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Neural population-based approaches have opened new windows into neural computations and behavior | The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives

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Neural manifold properties can help us understand how animal brains deal with complex information, execute flexible behaviors and reuse common computations. We’ve all been there. We give an impassioned spiel to a colleague on our favorite new technique, extolling its wonders and virtues. Then your colleague then looks at you, concerned, and asks the ubiquitous question: “But what have we learned about the brain?” For me, this exchange happens regularly on the topic of neural manifolds, a concept that permeates much of my research work. These neural manifolds—which reflect the assumption that geometric structure constrains the dynamics of neural population activity—are an increasingly popular lens through which to view the brain. This population-centric view provides a compact means to describe and study neural computations and the relationships between brain activity and animal behavior. Yet critics often assert that neural manifolds have yielded no new insights over classic studies of

We’ve all been there. We give an impassioned spiel to a colleague on our favorite new technique, extolling its wonders and virtues. Then your colleague then looks at you, concerned, and asks the ubiquitous question: “But what have we learned about the brain?” For me, this exchange happens regularly on the topic of neural manifolds, a concept that permeates much of my research work. These neural manifolds—which reflect the assumption that geometric structure constrains the dynamics of neural population activity—are an increasingly popular lens through which to view the brain. This…

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