Rui Ponte Costa
@somnirons.bsky.social
Computational neuroscientist bringing machine and neural learning closer together [Oxford NeuroAI] @ox.ac.uk @oxforddpag.bsky.social 🇵🇹🇪🇺🇬🇧🌳
neuralml.github.io
www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/neuroai
neuralml.github.io
www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/neuroai
Pinned
Granule cells reorient cortical trajectories to separate contexts - Nature
Simultaneous imaging of premotor cortex and cerebellar granule cells in mice learning two skills in parallel shows that trajectories generalize in cortex but coherently reorient apart in granule cells...
www.nature.com
How does the brain continually adapt? Fresh in @natureportfolio.nature.com our super exciting collaboration with @mark-j-wagner.bsky.social showing that the cerebellum contextualises cortical dynamics enable multi-task learning:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Rui Ponte Costa
📢Have work to share with the computational and systems neuroscience community? Abstract submissions for #COSYNE2027 are now open.
Deadline: 18 October 2026, 11:59 p.m. AoE
Submit your abstract: www.cosyne.org/abstracts-su...
#Neuroscience
Deadline: 18 October 2026, 11:59 p.m. AoE
Submit your abstract: www.cosyne.org/abstracts-su...
#Neuroscience
September 11, 2026 at 5:48 PM
📢Have work to share with the computational and systems neuroscience community? Abstract submissions for #COSYNE2027 are now open.
Deadline: 18 October 2026, 11:59 p.m. AoE
Submit your abstract: www.cosyne.org/abstracts-su...
#Neuroscience
Deadline: 18 October 2026, 11:59 p.m. AoE
Submit your abstract: www.cosyne.org/abstracts-su...
#Neuroscience
Reposted by Rui Ponte Costa
I’m on the faculty job market this fall! 🐦🧠
I’m an NIH K99/R00 awardee studying how the brain learns complex skills, using birdsong to connect molecules, synapses, circuits, behavior & computation.
Know of a search where I might fit? Please send it my way & share!
I’m an NIH K99/R00 awardee studying how the brain learns complex skills, using birdsong to connect molecules, synapses, circuits, behavior & computation.
Know of a search where I might fit? Please send it my way & share!
Drew Schreiner, Ph.D. | Neuroscience of Learning
I use birdsong to understand how the brain learns complex skills across molecules, synapses, circuits, behavior, and computation. On the 2026–27 faculty job market.
drewschreiner.github.io
September 9, 2026 at 5:50 PM
I’m on the faculty job market this fall! 🐦🧠
I’m an NIH K99/R00 awardee studying how the brain learns complex skills, using birdsong to connect molecules, synapses, circuits, behavior & computation.
Know of a search where I might fit? Please send it my way & share!
I’m an NIH K99/R00 awardee studying how the brain learns complex skills, using birdsong to connect molecules, synapses, circuits, behavior & computation.
Know of a search where I might fit? Please send it my way & share!
Reposted by Rui Ponte Costa
If this makes you mad, submit your cognitive science research to @openmindjournal.bsky.social
No APCs, no subscription fees. It's funded by university libraries, at low cost.
No APCs, no subscription fees. It's funded by university libraries, at low cost.
🚨Update: Our analysis of global APC expenditure has now been expanded to cover more publishers (7 -> 14) and more years (2019-2025).
We estimate $15B in APCs paid over seven years, $3.7B in 2025 alone. Elsevier crosses the $1B threshold by itself in 2025.
arxiv.org/abs/2608.16322 #ScholComm
We estimate $15B in APCs paid over seven years, $3.7B in 2025 alone. Elsevier crosses the $1B threshold by itself in 2025.
arxiv.org/abs/2608.16322 #ScholComm
September 1, 2026 at 4:25 PM
If this makes you mad, submit your cognitive science research to @openmindjournal.bsky.social
No APCs, no subscription fees. It's funded by university libraries, at low cost.
No APCs, no subscription fees. It's funded by university libraries, at low cost.
