Yang Wu
@yangwu0829.bsky.social
Mathematics/Music Composition Undergrad at Soochow Univ. in Taiwan
Computational Neuroscience RA at Academia Sinica, Oxford & Harvard (3jobs simultaneously)
Interested in the interplay between memory and mental simulation and NN/DeepRL!!
Computational Neuroscience RA at Academia Sinica, Oxford & Harvard (3jobs simultaneously)
Interested in the interplay between memory and mental simulation and NN/DeepRL!!
Reposted by Yang Wu
Reposted by Yang Wu
I have a PhD project open for application about "Habituation of Paramecium, the “swimming neuron”" on the DIM C-Brains programme, for a PhD in Paris. Open for students with a Master outside France. Get in touch if interested!
dim-cbrains.fr/en/phd-progr...
dim-cbrains.fr/en/phd-progr...
DIM C-BRAINS
Cognition and Brain Revolutions: Artificial Intelligence, Neurogenomics, Society
dim-cbrains.fr
November 28, 2025 at 11:38 AM
I have a PhD project open for application about "Habituation of Paramecium, the “swimming neuron”" on the DIM C-Brains programme, for a PhD in Paris. Open for students with a Master outside France. Get in touch if interested!
dim-cbrains.fr/en/phd-progr...
dim-cbrains.fr/en/phd-progr...
Reposted by Yang Wu
I am very excited to share our new preprint, spearheaded by the brilliant @lunahuestegge.bsky.social, w/ @peterkok.bsky.social and others: ‘An attempt to push mental imagery over the reality threshold using non-invasive brain stimulation’
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
OSF
doi.org
November 27, 2025 at 10:53 AM
I am very excited to share our new preprint, spearheaded by the brilliant @lunahuestegge.bsky.social, w/ @peterkok.bsky.social and others: ‘An attempt to push mental imagery over the reality threshold using non-invasive brain stimulation’
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Reposted by Yang Wu
1/6 New preprint 🚀 How does the cortex learn to represent things and how they move without reconstructing sensory stimuli? We developed a circuit-centric recurrent predictive learning (RPL) model based on JEPAs.
🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Led by @atenagm.bsky.social @mshalvagal.bsky.social
🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Led by @atenagm.bsky.social @mshalvagal.bsky.social
November 27, 2025 at 8:24 AM
1/6 New preprint 🚀 How does the cortex learn to represent things and how they move without reconstructing sensory stimuli? We developed a circuit-centric recurrent predictive learning (RPL) model based on JEPAs.
🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Led by @atenagm.bsky.social @mshalvagal.bsky.social
🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Led by @atenagm.bsky.social @mshalvagal.bsky.social
Reposted by Yang Wu
What does it mean to understand language? We argue that the brain’s core language system is limited, and that *deeply* understanding language requires EXPORTING info to other brain regions.
w/ @neuranna.bsky.social @evfedorenko.bsky.social @nancykanwisher.bsky.social
arxiv.org/abs/2511.19757
1/n🧵👇
w/ @neuranna.bsky.social @evfedorenko.bsky.social @nancykanwisher.bsky.social
arxiv.org/abs/2511.19757
1/n🧵👇
What does it mean to understand language?
Language understanding entails not just extracting the surface-level meaning of the linguistic input, but constructing rich mental models of the situation it describes. Here we propose that because pr...
arxiv.org
November 26, 2025 at 4:26 PM
What does it mean to understand language? We argue that the brain’s core language system is limited, and that *deeply* understanding language requires EXPORTING info to other brain regions.
w/ @neuranna.bsky.social @evfedorenko.bsky.social @nancykanwisher.bsky.social
arxiv.org/abs/2511.19757
1/n🧵👇
w/ @neuranna.bsky.social @evfedorenko.bsky.social @nancykanwisher.bsky.social
arxiv.org/abs/2511.19757
1/n🧵👇
Reposted by Yang Wu
About "PhD-level AI". This is such a misunderstanding of scientific work. What a PhD is about is not technical skills or encyclopedic knowledge. It's about learning to prove (or disprove) claims. At core, it's the development of an ethical attitude to knowledge. Exactly what an LLM cannot provide.
November 24, 2025 at 3:38 PM
About "PhD-level AI". This is such a misunderstanding of scientific work. What a PhD is about is not technical skills or encyclopedic knowledge. It's about learning to prove (or disprove) claims. At core, it's the development of an ethical attitude to knowledge. Exactly what an LLM cannot provide.
Reposted by Yang Wu
Once again a reminder that so-called "neural representations" and codes are formal constructions of the *observer*, usually built to summarize the observer's measurements. Signatures of neural activity, not internal states of the system.
