M Ganesh Kumar
@mgkumar138.bsky.social
Computational Neuroscience, Reinforcement Learning. Postdoctoral Fellow @ Harvard. Previously @ A*STAR & NUS. 🇸🇬
Reposted by M Ganesh Kumar
𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻-𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆:
𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹, 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝘅, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
Excellent review paper about reactive and anticipatory processes.
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹, 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝘅, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
Excellent review paper about reactive and anticipatory processes.
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
September 7, 2025 at 5:45 PM
𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻-𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆:
𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹, 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝘅, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
Excellent review paper about reactive and anticipatory processes.
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹, 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝘅, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
Excellent review paper about reactive and anticipatory processes.
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
I am extremely grateful to be awarded the National University of Singapore (NUS) Development Grant, and to be a Young NUS Fellow! Look forward to collaborating with the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine on exciting projects. This is my first grant and hopefully many more to come! #NUS #NeuroAI
August 27, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Reposted by M Ganesh Kumar
I wrote a Comment on neurotheory, and now you can read it!
Some thoughts on where neurotheory has and has not taken root within the neuroscience community, how it has shaped those subfields, and where we theorists might look next for fresh adventures.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Some thoughts on where neurotheory has and has not taken root within the neuroscience community, how it has shaped those subfields, and where we theorists might look next for fresh adventures.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Theoretical neuroscience has room to grow
Nature Reviews Neuroscience - The goal of theoretical neuroscience is to uncover principles of neural computation through careful design and interpretation of mathematical models. Here, I examine...
www.nature.com
August 20, 2025 at 4:09 PM
I wrote a Comment on neurotheory, and now you can read it!
Some thoughts on where neurotheory has and has not taken root within the neuroscience community, how it has shaped those subfields, and where we theorists might look next for fresh adventures.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Some thoughts on where neurotheory has and has not taken root within the neuroscience community, how it has shaped those subfields, and where we theorists might look next for fresh adventures.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by M Ganesh Kumar
🧵 New paper! We studied depression symptoms and goal-directed decisions under uncertainty
@shiyiliang.bsky.social, with @evanrussek.bsky.social & @robbrutledge.bsky.social
Surprisingly, we found that apathy–anhedonia was linked to enhanced goal-directed behavior. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@shiyiliang.bsky.social, with @evanrussek.bsky.social & @robbrutledge.bsky.social
Surprisingly, we found that apathy–anhedonia was linked to enhanced goal-directed behavior. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
August 20, 2025 at 12:25 PM
🧵 New paper! We studied depression symptoms and goal-directed decisions under uncertainty
@shiyiliang.bsky.social, with @evanrussek.bsky.social & @robbrutledge.bsky.social
Surprisingly, we found that apathy–anhedonia was linked to enhanced goal-directed behavior. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@shiyiliang.bsky.social, with @evanrussek.bsky.social & @robbrutledge.bsky.social
Surprisingly, we found that apathy–anhedonia was linked to enhanced goal-directed behavior. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Not just for AI but these theories can improve our understanding of biological networks too!
Our new Simons Collaboration on the Physics of Learning and Neural Computation will develop powerful tools from #physics, #math, computer science and theoretical #neuroscience to understand how large neural networks learn, compute, scale, reason and imagine: www.simonsfoundation.org/2025/08/18/s...
Simons Foundation Launches Collaboration on the Physics of Learning and Neural Computation
Simons Foundation Launches Collaboration on the Physics of Learning and Neural Computation on Simons Foundation
www.simonsfoundation.org
August 19, 2025 at 7:04 PM
Not just for AI but these theories can improve our understanding of biological networks too!
Reposted by M Ganesh Kumar
On the left is a rabbit. On the right is an elephant. But guess what: They’re the *same image*, rotated 90°!
In @currentbiology.bsky.social, @chazfirestone.bsky.social & I show how these images—known as “visual anagrams”—can help solve a longstanding problem in cognitive science. bit.ly/45BVnCZ
In @currentbiology.bsky.social, @chazfirestone.bsky.social & I show how these images—known as “visual anagrams”—can help solve a longstanding problem in cognitive science. bit.ly/45BVnCZ
August 19, 2025 at 4:32 PM
On the left is a rabbit. On the right is an elephant. But guess what: They’re the *same image*, rotated 90°!