Reposted by Rui Ponte Costa
The cortex and cerebellum split the labor: the cortex provides a stable, general-purpose movement blueprint, while the cerebellum reorients that same blueprint differently for each context
Granule cells reorient cortical trajectories to separate contexts
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
Granule cells reorient cortical trajectories to separate contexts
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
Granule cells reorient cortical trajectories to separate contexts - Nature
Simultaneous imaging of premotor cortex and cerebellar granule cells in mice learning two skills in parallel shows that trajectories generalize in cortex but coherently reorient apart in granule cells...
www.nature.com
August 30, 2026 at 1:48 PM
The cortex and cerebellum split the labor: the cortex provides a stable, general-purpose movement blueprint, while the cerebellum reorients that same blueprint differently for each context
Granule cells reorient cortical trajectories to separate contexts
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
Granule cells reorient cortical trajectories to separate contexts
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
Reposted by Rui Ponte Costa
The Ferrier Medal and Lecture 2027 is awarded to Professor Kenneth Daniel Harris for his contributions to neuroscience by unifying experimental neurophysiology with advanced analytical methods and for pioneering methods that allow recording from thousands of neurons. #RSMedals https://bit.ly/4qCJZRo
August 29, 2026 at 9:39 AM
The Ferrier Medal and Lecture 2027 is awarded to Professor Kenneth Daniel Harris for his contributions to neuroscience by unifying experimental neurophysiology with advanced analytical methods and for pioneering methods that allow recording from thousands of neurons. #RSMedals https://bit.ly/4qCJZRo
Reposted by Rui Ponte Costa
Oh wow! @thetransmitter.bsky.social amplified recent Bsky chatter about the dire US grant landscape.
Thank you, @emilysingerneuro.bsky.social 🙏.
Thank you, @emilysingerneuro.bsky.social 🙏.
Two years into one of the most tumultuous tenures in U.S. federal funding, researchers outline how they are coping with ongoing changes and reflect on the impact these changes are having on the system more broadly.
By @emilysingerneuro.bsky.social
www.thetransmitter.org/funding/amid...
By @emilysingerneuro.bsky.social
www.thetransmitter.org/funding/amid...
Amid funding uncertainty, neuroscientists report a mix of cynicism, persistence
Two years into one of the most tumultuous tenures in U.S. federal funding, researchers outline how they are coping with ongoing changes and reflect on the impact these changes are having on the system...
www.thetransmitter.org
August 28, 2026 at 7:27 PM
Oh wow! @thetransmitter.bsky.social amplified recent Bsky chatter about the dire US grant landscape.
Thank you, @emilysingerneuro.bsky.social 🙏.
Thank you, @emilysingerneuro.bsky.social 🙏.
Reposted by Rui Ponte Costa
How does the brain continually adapt? Fresh in @natureportfolio.nature.com our super exciting collaboration with @mark-j-wagner.bsky.social showing that the cerebellum contextualises cortical dynamics enable multi-task learning:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Granule cells reorient cortical trajectories to separate contexts - Nature
Simultaneous imaging of premotor cortex and cerebellar granule cells in mice learning two skills in parallel shows that trajectories generalize in cortex but coherently reorient apart in granule cells...
www.nature.com
August 27, 2026 at 9:29 PM
How does the brain continually adapt? Fresh in @natureportfolio.nature.com our super exciting collaboration with @mark-j-wagner.bsky.social showing that the cerebellum contextualises cortical dynamics enable multi-task learning:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Rui Ponte Costa
📢 We are hiring a full professor in "Intelligence in Biological and Artificial Systems".
Come join us at Germany's first and largest cognitive science program.
Please share far and wide, and get in touch with any questions.
www.uni-osnabrueck.de/en/universit...
Come join us at Germany's first and largest cognitive science program.
Please share far and wide, and get in touch with any questions.
www.uni-osnabrueck.de/en/universit...
129 FB 8 W3 Professorship Intelligence in Biological and Artificial Systems, Institute of Cognitive Science: Uni Osnabrück
www.uni-osnabrueck.de
August 19, 2026 at 4:52 PM
📢 We are hiring a full professor in "Intelligence in Biological and Artificial Systems".
Come join us at Germany's first and largest cognitive science program.
Please share far and wide, and get in touch with any questions.
www.uni-osnabrueck.de/en/universit...
