Novelty is not just about whats new, but also what feels new given past experience. New study from Sophia Becker in Wulfram Gerstner’s @epfl-brainmind.bsky.social lab posits a model showing how similarity between familiar and novel stimuli shapes exploration and learning - doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...

So excited to see this finally out!! 🤩🎉 A big thank you to our reviewers for their helpful feedback and to @modirshanechi.bsky.social and Wulfram Gerstner for the wonderful collaboration!

How does circuit structure shape neural activity? The lab of @epfl-brainmind.bsky.social Prof. Wulfram Gerstner shows that distinct neural circuits can produce similar low-dimensional dynamics, while retaining clear signatures in single neuron and population activity data: doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...

So happy to see this work out! 🥳
Huge thanks to our two amazing reviewers who pushed us to make the paper much stronger. A truly joyful collaboration with @lucasgruaz.bsky.social, @sobeckerneuro.bsky.social, and Johanni Brea! 🥰

Tweeprint on an earlier version: bsky.app/profile/modi... 🧠🧪👩‍🔬

Excited to share new work led by @vivekmyers.bsky.social and @crji.bsky.social that proves you can learn to reach distant goals by solely training on nearby goals. The key idea is a new form of invariance. This invariance implies generalization w.r.t. the horizon.

Teaser: We also developed a new experimental protocol to systematically test the effects of similarity-based generalization on novelty responses!

We show how novelty definitions can be extended to account for generalization due to similarities between familiar and novel stimuli. Applying our model to open data sets, we show how neural novelty responses and novelty-driven exploration in animals are modulated by similarities between stimuli.

Representational similarity modulates neural and behavioral signatures of novelty Novelty signals in the brain modulate learning and drive exploratory behaviors in humans and animals. While the perceived novelty of a stimulus is known to depend on previous experience, the effect of...

Stoked to be at RLDM! Curious how novelty and exploration are impacted by generalization across similar stimuli? Then don't miss my flash talk in the PIMBAA workshop (tmr at 10:30, E McNabb Theatre) or stop by my poster tmr (#74)! Looking forward to chat 🤩

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...