Daniel Ferris @Ferris_vball@qoto.org

MotorNet: a Python toolbox for controlling differentiable biomechanical effectors with artificial neural networks | bioRxiv https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.02.17.528969v1

Please point me to your favorite teaching resources on how to write a referee report!

I really liked this new episode of Brain Inspired. I may be settling into familiarity with the interview style, or I might have just listened to a few episodes that gave me an incorrect impression there are frequent interruptions of guests.

The discussion of what the alpha frequency in EEG really represents was nice (it comes more than 30 minutes in). I'll have to check out Ole Jensen's work!

https://brain-inspired.castos.com/episodes/bi-160-ole-jensen-rhythms-of-cognition

@neuroscience

#Neuroscience #AI #BrainInspired #PodcastRecommendation

The Onion is perfect as usual

"ChatGPT Forced To Take Bar Exam Even Though Dream Was To Be AI Art Bot"

https://www.theonion.com/chatgpt-forced-to-take-bar-exam-even-though-dream-was-t-1850036337

New paper! How are oscillations made? We'll tell you.

A physical neural mass model framework for the analysis of oscillatory generators from laminar electrophysiological recordings
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.119938

#neuroscience

Dear Manuscript Central, my demographics and my keywords are constant, they do not change as journals change. Requiring a separate login and profile for every journal who asks me to review is adding administrative burden and contributing to the reviewer crisis. I cannot even login with my ORCiD without first creating a separate journal account. Fix this. @academicchatter

The trend towards translational medicine has been relentless, but it is the basic science that drives the whole ecosystem.

Furthermore, it is impossible to predict where discoveries and advancements in translational work will come from.

Towards a systematization of brain oscillatory activity in actions
https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-023-04531-9

#neuroscience

Become Structure & Motion Lab's administrator at RVC! Likely to include some science communication work, depending on skills. https://jobs.rvc.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx?ref=CBS-0013-23
Application deadline 20 February.

Looking for feedback on some new thoughts about Big Ideas in brain/mind research.

I've spent quite a long time researching and thinking about the history of brain/mind research in terms of the Big Ideas that have emerged. Pre-1960, it's pretty easy to list the big ideas that researchers had reached consensus around. Since 1960, that's harder to do. There's plenty of consensus around new facts (like umami is supported by receptor X on the tongue), but it's difficult to regard the things that brain researchers agree on as new, big ideas. At first, I (mis)interpreted this as a paucity of new ideas, but I no longer think that's correct - I've found a ton. Instead, I now believe that they are there but we haven't arrived at consensus around them.

I'm wondering: Why might have researchers arrived at more consensus around Big ideas introduced 1900-1960 vs 1960-2020? Obviously there's the filter of history and the fact that it takes time to work things out. But is there more to it than that? For example, have the biggest principles already been discovered? And so we are left with more of a patchwork quilt?

A sample of big ideas pre-1960ish with general consensus
*) Nerve cells exist (it's not a reticulum)
*) Neurons propagate info electrically and then chemically between them
*) DNA > RNA > Protein is a universal genetic code or all living things
*) Explaining behavior needs intermediaries between stimuli and responses (cognitive maps/minds)

A sample of big ideas with no general consensus introduced post-1960ish:
*) Cortical function emerges from repetitions of a canonical element
*) The brain is optimized for goal-directed interactions with the environment in a feedback loop (prediction/embodiment/free energy)
*) The brain is a complex system with emergent properties that cannot be understood via reductionist approaches
*) Fine structural detail in the brain (the connectome) matters for brain function

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Ole Jensen offers a revised account of what alpha oscillations do.

It's not so much that alpha directly modulates processing in early sensory regions to inhibit distracing stimuli, it's rather that perceptual load of target stimuli influences alpha which then gates information flow in the posterior parietal cortex (the "secondary control mechanism" hypothesis).

So distractor suppression is more an indirect consequence of engagement.

I like the paper because it concisely covers the old and updated story: https://psyarxiv.com/7bk32

I want to wallpaper my office with this

I’d also like a tattoo, but it’s probably a bit long for that medium

https://www.povertyactionlab.org/sites/default/files/research-resources/2017.01.11-The-Danger-of-Underpowered-Evaluations.pdf

How to use MASTODON: the COMPLETE GUIDE (join, use, find people to follow, etiquette...) https://tilvids.com/videos/watch/82a27416-c154-49e8-8130-2a30c25da1c8

Mastodon’s limitations mean it relies more on its users to surface good content. Search doesn’t really work. There are far fewer suggested posts. QTs don’t really exist yet. Trending doesn’t really work. So boosting becomes the absolutely critical way for other people to find interesting things. IE, if you see something you like, boost/RT it, tag people who you think might be interested, etc.

I'm deep in prepping materials for my neural engineering lab class. It's got me wondering: what are the best venues and formats for sharing course materials? Do neuro folks have any favorite examples of shared course materials?

As neural engineering grows (and matures) as a field, it'd be great to establish shared resources for courses. And I'd love to put some of my materials out there for others to build on.

#neuroscience #NeuralEngineering #teaching