Seventh International Conference on the Mathematics of Neuroscience and AI
Rome, 2026
9-12 June 2026. Villa Wolkonsky, Rome.
How is intelligence represented, learned and instantiated in biological and artificial systems?
The seventh edition convened researchers across neuroscience, cognitive science, machine learning and applied mathematics at the Villa Wolkonsky, the British Ambassador's Residence in Rome, for four days of submission-led sessions, invited keynotes and rigorous exchange across the four fields.
The conference convenes researchers across neuroscience and cognitive science; machine learning, applied mathematics, and theoretical computer science; and the adjacent fields, to examine how intelligence is represented, learned and instantiated in biological and artificial systems. The points at which the two literatures disagree are, in our experience, the most useful.
The conference is a submission-led, peer-reviewed and selective venue, oriented toward open problems, conceptual clarity and rigorous exchange. The 2026 edition spanned four themed days: Neural Data, Neural Theory, Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence.
Across the week the programme featured twelve keynotes, invited and spotlight talks, three poster sessions, a Conference Dinner at the Hostaria Antica Roma, and the Art Salon curated by Taylor Beck.
Keynote Speakers
Keynote
Prof. Marius Pachitariu
HHMI Janelia
Keynote
Prof. Tatiana Engel
Princeton
Keynote
Prof. Xiao-Jing Wang
NYU
Keynote
Prof. Marcella Noorman
University of Chicago
Keynote
Prof. James Whittington
Oxford · Thinking About Thinking
Keynote
Prof. Eric Schulz
Helmholtz Munich
Keynote
Prof. Gyorgy Buzsaki
NYU Langone
Keynote
Prof. Noah Goodman
Stanford
Keynote
Dr Blaise Agüera y Arcas
Google
Keynote
Prof. Irina Rish
Mila · Montreal
Keynote
Dr Joel Lehman
Lila Sciences · Oxford
Keynote
Dr Joel Leibo
Google DeepMind
Speakers
Neural Data
Dr Marine Schimel
Meta
Neural Data
Dr YoungJu Jo
Stanford
Neural Data
Dr Abraham Vollan
Kavli Institute, NTNU
Neural Data
Dr Xulu Sun
UCSF
Neural Theory
Will Dorrell
Harvard
Neural Theory
Dr T Anderson Keller
Kempner Institute, Harvard
Neural Theory
Jin Hwa Lee
UCL
Neural Theory
Dr Sandra Romero Pinto
Columbia · HHMI
Cognitive Science
Prof. Angela Radulescu
Mt Sinai
Cognitive Science
Prof. William Thompson
Berkeley
Cognitive Science
Christian Shewmake
New Theory · UC Berkeley
Artificial Intelligence
Dr Francesco Faccio
Google DeepMind
Artificial Intelligence
Dr Clare Lyle
Google DeepMind
Artificial Intelligence
Jeremy Dohmann
Perceptron
Session Chairs
Conference Chair
Dr Ruairidh Battleday
Harvard · MIT
Conference Chair
Prof. James Whittington
Oxford
Session Chair
Dr Giovanni Pezzulo
CNR Italy
Session Chair
Dr Ivana Kajic
Google DeepMind
Session Chair
Marine Schimel
Meta
Session Chair
Dr Lucy Lai
UC San Diego
Session Chair
Dr Kris Jensen
Sainsbury Wellcome Centre
Session Chair
Dr Chen Sun
Google DeepMind
Session Chair
Prof. Bill Thompson
UC Berkeley
Session Chair
Jesseba Fernando
Northeastern University
Schedule
Tuesday 9 June
Neural Data
08:40Check-in & Registration
09:40Introductory Remarks — Dr Ruairidh Battleday & Prof. James Whittington
10:00Keynote — Dr Marius Pachitariu (Janelia)
11:20Keynote — Prof. Tatiana Engel (Princeton)
14:00Invited talks — Schimel, Jo, Vollan
15:40Talks & rapid spotlights — Sun and others
16:40Poster Session 1 & Welcome Reception
Wednesday 10 June
Neural Theory
09:40Keynote — Prof. Xiao-Jing Wang (NYU)
11:20Keynote — Prof. Marcella Noorman (Chicago)
14:00Keynote — Prof. James Whittington (Oxford)
14:40Talks & spotlights — Keller, Lee, Romero Pinto and others
16:45Poster Session 2
17:30Coaches to Conference Dinner
18:00Conference Dinner — Hostaria Antica Roma (sponsored by Context Fund)
Thursday 11 June
Cognitive Science
10:00Keynote — Prof. Eric Schulz (Helmholtz Munich)
11:20Invited talks — Faccio, Radulescu
14:00Keynote — Prof. Noah Goodman (Stanford)
14:40Keynote — Prof. Gyorgy Buzsaki (NYU)
