domain Regulators of Neuronal Computation Auxiliary proteins aren’t just molecular bystanders and supporters, they’re computationally active and play an integral role in intracellular communication.

New Journal Club explores TARPs as multi-domain regulators that couple synaptic strength to intrinsic excitability—providing a molecular substrate for coordinated adaptation across timescales.
open.substack.com/pub/grounded...

3 months ago 2 1 0 0

"motor cortical engagement is sustained under conditions of sensorimotor uncertainty and dissipates rapidly when sensorimotor contingencies are resolved"

3 months ago 1 0 0 0

when doing neuroscience projects I often advocate for computational modelling, followed by data analysis to test model's predictions.

however a few times now I have had pushback from collaborators/reivewers suggesting it would be better to do the data analysis first, then the modelling.

thoughts?

3 months ago 29 6 16 0

I guess both is true. For me, 'add-on' models usually make the gap between a conceptual idea and the actual understanding very obvious – and, depending on the extent of the gap, are oftentimes unsatisfactory.

3 months ago 1 0 0 0
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"In contrast to reactivation of rodent place cells, reactivation of human concept cells does not reflect sequences of events in human experience."

3 months ago 2 0 0 0

"It is essential for the field to systematically explore objectives and data curricula that might cause DNNs to learn more human-like visual representations"

hammer -> nail

3 months ago 1 0 0 0

New preprint from the lab! 🚀
We find that hippocampal OLM interneurons provide a circuit-level inhibitory feedback signal that dynamically controls when and where behavioral timescale synaptic plasticity can occur.
Feedback welcome!

3 months ago 31 11 0 1
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Better artificial intelligence does not mean better models of biology Deep neural networks (DNNs) once showed increasing alignment with primate perception as they improved on vision benchmarks, raising hopes that advances in artificial intelligence (AI) would naturally ...

Published @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social with @drewlinsley.bsky.social & @tonyfeng.bsky.social: As vision models scale to human/superhuman accuracy, they’re becoming worse models of primate vision—benchmark engineering isn’t neuroscience. @carneyinstitute.bsky.social @browncopsy.bsky.social

3 months ago 45 20 0 1
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What is the computational role of dendritic excitations? Byung Hun Lee and team mapped voltage dynamics throughout the dendritic trees of CA1 pyramidal neurons in mice navigating in virtual reality. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

3 months ago 131 52 3 2