November 24, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Once again a reminder that so-called "neural representations" and codes are formal constructions of the *observer*, usually built to summarize the observer's measurements. Signatures of neural activity, not internal states of the system.
Reposted by Yang Wu
It feels like the converastion about manifold dimensionality is back, so I thought I'd share a paper that explains nicely why measuring the "embedding dimensionality" of a manifold (e.g., counting PCs) can be very different from its actual "intrinsic dimensionality (DoFs)
doi.org/10.1016/j.co...
doi.org/10.1016/j.co...
Redirecting
doi.org
November 24, 2025 at 2:29 AM
It feels like the converastion about manifold dimensionality is back, so I thought I'd share a paper that explains nicely why measuring the "embedding dimensionality" of a manifold (e.g., counting PCs) can be very different from its actual "intrinsic dimensionality (DoFs)
doi.org/10.1016/j.co...
doi.org/10.1016/j.co...
Reposted by Yang Wu
🗣️ With the support of the @danafoundation.bsky.social, we are very excited to announce the Philosophy & Neuroscience Collaborative Mentorship Program! 🧠
For more details & submission requirements, visit: philandneuro.com/mentorship
(This is 1/2 announcements we will make over the next 1-2 weeks.)
For more details & submission requirements, visit: philandneuro.com/mentorship
(This is 1/2 announcements we will make over the next 1-2 weeks.)
November 23, 2025 at 6:33 PM
🗣️ With the support of the @danafoundation.bsky.social, we are very excited to announce the Philosophy & Neuroscience Collaborative Mentorship Program! 🧠
For more details & submission requirements, visit: philandneuro.com/mentorship
(This is 1/2 announcements we will make over the next 1-2 weeks.)
For more details & submission requirements, visit: philandneuro.com/mentorship
(This is 1/2 announcements we will make over the next 1-2 weeks.)
Reposted by Yang Wu
🔔 NEW PREPRINT FROM THE LAB ‼️
We introduce a new ML model, LoRAX, for predicting olfactory responses from chemical features, a tricky problem that benefits from progress in ML for biochem. We combine LoRA fine-tuning with protein and chemical foundation models, www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We introduce a new ML model, LoRAX, for predicting olfactory responses from chemical features, a tricky problem that benefits from progress in ML for biochem. We combine LoRA fine-tuning with protein and chemical foundation models, www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Low rank adaptation of chemical foundation models generate effective odorant representations
Featurizing odorants to enable robust prediction of their properties is difficult due to the complex activation patterns that odorants evoke in the olfactory system. Structurally similar odorants can ...
www.biorxiv.org
November 20, 2025 at 1:38 PM
🔔 NEW PREPRINT FROM THE LAB ‼️
We introduce a new ML model, LoRAX, for predicting olfactory responses from chemical features, a tricky problem that benefits from progress in ML for biochem. We combine LoRA fine-tuning with protein and chemical foundation models, www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We introduce a new ML model, LoRAX, for predicting olfactory responses from chemical features, a tricky problem that benefits from progress in ML for biochem. We combine LoRA fine-tuning with protein and chemical foundation models, www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Yang Wu
My book "The Brain, in Theory" on the publisher's website (out in April 2026):
press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
The Brain, In Theory
Why engineering and computational analogies are poorly suited to the study of biological cognition
press.princeton.edu
November 18, 2025 at 8:25 AM
My book "The Brain, in Theory" on the publisher's website (out in April 2026):
press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
Reposted by Yang Wu
Officially out in the current issue of Trends in Cognitive Sciences:
"Physics versus graphics as an organizing dichotomy in cognition"
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
"Physics versus graphics as an organizing dichotomy in cognition"
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
November 17, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Officially out in the current issue of Trends in Cognitive Sciences:
"Physics versus graphics as an organizing dichotomy in cognition"
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
"Physics versus graphics as an organizing dichotomy in cognition"
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
Reposted by Yang Wu
A remarkable journey of resilience and transformation, from the chaotic corridors of group homes to the halls of Columbia and Stanford, EMERGENCE is a coming-of-age tale where heartbreak and humor meet the scientific wonder of modern artificial intelligence.
🔗 Preorder: tinyurl.com/fzcxb5ea
🔗 Preorder: tinyurl.com/fzcxb5ea
November 17, 2025 at 6:08 PM
A remarkable journey of resilience and transformation, from the chaotic corridors of group homes to the halls of Columbia and Stanford, EMERGENCE is a coming-of-age tale where heartbreak and humor meet the scientific wonder of modern artificial intelligence.