15:40Talks & spotlights
16:25Poster Session 3
19:30Art Salon — curated by Taylor Beck, The Cross Hotel
Friday 12 June
Artificial Intelligence
09:40Keynote — Dr Blaise Agüera y Arcas (Google)
11:20Keynote — Prof. Irina Rish (Mila · Montreal)
14:00Keynote — Dr Joel Lehman (Lila)
14:40Talk — Dr Joel Leibo (Google DeepMind)
15:20Spotlight talks
17:00Closing Reception
Posters
Day 1 · Tuesday, 9 June · Neural Data
Akshay Gautam
University of Edinburgh
Neural Unmixing: Separating Recurrent Dynamics and Structured Inputs
Alejandro Chinea Manrique de Lara
UNED
Rethinking Activation Functions in Deep Learning: A Theoretical Physics Perspective
Alma Lago
CSIC, UPV/EHU
MECHANISTIC FOUNDATIONS OF GOAL-DIRECTED CONTROL
basile LEBRE
Paris Nanterre University, LICAE
Embodied Decision Making in Active inference
Christian Buda
Sapienza University of Rome
A High-Fidelity Whole-Brain Simulation Engine for AI-Driven EEG Source Reconstruction
Diego Benusiglio
EMBL
Neural encoding of sensory “surprise” in the mouse brain
Caterina Bartucca
Independent Researcher, University of Turin
Beyond the Deficit: The Neurodivergent Root of OCD as Dysfunctional Expression of an Atypical Cognitive System
Dimitra Maoutsa
Independent
All poster presenters (27)
Akira KawanoEMBL Rome
Decomposing Predictive Information in Social Dynamics
Alberto PetrinUniversity of Padova
An EEG and computational investigation of visual working memory: Bridging the gap between Marr’s levels of analysis
Alessandra N. C. YuIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Intracranial Neural Signatures of Decision Uncertainty Based on an Active Inference Model for Probabilistic Three-Armed Bandit Task
Alireza ModirshanechiHelmholtz Munich & MPI Bio Cybernetics
An integrative framework for the human sense of control
August WintherUniversity of Copenhagen, Denmark
From composition to coordination: Network principles governing emergent frog limb circuits
Benedetta GambosiSapienza University of Rome
Node-Wise Parameter Estimation in The Virtual Brain via HCP-Informed Optimization on a Mean Head Model
Beste TasciHelmholtz Munich
Discovering Features of Human Decision-Making with Mechanistic Interpretability
Daniel BarabasiMIT/Harvard
Physical Network Constraints Generate Lognormal Connectome Architecture Through Multiplicative Branching
Daniele TirinnanziInternational School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), Trieste, Italy
Clique-bait: convergent suboptimal strategies on a visual inference problem in humans and machines
Dashiell FairbornPomona College
Putting Neural Networks to Sleep: Oscillations and Hebbian Learning in RNNs
Davide MaioliUniversity of Groningen
Solving the binding problem with overlapping neural representations
Davide NuzziIstituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione (ISTC) - CNR
The Nematode Digital Twin: Simulating Neural Dynamics, Behavior, and In Silico Lesions in C. elegans
Dmitrii TodorovINSERM / Sorbonne University (Paris, France)
Neural Signatures of Human Motor Adaptation
Eva SevensterUniversity of Bristol
Emergent specialization of distributed networks in cortically-embedded RNNs with macroscopic gradients
Ferenc CsikorHUN-REN Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Budapest, Hungary
Scaling generative vision models for high level statistics in large images
Lochan ChaudhariNortheastern University Boston
Compressibility of Neuronal Activity Across Dynamical Regimes
Atri GhoshUniversity of Trento
Egocentric Navigation Induces Square Grids: An Account of Distortions in Grid Cells through Reference Frames
Miguel Nunez-OchoaHHMI Janelia Research Campus
Building higher-order invariance in mouse visual cortex
Mitchell OstrowMIT
Comparing Neural Dynamics by Identifying Optimal Linearizing Embeddings
Carlos SteinNight City Labs
Eugenio BertoliniRIKEN, Pioneering Research Institute, Adaptive Motor Control RIKEN Hakubi Research Team. The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Engineering.
