Joao Barbosa
@jbarbosa.org
INSERM group leader @ Neuromodulation Institute and NeuroSpin (Paris) in computational neuroscience.
How and why are computations enabling cognition distributed across the brain?
Expect neuroscience and ML content.
jbarbosa.org
How and why are computations enabling cognition distributed across the brain?
Expect neuroscience and ML content.
jbarbosa.org
Pinned
Joao Barbosa
@jbarbosa.org
· Feb 2
A good time to repost this banger from 'The Responsibility of Intellectuals' by Noam Chomsky in '67
Vance is absolutely correct: universities are - and must be - the enemy.
This is why the Right is attacking scholarship globally. They want to end the privilege Chomsky's talking about in 67
Vance is absolutely correct: universities are - and must be - the enemy.
This is why the Right is attacking scholarship globally. They want to end the privilege Chomsky's talking about in 67
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
We are excited to announce that the Cognitive Computational Neuroscience meeting (CCN 2026) will be held at New York University from August 3–6, 2026.
2026.ccneuro.org
2026.ccneuro.org
December 3, 2025 at 10:01 AM
We are excited to announce that the Cognitive Computational Neuroscience meeting (CCN 2026) will be held at New York University from August 3–6, 2026.
2026.ccneuro.org
2026.ccneuro.org
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
Finally got the job ad—looking for 2 PhD students to start spring next year:
www.gao-unit.com/join-us/
If comp neuro, ML, and AI4Neuro is your thing, or you just nerd out over brain recordings, apply!
I'm at neurips. DM me here / on the conference app or email if you want to meet 🏖️🌮
www.gao-unit.com/join-us/
If comp neuro, ML, and AI4Neuro is your thing, or you just nerd out over brain recordings, apply!
I'm at neurips. DM me here / on the conference app or email if you want to meet 🏖️🌮
December 3, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Finally got the job ad—looking for 2 PhD students to start spring next year:
www.gao-unit.com/join-us/
If comp neuro, ML, and AI4Neuro is your thing, or you just nerd out over brain recordings, apply!
I'm at neurips. DM me here / on the conference app or email if you want to meet 🏖️🌮
www.gao-unit.com/join-us/
If comp neuro, ML, and AI4Neuro is your thing, or you just nerd out over brain recordings, apply!
I'm at neurips. DM me here / on the conference app or email if you want to meet 🏖️🌮
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
New Correspondence with @davidpoeppel.bsky.social in Nat Rev Neurosci. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Here, we critique a recent paper by Rosas et al. We argue that "Bottom-up" and "Top-down" neuroscience have various meanings in the literature.
PDF: rdcu.be/eSKYI
Here, we critique a recent paper by Rosas et al. We argue that "Bottom-up" and "Top-down" neuroscience have various meanings in the literature.
PDF: rdcu.be/eSKYI
Top-down and bottom-up neuroscience as collections of practices - Nature Reviews Neuroscience
Nature Reviews Neuroscience - Top-down and bottom-up neuroscience as collections of practices
www.nature.com
December 2, 2025 at 3:13 PM
New Correspondence with @davidpoeppel.bsky.social in Nat Rev Neurosci. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Here, we critique a recent paper by Rosas et al. We argue that "Bottom-up" and "Top-down" neuroscience have various meanings in the literature.
PDF: rdcu.be/eSKYI
Here, we critique a recent paper by Rosas et al. We argue that "Bottom-up" and "Top-down" neuroscience have various meanings in the literature.
PDF: rdcu.be/eSKYI
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
He has come to discipline and punish
December 2, 2025 at 8:37 PM
He has come to discipline and punish
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
0/10 Thanks for the interest in our preprint. Some takes say it negates or fully supports the “manifold hypothesis”, neither quite right. Our results show that if you only focus on the manifold capturing most of task-related variance, you could miss important dynamics that actually drive behavior.
“Our findings challenge the conventional focus on low-dimensional coding subspaces as a sufficient framework for understanding neural computations, demonstrating that dimensions previously considered task-irrelevant and accounting for little variance can have a critical role in driving behavior.”
