arXiv research

Cortical circuits exhibit intricate recurrent architectures that are remarkably similar across different brain areas. Such stereotyped structure suggests the existence of common computational principles. However, such principles have remained largely elusive. Inspired by gated-memory networks, namely long short-term me…

The functional significance of resting state networks and their abnormal manifestations in psychiatric disorders are firmly established, as is the importance of the cortical rhythms in mediating these networks. Resting state networks are known to undergo substantial reorganization from childhood to adulthood, but wheth…

We propose a four-layer fully-connected neural network (FNN) for predicting fluid intelligence scores from T1-weighted MR images for the ABCD-challenge. In addition to the volumes of brain structures, the FNN uses cortical WM/GM contrast and cortical thickness at 78 cortical regions. These last two measurements were de…

Biological neural network mimics CCA for multi-channel data.

Neural networks learn to mimic brain neurons with two-input activation functions, improving performance and robustness.

This work optimizes reservoir computing models by linking recurrence and non-linear dynamics.

Gaudy images help train deep neural networks with less data.

Machine learning for ASD diagnosis using morphological MRI networks.

We propose that the Continual Learning desiderata can be achieved through a neuro-inspired architecture, grounded on Mountcastle's cortical column hypothesis. The proposed architecture involves a single module, called Self-Taught Associative Memory (STAM), which models the function of a cortical column. STAMs are repea…

Inter-subject registration of cortical areas is necessary in functional imaging (fMRI) studies for making inferences about equivalent brain function across a population. However, many high-level visual brain areas are defined as peaks of functional contrasts whose cortical position is highly variable. As such, most ali…

Paper proposes a new method for population-wise matching of sulcal graphs.

Deep learning has recently led to great successes in tasks such as image recognition (e.g Krizhevsky et al., 2012). However, deep networks are still outmatched by the power and versatility of the brain, perhaps in part due to the richer neuronal computations available to cortical circuits. The challenge is to identify …

Automated detection of MS lesions improves to 67% with 7T MRI.

Improves MRI-based brain surface reconstruction with minimal deformation energy loss.

We introduce a mixed-effects model to learn spatiotempo-ral patterns on a network by considering longitudinal measures distributed on a fixed graph. The data come from repeated observations of subjects at different time points which take the form of measurement maps distributed on a graph such as an image or a mesh. Th…

Echo state networks are computationally lightweight reservoir models inspired by the random projections observed in cortical circuitry. As interest in reservoir computing has grown, networks have become deeper and more intricate. While these networks are increasingly applied to nontrivial forecasting tasks, there is a …

VNNs transfer well across datasets for brain age prediction using cortical thickness features.

A new image completion method inspired by brain cells.

Causal inference concerns the identification of cause-effect relationships between variables, e.g. establishing whether a stimulus affects activity in a certain brain region. The observed variables themselves often do not constitute meaningful causal variables, however, and linear combinations need to be considered. In…

Paper revisits graph-CNNs using Laplace-Beltrami spectral filters and polynomials.

The paper develops models to understand sensory coding and cortical topography.

V1 cortex reconstructs images as Poisson equation solutions with varying weights.

The paper relaxes constraints on predictive coding models, making them more biologically plausible.

New method aligns brain data across individuals for better brain decoding.

Learning and inferring features that generate sensory input is a task continuously performed by cortex. In recent years, novel algorithms and learning rules have been proposed that allow neural network models to learn such features from natural images, written text, audio signals, etc. These networks usually involve de…

Decoding language representations directly from the brain can enable new Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) for high bandwidth human-human and human-machine communication. Clinically, such technologies can restore communication in people with neurological conditions affecting their ability to speak. In this study, we prop…

The visual systems of many mammals, including humans, is able to integrate the geometric information of visual stimuli and to perform cognitive tasks already at the first stages of the cortical processing. This is thought to be the result of a combination of mechanisms, which include feature extraction at single cell l…

Despite its size and complexity, the human cortex exhibits striking anatomical regularities, suggesting there may simple meta-algorithms underlying cortical learning and computation. We expect such meta-algorithms to be of interest since they need to operate quickly, scalably and effectively with little-to-no specializ…

New model explains visual illusions using sub-Riemannian geometry.

