Anton Pashkov

Cascades and convergence: Dynamic signal flow in a synapse-level brain network Author summary To understand how the brain processes and merges information from our senses, we need more than just a “wiring map” of its connections; we need to see how signals actually travel throug...

🚨Another new one from the lab!

Cascades and convergence: Dynamic signal flow in a synapse-level brain network

We simulate sensory cascades in a bona fide biological neural network.

With Caio Seguin, Maria Grazia Puxeddu, and @misicbata.bsky.social!

journals.plos.org/complexsyste...

Medial Pulvinar Nucleus as a Causal Hub for Heteromodal Naming Our ability to retrieve the names of objects in our environment is a fundamental aspect of everyday life. This process requires a complex, dynamic network of cortical and subcortical interactions. Whi...

Out now in #JNeurosci! We used direct recordings and stimulation in human pulvinar to probe its causal role during naming from pictures, and spoken and written descriptions. We found naming-selective responses and stim-induced pure anomia.

doi.org/10.1523/JNEU...

#NeuroSkyence #iEEG

🧵👇

1/ New preprint out! “Control of cortical population activity with patterned microstimulation.” We show that brief training with multi-electrode stimulation pulses is enough to steer prefrontal population activity along desired trajectories in awake macaques. tinyurl.com/3d6kv26w

I am totally pumped about this new work . "Task-trained RNNs" are a powerful and influential framework in neuroscience, but have lacked a firm theoretical footing. This work provides one, and makes direct contact with the classical theory of random RNNs:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Re-visiting cognitive reserve: The importance of multiple brain measures
"‘cognitive reserve’ broadly refers to better-than-expected cognitive abilities in old age, presumed to reflect environmental/lifestyle factors earlier in life."
Nice review from Rik Henson:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Towards Molecular Selectivity in Pharmacoimaging: Comment on van den Bosch and Cools Abstract. Molecular-enriched fMRI promises to bridge the gap between neurotransmitter systems and macro-scale network dynamics, yet empirical support has remained elusive. Commenting on van den Bosch ...

🚨 New paper alert! 🚨

We wrote a commentary in @imagingneurosci.bsky.social on a really nice recent paper from van den Bosch & Cools where they provide the first real attempt at validating REACT (molecular-enriched fMRI).

Here's what they found and what we think it means 👇

doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...

With Eugene Koonin, we propose a concept of “the selfish ribosome”, under which evolution of life is viewed as a ribosomal takeover, where the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensures the propagation of the ribosome. arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268

I couldn't find a tool to plot different #neuroimaging data in one consistent style, so I made one! Meet yabplot (yet another brain plot) - a #Python package for (sub)cortex & tracts.🧠
- Simple API
- Built-in atlases
- Custom atlas support
🔗 github.com/teanijarv/ya... (drop a ⭐️!)

1/5 Big news: the pre-print for my final postdoc paper is (finally) out!

Why did it take so long? We significantly expanded the manuscript thanks largely to the incredible work of one of my first undergraduates here at @uconn.bsky.social @uconnresearch.bsky.social 😀

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The neural basis of imagination: An evolutionary perspective The study of imagination has progressed due to its operationalization through a variety of behavioural tasks, initially designed for human participant…

Hot take: the hippocampus isn't actually "evolutionarily ancient" and its not helpful to think of it as such.

The full argument for this take is right here (but you need to scroll down to sections 5-6):
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

🚨 New Paper: Controlling the Human Connectome with Spatially Diffuse Input Signals

Now in press at Communications Biology!

www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Increasing EEG electrode density improves decoding of visual categories and source localization: an exploratory ultra-high-density EEG study

Exploring the Role of the Rich Club in Network Control of Neurocognitive States Using a network control theoretical framework, we found that the brain's rich club does not optimally control dynamics of the brain. Instead, size-matched sets of random peripheral regions had a sign...

🚨 New paper from @apodschun.bsky.social (with Sebastian Markett, Urs Braun, and myself)

Exploring the Role of the Rich Club in Network Control of Neurocognitive States

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

How dynamics arise from the structure is my biggest interest. In this study, we started with a small step and asked how structure constrains dynamics. Spoiler: would that it were so simple… (1/6)

Check out our latest paper:

The Contribution of endocannabinoids to placebo analgesia

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

This is an ongoing collaboration with David Finn & @laurenatlas.bsky.social

Take away: beta-endorphins gate the contributions of endocannabinoids to placebo analgesia.

