tbiba.bsky.social

On consciousness in animals and in artificial intelligence | Journal of Neurophysiology | American Physiological Society In recent years, numerous publications have emerged claiming that animals possess consciousness. Moreover, neurophysiological literature has discussed the possible existence of consciousness in artificial intelligence (AI). Both ideas stem from analyses of the behavior of animals and AI systems. Here, I argue that it is impossible to draw conclusions about animal consciousness based solely on their behavior. Addressing the question of animal consciousness requires an understanding of its neuronal mechanisms, and the challenge lies in whether these mechanisms can be understood. Views on this issue diverge widely, ranging from Cartesian dualism, which denies any neuronal mechanisms of consciousness, to the opposing position that consciousness is one of cognitive functions whose underlying mechanisms can be understood. Here, I support the latter view. In contrast, the problem of AI consciousness belongs to the field of computer science rather than neurophysiology. Even if artificial intelligence were to acquire consciousness in the future, it would be an AI-specific form of consciousness bearing little relation to human consciousness. Consequently, insights into the mechanisms underlying AI consciousness are unlikely to advance our understanding of human consciousness.

On consciousness in animals and in artificial intelligence

journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1...

#neuroskyence #MLSky

Task learning increases information redundancy of neural responses in macaque visual cortex How does the brain optimize sensory information for decision-making in new tasks? One hypothesis suggests that learning reduces redundancy in neural representations to improve efficiency, whereas anot...

RIP redundancy reduction?

Beautiful work by Liu & colleagues showing that neural redundancy increases with learning, as predicted by a Bayesian model:
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

How does the brain generalize past experiences without confusing memories? 🧠

Our lab's newest preprint reveals a fundamental division of labor between the cortex and cerebellum that solves this problem. (Check out the cortex-cerebellum video below! 👇) 🧵

A drawing on the cover of the journal Neuron. Each section of the fan has a drawing of a mouse. Each mouse has a slightly different pose. The tassel of the fan resembles a neuron.

My first cover of 2026
"Spontaneous behavior is a succession of self-directed tasks"
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
#sciArt #Scicom #illustration #neuroskyence

Delighted to share this paper led by @hannahmcdermott.bsky.social . We examined dynamics of prediction effects (sharpening vs dampening) and found they’re completely different across time scales!

Medial Pulvinar Nucleus as a Causal Hub for Heteromodal Naming Our ability to retrieve the names of objects in our environment is a fundamental aspect of everyday life. This process requires a complex, dynamic network of cortical and subcortical interactions. Whi...

Out now in #JNeurosci! We used direct recordings and stimulation in human pulvinar to probe its causal role during naming from pictures, and spoken and written descriptions. We found naming-selective responses and stim-induced pure anomia.

doi.org/10.1523/JNEU...

#NeuroSkyence #iEEG

🧵👇

1/ New preprint out! “Control of cortical population activity with patterned microstimulation.” We show that brief training with multi-electrode stimulation pulses is enough to steer prefrontal population activity along desired trajectories in awake macaques. tinyurl.com/3d6kv26w

Super happy to share my very first first-author paper out in
@sfnjournals.bsky.social! We show content-specific predictions are represented in an alpha rhythm. It’s been a beautiful, inspiring, yet challenging journey.
Huge thanks to everyone, especially @peterkok.bsky.social @jhaarsma.bsky.social

Thanks buddy! Indefatigable! What a word! It’s been such a joy to share a journey in academia with you at multiple stops along the way. Let’s keep on persisting tirelessly!

Recurrent cortical networks encode natural sensory statistics via sequence filtering The visual cortex receives a stream of high-dimensional sensory input. The role of dense local, recurrent cortical connections in shaping responses to these inputs has been unclear. Here, we show that...

Recurrent cortical networks encode natural sensory statistics via sequence filtering

www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...

#compneuro #neuroskyence

Thanks Tess!!

As promised: a detailed figure-by-figure thread on our @pnas.org paper:

doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

We use signal correlations and noise correlations in chronic imaging data to show that representational drift is shaped by a balance between Hebbian and stochastic changes.

Let’s dive in 👇

🧠🧪 1/9

Whether the system can be flexibly redirected to prioritize specific locations has been unclear. Using large-scale #Neuropixels recordings in freely behaving rats, we find that both sweeps – and the internal direction signals driving them – are dynamically modulated moment by moment. (4/6)

Low frequency oscillations – neural correlates of stability and flexibility in cognition - Nature Communications How the brain balances the flexibility and stability needed to both encode and maintain information during cognition remains poorly understood. Using MEG data and in-silico simulations, the authors sh...

2025 in @natcomms.nature.com
“Low frequency oscillations - neural correlates of stability & flexibility”

Theta/alpha oscillations can aid cortical information transfer in-silico - a mechanism in line with MEG network state transitions in several working memory tasks

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How do we balance external attention to the outside world and internal attention to our thoughts & memories?

We review evidence that external and internal attention can compete, unfold concurrently, or cooperate!

Loved working on this with @samversc.bsky.social & @tobiasegner.bsky.social!

lol thanks buddy!!

Thanks Mariam!! I really appreciate the kind words :) it’s been quite a journey getting to the finish line! Excited for what is to come!

Episodic memory encoding fluctuates at a theta rhythm of 3–10 Hz Nature Human Behaviour - Biba et al. show that episodic memory encoding fluctuates at a theta rhythm of 3–10 Hz.

I am excited to share my first paper, showing that episodic memory formation is theta rhythmic, is now published in Nature Human Behavior! Check it out here: rdcu.be/e6pzS. Thanks to my PI, Katherine Duncan, and to my collaborators for their support on this journey! Stay tuned for iEEG follow up 🧠

Congrats to my friend and collaborator Lexi @lexidecker.bsky.social on starting her own lab at Wash U! She is hiring a lab manager so please see her post to apply!

🧠 Hiring a Research Assistant/Lab Manager! Share widely! 📍 St. Louis | ⏰ Full-time

We're launching the How We Learn Lab @WashU, studying attention, learning & memory interactions. Perfect for anyone interested in dev cog neuro who wants hands-on experience before grad school.

deckerlab.com