Neurons in higher cortical areas, such as the prefrontal cortex, are known to be tuned to a variety of sensory and motor variables. The resulting diversity of neural tuning often obscures the represented information. Here we introduce a novel dimensionality reduction technique, demixed principal component analysis (dPC…

Model explains optical illusions using geometric sub-Riemannian geodesics.

Here we present DIVE: Data-driven Inference of Vertexwise Evolution. DIVE is an image-based disease progression model with single-vertex resolution, designed to reconstruct long-term patterns of brain pathology from short-term longitudinal data sets. DIVE clusters vertex-wise biomarker measurements on the cortical surf…

Neural signals are characterized by rich temporal and spatiotemporal dynamics that reflect the organization of cortical networks. Theoretical research has shown how neural networks can operate at different dynamic ranges that correspond to specific types of information processing. Here we present a data analysis framew…

Paper proposes a method to compare vector fields across surfaces, useful for analyzing brain folding patterns.

Neurons in the visual cortex are correlated in their variability. The presence of correlation impacts cortical processing because noise cannot be averaged out over many neurons. In an effort to understand the functional purpose of correlated variability, we implement and evaluate correlated noise models in deep convolu…

A new method uncovers discrete and continuous factors in gene expression data.

The elastic net was introduced as a heuristic algorithm for combinatorial optimisation and has been applied, among other problems, to biological modelling. It has an energy function which trades off a fitness term against a tension term. In the original formulation of the algorithm the tension term was implicitly based…

Early diagnosis, playing an important role in preventing progress and treating the Alzheimer\{'}s disease (AD), is based on classification of features extracted from brain images. The features have to accurately capture main AD-related variations of anatomical brain structures, such as, e.g., ventricles size, hippocamp…

Early diagnosis, playing an important role in preventing progress and treating the Alzheimer's disease (AD), is based on classification of features extracted from brain images. The features have to accurately capture main AD-related variations of anatomical brain structures, such as, e.g., ventricles size, hippocampus …

Causal inference concerns the identification of cause-effect relationships between variables. However, often only linear combinations of variables constitute meaningful causal variables. For example, recovering the signal of a cortical source from electroencephalography requires a well-tuned combination of signals reco…

We propose a primitive called PJOIN, for "predictive join," which combines and extends the operations JOIN and LINK, which Valiant proposed as the basis of a computational theory of cortex. We show that PJOIN can be implemented in Valiant's model. We also show that, using PJOIN, certain reasonably complex learning and …

We introduce Disease Knowledge Transfer (DKT), a novel technique for transferring biomarker information between related neurodegenerative diseases. DKT infers robust multimodal biomarker trajectories in rare neurodegenerative diseases even when only limited, unimodal data is available, by transferring information from …

Neurons in cortical circuits exhibit coordinated spiking activity, and can produce correlated synchronous spikes during behavior and cognition. We recently developed a method for estimating the dynamics of correlated ensemble activity by combining a model of simultaneous neuronal interactions (e.g., a spin-glass model)…

New VAE models reveal hierarchical visual cortex computations.

Study identifies five AD subtypes using graph diffusion and similarity learning.

In the past few years, deep learning has transformed artificial intelligence research and led to impressive performance in various difficult tasks. However, it is still unclear how the brain can perform credit assignment across many areas as efficiently as backpropagation does in deep neural networks. In this paper, we…

New methods compare neural network models using geometric and topological summaries.

Quantifying the degree of atrophy is done clinically by neuroradiologists following established visual rating scales. For these assessments to be reliable the rater requires substantial training and experience, and even then the rating agreement between two radiologists is not perfect. We have developed a model we call…