Connectionists: World wide VVTNS series (fifth season): Wednesday, May 14, 2025, at 11:00 am EDT| Tomoki Fukai, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology

[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

Tomoki Fukai

Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology

Neural mechanisms of memory linking and replay: inhibition matters


The lecture will be held on zoom on Wednesday, May 14, 2025, at *11:00 am
EDT *
To receive the link: https://www.wwtns.online/register-page


*Abstract: *My talk will consist of three subtopics. The brain remembers
episodes not in isolation but with their contextual relationships, such as
spatial or temporal proximity. This is an essential feature of the brain’s
memory, but the underlying mechanism is yet to be explored. Cell
assemblies, or engrams, may provide neural representations for such
relationships. First, I will show a class of associative memory models that
encode and retrieve multiple memory contents linked by an arbitrary graph
structure through experience and demonstrate the crucial role of the
balance between two inhibitory subnetwork types in the flexible retrieval
of relational memories. Secondly, I propose a theoretical framework to
generate a cognitive map, i.e., neural representations of relationships
between memory items. This framework aims at the predictive function of the
hippocampus and is based on successor representations proposed for
reinforcement learning. Intriguingly, the model provides a unified account
for grid cells in spatial navigation and concept cells in natural language
processing. Finally, I will discuss another crucial role of the hippocampal
memory system, memory replay, in a spiking neural network model. Unlike the
conventional associative memory models that maintain attractor memory
states, this model attempts to maximize the capacity of replayed activity
patterns. Our model suggests the crucial role of inhibitory plasticity in
optimizing spontaneous memory replay.

*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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