[CTN] CTN seminar: Xaq Pitkow (Rice) 3:30 Wednesday Nov 20, E7 7363

[Bryan Tripp]

Hi everyone,

Please join us for a CTN seminar next Wednesday afternoon (not Tuesday this
time). Details below.

Bryan

Rational thoughts in neural codes
Xaq Pitkow, Rice University (Houston)
3:30 Wednesday Nov 20, E7 7363

Abstract: Complex behaviors are often driven by an internal model, which
integrates sensory information over time and facilitates long-term planning
to reach subjective goals. We interpret behavioral data by assuming an
agent behaves rationally — that is, they take actions that optimize their
subjective reward according to their understanding of the task and its
relevant causal variables. We apply a new method, Inverse Rational Control
(IRC), to learn an agent’s internal model and reward function by maximizing
the likelihood of its measured sensory observations and actions. This
thereby extracts rational and interpretable thoughts of the agent from its
behavior. We also provide a framework for interpreting encoding, recoding
and decoding of neural data in light of this rational model for behavior.
When applied to behavioral and neural data from simulated agents performing
suboptimally on a naturalistic foraging task, this method successfully
recovers their internal model and reward function, as well as the
computational dynamics within the neural manifold that represents the task.
This work lays a foundation for discovering how the brain represents and
computes with dynamic beliefs.
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