Connectionists: REMINDER: World wide VVTNS series (6th season): Wednesday, January 21, 2026, at 11:00 am ET - Adrien Peyrache, Mc Gill

[David Hansel]

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

You are cordially invited to  the lecture

Adrien Peyrache

Mc Gill

 on the topic of

*Building and Using a Cognitive Map*

The lecture will be held on zoom on January 21, 2026, at *11:00 am ET *

> To receive the link: https://www.wwtns.online/register-page
>
*Abstract: *The hippocampus is thought to build a cognitive map that
supports navigation, memory, and planning, but what defines such a map and
how it is used remain debated. In this talk, I will present computational
models in which hippocampal-like representations emerge in recurrent neural
networks trained to predict sequences of sensory observations. While
spatially tuned units reliably arise, they are not sufficient to form a
cognitive map. Instead, map-like representations emerge when recurrent
dynamics support multi-step prediction, yielding a population-level
encoding of environmental geometry. Once learned, these representations can
autonomously generate offline trajectories biased by recent experience,
capturing key features of hippocampal replay. I will then show how these
representations guide behavior in navigation tasks. In a
hippocampal–striatal model facing visual ambiguity, access to hippocampal
activity enables rapid learning and flexible adaptation. Place-like coding
supports self-localization, while population-level hippocampal states can
be used to derive intrinsic learning signals that estimate progress toward
a remembered goal, improving performance beyond full sensory observability.
Together, these results suggest that cognitive maps arise from predictive
recurrent dynamics and support behavior through both localization and
internally generated learning signals.

*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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