Rhodri Cusack
@rhodricusack.bsky.social
Developmental computational cognitive neuroscientist at Trinity College Dublin. We scan infants to understand the emergence of cognition, and how it is disrupted by brain injury. Director of the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience.
Reposted by Rhodri Cusack
We are delighted to be able to thank the @erc.europa.eu European Research Council (ERC) for the funding award of €10,403,517 for this six-year project. @tcddublin.bsky.social @trinityneuro.bsky.social & @tcdpsychology.bsky.social Trinity College Dublin will host my work.
November 6, 2025 at 11:45 AM
We are delighted to be able to thank the @erc.europa.eu European Research Council (ERC) for the funding award of €10,403,517 for this six-year project. @tcddublin.bsky.social @trinityneuro.bsky.social & @tcdpsychology.bsky.social Trinity College Dublin will host my work.
Excited for our new OPM-MEG system!
September 4, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Excited for our new OPM-MEG system!
Reposted by Rhodri Cusack
Finally got around to this interesting exchange. Much to like! However, in my view neonate cortex is building a foundation model while sub-cortical sensorimotor routes support newborn behaviours and, importantly, bias the inputs to the foundation model (e.g. orienting toward faces).
August 1, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Finally got around to this interesting exchange. Much to like! However, in my view neonate cortex is building a foundation model while sub-cortical sensorimotor routes support newborn behaviours and, importantly, bias the inputs to the foundation model (e.g. orienting toward faces).
This is a great opportunity for rising stars and established research leaders particularly when combined with an ERC frontier research grant (€4-4.5 million including relocation-to-Europe supplement).
Deadline for expression of interest is Aug 28
Deadline for expression of interest is Aug 28
July 19, 2025 at 8:20 AM
This is a great opportunity for rising stars and established research leaders particularly when combined with an ERC frontier research grant (€4-4.5 million including relocation-to-Europe supplement).
Deadline for expression of interest is Aug 28
Deadline for expression of interest is Aug 28
The Trinity College institute of Neuroscience is located on Trinity's main campus in the heart of the city. Founded in 1592, Trinity is a research intensive university with strength across disciplines, currently ranked 75 in the world, valuing diversity, inclusion and kindness.
July 19, 2025 at 8:20 AM
The Trinity College institute of Neuroscience is located on Trinity's main campus in the heart of the city. Founded in 1592, Trinity is a research intensive university with strength across disciplines, currently ranked 75 in the world, valuing diversity, inclusion and kindness.
Interesting! Random exploration is consistent - the important thing is that the infant doesn't start to optimize decisions that corrupt learning by forcing early cheap solutions building on sub-optimal representations.
Eye movements are exploration too as @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social reminds me
Eye movements are exploration too as @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social reminds me
July 2, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Interesting! Random exploration is consistent - the important thing is that the infant doesn't start to optimize decisions that corrupt learning by forcing early cheap solutions building on sub-optimal representations.
Eye movements are exploration too as @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social reminds me
Eye movements are exploration too as @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social reminds me
I love the idea of explore-to-exploit transition in childhood! But, in the helpless period (first 6-8 months?) there's no reaching, crawling or walking, and humans get much less exploration done than a chicken or a lamb. Pre-exploration infantile chillaxing- that's what we're trying to explain.
July 2, 2025 at 7:32 PM
I love the idea of explore-to-exploit transition in childhood! But, in the helpless period (first 6-8 months?) there's no reaching, crawling or walking, and humans get much less exploration done than a chicken or a lamb. Pre-exploration infantile chillaxing- that's what we're trying to explain.
I'm glad you like the fundamental point. The novel contribution is to suggest that the requirement for lots of self-supervised learning upfront could drive a long helpless period in human infants. Otherwise, helplessness is dangerous and such a lot of work for the caregivers!
July 2, 2025 at 3:43 PM
I'm glad you like the fundamental point. The novel contribution is to suggest that the requirement for lots of self-supervised learning upfront could drive a long helpless period in human infants. Otherwise, helplessness is dangerous and such a lot of work for the caregivers!
Emily, I haven't read your paper yet and it looks interesting! But I'm curious why you didn't cite @cabrallaura.bsky.social's work (with me) examining the connectivity of ventral visual category regions in neonates pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36521345/
Anatomical correlates of category-selective visual regions have distinctive signatures of connectivity in neonates - PubMed
The ventral visual stream is shaped during development by innate proto-organization within the visual system, such as the strong input from the fovea to the fusiform face area. In adults, category-sel...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
March 21, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Emily, I haven't read your paper yet and it looks interesting! But I'm curious why you didn't cite @cabrallaura.bsky.social's work (with me) examining the connectivity of ventral visual category regions in neonates pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36521345/