Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

Kris Jensen @kristorpjensen.bsky.social · 21d

I’m super excited to finally put my recent work with @behrenstimb.bsky.social on bioRxiv, where we develop a new mechanistic theory of how PFC structures adaptive behaviour using attractor dynamics in space and time!

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

9 85 210

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

Kevin Mitchell @wiringthebrain.bsky.social · 23d

Thanks to @pessoabrain.bsky.social and @thetransmitter.bsky.social for featuring our paper and to @aliyarumana.bsky.social and Peter Tse for engaging so generously with the ideas! 😊 www.thetransmitter.org/the-big-pict...

Beyond Newtonian causation in neuroscience

The traditional mechanistic framework must give way to a richer understanding of how brains actually generate behavior over time.

www.thetransmitter.org

5 17 57

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

Rick Huganir @rhuganir.bsky.social · 26d

I am excited to announce that the Johns Hopkins University Solomon H. Snyder Department has become an interdivisional department between the School of Medicine and the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, unifying neuroscience research and education across the university. hub.jhu.edu/2025/09/15/j...

3 23

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

Thomas Luo @thomas-zhihao-luo.bsky.social · 28d

How does the brain decide? 🧠

Our new @nature.com paper shows that neural activity switches from an 'evidence gathering' to a 'commitment' state at a precise moment we call nTc.

After nTc, new evidence is ignored, revealing a neural marker for the instant when the mind is made up.

rdcu.be/eGUrv

Transitions in dynamical regime and neural mode during perceptual decisions - Nature

Simultaneous recordings were made of hundreds of neurons in the rat frontal cortex and striatum, showing that decision commitment involves a rapid, coordinated transition in dynamical regime and neura...

www.nature.com

14 96 250

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

Rui Zhe Goh @ruizhegoh.bsky.social · Sep 4

Great to have another paper with @chazfirestone.bsky.social @ianbphillips.bsky.social and the brilliant Hanbei Zhou out! In this paper we demonstrate that stimuli within events are perceived further apart in time — an event-based analog of “object-based warping”. psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...

3 20 85

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

Anil Seth @anilseth.bsky.social · Sep 2

direct.mit.edu/books/monogr...

Dynamical Systems in Neuroscience: The Geometry of Excitability and Bursting

Explains the relationship of electrophysiology, nonlinear dynamics, and the computational properties of neurons, with each concept presented in terms of bo

direct.mit.edu

2 2 15

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

wbialek.bsky.social @wbialek.bsky.social · Aug 9

It was an honor to write this, but also great fun. A chance to look back at the classics, and think about the path forward. #Physics is a beautiful human endeavor. journals.aps.org/prxlife/abst...

Emergence of Brains

This review traces how ideas from statistical physics evolved into foundational models of neural computation, shaping modern AI and culminating in the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics.

journals.aps.org

1 18 61

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · Aug 4

Neural manifold properties can help us understand how animal brains deal with competing and multifaceted information, execute flexible behaviors and reuse common computations, writes @mattperich.bsky.social.

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/neural-dynam...

Neural population-based approaches have opened new windows into neural computations and behavior

Neural manifold properties can help us understand how animal brains deal with complex information, execute flexible behaviors and reuse common computations.

www.thetransmitter.org

10 42

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · Jul 31

Poor image quality introduces systematic bias into large neuroimaging datasets, new study of ABCD data shows.

By Natalia Mesa

www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/poo...

Poor image quality introduces systematic bias into MRI data

Analyses that include low-quality MRI data underestimate cortical thickness and overestimate surface area, according to new work from the ABCD Study.

www.thetransmitter.org

3 9

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · Jul 30

If you’ve ever tried to cram for an exam, you know that it’s easier to memorize something if you learn the information in shorter, spaced-out sessions. These dynamics are as relevant to each individual cell’s existence as they are to ours. Claire Evans reports: www.quantamagazine.org/what-can-a-c...

What Can a Cell Remember? | Quanta Magazine

A small but enthusiastic group of neuroscientists is exhuming overlooked experiments and performing new ones to explore whether cells record past experiences — fundamentally challenging what memory is...

www.quantamagazine.org

1 13 46

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

Le Neuro (Institut-Hôpital neurologique de Montréal) @theneuro.bsky.social · Jul 15

Happy 107th Birthday, Brenda Milner! Her contributions to neuropsychology shaped the way we understand the human brain. From surviving two world wars and two pandemics, to paving the way for future generations of researchers, Milner’s legacy continues. @mcgill.ca @cusm-muhc.bsky.social

2 83 210

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · Jul 2

In this “Brain Inspired” episode, Paul Middlebrooks and Xiao-Jing Wang discuss how neuroscience has changed over the past 50 years, and how Wang believes modern theoretical tools will lead to a new era of “cross-levels mechanistic understanding.” Listen now: www.thetransmitter.org/brain-inspir...

Xiao-Jing Wang outlines the future of theoretical neuroscience

Wang discusses why he decided the time was right for a new theoretical neuroscience textbook and how bifurcation is a key missing concept in neuroscience explanations.

www.thetransmitter.org

13 32

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

Blake Richards @tyrellturing.bsky.social · Jul 2

Domestication of dogs induced the expansion of the neocortex and reduction in size of subcortical structures:

www.jneurosci.org/content/45/2...