In @currentbiology.bsky.social, @chazfirestone.bsky.social & I show how these images—known as “visual anagrams”—can help solve a longstanding problem in cognitive science. bit.ly/45BVnCZ
In @currentbiology.bsky.social, @chazfirestone.bsky.social & I show how these images—known as “visual anagrams”—can help solve a longstanding problem in cognitive science. bit.ly/45BVnCZ
Reposted by M Ganesh Kumar
trying this with GPT-5 and charting new frontiers in gaslighting
August 19, 2025 at 1:08 PM
trying this with GPT-5 and charting new frontiers in gaslighting
Reposted by M Ganesh Kumar
Wanted to share a new version (much cleaner!) of a preprint on how connectivity structure shapes collective dynamics in nonlinear RNNs. Neural circuits have highly non-iid connectivity (e.g., rapidly decaying singular values, structured singular-vector overlaps), unlike classical random RNN models.
Connectivity structure and dynamics of nonlinear recurrent neural networks
Studies of the dynamics of nonlinear recurrent neural networks often assume independent and identically distributed couplings, but large-scale connectomics data indicate that biological neural circuit...
arxiv.org
August 19, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Wanted to share a new version (much cleaner!) of a preprint on how connectivity structure shapes collective dynamics in nonlinear RNNs. Neural circuits have highly non-iid connectivity (e.g., rapidly decaying singular values, structured singular-vector overlaps), unlike classical random RNN models.
1 proceeding and 2 extended abstracts at Cognitive Computational Neuroscience (CCN) Conference 2025! Short summaries and links are in the thread. Look forward to the discussions! #CCN25
August 13, 2025 at 3:17 PM
1 proceeding and 2 extended abstracts at Cognitive Computational Neuroscience (CCN) Conference 2025! Short summaries and links are in the thread. Look forward to the discussions! #CCN25
Reposted by M Ganesh Kumar
The emergence of NeuroAI: bridging neuroscience and artificial intelligence — a Comment article by Sadra Sadeh & Claudia Clopath
@sdrsd.bsky.social @clopathlab.bsky.social
#neuroscience #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@sdrsd.bsky.social @clopathlab.bsky.social
#neuroscience #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The emergence of NeuroAI: bridging neuroscience and artificial intelligence - Nature Reviews Neuroscience
Neuroscience has inspired artificial intelligence (AI) for decades but, in recent years, AI tools have begun to revolutionize neuroscience research. The emerging field of NeuroAI has the potential to ...
www.nature.com
August 11, 2025 at 12:13 PM
The emergence of NeuroAI: bridging neuroscience and artificial intelligence — a Comment article by Sadra Sadeh & Claudia Clopath
@sdrsd.bsky.social @clopathlab.bsky.social
#neuroscience #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@sdrsd.bsky.social @clopathlab.bsky.social
#neuroscience #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by M Ganesh Kumar
Excited to share that our paper is now out in Neuron @cp-neuron.bsky.social (dlvr.it/TM9zJ8).
Our perception isn't a perfect mirror of the world. It's often biased by our expectations and beliefs. How do these biases unfold over time, and what shapes their trajectory? A summary thread. (1/13)
Our perception isn't a perfect mirror of the world. It's often biased by our expectations and beliefs. How do these biases unfold over time, and what shapes their trajectory? A summary thread. (1/13)
Attractor dynamics of working memory explain a concurrent evolution of stimulus-specific and decision-consistent biases in visual estimation
People exhibit biases when perceiving features of the world, shaped by both external
stimuli and prior decisions. By tracking behavioral, neural, and mechanistic markers
of stimulus- and decision-rela...
dlvr.it
July 29, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Excited to share that our paper is now out in Neuron @cp-neuron.bsky.social (dlvr.it/TM9zJ8).
