Small Brain Cognition Lab

Call for Abstracts Extended! 🌟
Join us this September in Sheffield for 'Nature of Intelligence: Bridging Animal & Artificial Intelligence', an ASAB Interdisciplinary Workshop.

@asab.org @sheffielduni.bsky.social
#ArtificialIntelligence #AnimalCognition #Neuroscience I #AcademicWorkshop #ASAB

New study revealing bees' secret to super-efficient learning could revolutionise AI and robotics A new discovery of how bees use their flight movements to facilitate remarkably accurate learning & recognition of complex visual patterns could mark a major change in how next-generation AI is develo...

Our latest paper reveals how active vision via scanning dynamically refines spatiotemporal neural representations, enabling efficient pattern recognition in minimal systems.

A step forward in understanding embedded cognition & AI
www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/new-stu... #bee #ActiveVision #Neuromorphic

A neuromorphic model of active vision shows how spatiotemporal encoding in lobula neurons can aid pattern recognition in bees Active vision dynamically refines spatiotemporal neural representations, optimising visual processing through scanning behaviour and non-associative learning, providing insights into efficient sensory...

Exciting paper from our lab out today:

New insights into how bees use flight movements—such as body, head, and eye wiggles—to actively support their brain’s pattern learning and recognition with remarkable accuracy could inspire advances in next-generation AI.

elifesciences.org/articles/89929

Drosophila larval Odd neurons process innate and learned information to regulate chemotaxis behavior Adaptive decision-making emerges from the integration of innate preferences and learned experiences to guide behavior. Using Drosophila larvae as a model, we investigated the neural circuitry underlyi...

A new study submitted to BioRxiv:
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Nature of Intelligence NIBAI-2025: Nature of Intelligence, Bridging Animal and Artificial Intelligence Workshop Dates: 📅 Date: 4–5 September 2025 📍 Venue: The Diamond Building, University of Sheffield, UK 📝 Registration De...

Announcing the ASAB Interdisciplinary Workshop:
Nature of Intelligence – Bridging Animal & Artificial Intelligence
📍 University of Sheffield, UK
📅 4–5 September 2025
📝 Abstracts due: 1 July
🔗 Register & learn more: sites.google.com/sheffield.ac...
#AnimalIntelligence #NeuroAI #BioRobotics
@asab.org

Our new preprint is live! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🐝🧪 “Bumblebee string pulling skill spreads between colonies under open diffusion conditions”! @procenko.bsky.social @minibraincognition.bsky.social @larschittka.bsky.social

A neuromorphic model of active vision shows how spatiotemporal encoding in lobula neurons can aid pattern recognition in bees Bees' remarkable visual learning abilities make them ideal for studying active information acquisition and representation. Here, we develop a biologically inspired model to examine how flight behaviou...

Two studies submitted to BioRxiv:
doi.org/10.1101/2023...
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

"Theory of Morphodynamic Information Processing: Linking Sensing to Behaviour" out today in Vision Research: authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
#VisionResearch #Morphodynamics #InformationProcessing #NeuralCoding

This is amazing: it’s incredibly windy in the UK right now, so only about 10% of the National Grid is currently being powered by fossil fuels.

Plot twist 😱

Ole Roemer Profile: First to Measure the Speed of Light | AMNH Before Ole Roemer's 1676 discovery, scientists assumed that light could not be measured.

In 1676, Danish astronomer Ole Roemer (1644–1710) became the first person to measure the speed of light. He did so by timing eclipses of Io by Jupiter, which occurred later when earth was farther away from Jupiter than when it was closer.
www.amnh.org/learn-teach/...

Joanne Cohn and the email list that led to arXiv A strong sense of community led an early-career string theorist to share preprints in a scientifically competitive environment.

'Before there was arXiv, there was Joanne Cohn (...) She started an informal exchange of string theory manuscripts that eventually became the arXiv preprint server, which has since revolutionized the way scientists share ideas and announce findings.'

pubs.aip.org/physicstoday...

Genesis: high quality generative Physics engine, genesis-embodied-ai.github.io

If I cite a preprint, I am doing peer review. No editor needs to be involved. We don't need the high priests of Elsevier to sanctify this relationship.

Exciting news! Our holistic approach to neural information, "Theory of Morphodynamic Information Processing: Linking Sensing to Behaviour," has been accepted for publication in Vision Research! 🎉 Dive deeper into the work with our extended version here: preprints.org/manuscript/202308.1210/v2.

What my dad’s death taught me about the assisted dying debate Sarah-Jayne Blakemore and her sisters knew their father, the neuroscientist Sir Colin Blakemore, had always planned to go to the Netherlands in the face of terminal motor neurone disease. But the real...

I wrote an article about my dad's death, and how it affected my views on assisted dying

Free version of the article in the next post

Views are my own, not those of the institutions or academies I'm associated with

www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcar...

Check out this fly boxing away a parasitic wasp who is trying to lay eggs in its abdomen.
I've watched a lot of fly behavior, but never seen anything like this. Makes you wonder how much we miss by studying lab organisms in isolation from their natural threats.
Vid from: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

YouTube video by Centre for Cognition in Small Brains How Photoreceptor Microsaccades SHIFT the Receptive Fields | Fruit fly

Video 2: Morphodynamic neural superposition in the fly eye (3/3) www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsYH...

YouTube video by Centre for Cognition in Small Brains Photoreceptor Microsaccades across the Fly Eyes (GHS-DPP)

Video 1: Vision enhancement via mirror-symmetric photoreceptor microsaccades (2/3) www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3b9...

Two videos by devjoni.com showcasing our ongoing research into morphodynamic information processing (1/3)

Hello!
We are a group of scientists from the University of Sheffield excited about how the brain works, using flies & other insects as our models. 🧪🪰 Looking forward to sharing some of our work in the coming days!