Come join us at Germany's first and largest cognitive science program.
Please share far and wide, and get in touch with any questions.
www.uni-osnabrueck.de/en/universit...
While I am sad to miss #CCN2026 our group will showing the cool stuff that we have been doing in the model-brain alignment space, including a selected talk by Angeliki!
See list, including our fun gaming collaboration with the groups of @marcelomattar.bsky.social and @momchiltomov.bsky.social
See list, including our fun gaming collaboration with the groups of @marcelomattar.bsky.social and @momchiltomov.bsky.social
August 3, 2026 at 3:36 PM
While I am sad to miss #CCN2026 our group will showing the cool stuff that we have been doing in the model-brain alignment space, including a selected talk by Angeliki!
See list, including our fun gaming collaboration with the groups of @marcelomattar.bsky.social and @momchiltomov.bsky.social
See list, including our fun gaming collaboration with the groups of @marcelomattar.bsky.social and @momchiltomov.bsky.social
Reposted by Rui Ponte Costa
Yay, the field needs this! Excited to serve as an associate editor!
Hello world! 👋
We’re Minds, Machines, and Brains (MMB) 👤🤖🧠 a new open access journal from @mitpress.bsky.social exploring the principles of intelligence and cognition across natural and artificial minds.
Submissions open this Fall! 🔗 direct.mit.edu/mmb
We’re Minds, Machines, and Brains (MMB) 👤🤖🧠 a new open access journal from @mitpress.bsky.social exploring the principles of intelligence and cognition across natural and artificial minds.
Submissions open this Fall! 🔗 direct.mit.edu/mmb
Minds, Machines, and Brains | MIT Press
direct.mit.edu
August 2, 2026 at 11:34 PM
Yay, the field needs this! Excited to serve as an associate editor!
Reposted by Rui Ponte Costa
Very excited to attend #CCN2026 this week and to present various projects from my lab!
Here's a list of our posters and talks in case you'd like to see what we've been up to.
Here's a list of our posters and talks in case you'd like to see what we've been up to.
August 2, 2026 at 9:22 PM
Very excited to attend #CCN2026 this week and to present various projects from my lab!
Here's a list of our posters and talks in case you'd like to see what we've been up to.
Here's a list of our posters and talks in case you'd like to see what we've been up to.
Totally agree with this perspective. We need to consider how intelligence arises in the first place if we want to reproduce it — learning principles are critical.
Excited to share our review in @cp-neuron.bsky.social with @lauriebayet.bsky.social and @mickbonner.bsky.social!
We describe how implementing principles from child development can advance the mechanistic plausibility and capacities of AI models
We packed A LOT into this review, here's a quick 🧵
We describe how implementing principles from child development can advance the mechanistic plausibility and capacities of AI models
We packed A LOT into this review, here's a quick 🧵
July 23, 2026 at 9:19 AM
Totally agree with this perspective. We need to consider how intelligence arises in the first place if we want to reproduce it — learning principles are critical.
Really cool illustration of our paper. @neurosock.bsky.social's great work!
This recent post by @earlkmiller.bsky.social got my attention.
It shows how abstraction could emerge in the primate PFC.
The paper is hard, but the main idea can be simplified to low-dims, so I made fun a little animation.
A🧵with my toy model and notes:
#neuroskyence #compneuro #NeuroAI
It shows how abstraction could emerge in the primate PFC.
The paper is hard, but the main idea can be simplified to low-dims, so I made fun a little animation.
A🧵with my toy model and notes:
#neuroskyence #compneuro #NeuroAI
July 16, 2026 at 7:33 PM
Really cool illustration of our paper. @neurosock.bsky.social's great work!
I would totally like to second this. Huge congrats to Michał Wójcik who has managed to get this over the line despite the huge challenges!
Great to see Mark Stokes getting acknowledged , and also the author senior authors who stepped in, but I’d like to highlight 1st author Michał Wojcik who completed this excellent work from his PhD under such difficult circumstances. He‘s got more good stuff in the pipeline - one to watch
Dimensionality reduction is how the brain acquires knowledge. Cool new paper from the late, great, Mark Stokes.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
June 29, 2026 at 9:26 AM
I would totally like to second this. Huge congrats to Michał Wójcik who has managed to get this over the line despite the huge challenges!
