Dear All, The CEU Department of Cognitive Science and the Center for Cognitive Computation (CCC) invites you to the upcoming meeting of the Budapest Computational Neuroscience Forum<https://ccc.ceu.edu/budapest-computational-neuroscience-forum>um>. Speaker: Máté Lengyel (CEU/University of Cambridge) Optimal information loading into working memory explains dynamic coding in prefrontal cortex Abstract: Working memory involves the short-term maintenance of information and is critical in many tasks. The neural circuit dynamics underlying working memory remain poorly understood, with different aspects of prefrontal cortical (PFC) responses explained by different putative mechanisms. By mathematical analysis, numerical simulations, and using recordings from monkey PFC, we investigate a critical but hitherto ignored aspect of working memory dynamics: information loading. We find that, contrary to common assumptions, optimal loading of information into working memory involves inputs that are largely orthogonal, rather than similar, to the late delay activities observed during memory maintenance, naturally leading to the widely observed phenomenon of dynamic coding in PFC. Using a novel, theoretically principled metric, we show that PFC exhibits the hallmarks of optimal information loading. We also find that optimal information loading emerges as a general dynamical strategy in task-optimized recurrent neural networks. Our theory unifies previous, seemingly conflicting theories of memory maintenance based on attractor or purely sequential dynamics, and reveals a normative principle underlying dynamic coding. Time: 17:00, Tuesday, December 12., 2023. Location: CEU, 1051 Budapest, Nádor u. 15, Room 203. and Zoom (Meeting ID: 982 9861 1033<https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/98298611033?pwd=UzR1Sm0wRFhuYlZWVE82Zmo5aTZqdz09> Passcode: 243903) Should you have any inquiries about the series, please contact Mihály Bányai<mailto:mihaly.s.banyai@gmail.com>. Best regards, Ildikó Varga Department Coordinator (Budapest) Department of Cognitive Science [cid:f4a73541-8b9f-45f0-9ea7-b6b1bd4568ab] H-1051 Budapest Nador u. 15. FT room 404 tel: +36-1 327-3000 2941 http://www.ceu.edu<http://www.ceu.edu/> http://cognitivescience.ceu.edu<http://cognitivescience.ceu.edu/> ______________________________________________ Subscribe by sending an empty mail to talks-subscribe(a)cogsci.ceu.edu Unsubscribe by sending an empty mail to talks-unsubscribe(a)cogsci.ceu.edu