🔗 Preorder: tinyurl.com/fzcxb5ea
🔗 Preorder: tinyurl.com/fzcxb5ea
Reposted by Yang Wu
Come join us at #SfN25 for the minisymposium "Cognitive Maps in the Prefrontal Cortex"!
Saturday, Nov 15, 2:00-4:30pm, Room SDCC 6CF
www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/21171...
We will explore how the PFC represents structured relationships across species and how this supports flexible behavior.
Saturday, Nov 15, 2:00-4:30pm, Room SDCC 6CF
www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/21171...
We will explore how the PFC represents structured relationships across species and how this supports flexible behavior.
November 14, 2025 at 4:48 AM
Come join us at #SfN25 for the minisymposium "Cognitive Maps in the Prefrontal Cortex"!
Saturday, Nov 15, 2:00-4:30pm, Room SDCC 6CF
www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/21171...
We will explore how the PFC represents structured relationships across species and how this supports flexible behavior.
Saturday, Nov 15, 2:00-4:30pm, Room SDCC 6CF
www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/21171...
We will explore how the PFC represents structured relationships across species and how this supports flexible behavior.
Reposted by Yang Wu
new pre-print,
"Chain of Time: In-Context Physical Simulation with Image Generation Models"
(by Wang, Bigelow, Li, and me)
arxiv.org/abs/2511.00110
"Chain of Time: In-Context Physical Simulation with Image Generation Models"
(by Wang, Bigelow, Li, and me)
arxiv.org/abs/2511.00110
November 10, 2025 at 1:57 PM
new pre-print,
"Chain of Time: In-Context Physical Simulation with Image Generation Models"
(by Wang, Bigelow, Li, and me)
arxiv.org/abs/2511.00110
"Chain of Time: In-Context Physical Simulation with Image Generation Models"
(by Wang, Bigelow, Li, and me)
arxiv.org/abs/2511.00110
Reposted by Yang Wu
New pre-print from our lab, by Lakshmi Govindarajan with help from Sagarika Alavilli, introducing a new type of model for studying sensory uncertainty. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Here is a summary. (1/n)
Here is a summary. (1/n)
Task-optimized models of sensory uncertainty reproduce human confidence judgments
Sensory input is often ambiguous, leading to uncertain interpretations of the external world. Estimates of perceptual uncertainty might be useful in guiding behavior, but it remains unclear whether hu...
www.biorxiv.org
November 9, 2025 at 9:34 PM
New pre-print from our lab, by Lakshmi Govindarajan with help from Sagarika Alavilli, introducing a new type of model for studying sensory uncertainty. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Here is a summary. (1/n)
Here is a summary. (1/n)
Reposted by Yang Wu
Are working memory and timing two sides of the same coin? Does the duration of WM adapt to the temporal structure of the task? This collaborative project led by Conor Dorian shows that mice learn the WM delay, which in turn shapes the neural signatures of WM.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Hippocampal sequences represent working memory and implicit timing
Working memory (WM) and timing are considered distinct cognitive functions, yet the neural signatures underlying both can be similar. To address the h…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 22, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Are working memory and timing two sides of the same coin? Does the duration of WM adapt to the temporal structure of the task? This collaborative project led by Conor Dorian shows that mice learn the WM delay, which in turn shapes the neural signatures of WM.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Yang Wu
Excited to share our new work with @engeltatiana.bsky.social!
RNNs are often used to explore how the brain may solve specific tasks. We show that, depending on the architecture, RNNs find distinct circuit solutions, behaving differently when exposed to novel stimuli.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
RNNs are often used to explore how the brain may solve specific tasks. We show that, depending on the architecture, RNNs find distinct circuit solutions, behaving differently when exposed to novel stimuli.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Single-unit activations confer inductive biases for emergent circuit solutions to cognitive tasks - Nature Machine Intelligence
Recurrent neural networks are widely used to model brain dynamics. Tolmachev and Engel show that single-unit activation functions influence task solutions that emerge in trained networks, raising the ...
www.nature.com
October 24, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Excited to share our new work with @engeltatiana.bsky.social!
RNNs are often used to explore how the brain may solve specific tasks. We show that, depending on the architecture, RNNs find distinct circuit solutions, behaving differently when exposed to novel stimuli.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
RNNs are often used to explore how the brain may solve specific tasks. We show that, depending on the architecture, RNNs find distinct circuit solutions, behaving differently when exposed to novel stimuli.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Reposted by Yang Wu
🚨 New preprint 🚨
How do people's mental models shape memory, prediction, and generalization? We find that people spontaneously construct goal-dependent causal abstractions that compress experience to privilege relevant information.