Our latest story is finally in preprint! 🧠✨
How does the brain solve the (hierarchical) credit assignment problem efficiently? Cell-type-specific cortical feedback holds the key, closely approximating backprop.
Paper: doi.org/10.64898/202...
How does the brain solve the (hierarchical) credit assignment problem efficiently? Cell-type-specific cortical feedback holds the key, closely approximating backprop.
Paper: doi.org/10.64898/202...
Cell-type-specific cortical feedback coordinates hierarchical credit assignment
Learning is thought to arise from synaptic modifications embedded in brain-wide circuits, yet how such circuits coordinate plasticity to support complex behaviour is not known. Inspired by deep learni...
doi.org
June 18, 2026 at 11:01 AM
Our latest story is finally in preprint! 🧠✨
How does the brain solve the (hierarchical) credit assignment problem efficiently? Cell-type-specific cortical feedback holds the key, closely approximating backprop.
Paper: doi.org/10.64898/202...
How does the brain solve the (hierarchical) credit assignment problem efficiently? Cell-type-specific cortical feedback holds the key, closely approximating backprop.
Paper: doi.org/10.64898/202...
Reposted by Rui Ponte Costa
Job klaxon 📣 UCL is hiring two NeuroAI / computational neuroscience specialists (Lecturer or Associate Prof) — a big part of the new NeuroAI centre we're growing in Biosciences. Do consider applying if it's relevant to you. JD & details: https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRX021 Happy to take questions.
June 16, 2026 at 11:41 AM
Job klaxon 📣 UCL is hiring two NeuroAI / computational neuroscience specialists (Lecturer or Associate Prof) — a big part of the new NeuroAI centre we're growing in Biosciences. Do consider applying if it's relevant to you. JD & details: https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRX021 Happy to take questions.
Reposted by Rui Ponte Costa
This has been a super-fun project. Can modern LLMs/LRMs learnto play simple video-games from scratch? Can we outperform existing models of these tasks when predicting fMRI data?
In the words of @botoscsabi.bsky.social , "the short answer is yes and yes".
If you want the long answer, see below :-)
In the words of @botoscsabi.bsky.social , "the short answer is yes and yes".
If you want the long answer, see below :-)
Jeee 🐦⬛
I am very proud of our joint effort with @sreejan.bsky.social on the project "Reason to Play"
LRMs show human-like rule discovery, and their hidden states predict human brain activity during gameplay 10x better than previous methods
Interactive demo + paper:
botcs.github.io/reason-to-pl...
I am very proud of our joint effort with @sreejan.bsky.social on the project "Reason to Play"
LRMs show human-like rule discovery, and their hidden states predict human brain activity during gameplay 10x better than previous methods
Interactive demo + paper:
botcs.github.io/reason-to-pl...
Reason to Play - Behavioral and Brain Alignment
32 fMRI-scanned humans and 8 frontier open weight LLMs play ARC-AGI like games with no rules given. The reasoning models match the human learning trajectories and their hidden states predict human bra...
botcs.github.io
May 11, 2026 at 1:03 PM
This has been a super-fun project. Can modern LLMs/LRMs learnto play simple video-games from scratch? Can we outperform existing models of these tasks when predicting fMRI data?
In the words of @botoscsabi.bsky.social , "the short answer is yes and yes".
If you want the long answer, see below :-)
In the words of @botoscsabi.bsky.social , "the short answer is yes and yes".
If you want the long answer, see below :-)
Reposted by Rui Ponte Costa
Super proud to have contributed to this amazing team effort, led by @sreejan.bsky.social and @botoscsabi.bsky.social!
We asked: Which AI models learn to play video games like humans, comparing both behavior and internal representations. The answer surprised us!
Check out our paper and post below
We asked: Which AI models learn to play video games like humans, comparing both behavior and internal representations. The answer surprised us!