Compact deep neural network models of the visual cortex Nature - Parsimonious deep neural network models can be used for prediction of visual neuron responses.

DNN models of the brain are getting bigger. Are we replacing one complicated system in vivo with another in silico?

In new work, we seek the *smallest* DNN models of visual cortex, balancing prediction with parsimony.

It turns out these compact models are surprisingly small!

rdcu.be/e5H8G

A recent paper in @natureportfolio.nature.com raised concerns about the lesion network mapping method. Our team of 16 coauthors analyzed >1000 lesions and 34 symptoms and found that "The methodological foundations of lesion network mapping remain sound" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Cholinergic--dopaminergic interplay underlies prediction error broadcasting https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.19.706866v1

Happy to announce this new preprint!

In it, we use info decomp (ΦID) on fMRI in Alzheimer's and MCI to explore how info-dynamic representations change.

AD saw big decreases in synergy ('deductive' information) and increases in redundancy.

Check it out here:
👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The parafascicular nucleus of the thalamus orchestrates coordinated skeletomotor, autonomic, and aversive state transitions https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.19.706912v1

Graphs are maximally expressive for higher-order interactions We demonstrate that graph-based models are fully capable of representing higher-order interactions, and have a long history of being used for precisely this purpose. This stands in contrast to a commo...

New on the arxiv:

“Graphs are maximally expressive for higher-order interactions”

arxiv.org/abs/2602.16937

We clarify central misconceptions in the recent literature on "higher-order networks".

w/ @piratepeel.bsky.social , @manlius.bsky.social, and @thilogross.bsky.social

Explainer 🧵: 1/N

New lab paper in #ScienceAdvances: we identify a modality-common selective-attention signal in noncholinergic #BasalForebrain (BF) “bursting” neurons, distinct from the modality-specific attention signals typically described in corticothalamic circuits. 1/n
www.science.org/doi/full/10....

underappreciated concept 🙂

for more dipoles: neighboring dipoles have different orientations & can have different stimulus preferences. so even though topographies look similar, subtle differences remain. maybe that's why it is possible to decode information from relatively few sensors?

New preprint out 🎉

What happens to the hippocampal “place code” when an animal is actively engaged in a task?

The answer surprised us (and might surprise you too!).

Let's dive in ⬇️

Link:
"Hippocampal trace coding dominates and disrupts place coding" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A cartoon showing a middle-aged mouse at an office desk, remembering (in a thought bubble) a childhood birthday, with his parent bringing him a cake with a single candle; cartoon glial cells are controlling a cable that links to his early memories. Infantile amnesia is the global loss of episodic and contextual memories formed in early life. Image credit: Birte Doludda

Infantile #amnesia limits our recall of early-life memories, but what is its cellular basis? @tjryan.bsky.social &co reveal that transient #microglial activity during postnatal development regulates infant #memory persistence & retrieval in mice @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4a0SoGH

Delighted to report our study on sensory symptoms has been published in @braincomms.bsky.social - @jonstoneneuro.bsky.social, Prof. Mark Edwards, Dr. Jan Coebergh, @roryhigginsphysio.bsky.social, @gnielsenphysio.bsky.social

academic.oup.com/braincomms/a...

Opposing Network Patterns of Integration-Segregation in Psychedelic and Sedated States of Consciousness https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.17.706398v1

A Shapiro-Wilk test of the response variable concludes very significant deviation of Normality. But residuals of linear model consistent with Normal distribution.

Visual check of the linear model with DHARMa

Periodic reminder that we should avoid testing the Normality of the response variable.

For a linear model, what matters is the Normality of residuals (and not that much). Visual checks better than test. #statistics

Neuronal spiking in the mammalian forebrain is dominated by a heterogeneous ground state Neuronal firing patterns have significant spatiotemporal variability with no agreed-upon theoretical framework. Using a combined experimental and mode…

With this one in print, I think I finally earned that PhD... 😅
Presented for the first time at the cosyne when the world ended (March 2020). I'll bring over a summary thread from twitter when it was still twitter...

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A primer on sleep neuroscience for psychiatry - NPP—Digital Psychiatry and Neuroscience NPP—Digital Psychiatry and Neuroscience - A primer on sleep neuroscience for psychiatry

Check out our 🆕 Primer which walks through the neuroscience of sleep, how sleep is measured, key EEG features, and why it's important to assess sleep dysregulation in psychiatric care and research.

By Jared Saletin & Giulia Righi

www.nature.com/articles/s44...