Research

How do neural circuits enable us to learn from sensory experiences?

My research interests span learning, memory, learning by predicting, inhibitory circuits, dendrites, synaptic plasticity, and biological recurrent neural networks.

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News

I was awarded an SNSF Starting Grant and started a lab at the Institute of Neuroinformatics in Zürich in May.

30.09.2024 I am giving a talk on Uncertainty-modulation of plasticity at the Bernstein workshop on Understanding Local Third Factors in Synaptic Plasticity: Mechanisms and Functional Implications in Frankfurt am Main.

03.09.2024 Our manuscript on Confidence and second-order errors in cortical circuits by A. Granier, M.A. Petrovici, W. Senn* and K.A. Wilmes* has been accepted at PNAS Nexus! Find the pre-print here.

06.06.2024 I am giving a talk at ICNCE 2024 in Aachen (https://www.icnce-2024.de/) on Neural mechanisms underlying predictive processing in uncertainty.

31.05.2024 Arno is giving a Spotlight talk on our Confidence and second-order errors manuscript at the Mathematics Of Neuroscience and AI Convention in Rome.

23.05.2024 Our pre-print Prospective and retrospective coding in cortical neurons by Simon Brandt, M. A. Petrovici, W. Senn, K. A. Wilmes*, F. Benitez* is now on arXiv! Find it here.

13.05.2024 I am presenting a poster at the Neurobiology of Mental Health lake conference in Thun.

04.03.2024 Our Cosyne workshop on The predictive brain: from algorithms to mechanisms was loads of fun with amazing talks:

  • Alireza Modirshanechi “Introduction”
  • Rebecca Jordan “Predictive visuomotor plasticity in mouse primary visual cortex”
  • Katharina A. Wilmes “Predictive processing in uncertainty” 
  • Nicholas Audette “Movement, Prediction and Error in Mouse Auditory Cortex” 
  • Rafal Bogacz “Monte Carlo Predictive Coding: Learning probability distributions of sensory inputs with local synaptic plasticity”
  • Máté Lengyel “Uncertainty everywhere” 
  • Peter Kok “The role of predictions in the neural circuit of perception” 
  • Frederike Petzschner “From predicting the world to predicting the body”
  • Wulfram Gerstner “Spike-based Surprise for fast adaptation” 

09.01.2024 Our Cosyne workshop on The predictive brain: from algorithms to mechanisms got accepted! Alireza Modirshanechi and I are organising it together. Stay tuned for a fantastic line up, on 4th of March in Cascais, Portugal!

21.12.2023 I was interviewed as a member of the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Medicine (CAIM) in Bern: Find it here.

14.12.2023 New pre-print on bioRxiv!
Knowing what you don’t know: Estimating the uncertainty of feedforward and feedback inputs with prediction-error circuits by L. Hertäg, K. A. Wilmes, and C. Clopath. Find it here: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.12.13.571410

12.12.2023 New pre-print on arXiv!
Exploring the functional hierarchy of different pyramidal cell types in temporal processing by A.D. Vo, E. Abs, P. Vilimelis Aceituno, B.F. Grewe, and K.A. Wilmes. Find it here: https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.07422v1

11.12.2023 Our paper was published in Neuron:
D. Myers-Joseph, K.A. Wilmes, M. Fernandez-Otero, C. Clopath, A. Khan (2022). Disinhibition by VIP interneurons is orthogonal to cross-modal attentional modulation in primary visual cortex.  Neuron doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2023.11.006

29.9.2023 Our pre-print on Confidence and second-order errors in cortical circuits by A. Granier, M.A. Petrovici, W. Senn* and K.A. Wilmes* is online on arXiv! Find it here.

27.9.2023 Posters at the Bernstein Conference:

Brandt S, Petrovici MA, Senn W, Wilmes KA*, Benitez F* (2023) Prospective and Retrospective Coding in Cortical and Hippocampal Pyramidal Neurons. Bernstein Conference 2023. doi: 10.12751/nncn.bc2023.084 *joint senior authorship

Granier AJ, Petrovici MA, Senn W*, Wilmes KA* (2023) Reliability estimation and second-order prediction errors in cortical circuits. Bernstein Conference 2023. doi: 10.12751/nncn.bc2023.210 *joint senior authorship.

Hertäg L, Wilmes K.A., Clopath C (2023) Weighting sensory inputs and predictions with prediction-error neurons. Bernstein Conference 2023. doi: 10.12751/nncn.bc2023.212

26.9.2023 I am giving a talk on “Uncertainty-modulated prediction errors in cortical microcircuits” at the Bernstein workshop Biologically plausible learning in artificial neural networks.

17.7.2023 I am giving a featured contributed talk on “Uncertainty-modulated prediction errors in cortical microcircuits” at the CNS meeting in Leipzig.

23.5.2023 Our pre-print on Uncertainty-modulated prediction errors in cortical microcircuits by K.A. Wilmes, M.A. Petrovici, S. Sachidhanandam and W. Senn is online on bioRxiv! Find it here.

27.3.2023 Our paper on Dendrites Help Mitigate the Plasticity-Stability Dilemma by K.A. Wilmes and C. Clopath has been accepted at Scientific Reports.

14.3.2023 I am giving a talk on “Uncertainty-modulated prediction errors in cortical microcircuits” at the Cosyne workshop Top-down interactions in the neocortex: Structure, function, plasticity and models.

23.1.2023 Our pre-print is online on bioRxiv!
D. Myers-Joseph, K.A. Wilmes, M. Fernandez-Otero, C. Clopath, A. Khan (2022). Attentional modulation is orthogonal to disinhibition by VIP interneurons in primary visual cortex. bioRxiv doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.11.28.518253