Earl K. Miller
@earlkmiller.bsky.social
Picower Professor of Neuroscience @ MIT
Cognitive neuroscience, executive brain functions, consciousness, and bass guitar. You know, the good stuff.
ekmillerlab.mit.edu
Co-founder, Neuroblox
https://www.neuroblox.ai/
Cognitive neuroscience, executive brain functions, consciousness, and bass guitar. You know, the good stuff.
ekmillerlab.mit.edu
Co-founder, Neuroblox
https://www.neuroblox.ai/
Reposted by Earl K. Miller
Textbook neurons are usually spiking. However, there exist plenty of non-spiking neurons whose information transmission is less understood. Shirahata et al. studied Ca-dynamics of non-spiking mechanosensory neurons in crickets that are sensitive to air flow.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Subcellular Information Processing in Mechanosensory Non‐Spiking Interneurons
We measured membrane potential and Ca2+ responses to airflow from different angles in cricket mechanosensory local non-spiking interneurons (LNIs). LNIs exhibited spatially heterogeneous patterns of ...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 29, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Textbook neurons are usually spiking. However, there exist plenty of non-spiking neurons whose information transmission is less understood. Shirahata et al. studied Ca-dynamics of non-spiking mechanosensory neurons in crickets that are sensitive to air flow.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
I remember when we used to think that all neurons were specialized.
Mixed selectivity: when neurons stopped looking like specialists
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
Mixed selectivity: when neurons stopped looking like specialists
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
Mixed selectivity: when neurons stopped looking like specialists - Nature Reviews Neuroscience
In this Journal Club, Fanny Cazettes highlights a 2013 paper that demonstrated the importance of mixed selectivity for cortical computations.
www.nature.com
November 29, 2025 at 12:56 PM
I remember when we used to think that all neurons were specialized.
Mixed selectivity: when neurons stopped looking like specialists
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
Mixed selectivity: when neurons stopped looking like specialists
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
Another example of the role of oscillations in brain function. In this case, interactions between theta and higher frequencies.
Episodic memory involves transient and sparse connectivity aligned to both internal and external events
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
#neuroscience
Episodic memory involves transient and sparse connectivity aligned to both internal and external events
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
#neuroscience
Episodic memory involves transient and sparse connectivity aligned to both internal and external events
Episodic memory depends on the coordination of local processing with global organization. This study reveals that episodic memory relies on brief, sparsely connected brain states coordinated across me...
doi.org
November 29, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Another example of the role of oscillations in brain function. In this case, interactions between theta and higher frequencies.
Episodic memory involves transient and sparse connectivity aligned to both internal and external events
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
#neuroscience
Episodic memory involves transient and sparse connectivity aligned to both internal and external events
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
#neuroscience
Flexible Use of Limited Resources for Sequence Working Memory in Macaque Prefrontal Cortex
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
Flexible Use of Limited Resources for Sequence Working Memory in Macaque Prefrontal Cortex - Nature Communications
How the brain represents and allocates limited working memory resources remains unclear. Here the authors show that the geometry of compositionality in macaque prefrontal neurons underlies the flexibl...
www.nature.com
November 29, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Flexible Use of Limited Resources for Sequence Working Memory in Macaque Prefrontal Cortex
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
Reposted by Earl K. Miller
The special issue celebrating John Duncan's retirement is now out! Check out all the gem articles here:
sciencedirect.com/special-issue/10QN6R7VQSM
and the editorial (see next figure in the thread for an entertaining analysis)
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
sciencedirect.com/special-issue/10QN6R7VQSM
and the editorial (see next figure in the thread for an entertaining analysis)
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
November 27, 2025 at 4:15 PM
The special issue celebrating John Duncan's retirement is now out! Check out all the gem articles here:
sciencedirect.com/special-issue/10QN6R7VQSM
and the editorial (see next figure in the thread for an entertaining analysis)
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
sciencedirect.com/special-issue/10QN6R7VQSM
and the editorial (see next figure in the thread for an entertaining analysis)
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
Special issue of Neuropsychologia celebrating the career of John Duncan.
www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...
