Pol Bech

Check out the paper if you want to know more! Many thanks to the authors (@robindard.bsky.social, @juleslebert.bsky.social, @lana-smith.bsky.social, Axel Bisi, @aprrenard.bsky.social, Sylvain Crochet, and Carl Petersen), and the Petersen Laboratory of Sensory Processing at EPFL who made it possible!

These results help us reconcile parallel literature in context-dependent behaviors. RSC is the main cortical output of the hippocampus, and is involved in contextual fear memory, but had not previously been linked to context-dependent sensorimotor transformations.

Widefield calcium imaging revealed RSC to be the first brain region showing context discriminability following the whisker stimulus, followed by whisker motor cortex. In contrast, we did not observe major differences in the whisker sensory responses in primary and secondary somatosensory cortices.

An unbiased optogenetic inhibition approach showed some cortical regions necessary for the execution of the task, plus the involvement of retrosplenial cortex (RSC) to the proper contextualisation of the whisker stimulus.

We trained mice to respond to a brief whisker deflection by licking a water spout according to the surrounding context. Our mice were able to learn this dynamic contingency and adapt to context very fast after context transition.

Curious about how your brain tells you to pick up the phone if you sense a notification at your place, but not at the cinema? Check out our latest preprint studying context-dependent sensorimotor processing! (A short thread🧵)

Retrosplenial cortex enables context-dependent goal-directed sensorimotor transformation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.31.685738v1

It was very exciting to talk to @ardemp.bskyverified.social yesterday and hear his presentation! It was fascinating to see how mechanosensation plays such a diverse role in nature from tactile sensation, to interoception, parturition, plant root guidance and so much more!

Thanks @trackingactions.bsky.social for being a generous host and @trackingskills.bsky.social for pouring wine for the fantastic @epfl-brainmind.bsky.social visit. Days like this remind me how lucky we are as scientists. Loved the student lunch, 1:1s, seminar reception, and dinner!

Wow, just wow.
V different approach reveals numerous problems in Scientific Reports - cf deevybee.blogspot.com/2024/10/an-o...
I do hope @springernature.bsky.social will start to publish reviewer reports and editor info as we suggested

Learning from the unexpected A researcher at EPFL working at the crossroads of neuroscience and computational science has developed an algorithm that can predict how surprise and novelty affect behavior.

Super excited to see my PhD thesis featured by EPFL! 🎓
actu.epfl.ch/news/learnin...

P.S.: There's even a French version of the article! It feels so fancy! 😎 👨‍🎨 🇫🇷
actu.epfl.ch/news/apprend...

I have to give a presentation on a paper about machine learning for astrophysics for a PhD course, and all my knowledge on the field comes from Big Bang Theory episodes lol

1/2 Brain and Cognition Master at
@UPFBarcelona

Please, spread the word

Why to enroll here?

Nuria Sebastian-Galles (language, Premio Nacional)
Gustavo Deco (comp neuro)
Chris Summerfield (cognition & AI)
Salva Soto-Faraco (attention)
Rubén Moreno-Bote (comp neuro & AI)

Salmon hats, a 90s throwback? "As anyone who follows fashion knows, certain trends like indie sleaze and cargo pants can come back around after a long and quite deserved break. Orcas, it seems, are not immune." www.iflscience.com/wearing-a-sa... (Amazing actual photo embedded in this article, too.)

To keep or not to keep: Neurophysiology’s data dilemma An exponential growth in data size presents neuroscientists with a significant challenge: Should we be keeping all raw data or focusing on processed datasets? I asked experimentalists and theorists…

Should neuroscientists keep all raw data or focus on processed datasets? Nima Dehghani @neurovium.bsky.social asks experimentalists and theorists for their thoughts on neurophysiology’s data dilemma:

www.thetransmitter.org/the-big-pict...

Check out some opinions in the thread below:

🚨Preprint alert🚨

In an amazing collaboration with @lucasgruaz.bsky.social, S Becker, & J Brea, we explored a major puzzle in #neuroscience & #psychology:

**What are the merits of curiosity?** 🧠🧑‍🔬🧪
osf.io/preprints/ps...

1/7

The Extinction Illusion: The left side and the right side have the same number of black dots

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Prefrontal transthalamic uncertainty processing drives flexible switching - Nature By examining neural responses from tree shrews performing hierarchical decision tasks with rule reversals, the authors identify a thalamocortical mechanism for regulating cognitive flexibility.

A potential role for the thalamus in demixing cortical signals while providing a low-dimensional pathway for cortico-cortical communication

New paper from Halassa lab in Nature

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Hello Bluesky world! 🦋 I'm a neuroscience PhD student at EPFL 🇨🇭 I'm currently working on context and sensory processing but also interested in motor control in animals and machines 💪🦾