Are world models necessary to achieve human-level agents, or is there a model-free short-cut? Our new #ICML2025 paper tackles this question from first principles, and finds a surprising answer, agents _are_ world models… 🧵 arxiv.org/abs/2506.01622

More evidence that distal tuft dendrites provide some form of target/credit signal in hippocampus: www.cell.com/neuron/abstr... #neuroscience 🧪

Finally hooded, by my wonderful advisor @aaronbornstein.bsky.social !

super excited that the first paper from my PhD is now out! we develop a "philosophical toolkit" for computational cognitive modeling & use it to conceptually re-analyze a long-standing debate about evidence accumulation models of decision making 🧠📈 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Thank you! I really tried hard to not tear up when I was mentioning you & the lab during the acknowledgements 😢 I am so fortunate to have been part of such a beautiful community!

Why do we remember some events but forget others? In our recent work published at @naturecomms.bsky.social, @audreyduarte.bsky.social and I used machine learning to simultaneously quantify multiple cognitive components of episodic memory. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/11

Accepting “the bitter lesson” and embracing the brain’s complexity by Dyer and Richards. Great article! www.thetransmitter.org/neuroai/acce...

New preprint from Yining Ding (@liliand.bsky.social)! "Temporal order memory in naturalistic events is scaffolded by semantic knowledge and hierarchical event structure" osf.io/preprints/ps...

Excellent resource here, including a slide deck, for teaching students about science funding! Any similar additional resources out there? I would love to add some graphics quantifying the consequences of the current attacks on science.

So happy that our paper on event segmentation in large language models is now out in Behavior Research Methods! tinyurl.com/2j76882b With @mtoneva.bsky.social, @ptoncompmemlab.bsky.social, and Manoj Kumar, we show that LLMs can segment narrative text into meaningful events similarly to humans.

What papers do you like that demonstrate the use of 'orthogonal subspaces' for encoding information in neural populations? #neuroskyence #compneuro #neuroAI

I love the uncompromising defense of absolute stupidity. I sometimes explain it to students using Keats' phrase 'negative capability'. Can you be comfortable with not knowing?

Could we get away with (1) region specific RPEs and (2) no end-to-end training? Is that how the brain works? My guess is yes to (1), no to (2). This paper from our "cousins" at @vectorinst.bsky.social is exploring thes issues and has some promising results! arxiv.org/abs/2411.03604 #NeuroAI 🧪

Our work on inductive biases in reinforcement learning is out: tinyurl.com/yfc74e3u By the fantastic @noahedrich.bsky.social Ppl learn faster from slowly changing features; we argue this reflects an inductive bias. Teamwork w @ericschulz.bsky.social & S HallMcMaster #neuroskyence #compneuro

Important paper! www.biorxiv.org/content/bior... Im not sure the Discussion fully delineates its radical implications. No more... * Place cells * Grid cells, splitter cells, border cells * Mirror neurons * Reward neurons * Conflict cells (continued)

ICYMI on X/Twitter...if you are into space, cognitive maps, place cells, planning, replay, etc., I predict that this blog+paper will change the way you think about those ideas. Goes against the conventional Kantian thought that space is apriori ... blog.dileeplearning.com/p/space-is-a...

Do you know www.brainfacts.org? Terrific, accessible (free!) articles there about what’s new in brain research. Like this timely piece! The neuroscience behind conspiracy theories. www.brainfacts.org/thinking-sen... I’m delighted to soon step into an editorial role at this terrific effort!

Do you teach neuroscience? Here’s a list I’ve compiled of mostly free online neuroscience textbooks, simulations and datasets you can use for your course! If I’m missing something, let me know so I can add it! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Super-psyched to share this preprint from my student Yicong (Alan) Zheng: "Recurrent Inhibitory Dynamics in the Entorhinal Cortex Support Pattern Separation" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... It's a new biologicaly-based computational model of the entorhinal-hippocampal system. Thread (1/?)

OK folks, I've started an episodic memory starter pack. By no means a full list so reply below if you're an episodic memory nerd! go.bsky.app/2mtNK43

Did you know #RLDM2025 is coming to Dublin next June? rldm.org Abstract submission open now ☘️ 🇮🇪

Registration for #COSYNE2025 is now open! www.cosyne.org/registration #neuroscience #NeuroAI

It's very nice to see this computational theory of hippocampus-neocortex interaction building on our CSCG model. New paper from Giovanni Pezzulo's lab in NatureComms. CSCG + hierarchy + active inference! Check it out! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I’m presenting my poster soon! Please stop by ;)

I’ll be presenting my poster today! Please stop by :)

One more week to apply for our joint faculty position in Princeton Neuroscience Institute and Computer Science Dept, in neuroAI and intelligent systems, broadly construed. Do you fit? Yes. But feel free to contact me with q's. puwebp.princeton.edu/AcadHire/app...

The Human and Machine Learning (HaML) Lab is recruiting a PhD student to start in Fall 2024. If you’re interested in human learning, machine learning, and neuroimaging, apply to work with me at UWM! See hamllab.org/positions.html for more details about PhD training and the application process.