Neural dynamics outside task-coding dimensions drive decision trajectories through transient amplification
Most behaviors involve neural dynamics in high-dimensional activity spaces. A common approach is to extract dimensions that capture task-related variability, such as those separating stimuli or choice...
www.biorxiv.org
December 2, 2025 at 7:48 AM
0/10 Thanks for the interest in our preprint. Some takes say it negates or fully supports the “manifold hypothesis”, neither quite right. Our results show that if you only focus on the manifold capturing most of task-related variance, you could miss important dynamics that actually drive behavior.
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
"You know the difference between a real science and a pseudoscience? A real science recognizes and accepts its own history without feeling attacked." - Foucault
December 2, 2025 at 1:25 PM
"You know the difference between a real science and a pseudoscience? A real science recognizes and accepts its own history without feeling attacked." - Foucault
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
Our lab plans to attend en masse. We think #FENS2026 will be the greatest FENS meeting ever. See you in Barcelona!
🚨 Big news for the neuroscience community!
The Call for Abstracts, Travel Grants and Registrations for #FENS2026 is officially open! 🧠
👉 Register and submit your work today: https://loom.ly/usQR0ao
The Call for Abstracts, Travel Grants and Registrations for #FENS2026 is officially open! 🧠
👉 Register and submit your work today: https://loom.ly/usQR0ao
December 2, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Our lab plans to attend en masse. We think #FENS2026 will be the greatest FENS meeting ever. See you in Barcelona!
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
Call is out for Champalimaud International Neuroscience Doctoral Programme 2026! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com
December 2, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Call is out for Champalimaud International Neuroscience Doctoral Programme 2026! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
Great read. Too many people assume that the role of theory papers in neuro is to "explain neural data". I'm not even sure we can explain anything yet. Data is more like a muse for theory.
How I contributed to rejecting one of my favorite papers of all times, Yes, I teach it to students daily, and refer to it in lots of papers. Sorry. open.substack.com/pub/kording/...
How I contributed to rejecting one of my favorite papers of all time
I believe we should talk about the mistakes we make.
open.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Great read. Too many people assume that the role of theory papers in neuro is to "explain neural data". I'm not even sure we can explain anything yet. Data is more like a muse for theory.
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
How I contributed to rejecting one of my favorite papers of all times, Yes, I teach it to students daily, and refer to it in lots of papers. Sorry. open.substack.com/pub/kording/...
How I contributed to rejecting one of my favorite papers of all time
I believe we should talk about the mistakes we make.
open.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:27 AM
How I contributed to rejecting one of my favorite papers of all times, Yes, I teach it to students daily, and refer to it in lots of papers. Sorry. open.substack.com/pub/kording/...
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
Just got back from a great summer school at Sapienza University sites.google.com/view/math-hi... where I gave a short course on Dynamics and Learning in RNNs. I compiled a (very biased) list of recommended readings on the subject, for anyone interested: aleingrosso.github.io/_pages/2025_...
Home
The school will open the thematic period on Data Science and will be dedicated to the mathematical foundations and methods for high-dimensional data analysis. It will provide an in-depth introduction ...
sites.google.com
September 15, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Just got back from a great summer school at Sapienza University sites.google.com/view/math-hi... where I gave a short course on Dynamics and Learning in RNNs. I compiled a (very biased) list of recommended readings on the subject, for anyone interested: aleingrosso.github.io/_pages/2025_...
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
Bong Joon Ho hit me up for the squad you legend deadline.com/2025/11/bong...
November 29, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Bong Joon Ho hit me up for the squad you legend deadline.com/2025/11/bong...
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀?
Do they even exist...?
Join @lucinauddin.bsky.social who will present, followed by discussion in the Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon.
Open to all.
Date: Dec 9, 12pm EST-US
Register: umd.zoom.us/meeting/regi... (you need a zoom account which is free)
#neuroskyence
Do they even exist...?
Join @lucinauddin.bsky.social who will present, followed by discussion in the Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon.
Open to all.
Date: Dec 9, 12pm EST-US
Register: umd.zoom.us/meeting/regi... (you need a zoom account which is free)
#neuroskyence
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: NeuroPhilo Salon. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: NeuroPhilo Salon. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.
umd.zoom.us
November 29, 2025 at 5:14 PM
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀?