Reminds me of a theory I once heard that humans basically self-domesticated themselves.

Brain–Behavior Differences in Premodern and Modern Lineages of Domestic Dogs

Although domestic dogs were the first domesticated species, the nature of dog domestication remains a topic of ongoing debate. In particular, brain and behavior changes associated with different stage...

www.jneurosci.org

1 3 10

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

Marcelo Mattar @marcelomattar.bsky.social · Jul 2

Thrilled to see our TinyRNN paper in @nature! We show how tiny RNNs predict choices of individual subjects accurately while staying fully interpretable. This approach can transform how we model cognitive processes in both healthy and disordered decisions. doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Discovering cognitive strategies with tiny recurrent neural networks - Nature

Modelling biological decision-making with tiny recurrent neural networks enables more accurate predictions of animal choices than classical cognitive models and offers insights into the underlying cog...

doi.org

9 140 330

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · Jun 30

The neurons that encode sequential information into working memory do not fire in that same order during recall, a finding that is at odds with a long-standing theory. Read more in this month’s Null and Noteworthy.

By @ldattaro.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/null-and-not...

Null and Noteworthy: Neurons tracking sequences don’t fire in order

Instead, neurons encode the position of sequential items in working memory based on when they fire during ongoing brain wave oscillations—a finding that challenges a long-standing theory.

www.thetransmitter.org

1 19 42

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

Ian Phillips @ianbphillips.bsky.social · Jun 28

Short new piece on aphantasia just out in TiCS: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Key idea: aphantasia often involves a lack of *visual-object* imagery (explaining subjective reports & objective correlates) but selectively spared *spatial* imagery (explaining preserved task performance).

Spared spatial imagery solves the puzzle of aphantasia

www.sciencedirect.com

1 3 22

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

Blake Richards @tyrellturing.bsky.social · Jun 24

Wonderful to see this piece out!

I really think we as a field are converging on a unified account of the hippocampus as a modality agnostic, task-relevant, sequence prediction machine.

I bet that within the next decade we will have a complete computational model of the hippocampus. 🧠📈 🧪

The Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · Jun 24

Several new lines of evidence are beginning to reconcile long-standing debates about hippocampal function, prompting neuroscientists to rethink how the region carries out its diverse tasks.

By Natalia Mesa

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/memory/expan...

Expanded view of hippocampal function comes into focus

After decades of debate, the region’s role is being rewritten. Rather than using sensory input to simply log key points in time and space, the hippocampus may serve to contextualize our experiences…

www.thetransmitter.org

6 19 92

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

Tatiana Engel @engeltatiana.bsky.social · Jun 25

Out today in @nature.com: we show that individual neurons have diverse tuning to a decision variable computed by the entire population, revealing a unifying geometric principle for the encoding of sensory and dynamic cognitive variables.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

4 51 210

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

Ian Phillips @ianbphillips.bsky.social · Jun 10

Delighted to be the opening chapter of this brilliantly conceived (and beautifully covered!) new interdisciplinary collection on Space, Time, and Memory edited by the wonderful Lynn Nadel and Sara Aronowitz. Even better, the whole thing is free to download here: library.oapen.org/bitstream/ha...

Book cover image showing a tree growing out of a white boat

4 8

Daeyeol Lee @ungteoriz.bsky.social · May 21

Congrats! Well-deserved!

1

Daeyeol Lee @ungteoriz.bsky.social · May 8

Analog = commitment.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq4B...

The Real Reason Why Analog Recording Is Better

YouTube video by Freaking Out With Billy Hume

www.youtube.com

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

Tony Pennino @beatnikprof.bsky.social · May 4

#MusicSky #MayTheFourth

520 2.1K 13K

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

hakwan lau @hakwan.bsky.social · Apr 30

i have uploaded this preprint a while back, but hadn't promoted it directly here. in this piece i explain why i can no longer recommend trainees to participate in my former home field.

The End of Conscioussness - osf.io/preprints/ps...

but i've learned a lot. thank you for everything.

🧠📈

OSF

osf.io

5 23 81

Reposted by Daeyeol Lee

Dileep George @dileeplearning @dileeplearning.bsky.social · Nov 21

Amidst all the arguments, its important to remember science is all about love … #AGIComics

4 1 20

Daeyeol Lee @ungteoriz.bsky.social · Apr 6

Oops, I posted an old version of the above figure (rat hippocampus was missing). Here is the final/published version.

(B–D) Behavioral task for each species. Matching pennies task for monkeys (B), dynamic foraging task for rats (C), and visual discrimination task for mice (D). (E–G) Correlation between the timescales of neural activity and anatomical hierarchy score in monkeys (E), rats (F), and mice (G). Each dot and error bar, respectively, indicate the median and SE of the timescale within each area. In (F), black and pink dots represent data from the neocortex and hippocampus, respectively. Note that the data from the hippocampus (CA3, CA1, and SUB) do not have a precise hierarchy score. In (G), black and red dots represent data from the neocortex and thalamus, respectively. Blue, green, and yellow shading indicate the regions in the visual, somatomotor, and prefrontal areas, respectively. Dashed lines denote linear regression.

5