Yasser BinbisherUniversity of Southern California
Anna Sofia LippolisUniversity of Bologna
Harry WoodwardKCL
Jang HurKCL
Kapila PaskarathasKCL
William ZhangKCL
Day 2 · Wednesday, 10 June · Neural Theory
Andrea Brovelli
Aix Marseille Université
Expected information gain during goal-directed causal learning is encoded and broadcast within the sensorimotor system
Juliette Bénon
University of Zürich - Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics
Biological profits of irrational computations in the orbitofrontal cortex
Khashayar Baghizadeh
Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG)
Structural basis of functional specialization in the dentate gyrus
Márton Hajnal
HUN-REN Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Budapest, Hungary
Separate or share? Hierarchical balancing of orthogonalization, alignment, and abstraction in continual learning
Fabian Renz
Max-Planck-Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
Dr. Hayder Amin
Deutsches Zentrum für Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen e.V. (DZNE)
All poster presenters (31)
Jesús Reyes TorresInstitute of Computer Science, University of Tartu
Hearing the Shape of Space: A Spectral Geometric Account of Grid-Cell Scaling
Dr. Alexandra WittRIKEN-CBS
Mere exposure to others' exploration strategy is not sufficient for strategy contagion
Changmin YuUniversity of Cambridge
The hippocampus as a hierarchical predictive map
Daniel GrahamHobart and William Smith Colleges
Building Brain Anatomy From Scratch With Simple Generative Dynamical Models
Dr. Dunia GiomoSapienza University of Rome
Modeling human synchronization to rhythmic patterns with varying statistical regularities
Dr. Giuliano GiariCenter for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento
Hippocampal–Parietal Dissociation in Mapping and Moving Through Conceptual Space
Eeshan HasanThe Ohio State University
Human–AI Alignment in Specialized Domains where Experience Is Scarce
Eirini TroullinouIMBB-FORTH
Brain-Inspired Recurrent Neural Network Featuring Dendrites for Efficient and Accurate Learning in Timeseries Classification Tasks
Fabrizio SperaTor Vergata, University of Rome
Decoding Visual Imagery from fMRI Data through Latent Functional Alignment
Flàvia Ferrús MarimónEMBL
Surprise-evoked sensorimotor disruptions explained through hierarchical Active Inference
Grigorii RashkovUniversity of Rome, Tor Vergata
DIP-BID: Dual IP-Adapters for Structural Brain-to-Image Decoding from fMRI
Hridai KhuranaEuropean Molecular Biology Laboratory, Rome
Fleeing is Believing: Adaptive behavior under social threat as an inference process
Hyunhoe AnCenter for Neuroscience Imaging Research
Dynamic Network Segregation at Inter-task Rest Predicts Structural Transfer in Human Continual Learning
Irene AntonyHarvard Medical School
Somatic Clonal Evolution as a Hidden Constraint on Neural Circuit Stability in Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
Jacob NinanKottackal Business Solutions Private Ltd.
Physics-Guided Virtual Sensor Networks for Task-Based Neural Field Reconstruction from OPM-MEG Signals.
Jai BhagatUniversity College London Stanford University Metamorphic
NLDisco: A pipeline for interpretable neural latent discovery
Janis KeckMax Planck Institute CBS
Unifying normative and scaffold models of grid cells
Julian YocumUC Berkeley
Neural Manifold Geometry Encodes Feature Fields
Kaining ZhangAbdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)
Maximizing Memory Capacity in Heterogeneous Networks
Konstantin NikolicUniversity of West London, London, UK
Network Dynamics under Connectivity Variability: Evidence for Topological Stochastic Resonance
Konstantin SorokinNational Research University Higher School of Economics
Topological features in hippocampus cognitive maps dynamics
Lhea BeumerETH Zurich
Challenging Backpropagation: Evidence for Target-Based Learning in the Neocortex
Clara KümpelETH Zurich & Gatsby Unit, UCL
Francesco InnocentiUniversity of Oxford
Francisco José Maldonado TorralbaInstitute of Computer Science, University of Tartu
Ghanendra SinghPhD Student Independent Researcher
Gianfrancesco AngeliniMedical Physics Section, Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome Tor Vergata