#neuroscience
www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...
#neuroscience
Neuropsychologia | Cooperating brain systems and intelligent behaviour: Special issue in honour of John Duncan | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier
Throughout his distinguished career, John Duncan has made numerous influential contributions to understanding the behavioural and brain basis of attention and intelligence. John’s ideas, invariably co...
www.sciencedirect.com
November 27, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Special issue of Neuropsychologia celebrating the career of John Duncan.
www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...
#neuroscience
www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...
#neuroscience
General Bonkers makes weird music so you don't have to. New album. With tracks featuring very special guest star Dave Freedman. On the major platforms including
Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/44QQ4x...
Bandcamp:
generalbonkers.bandcamp.com/album/im-goi...
Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/44QQ4x...
Bandcamp:
generalbonkers.bandcamp.com/album/im-goi...
I'm Going To Have To Science
open.spotify.com
November 27, 2025 at 2:14 PM
General Bonkers makes weird music so you don't have to. New album. With tracks featuring very special guest star Dave Freedman. On the major platforms including
Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/44QQ4x...
Bandcamp:
generalbonkers.bandcamp.com/album/im-goi...
Spotify: open.spotify.com/album/44QQ4x...
Bandcamp:
generalbonkers.bandcamp.com/album/im-goi...
Well said!
This! I endorse It all - from the historical perspective to the wide angle view illuminating the big gaps in the field. If you’re feeling up to it, take a few steps back for a good dose of humility but also inspiration.
Another of Charlie Gross’s passions was history of neuroscience. He wrote excellent books. This gave him a wide-angle view. He taught us that dogma exists to be challenged, we haven’t figured things out, and being a stepping stone is inevitable and perfectly fine.
direct.mit.edu/books/book/2...
direct.mit.edu/books/book/2...
November 27, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Well said!
Reposted by Earl K. Miller
How do brain areas control each other? 🧠🎛️
✨In our NeurIPS 2025 Spotlight paper, we introduce a data-driven framework to answer this question using deep learning, nonlinear control, and differential geometry.🧵⬇️
✨In our NeurIPS 2025 Spotlight paper, we introduce a data-driven framework to answer this question using deep learning, nonlinear control, and differential geometry.🧵⬇️
November 26, 2025 at 7:32 PM
How do brain areas control each other? 🧠🎛️
✨In our NeurIPS 2025 Spotlight paper, we introduce a data-driven framework to answer this question using deep learning, nonlinear control, and differential geometry.🧵⬇️
✨In our NeurIPS 2025 Spotlight paper, we introduce a data-driven framework to answer this question using deep learning, nonlinear control, and differential geometry.🧵⬇️
Neuroblox provides the first multi-scale and mechanistic neural circuit simulation platform for modeling brain function.
www.neuroblox.ai
A Neuroblox model even made a new discovery!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (in press, Nat. Comm) #neuroscience
www.neuroblox.ai
A Neuroblox model even made a new discovery!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (in press, Nat. Comm) #neuroscience
Neuroblox | In Silico Neural Circuit Modeling for Neurotherapeutic Design
Neuroblox provides the first multiscale and mechanistic neural circuit simulation platform built to elicit cognition, mood, and behavior for designing neurotherapeutics.
www.neuroblox.ai
November 26, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Neuroblox provides the first multi-scale and mechanistic neural circuit simulation platform for modeling brain function.
www.neuroblox.ai
A Neuroblox model even made a new discovery!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (in press, Nat. Comm) #neuroscience
www.neuroblox.ai
A Neuroblox model even made a new discovery!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (in press, Nat. Comm) #neuroscience
Distinct roles of prefrontal subregion feedback to the primary visual cortex across behavioral states
www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...
#neuroscience
www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...
