Brain structure and behavior give rise to manifolds.
But what about the environment? Either through statistical learning or just similar inputs leading to similar representations: the input/task will shape the manifold, no?
Linear track → linear representation.
Circular color space → ring.
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Aug 4, 2025 19:26And for me the big question is: What about representational drift? 😄
Manifolds can be mapped, but individual neuronal responses change. That’s neat, but how does it make sense?
How can perception stay stable if the neurons keep changing?
I’m sure manifolds will help us understand that too…
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Indeed, IMO behavior (and environment, etc) are inextricably linked to manifold properties. For this reason, comparative (e.g. for same behavior, are manifolds different in different regions?) and causal (e.g., move activity on the manifold and predict behavioral changes) experiments are essential.
Though I will say that some evidence suggests it's not going to always be 1:1 with environment. E.g. the 2022 Gardner ERC place cell paper we mention in the article has place cells mapping even square environments into a toroid shape. Though the Guo 2024 CA1 paper has environment-hspaed manifolds
Could be a cell type difference (Gardner 2022 focused on grid cells) or a region difference? Methods difference? Lots of interesting possibilities!
