[image: VVTNS.png] https://www.wwtns.online <https://streaklinks.com/A9c7PbbpKY7PxB6PaAJWGD3-/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wwtns.onl...> - on twitter: wwtns@TheoreticalWide You are cordially invited to the first *'Carl van Vreeswijk Memorial Lecture ' * James DiCarlo MIT on the topic of Do contemporary, machine-executable models of primate sensory systems unlock the ability to non-invasively, beneficially modulate high-level brain states? The lecture will be held on Zoom on April 9, 2025, at *11:00 am EDT * To receive the link: https://www.wwtns.online/register-page *Abstract: *Over the past decade, neuroscience, cognitive science and computer science (“AI”) converged to create specific, image-computable, deep neural network models intended to appropriately abstract, emulate and explain the mechanisms of primate ventral visual processing, up to its deepest neural level, the inferior temporal cortex (IT). Because these leading neuroscientific emulation models — aka “digital twins” — are fully observable and machine-executable, they offer predictive and potential application power that our field’s prior conceptual models did not. Our team’s ongoing work is aimed at asking if current digital twin models might support non-invasive, beneficial brain modulation. In this talk, I will describe a key result: we demonstrate that we can use a digital twin to design spatial patterns of light energy that, when “added” to the organism’s retinal input in the context of ongoing natural visual processing, results in precise modulation (i.e. rate bias) of the pattern of a population of IT neurons (where any intended modulation pattern is chosen ahead of time by the scientist). Because the IT visual neural populations are known to directly connect to and modulate downstream neural circuits (e.g. amygdala) that may underlie psychological affective states (e.g. mood and anxiety), this novel basic science may unlock a new, non-invasive application avenue of potential future human clinical benefit. This progress and new impact possibilities resulted from convergent brain science and AI engineering efforts in the domain of visual object intelligence. I will motivate this as just one example of what I believe will unlock in other domains of human intelligence as brain scientists and AI engineers collaborate to develop machine-executable models of the underlying mechanisms of those still-mysterious domains. *About VVTNS : Launched as the World Wide Theoretical Neuroscience Seminar (WWTNS) in November 2020 and renamed in homage to Carl van Vreeswijk in Memoriam (April 20, 2022), Speakers have the occasion to talk about theoretical aspects of their work which cannot be discussed in a setting where the majority of the audience consists of experimentalists. The seminars, **held on Wednesdays at 11 am ET,** are 45-50 min long followed by a discussion. The talks are recorded with authorization of the speaker and are available to everybody on our YouTube channel.* ᐧ -- *Il n'y a ni obligation ni pression à traiter ou répondre à ce mail en dehors des heures de travail* "В каждой шутке есть доля шутки" 'Life is good ..' (Carl van Vreeswijk, 1962-2022) --------------------------------------- David Hansel Directeur de Recherche au CNRS Co-Group leader Cerebral Dynamics Plasticity and Learning lab., CNRS 45 rue des Saints Peres 75270 Paris Cedex 06 Tel (Cell): +33 607508403 - Fax (33).1.49.27.90.62 *CONFIDENTIALITY AND PRIVACY NOTICE:* *This message and the documents that might be attached, are addressed exclusively to their(s) recipient(s) and may contain privileged or confidential information. The access to this information by people other than those designated is not authorized. If you are not the indicated recipient, you are notified that the use, disclosure and / or copying without authorization is prohibited under current legislation. If you have received this message in error, please kindly inform the sender immediately and proceed to its destruction.* ᐧ