Cog Lunch: Lynn Soerensen

April 21, 2026
12pm
Location: 46-3189

Zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/j/94317202535
Speaker: Lynn Soerensen

Affiliation: Dicarlo Lab
Title: Hierarchical Optimization predicts Plasticity in the Macaque Inferior Temporal Cortex following Object Trainin

Abstract: How does the primate brain coordinate plasticity when learning to discriminate new objects? In this talk, I will present results from a series of neurophysiological and computational modeling experiments investigating how object training changes representations in the primate ventral visual stream. Specifically, I will characterize how learning to discriminate new objects leads to differences in neural activity in the macaque inferior temporal (IT) cortex, including increased object selectivity, enhanced linear separability, and more invariant representations compared to untrained control animals. I will then introduce a computational framework using anatomically-mapped artificial neural network models of the ventral stream to ask why IT changed to the degree we observed. Our simulations showed that gradient-based task optimization accurately approximates the measured changes and predicts novel training-induced phenomena. Finally, I will discuss what these findings suggest about the usefulness of task optimization via gradient descent for understanding long-term training-induced plasticity in sensory cortices.