#48 In search of thalamo-cortical computational principles

We sat down with Lukas Ian Schmitt (@lucidianS), a team leader at RIKEN CBS, and talked about his trajectory, life in Japan, past and ongoing projects about the distributed computation in the cortico-thalamic loop, and related works (Recorded on 9/10)

Show Notes:

Editorial Notes:

  • Really nice conversation though I guess we have some difference as to whether thalamic computational roles are an inevitable network design or just based on evolutionary history (I guess time and research will reveal who’s right!) In any case, I really enjoyed talking science with you both! – Ian
  • I enjoyed the discussion and it was nice to see the connection between Ian’s work and others’ on the thalamus. It seems the time has finally come to decipher thalamic functions and I hope our new work will change the way we think about how the brain computes information! -Miho
  • Recent evolutionary expansion in thalamus/LP could be just optimization around local minima. Let’s see how Ian’s work would discard this possibility! For now, we can happily agree to disagree! – Kenta/萩
  • It was a perfect way to drop our first episode for both domestic and international listeners. Thanks, Ian and Miho! -Tak/脇