#neuroscience
Distinct roles of prefrontal subregion feedback to the primary visual cortex across behavioral states
Ährlund-Richter et al. show that in mice, discrete subregions of the prefrontal cortex
send distinct feedback signals to the primary visual cortex. These pathways differentially
modulate visual proces...
www.cell.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Distinct roles of prefrontal subregion feedback to the primary visual cortex across behavioral states
www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...
#neuroscience
www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...
#neuroscience
Soon in Nature Comm. A biomimetic model NOT trained on data eerily matched neurophys data from animals performing the same task. It predicted a new neural property that was then found in the data! Plus, this model generated oscillatory rhythms that were functional.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
November 24, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Soon in Nature Comm. A biomimetic model NOT trained on data eerily matched neurophys data from animals performing the same task. It predicted a new neural property that was then found in the data! Plus, this model generated oscillatory rhythms that were functional.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Dysfunctional oscillatory bursting patterns linked to working memory in adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
#neuroscience
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
#neuroscience
Dysfunctional oscillatory bursting patterns linked to working memory in adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience
Background Identifying neural markers of clinical symptom fluctuations is prerequisite to developing more precise brain-targeted treatments in psychiatry. We have recently shown that working memory (W...
link.springer.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Dysfunctional oscillatory bursting patterns linked to working memory in adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
#neuroscience
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
#neuroscience
Beta-band frequency shifts signal decisions in human prefrontal cortex
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
#neuroscience
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
#neuroscience
Beta-band frequency shifts signal decisions in human prefrontal cortex
Natural sciences; Biological sciences; Neuroscience; Clinical neuroscience
www.cell.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Beta-band frequency shifts signal decisions in human prefrontal cortex
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
#neuroscience
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
#neuroscience
New paper! Brains stretch representations along task-relevant dimensions. Spike timing is important.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
Adaptive stretching of representations across brain regions and deep learning model layers - Nature Communications
How the brain adapts its representations to prioritize task-relevant information remains unclear. Here, the authors show that both monkey brains and deep learning models stretch neural representations...
www.nature.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:44 PM
New paper! Brains stretch representations along task-relevant dimensions. Spike timing is important.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
Theta-nested gamma oscillations balance prediction and vigilance in spatial navigation
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
#neuroscience
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
#neuroscience
Theta-nested gamma oscillations balance prediction and vigilance in spatial navigation | PNAS
Recent experimental findings challenge the traditional belief that vigilance is solely
attributed to the sensorimotor system, suggesting instead th...
doi.org
November 20, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Theta-nested gamma oscillations balance prediction and vigilance in spatial navigation
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
#neuroscience
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
#neuroscience
Today, Nov 20 at noon ET.
The MIT Consciousness Club seminar
Consciousness Emerges From Neural Dynamics
Earl K. Miller
Zoom link here:
sites.google.com/view/mit-con...
The MIT Consciousness Club seminar
Consciousness Emerges From Neural Dynamics
Earl K. Miller
Zoom link here:
sites.google.com/view/mit-con...
MIT Consciousness Club
The MIT Consciousness Club aims to foster interdisciplinary research on consciousness at MIT and in the broader Boston area by organizing a monthly event featuring an expert talk on consciousness foll...
sites.google.com
November 20, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Today, Nov 20 at noon ET.
The MIT Consciousness Club seminar
Consciousness Emerges From Neural Dynamics
Earl K. Miller
Zoom link here:
sites.google.com/view/mit-con...
The MIT Consciousness Club seminar
Consciousness Emerges From Neural Dynamics
Earl K. Miller
Zoom link here:
sites.google.com/view/mit-con...
Reposted by Earl K. Miller
We're definitely inspired by @earlkmiller.bsky.social 's work in the brain; we cite it in www.cell.com/cell-reports... for example.