Do they even exist...?
Join @lucinauddin.bsky.social who will present, followed by discussion in the Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon.
Open to all.
Date: Dec 9, 12pm EST-US
Register: umd.zoom.us/meeting/regi... (you need a zoom account which is free)
#neuroskyence
Do they even exist...?
Join @lucinauddin.bsky.social who will present, followed by discussion in the Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon.
Open to all.
Date: Dec 9, 12pm EST-US
Register: umd.zoom.us/meeting/regi... (you need a zoom account which is free)
#neuroskyence
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
“Leave the lab! Escape the ivory tower!” they said.
Hold our EEGs!
@dreamteamicm.bsky.social is teaming up with Alexia Barrier and The Famous Project, the first all-female crew racing the Trophée Jules Verne!
We’ll track their brain activity across 40 days at sea!
@institutducerveau.bsky.social
Hold our EEGs!
@dreamteamicm.bsky.social is teaming up with Alexia Barrier and The Famous Project, the first all-female crew racing the Trophée Jules Verne!
We’ll track their brain activity across 40 days at sea!
@institutducerveau.bsky.social
November 29, 2025 at 2:35 PM
“Leave the lab! Escape the ivory tower!” they said.
Hold our EEGs!
@dreamteamicm.bsky.social is teaming up with Alexia Barrier and The Famous Project, the first all-female crew racing the Trophée Jules Verne!
We’ll track their brain activity across 40 days at sea!
@institutducerveau.bsky.social
Hold our EEGs!
@dreamteamicm.bsky.social is teaming up with Alexia Barrier and The Famous Project, the first all-female crew racing the Trophée Jules Verne!
We’ll track their brain activity across 40 days at sea!
@institutducerveau.bsky.social
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
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.🧵⬇️
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
🚨Friends, we’re happy to share that our book is available for pre-order! 🎉
We aimed to cover all the foundations of the topic in an accessible manner for a large audience.
It could help set up a bachelor-level curriculum on the topic.
Pre-orders are very key for the fate of books: shorturl.at/Dxbif
We aimed to cover all the foundations of the topic in an accessible manner for a large audience.
It could help set up a bachelor-level curriculum on the topic.
Pre-orders are very key for the fate of books: shorturl.at/Dxbif
November 26, 2025 at 11:38 AM
🚨Friends, we’re happy to share that our book is available for pre-order! 🎉
We aimed to cover all the foundations of the topic in an accessible manner for a large audience.
It could help set up a bachelor-level curriculum on the topic.
Pre-orders are very key for the fate of books: shorturl.at/Dxbif
We aimed to cover all the foundations of the topic in an accessible manner for a large audience.
It could help set up a bachelor-level curriculum on the topic.
Pre-orders are very key for the fate of books: shorturl.at/Dxbif
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
Also, from a dynamics perspective, directions with very little variance (in a statistical perspective) can still have an outsized effect on the activity on directions with larger variance!
November 26, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Also, from a dynamics perspective, directions with very little variance (in a statistical perspective) can still have an outsized effect on the activity on directions with larger variance!
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
Love SVD, good data viz tool, but shouldn't be the core of our neural analysis.
This paper finds that if you truncate at 5 PCs (95% var), you'll miss critical dynamics. Lower PCs (6-12) capture non-norm dyn -- each captures little var bc they're transient, but they are critical for the dynamics.
This paper finds that if you truncate at 5 PCs (95% var), you'll miss critical dynamics. Lower PCs (6-12) capture non-norm dyn -- each captures little var bc they're transient, but they are critical for the dynamics.
November 25, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Love SVD, good data viz tool, but shouldn't be the core of our neural analysis.
This paper finds that if you truncate at 5 PCs (95% var), you'll miss critical dynamics. Lower PCs (6-12) capture non-norm dyn -- each captures little var bc they're transient, but they are critical for the dynamics.
This paper finds that if you truncate at 5 PCs (95% var), you'll miss critical dynamics. Lower PCs (6-12) capture non-norm dyn -- each captures little var bc they're transient, but they are critical for the dynamics.
