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Learning representations of specifics and generalities over time

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Anna Schapiro

University of Pennsylvania

December 3, 2025

There is a fundamental tension between storing discrete traces of individual experiences, which allows recall of particular moments in our past without interference, and extracting regularities across these experiences, which supports generalization and prediction in similar situations in the future. One influential proposal for how the brain resolves this tension is that it separates the processes anatomically into Complementary Learning Systems, with the hippocampus rapidly encoding individual episodes and the neocortex slowly extracting regularities over days, months, and years. But this does not explain our ability to learn and generalize from new regularities in our environment quickly, often within minutes. We have put forward a neural network model of the hippocampus that suggests that the hippocampus itself may contain complementary learning systems, with one pathway specializing in the rapid learning of regularities and a separate pathway handling the region’s classic episodic memory functions. This proposal has broad implications for how we rapidly learn novel information of specific and generalized types, which we test across statistical learning, inference, and category learning paradigms. We also explore how this system interacts with slower-learning neocortical memory systems, with empirical and modeling investigations into how hippocampal replay shapes neocortical representations during sleep. Together, the work helps us understand how structured information in our environment is initially encoded and how it then transforms over time.

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Markus Diesmann

Jülich Research Centre

December 10, 2025

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Learning mechanistic models that link cells, circuits, and computations

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Jakob Macke

Tubingen University

December 17, 2025

Modern experimental techniques now reveal the structure and function of neural circuits at unprecedented scale and resolution. How can we use this wealth of data to understand how cells and circuits implement computations underlying behaviour? Achieving this goal requires models that are consistent with biophysical mechanisms and circuit dynamics, yet flexible enough to capture behaviourally relevant computations. We develop simulation-based machine learning methods that address this challenge. I will show how these approaches—in combination with connectomic measurements—make it possible to build large-scale mechanistic models of the fruit fly visual system. Our methods generalize across systems and scales, defining a new way to study biological systems by algorithmically learning interpretable models that reveal how structure and dynamics gives rise to behaviour. 

Christmas Vacation

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No Seminar

​December 24, 2025

​December 31, 2025

New Year Vacation

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No Seminar

VVTNS 2026 Opening Lecture

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January 7, 2026

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January 14, 2026

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Adrien Peyrache

Mc Gill 

January 21, 2026

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Farzan Nadim

New Jersey Institute of Technology

​January 28, 2026

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Marcella Noorman

University of Chicago

February 4, 2026

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Alex Reyes

New York University

February 11, 2026

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February 18, 2026

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Neil Burgess

University College London

February 25, 2026

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Lior Fox

Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit

March 4, 2026

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​March 11,  2026

Eve of Cosyne

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No Seminar

​March 18,  2026

One day after Cosyne

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No Seminar

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March 25, 2026

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No Seminar

​April 1,  2026

​April 8,  2026

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No Seminar

Henri Orland

IPHT, Saclay, France

April 15, 2026

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 CARL VAN VREESWIJK MEMORIAL LECTURE 2026

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​April 22,  2026

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No Seminar

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April 29, 2026

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Demian Battaglia

CNRS, Strasbourg

May 6, 2026

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TBA

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May 13, 2026

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Maria Eckstein

Google Deepmind

May 20, 2026

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May 27, 2026

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Stefan Rotter

Bernstein Center Freiburg and Faculty of Biology
University of Freiburg

June 3, 2026

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TBA

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June 10, 2026

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June 17, 2026

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VVTNS Sixth Season Closing Lecture

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June 24, 2026

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