Field-mediated bioelectric basis of morphogenetic prepatterning
The endogenous electric field of a simplified bioelectric network model of an embryo
facilitates the autonomous formation of voltage patterns. Transient exogenous electric
fields can leverage this pro...
www.cell.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:34 AM
We're definitely inspired by @earlkmiller.bsky.social 's work in the brain; we cite it in www.cell.com/cell-reports... for example.
Half your brain cells are astrocytes, oscillating and modulating activity without spiking, while cortical neurons spike sparsely. So nearly 100% of cells are oscillating almost all the time, but only a minority of cells emit rare spikes. Maybe spikes are the tail and oscillations are the dog.
November 19, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Half your brain cells are astrocytes, oscillating and modulating activity without spiking, while cortical neurons spike sparsely. So nearly 100% of cells are oscillating almost all the time, but only a minority of cells emit rare spikes. Maybe spikes are the tail and oscillations are the dog.
Tomorrow 12pm (ET) at the MIT Consciousness Club. Consciousness Emerges From Neural Dynamics - Earl K. Miller (hey, that's me!). Join us via Zoom.
sites.google.com/view/mit-con...
#neuroscience
sites.google.com/view/mit-con...
#neuroscience
MIT Consciousness Club
The MIT Consciousness Club aims to foster interdisciplinary research on consciousness at MIT and in the broader Boston area by organizing a monthly event featuring an expert talk on consciousness foll...
sites.google.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Tomorrow 12pm (ET) at the MIT Consciousness Club. Consciousness Emerges From Neural Dynamics - Earl K. Miller (hey, that's me!). Join us via Zoom.
sites.google.com/view/mit-con...
#neuroscience
sites.google.com/view/mit-con...
#neuroscience
The science of consciousness
Through the MIT Consciousness Club, professors Matthias Michel and Earl Miller are exploring how neurological activity gives rise to human experience.
news.mit.edu/2025/science...
#neuroscience
Through the MIT Consciousness Club, professors Matthias Michel and Earl Miller are exploring how neurological activity gives rise to human experience.
news.mit.edu/2025/science...
#neuroscience
The science of consciousness
The MIT Consciousness Club, led by professors Matthias Michel and Earl Miller, explores how neurological activity gives rise to human experience.
news.mit.edu
November 19, 2025 at 2:30 AM
The science of consciousness
Through the MIT Consciousness Club, professors Matthias Michel and Earl Miller are exploring how neurological activity gives rise to human experience.
news.mit.edu/2025/science...
#neuroscience
Through the MIT Consciousness Club, professors Matthias Michel and Earl Miller are exploring how neurological activity gives rise to human experience.
news.mit.edu/2025/science...
#neuroscience
Giant Shoulders podcast: Meet the MIT Neuroscientist Proving Brainwaves are the Secret to Consciousness.
youtu.be/7OFb-NG3jIw
#neuroscience
youtu.be/7OFb-NG3jIw
#neuroscience
Meet the MIT Neuroscientist Proving Brain Waves Are the Secret Engine Behind Consciousness
YouTube video by Giant's Shoulder
youtu.be
November 18, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Giant Shoulders podcast: Meet the MIT Neuroscientist Proving Brainwaves are the Secret to Consciousness.
youtu.be/7OFb-NG3jIw
#neuroscience
youtu.be/7OFb-NG3jIw
#neuroscience
Reposted by Earl K. Miller
Next up, a special lecture by Rony Paz, introduced by @stevewcchang.bsky.social. I’m really excited for this one!
Emotional Learning and the Primate Amygdala: From Adaptive Behaviors to Psychopathologies.
www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/21171...
Emotional Learning and the Primate Amygdala: From Adaptive Behaviors to Psychopathologies.
www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/21171...
November 16, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Next up, a special lecture by Rony Paz, introduced by @stevewcchang.bsky.social. I’m really excited for this one!
Emotional Learning and the Primate Amygdala: From Adaptive Behaviors to Psychopathologies.
www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/21171...
Emotional Learning and the Primate Amygdala: From Adaptive Behaviors to Psychopathologies.
www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/21171...