Our perception isn't a perfect mirror of the world. It's often biased by our expectations and beliefs. How do these biases unfold over time, and what shapes their trajectory? A summary thread. (1/13)
Our perception isn't a perfect mirror of the world. It's often biased by our expectations and beliefs. How do these biases unfold over time, and what shapes their trajectory? A summary thread. (1/13)
Reposted by M Ganesh Kumar
In neuroscience, we often try to understand systems by analyzing their representations — using tools like regression or RSA. But are these analyses biased towards discovering a subset of what a system represents? If you're interested in this question, check out our new commentary! Thread:
![What do representations tell us about a system? Image of a mouse with a scope showing a vector of activity patterns, and a neural network with a vector of unit activity patterns
Common analyses of neural representations: Encoding models (relating activity to task features) drawing of an arrow from a trace saying [on_____on____] to a neuron and spike train. Comparing models via neural predictivity: comparing two neural networks by their R^2 to mouse brain activity. RSA: assessing brain-brain or model-brain correspondence using representational dissimilarity matrices](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:e6ewzleebkdi2y2bxhjxoknt/bafkreiav2io2ska33o4kizf57co5bboqyyfdpnozo2gxsicrfr5l7qzjcq@jpeg)
August 5, 2025 at 2:36 PM
In neuroscience, we often try to understand systems by analyzing their representations — using tools like regression or RSA. But are these analyses biased towards discovering a subset of what a system represents? If you're interested in this question, check out our new commentary! Thread:
Reposted by M Ganesh Kumar
A landmark volume, The Handbook of Dopamine, is now online:
www.sciencedirect.com/handbook/han...
Big kudos to the editors, Stephanie Cragg and Mark Walton, for putting this together.
www.sciencedirect.com/handbook/han...
Big kudos to the editors, Stephanie Cragg and Mark Walton, for putting this together.
Handbook of Behavioral Neuroscience | Volume 32: The Handbook of Dopamine | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier
Read the latest chapters of Handbook of Behavioral Neuroscience at ScienceDirect.com, Elsevier’s leading platform of peer-reviewed scholarly literature
www.sciencedirect.com
August 4, 2025 at 6:34 PM
A landmark volume, The Handbook of Dopamine, is now online:
www.sciencedirect.com/handbook/han...
Big kudos to the editors, Stephanie Cragg and Mark Walton, for putting this together.
www.sciencedirect.com/handbook/han...
Big kudos to the editors, Stephanie Cragg and Mark Walton, for putting this together.
Reposted by M Ganesh Kumar
Coming March 17, 2026!
Just got my advance copy of Emergence — a memoir about growing up in group homes and somehow ending up in neuroscience and AI. It’s personal, it’s scientific, and it’s been a wild thing to write. Grateful and excited to share it soon.
Just got my advance copy of Emergence — a memoir about growing up in group homes and somehow ending up in neuroscience and AI. It’s personal, it’s scientific, and it’s been a wild thing to write. Grateful and excited to share it soon.
August 4, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Coming March 17, 2026!
Just got my advance copy of Emergence — a memoir about growing up in group homes and somehow ending up in neuroscience and AI. It’s personal, it’s scientific, and it’s been a wild thing to write. Grateful and excited to share it soon.
Just got my advance copy of Emergence — a memoir about growing up in group homes and somehow ending up in neuroscience and AI. It’s personal, it’s scientific, and it’s been a wild thing to write. Grateful and excited to share it soon.
Reposted by M Ganesh Kumar
How can we test theories in neuroscience? Take a variable predicted to be important by the theory. It could fail to be observed because it's represented in some nonlinear, even distributed way. Or it could be observed but not be causal because the network is a reservoir. How can we deal with this?
July 11, 2025 at 8:13 AM
How can we test theories in neuroscience? Take a variable predicted to be important by the theory. It could fail to be observed because it's represented in some nonlinear, even distributed way. Or it could be observed but not be causal because the network is a reservoir. How can we deal with this?
