Connectionists: REMINDER: World wide VVTNS series (fifth season): Wednesday, June 18, 2025, at 11:00 am EDT| Riccardo Zecchina , Bocconi University, Milano

[David Hansel]

[image: VVTNS.png]
https://www.wwtns.online
<https://streaklinks.com/A9c7PbbpKY7PxB6PaAJWGD3-/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wwtns.online>
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on twitter: wwtns at TheoreticalWide

You are cordially invited to the lecture

Riccardo Zecchina

Bocconi University, Milano


Local Deep Learning without Gradients in

Asymmetric Recurrent Networks


The lecture will be held on zoom on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, at *11:00 am
EDT *

To receive the link: https://www.wwtns.online/register-page


*Abstract: * We introduce a statistical physics framework for learning in
neural architectures composed of single or interconnected asymmetric
attractor networks. These systems can exhibit a manifold of global fixed
points capable of implementing sophisticated input-output mappings, which
we characterize analytically. Learning from extensive datasets is achieved
through the stabilization of fixed points via a fully distributed and local
learning process, implemented at the single-neuron level. This simple
mechanism yields performance comparable to that of conventional feedforward
deep neural networks trained using gradient-based methods. The
effectiveness of the model stems from the dense and accessible manifolds of
stable fixed points, which encode the internal representations of data.
Unlike other approaches to deep learning without backpropagation, our
method does not attempt to estimate gradients.

*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.*


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