Check out our paper and post below
Jeee 🐦⬛
I am very proud of our joint effort with @sreejan.bsky.social on the project "Reason to Play"
LRMs show human-like rule discovery, and their hidden states predict human brain activity during gameplay 10x better than previous methods
Interactive demo + paper:
botcs.github.io/reason-to-pl...
I am very proud of our joint effort with @sreejan.bsky.social on the project "Reason to Play"
LRMs show human-like rule discovery, and their hidden states predict human brain activity during gameplay 10x better than previous methods
Interactive demo + paper:
botcs.github.io/reason-to-pl...
Reason to Play - Behavioral and Brain Alignment
32 fMRI-scanned humans and 8 frontier open weight LLMs play ARC-AGI like games with no rules given. The reasoning models match the human learning trajectories and their hidden states predict human bra...
botcs.github.io
May 11, 2026 at 1:19 PM
Super proud to have contributed to this amazing team effort, led by @sreejan.bsky.social and @botoscsabi.bsky.social!
We asked: Which AI models learn to play video games like humans, comparing both behavior and internal representations. The answer surprised us!
Check out our paper and post below
We asked: Which AI models learn to play video games like humans, comparing both behavior and internal representations. The answer surprised us!
Check out our paper and post below
Our first endeavour in jointly explaining human brain-behaviour through gameplay! An impressive effort led by @botoscsabi.bsky.social and @sreejan.bsky.social with the help of a team of collaborators!
Parer:
arxiv.org/abs/2605.08019
Parer:
arxiv.org/abs/2605.08019
May 11, 2026 at 12:33 PM
Our first endeavour in jointly explaining human brain-behaviour through gameplay! An impressive effort led by @botoscsabi.bsky.social and @sreejan.bsky.social with the help of a team of collaborators!
Parer:
arxiv.org/abs/2605.08019
Parer:
arxiv.org/abs/2605.08019
Reposted by Rui Ponte Costa
New preprint with @sevberg.bsky.social! We map Hopfield-like binary networks onto spiking networks with dendrites … and it works! Same memory capacity, bigger basins of attraction, plus selective recall through dendritic gating, and more. How? Dendrites! See below.
doi.org
April 9, 2026 at 3:43 PM
New preprint with @sevberg.bsky.social! We map Hopfield-like binary networks onto spiking networks with dendrites … and it works! Same memory capacity, bigger basins of attraction, plus selective recall through dendritic gating, and more. How? Dendrites! See below.
Reposted by Rui Ponte Costa
My travel to Cosyne was barred by the Trump admin, so I'm here on my personal dime. I care about the COSYNE community, I committed to co-chairing. And I always learn here.
But the worst part about this travel ban is my lab colleagues— students and fellows—couldn't come. /1
But the worst part about this travel ban is my lab colleagues— students and fellows—couldn't come. /1
March 14, 2026 at 4:32 PM
My travel to Cosyne was barred by the Trump admin, so I'm here on my personal dime. I care about the COSYNE community, I committed to co-chairing. And I always learn here.
But the worst part about this travel ban is my lab colleagues— students and fellows—couldn't come. /1
But the worst part about this travel ban is my lab colleagues— students and fellows—couldn't come. /1
Reposted by Rui Ponte Costa
I am looking for a theory/computational POSTDOC position in EU or east coast US. I am interested in how learning and plasticity shape population dynamics & representational geometries & how these changes are reflected in behavior.
If you are at #COSYNE2026 & interested, hit me up in Whova, not here
If you are at #COSYNE2026 & interested, hit me up in Whova, not here
March 15, 2026 at 8:40 AM
I am looking for a theory/computational POSTDOC position in EU or east coast US. I am interested in how learning and plasticity shape population dynamics & representational geometries & how these changes are reflected in behavior.
If you are at #COSYNE2026 & interested, hit me up in Whova, not here
If you are at #COSYNE2026 & interested, hit me up in Whova, not here
Reposted by Rui Ponte Costa
Follow us on instagram for live updates of what’s going on at COSYNE 2026 www.instagram.com/cosynemeetin...
Instagram
Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.
www.instagram.com
March 12, 2026 at 2:35 PM
Follow us on instagram for live updates of what’s going on at COSYNE 2026 www.instagram.com/cosynemeetin...