Hongkun WuUniversity of Edinburgh
Julian KędysPoznan Supercomputing and Networking Center, Polish Academy of Sciences
Kirubeswaran Obula Ramesh BabuTechnische Universität Darmstadt
Isabella Costa MaiaGrenoble INP
Day 3 · Thursday, 11 June · Cognitive Science
Marco Ciapparelli
University of Trento
Zero-shot learning of complex concepts via conceptual systems alignment
Mario Giulianelli
University College London
Incremental alternative sampling as a lens into the temporal and representational resolution of linguistic prediction
Maryam Meghdadi
Helmholtz Institute for Human-Centered AI
Bayesian Model Comparison for Neural Models of Decision Making
Marvin Mathony
Helmholtz Munich
Unsupervised Discovery of Individual Differences in Neural Network Models of Behavior
All poster presenters (31)
Denis LanUniversity College London
Signatures of hierarchical, heuristic-guided planning in real-world human conceptual navigation
Dr. Mattia EluchansInstitute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies (ISTC-CNR)
How task difficulty shapes the emergence of temporal ordering in human planning
Leema HamidGoethe University Frankfurt
Almost-Linear Recurrent Neural Networks as a Forecasting-Based Framework for Assessing Dynamic Connectivity Identifiability in Resting-State fMRI
Leo BrestonUCSD
Self-referential behavior as a mechanism for self-regulation
Leonardo MartinelliInstitute of Neuroinformatics, UZH & ETH, Zurich
Heterogeneous Grid Attractors: Stability and Geometry in Neuromorphic Systems
Liebenow, PaulTu Darmstadt
Geometric regularization of representation spaces enables efficient learning of cognitive operators
Loren Amdahl-CulletonAstera Institute, Simplex
Transformers learn factored representations
Lorenzo Dall'OlioIRCCS Istituto delle scienze neurologiche di Bologna
Generative Modeling of Intracranial EEG: Unveiling the Temporal Signatures of Cognitive Regions
Lorenzo FontolanInserm, France
A recurrent circuit supporting both low- and high-dimensional population dynamics
Lorenzo OgnibeniNational Research Council (CNR-ISTC), Rome, Italy
Learning Latent Representations of Shared Structure in Neural Population Dynamics
Marcel GraetzChampalimaud Centre for the Unknown
Representational bottlenecks induce sequential processing in recurrent neural networks
Mariana DuarteChampalimaud Foundation
Artificial intelligence models can track and collaboratively modulate human memory search dynamics
mariana meirelesUC Berkeley
Consequences of synergistic organisation in language models
Mark SandlerQueen Mary University of London
Artificial Neuroscience: science and engineering of artificial brains
Mark van RossumUniversity of Nottingham
Adaptive Reluctant Plasticity
Marta TatarynUniversity of Copenhagen
Targeted input selects global spatiotemporal motifs in spatially structured inhibitory networks
Mauro MonsalveCenter for Theoretical Neuroscience, Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University
The geometry of the neural state space of decisions
Michele ViscioneETH Zürich
Mixed Selectivity as a Signature of Generalization in Neural Networks
Mihai BujancaQualcomm XR Labs
Perception from Action: How Control Shapes Visual Representations
Mirabel ReidTU Darmstadt
Modeling Hebbian Plasticity with Normalization
MSc Paulo Ortiz Marto FonsecaDonders Institute, Radboud University
The influence of Expectations on Sensory Processing during Adversarial Image Recognition
Niklas MuellerUniversity of Amsterdam
Temporal encoding profiles of object-based visual attention
Ajith Anil MeeraNeuro AI and Robotics group. Spanish National Research Council
Robot Metacognition: Decision Making with Confidence for Tool Invention
Peter KefferUniversity of Osnabrück
Pietro ZamberlanSorbonne University, Vision Institute.
Predicting neural responses using scalable Gaussian Processes in closed loop
Poppy CollisUniversity of Sussex
Confidence Exposes Information-Theoretic Constraints in Decision Making
Priyam GhoshBirla Institute of Science and Technology, Pilani
The Dynamics of Memory: Replay, Diffusion, and Attractor Formation
Quilee SimeonMIT
Recovering Neural Connectivity from Sparse Measurements: A Covariance-Based Framework for the Inverse Problem
Saurabh BediUniversity of Zurich (Department of Economics).