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
anything less than 420-D should not be called high D imo
November 26, 2025 at 3:08 AM
anything less than 420-D should not be called high D imo
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
My spicy take would be that neural manifolds may not be disprovable given how the brains we are aware of are built, and the challenges are: (1) whether they give us understanding beyond single neuron descriptions (2) whether they have "causal power"
A recent attempt at this youtu.be/oxQyKByqDSU?...
A recent attempt at this youtu.be/oxQyKByqDSU?...
Juan Gallego
YouTube video by Champalimaud Research
youtu.be
November 26, 2025 at 6:22 AM
My spicy take would be that neural manifolds may not be disprovable given how the brains we are aware of are built, and the challenges are: (1) whether they give us understanding beyond single neuron descriptions (2) whether they have "causal power"
A recent attempt at this youtu.be/oxQyKByqDSU?...
A recent attempt at this youtu.be/oxQyKByqDSU?...
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
If one embraces the challenge of choosing a good neural code, one is faced with the following trade-off (low-D vs high-D):
(3/37)
(3/37)
December 11, 2024 at 3:00 PM
If one embraces the challenge of choosing a good neural code, one is faced with the following trade-off (low-D vs high-D):
(3/37)
(3/37)
Y’all are reading this paper in the wrong way.
We love to trash dominant hypothesis, but we need to look for evidence against the manifold hypothesis elsewhere:
This elegant work doesn't show neural dynamics are high D, nor that we should stop using PCA
It’s quite the opposite!
(thread)
We love to trash dominant hypothesis, but we need to look for evidence against the manifold hypothesis elsewhere:
This elegant work doesn't show neural dynamics are high D, nor that we should stop using PCA
It’s quite the opposite!
(thread)
“Our findings challenge the conventional focus on low-dimensional coding subspaces as a sufficient framework for understanding neural computations, demonstrating that dimensions previously considered task-irrelevant and accounting for little variance can have a critical role in driving behavior.”
Neural dynamics outside task-coding dimensions drive decision trajectories through transient amplification
Most behaviors involve neural dynamics in high-dimensional activity spaces. A common approach is to extract dimensions that capture task-related variability, such as those separating stimuli or choice...
www.biorxiv.org
November 25, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Y’all are reading this paper in the wrong way.
We love to trash dominant hypothesis, but we need to look for evidence against the manifold hypothesis elsewhere:
This elegant work doesn't show neural dynamics are high D, nor that we should stop using PCA
It’s quite the opposite!
(thread)
We love to trash dominant hypothesis, but we need to look for evidence against the manifold hypothesis elsewhere:
This elegant work doesn't show neural dynamics are high D, nor that we should stop using PCA
It’s quite the opposite!
(thread)
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
What’s the most significant advice you received from a teacher?
I had a Geology prof who always said “have strong opinions, loosely held”
Be passionate, assess alternatives with conviction, take sides. But don’t fall so in love with your opinions that you can’t change them with better data.
I had a Geology prof who always said “have strong opinions, loosely held”
Be passionate, assess alternatives with conviction, take sides. But don’t fall so in love with your opinions that you can’t change them with better data.
November 21, 2025 at 12:54 AM
What’s the most significant advice you received from a teacher?
I had a Geology prof who always said “have strong opinions, loosely held”
Be passionate, assess alternatives with conviction, take sides. But don’t fall so in love with your opinions that you can’t change them with better data.
I had a Geology prof who always said “have strong opinions, loosely held”
Be passionate, assess alternatives with conviction, take sides. But don’t fall so in love with your opinions that you can’t change them with better data.
Reposted by Joao Barbosa
Humans will NEVER colonize another planet. Never.
If we can’t even agree to do the minimum to keep Earth habitable, there’s no way in hell we’ll cooperate to make another planet habitable.
If we can’t even agree to do the minimum to keep Earth habitable, there’s no way in hell we’ll cooperate to make another planet habitable.
November 22, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Humans will NEVER colonize another planet. Never.
If we can’t even agree to do the minimum to keep Earth habitable, there’s no way in hell we’ll cooperate to make another planet habitable.
If we can’t even agree to do the minimum to keep Earth habitable, there’s no way in hell we’ll cooperate to make another planet habitable.