Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Ling-Qi Zhang

Laura Grima @lauragrima.bsky.social · 9d

Pleased to have this review out in @cp-trendsneuro.bsky.social. In it we discuss various aspects of the intersection between foraging behaviors and neuroscience, and offer some future directions: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Foraging as an ethological framework for neuroscience

The study of foraging is central to a renewed interest in naturalistic behavior in neuroscience. Applying a foraging framework grounded in behavioral …

www.sciencedirect.com

3 18 54

Ling-Qi Zhang @lingqiz.bsky.social · Sep 15

In this sense, the normative theory / optimization framework is less of a theory itself, but a epistemological tool to organize our knowledege about why certain "solution" exists in the brain.

1 2

Ling-Qi Zhang @lingqiz.bsky.social · Sep 15

And then he wrote: "Hence, the study of the
behavior of an adaptive system like the human mind is
not *a logical study of optimization* but an *empirical study
of the side conditions* that place limits on the approach to the optimum".

1 1 2

Ling-Qi Zhang @lingqiz.bsky.social · Sep 15

The debate of whether the brain is optimal is the wrong one. Quoting one of my favorite writings from Herbert Simon (1992): The predictions of an optimizing theory depend as much on the postulated side conditions as on the optimization assumption. (By side conditions here, he meant constraints).

John Pearson @jmxpearson.bsky.social · Sep 15

I mean, efficient coding and optimal control work *far* better than they have a right to, and they generate predictions. They are not falsifiable hypotheses except in the narrowest sense, but they are programs that can identify parsimonious principles for explaining real observations.

1 2

Reposted by Ling-Qi Zhang

Janelia Research Campus @hhmijanelia.bsky.social · Aug 5

✨ We’re #hiring Theory Fellows!✨

Janelia is recruiting early-career scientists to join our collaborative research environment and use #computation & #theory to tackle bold questions in #biology.

🔗 Apply by Nov. 3 👉 janelia.link/theoryfellow...
@hhmi.org

1 10 14

Reposted by Ling-Qi Zhang

Janelia Research Campus @hhmijanelia.bsky.social · Aug 26

📢We're #hiring Group Leaders!

Apply to lead a lab at Janelia & advance biology using theory, computational modeling & machine learning.

🔹5-year renewable appointment
🔹Pioneer new tools & approaches
🔹Collaborate across disciplines

Apply by Nov. 4👉 https://janelia.link/groupleader

66 62

Reposted by Ling-Qi Zhang

lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · Aug 10

Bayesians in shambles

Laura Haynes👩‍🔬⚾️🐾💙 @drlaurahaynes.bsky.social · Aug 9

Saturday morning coffee on my deck🌞

I’m sending this message out to all the 🍊🤡 cult members who are trying to destroy science in America…it has survived for almost 250 years & your little temper tantrum isn’t going to stop it now

3 19 160

Reposted by Ling-Qi Zhang

Janelia Research Campus @hhmijanelia.bsky.social · Jul 9

📢 Students & postdocs in #TheoreticalNeuroscience 👉 Join us this November for a "by the students, for the students" workshop featuring whiteboard-style tutorials, in-depth discussions, and research talks.

✈️ Travel, lodging & registration covered

Apply by Aug. 5 @ janelia.news/THE25

2 5

Reposted by Ling-Qi Zhang

Huxley @huxleymorgan.bsky.social · Jun 22

Black and white image of Iranian author Marjane Satrapi, smoking a cigarette. "The world is not divided between east and west. You are American, I am Iranian, we don't know each other, but we talk and we understand each other perfectly. The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same."

3 8.8K 24K

Reposted by Ling-Qi Zhang

Florentin Guth @florentinguth.bsky.social · Jun 6

What is the probability of an image? What do the highest and lowest probability images look like? Do natural images lie on a low-dimensional manifold?
In a new preprint with Zahra Kadkhodaie and @eerosim.bsky.social, we develop a novel energy-based model in order to answer these questions: 🧵

1 23 70

Ling-Qi Zhang @lingqiz.bsky.social · Apr 25

Thanks!! There are no major changes in the main text re results. We did refine the vignetting analysis, but it didn't make a huge difference in the end results. We also added a polar ROI analysis in the supplement, complementary to the eccentricity ROI in Fig. 5.

1

Reposted by Ling-Qi Zhang

Jean-Paul Noel @jpnoel.bsky.social · Apr 24

Very excited to be part of this. Huge thank you to the @simonsfoundation.org for their support and vision.

www.simonsfoundation.org/2025/04/24/s...