Beyond perception: Sequential efficient coding of perceptual and value representations
Oleg MaslennikovIAP RAS
Prashant RajuIndependent
Geometric Phase Transition Enables Extreme Hippocampal Memory Capacity
Day 4 · Friday, 12 June · Artificial Intelligence
Richard Csaky
Independent
Artificial Agency Program: Curiosity, compression, and communication in agents
Richard Csaky
Independent
Foundational Human Modeling: A roadmap for brain-grounded multi-modal AI
Sílvia García Hernández
Goethe University Frankfurt
Sparse Nonlinearity and Low-Dimensional Task Representations Reveal Computational Structure in Multi-Task Learning
Sander de Haan
ETH Zurich
All poster presenters (34)
Ajabi, ZakiHarvard University
Continual learning of one's spatial orientation through causal inference
Bruno LepriBruno Kessler Foundation
Generative AI collective behavior needs an interactionist paradigm
Max LangeMIT / King’s College London
The BODHI Framework: Engineering and Testing Epistemic Virtues for Collaborative Intelligence in Clinical Decision Support
Prashant RajuIndependent
Geometric Stability: The Missing Axis of Representations
Federico Harjes & Prof. Volker TrespLMU Munich
Phil Rohr & Ludwig PoueySpecter Labs
Proto-Cognitive Signatures in Perturbed Proof Search
Pulkit SinghThe University of Chicago
Biologically inspired constraints reduce solution degeneracy in task-trained RNNs
Raimon Bullich VilarrubiasInstitute of Neuroinformatics, ETH Zurich and University of Zurich
Dynamic recruitment of mixed-selective neurons in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex supports complex task learning
Riccardo VellaIMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca
Visualizing Voxel Selectivity in Human fMRI with Most Exciting Inputs
Ryan SinghUniversity of Sussex
Revisiting the Information Bottleneck Through Overparameterisation and Gradient Dynamics
Ryan Thomas Philips PhDAzim Premji University
A chess model that captures how humans evaluate and address complexity
Sara CammarotaUniversity of Rome, Tor Vergata
Making brain decoding interpretable: semantic bottlenecks enable voxel-wise concept maps.
Soham MehraMorph Labs
Graph-Structured Fusion of EEG and fNIRS for Motor Imagery Decoding: A Case for Geometric Deep Learning in Non-Invasive Upper-Limb Prosthetic BCI
Stefano Polizzi, PhD in PhysicsIRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna
Hierarchical Graph Neural Networks for Mapping sEEG Topologies: Functional Specialization of Frontal vs. Posterior Cortical Zones
Sultan DanielsUC Berkeley
Thermodynamics of Linear Regression
Sylvain EstebeAarhus University - Center for Humanities Computing
Preference and belief uncertainties shape electoral outcomes: Democratic Deliberation with Hierarchical Gaussian Filter (HGF) Agent-Based Model
Tangwei CaoUniversity of Groningen
Neuromorphic Implementation of Insect-inspired Path Integration and Homing Mechanisms
Victor RambaudCNRS - LSCP
From Space to Syntax: Scaling Cognitive Maps to Hierarchical Formal Languages with MapFormers
Vignayanandam Ravindernath MuddapuAzim Premji University
Noise or Change? A Computational Study of Human Learning in Dynamic Environments
Xibei ZhangUniversity College London
On the Reliability of AI Methods in Drug Discovery: Evaluation of Boltz-2 for Structure and Binding Affinity Prediction
Xinyun Sheryl ZhangTechnical University of Munich; Institute of NeuroInformatics UZHÐ
Neural State Machine for Brain-like State-dependent Execution, Sequential Recall and Online Learning
Yannick JadoulSapienza University of Rome
Statistical analysis of small-integer ratios in music cognition
Yassine LakhdariINSERM / Sorbonne University (Paris, France)
EEGNet-Based Decoding of Human Motor Adaptation from Magnetoencephalography Signals
Yassine Taoudi BenchekrounInstitute of Neuroinformatics, ETH Zurich
COGITAO: A Procedural and Object-Centric Framework to Evaluate Compositional and Systematic Generalization
Youssef Faragalla (I am a presenter)Stanford University
A Co-trained Model of Retina and Cortex Traces the Transformation of Visual Computations Across the Hierarchy
Yugarshi MondalBrandeis University
Persistent Adaptation through Dual-Timescale Regulation of Ion Channel Properties
YunxuanZengthe Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University
Computational cognitive mechanisms of visual working memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder and sex differences
Zachary F. Mainen, Ph.D.Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown
The Library Theorem: Inscription as a Formal Mechanism for Agentic AI Scaling and Alignment
Goncalo GuiomarETH AI Center, University of Zürich
Guillaume PourcelUniversity of Groningen
Spiros ChavlisIMBB-FORTH
Vito DichioÉcole Normale Supérieure (ENS-PSL)
Rumeesa RaisReflectx
Shuchen WuAllen Institute
Concept-guided interpretability via neural chunking
Topics Covered
Neural DataNeural TheoryCognitive ScienceArtificial Intelligence
Thursday 11 June · The Cross Hotel
The Art Salon
Curated by Taylor Beck, the Art Salon was hosted at The Cross Hotel. It drew the largest salon turnout in the conference's history.
Arts Salon Curators
Arts Salon Curator
Taylor Beck
Pierrepont School
Arts Salon Curator
Daniel Barabasi
Venue
Villa Wolkonsky, Rome
The seventh edition was held at the Villa Wolkonsky, the British Ambassador's Residence in Rome, for four days of submission-led sessions and invited keynotes.
Sponsors
Gold
Silver