📃 osf.io/preprints/ps...
🔗 github.com/cicl-stanfor...
How do people's mental models shape memory, prediction, and generalization? We find that people spontaneously construct goal-dependent causal abstractions that compress experience to privilege relevant information.
📃 osf.io/preprints/ps...
🔗 github.com/cicl-stanfor...
October 24, 2025 at 7:15 PM
🚨 New preprint 🚨
How do people's mental models shape memory, prediction, and generalization? We find that people spontaneously construct goal-dependent causal abstractions that compress experience to privilege relevant information.
📃 osf.io/preprints/ps...
🔗 github.com/cicl-stanfor...
How do people's mental models shape memory, prediction, and generalization? We find that people spontaneously construct goal-dependent causal abstractions that compress experience to privilege relevant information.
📃 osf.io/preprints/ps...
🔗 github.com/cicl-stanfor...
Reposted by Yang Wu
How well do classifiers trained on visual activity actually transfer to non-visual reactivation?
#Decoding studies often rely on training in one (visual) condition and applying it to another (e.g. rest-reactivation). However: How well does this work? Show us what makes it work and win up to 1000$!
#Decoding studies often rely on training in one (visual) condition and applying it to another (e.g. rest-reactivation). However: How well does this work? Show us what makes it work and win up to 1000$!
IMAGINE-decoding-challenge
Predict which words participants were hearing, based upon brain activity recordings of visually seeing these items?
www.kaggle.com
October 24, 2025 at 6:55 AM
How well do classifiers trained on visual activity actually transfer to non-visual reactivation?
#Decoding studies often rely on training in one (visual) condition and applying it to another (e.g. rest-reactivation). However: How well does this work? Show us what makes it work and win up to 1000$!
#Decoding studies often rely on training in one (visual) condition and applying it to another (e.g. rest-reactivation). However: How well does this work? Show us what makes it work and win up to 1000$!
Reposted by Yang Wu
How does our brain excel at complex object recognition, yet get fooled by simple illusory contours? What unifying principle governs all Gestalt laws of perceptual organization?
We may have an answer: integration of learned priors through feedback. New paper with @kenmiller.bsky.social! 🧵
We may have an answer: integration of learned priors through feedback. New paper with @kenmiller.bsky.social! 🧵
October 24, 2025 at 2:00 PM
How does our brain excel at complex object recognition, yet get fooled by simple illusory contours? What unifying principle governs all Gestalt laws of perceptual organization?
We may have an answer: integration of learned priors through feedback. New paper with @kenmiller.bsky.social! 🧵
We may have an answer: integration of learned priors through feedback. New paper with @kenmiller.bsky.social! 🧵
Reposted by Yang Wu
Travel awards are available for undergraduate students looking to attend #Cosyne25! The application is short, and the deadline is Nov 12. @cosynemeeting.bsky.social
Application: shorturl.at/6NEyk
More info: www.cosyne.org/travel-grants
(1/2)
Application: shorturl.at/6NEyk
More info: www.cosyne.org/travel-grants
(1/2)
Travel Grants — COSYNE
Apply for COSYNE 2026 Travel Grants to support your participation in Lisbon and Cascais, Portugal. Grants are available for students, postdocs, and PIs, including programs for Childcare, Presenters, N...
www.cosyne.org
October 3, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Travel awards are available for undergraduate students looking to attend #Cosyne25! The application is short, and the deadline is Nov 12. @cosynemeeting.bsky.social
Application: shorturl.at/6NEyk
More info: www.cosyne.org/travel-grants
(1/2)
Application: shorturl.at/6NEyk
More info: www.cosyne.org/travel-grants
(1/2)
Can confirm the lots of fun part!!
Congrats🥳🥳
Congrats🥳🥳
Want the freedom of a fancy fellowship, but not the year-long wait or arduous application?
Come join my lab! Work on neuroscience and AI, explore your creativity, be independent or work closely with me, collaborate widely, and have a lot of fun!
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Come join my lab! Work on neuroscience and AI, explore your creativity, be independent or work closely with me, collaborate widely, and have a lot of fun!
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
October 24, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Can confirm the lots of fun part!!
Congrats🥳🥳
Congrats🥳🥳
Reposted by Yang Wu
New preprint written with the wonderful philosopher William Ramsey: Mental Representation Without Neural Representation: Understanding The Evidence osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
October 18, 2025 at 8:18 AM
New preprint written with the wonderful philosopher William Ramsey: Mental Representation Without Neural Representation: Understanding The Evidence osf.io/preprints/ps...