Reposted by M Ganesh Kumar
This summer my lab's journal club somewhat unintentionally ended up reading papers on a theme of "more naturalistic computational neuroscience". I figured I'd share the list of papers here 🧵:
July 23, 2025 at 2:59 PM
This summer my lab's journal club somewhat unintentionally ended up reading papers on a theme of "more naturalistic computational neuroscience". I figured I'd share the list of papers here 🧵:
First #ICML2025 conference proceeding (icml.cc/virtual/2025...)! We (@frostedblakess.bsky.social, @jzv.bsky.social, @cpehlevan.bsky.social) developed a simple model to better understand state representation learning dynamics in both artificial and biological intelligent systems!
ICML Poster A Model of Place Field Reorganization During Reward MaximizationICML 2025
icml.cc
July 12, 2025 at 8:28 PM
First #ICML2025 conference proceeding (icml.cc/virtual/2025...)! We (@frostedblakess.bsky.social, @jzv.bsky.social, @cpehlevan.bsky.social) developed a simple model to better understand state representation learning dynamics in both artificial and biological intelligent systems!
State representation learning in the hippocampus?
Monday 4/28 at #ICLR2025!
Submission: openreview.net/forum?id=Qcv...
'A Model of Place Field Reorganization During Reward Maximization'
@mgkumar138.bsky.social, Blake Bordelon, Jacob A Zavatone-Veth, @CPehlevan.bsky.social
#ML #neuroscience
Submission: openreview.net/forum?id=Qcv...
'A Model of Place Field Reorganization During Reward Maximization'
@mgkumar138.bsky.social, Blake Bordelon, Jacob A Zavatone-Veth, @CPehlevan.bsky.social
#ML #neuroscience
April 28, 2025 at 10:39 AM
State representation learning in the hippocampus?
New preprint! We trained an RNN using RL to solve a decision making task used to characterize suboptimal decision making by Schizophrenic patients. First project exploring comp psych models, thanks to @adam-manoogian.bsky.social @shawnrhoadsphd.bsky.social @bqian.bsky.social @cpehlevan.bsky.social
Neurocomputational underpinnings of suboptimal beliefs in recurrent neural network-based agents https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.13.642273v1
March 27, 2025 at 5:00 PM
New preprint! We trained an RNN using RL to solve a decision making task used to characterize suboptimal decision making by Schizophrenic patients. First project exploring comp psych models, thanks to @adam-manoogian.bsky.social @shawnrhoadsphd.bsky.social @bqian.bsky.social @cpehlevan.bsky.social
I am speaking at COSYNE 2025. Please check out my talk if you're attending the event! #cosyne2025 #cosyne25
March 27, 2025 at 4:49 PM
I am speaking at COSYNE 2025. Please check out my talk if you're attending the event! #cosyne2025 #cosyne25
Our Model on Place Field Reorganization with @frostedblakess.bsky.social, @jzv.bsky.social, @cpehlevan.bsky.social has been accepted at COSYNE! Look forward to sharing it with everyone!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A Model of Place Field Reorganization During Reward Maximization
When rodents learn to navigate in a novel environment, a high density of place fields emerges at reward locations, fields elongate against the trajectory, and individual fields change spatial selectiv...
www.biorxiv.org
December 24, 2024 at 5:42 AM
Our Model on Place Field Reorganization with @frostedblakess.bsky.social, @jzv.bsky.social, @cpehlevan.bsky.social has been accepted at COSYNE! Look forward to sharing it with everyone!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Our preprint with @frostedblakess.bsky.social, @jzv.bsky.social, @cpehlevan.bsky.social is out!
We develop a simple reinforcement learning model that recapitulates 3 disparate hippocampal dynamics. With ablation studies, these representations improve the speed and flexibility of policy learning.
We develop a simple reinforcement learning model that recapitulates 3 disparate hippocampal dynamics. With ablation studies, these representations improve the speed and flexibility of policy learning.
December 17, 2024 at 7:46 PM
Our preprint with @frostedblakess.bsky.social, @jzv.bsky.social, @cpehlevan.bsky.social is out!
We develop a simple reinforcement learning model that recapitulates 3 disparate hippocampal dynamics. With ablation studies, these representations improve the speed and flexibility of policy learning.
We develop a simple reinforcement learning model that recapitulates 3 disparate hippocampal dynamics. With ablation studies, these representations improve the speed and flexibility of policy learning.