Also, job openings in this context! Please apply and forward to anyone who may be interested!
hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/367...

Simons Foundation Launches Collaboration on Ecological Neuroscience

Simons Foundation Launches Collaboration on Ecological Neuroscience on Simons Foundation

www.simonsfoundation.org

7 31

Ling-Qi Zhang @lingqiz.bsky.social · Apr 24

Thanks Megan!!

1

Ling-Qi Zhang @lingqiz.bsky.social · Apr 24

Same here!!

1

Ling-Qi Zhang @lingqiz.bsky.social · Apr 24

And I'm very excited to see how this theoretical framework (the original credit goes to www.nature.com/articles/nrn...) might explain many other illusions (e.g., motion aftereffect) in a principled way! (6/6)

Space and time in visual context - Nature Reviews Neuroscience

Sensory stimuli are interpreted in light of their spatial and temporal context, which can sometimes lead to visual illusions. Schwartz, Hsu and Dayan consider the possible functional benefits of conte...

www.nature.com

1 1

Ling-Qi Zhang @lingqiz.bsky.social · Apr 24

Lastly, our results, together with some recent work such as journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol... and www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... @mariodipoppa.bsky.social, are painting a compelling picture of how contextual effects (both spatial and temporal) can be interpreted as adaptive efficient coding. (5/6)

Adaptation optimizes sensory encoding for future stimuli

Author summary Prolonged exposure to a fixed stimulus causes sensory neurons to adapt. In this study, we uncover some of the functional benefits of adaptation for the visual system. We first quantifie...

journals.plos.org

2 3

Ling-Qi Zhang @lingqiz.bsky.social · Apr 24

In addition, the change in encoding is sufﬁcient to predict the behavioral characteristics of the tilt illusion using a Bayesian observer model. (4/6)

1

Ling-Qi Zhang @lingqiz.bsky.social · Apr 24

With an oriented surround, encoding precision is locally increased for stimuli similar to the surround orientation, specifically in higher areas of the visual cortex. This encoding change also reﬂects the surround-conditioned orientation statistics in natural scene. (3/6)

1

Ling-Qi Zhang @lingqiz.bsky.social · Apr 24

We measured sensory encoding precision (in terms of Fisher information) from both behavioral and neural data in an orientation estimation task. At baseline, encoding reflects the natural scene statistics of orientation. (We observe the cardinal bias in different parts of the visual cortex!). (2/6)

1 2

Ling-Qi Zhang @lingqiz.bsky.social · Apr 24

Very happy to see our work finally in print!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

TLDR: Tilt illusion is not a bug, but a feature of a well-designed visual system that maximizes information capacity adaptively based on spatial context. (1/6)

The tilt illusion arises from an efficient reallocation of neural coding resources at the contextual boundary | PNAS

The tilt illusion—a bias in the perceived orientation of a center stimulus induced by an oriented surround—illustrates how context shapes visual pe...

www.pnas.org

2 16 54

Ling-Qi Zhang @lingqiz.bsky.social · Apr 23

many many tiny contextual boundaries!

Ling-Qi Zhang @lingqiz.bsky.social · Apr 23

And 2) If we can create a surround that REALLY modulates the representation at the boundary, we might be able to break the segmentation cue, and see an illusion as you suggested. This will require an image synthesis method for surround modulation, but people are working on this type of idea!

1 1

Ling-Qi Zhang @lingqiz.bsky.social · Apr 23

This does lead to some "really cool if true" predictions: 1) If we gradually increase the grey center aperture, the illusion strength should first increase (as we are removing orientation information not modulated by the surround), and then decrease (once we are in the "center-surround" boundary).

1 1

Ling-Qi Zhang @lingqiz.bsky.social · Apr 23

Great question! My explanation would be that there are strong enough segmentation cues in the stimulus for the visual system to integrate the orientation information across the center, to form a holistic orientation estimate.

2 1

Reposted by Ling-Qi Zhang

Jan Funke @janfunkey.bsky.social · Apr 18

How can AI help you to analyze your microscopy images?

Find out at the "Machine Learning for Microscopy Image Analysis" course at the @mblscience.bsky.social in Woods Hole from Aug 22-Sep 6!

Applications are due 🚨 April 30 🚨

Read on for more! 👇

www.mbl.edu/education/ad...

AI@MBL: Machine Learning for Microscopy Image Analysis | Marine Biological Laboratory

The goal of this course is to familiarize researchers in the life sciences with state-of-the-art deep learning techniques for microscopy image analysis and to introduce them to tools and frameworks th...

www.mbl.edu

1 24 36