BRIAN simulator

I just finished writing a text about « subjective physics »: a term I made up to designate the description of the laws that govern sensory signals and their relationships with actions. It is relevant to systems computational neuroscience, embodiment ... [More] theories and psychological theories of perception (in particular Gibson’s ecological theory and the sensorimotor theory). Here is [...] [Less]

What is a realistic neuron model? There is a hierarchy among neuron models, which goes like this: least realistic model is the integrate-and-fire model, which is phenomenological; then the single-compartment Hodgkin-Huxley model; then ... [More] multicompartmental Hodgkin-Huxley models (this hierarchy is questioned by a recently accepted paper that I wrote, but I will discuss it when the [...] [Less]

We are happy to announce another alpha release of Brian2 (version number 2.0a5) which adds a new feature for testing: C++ standalone simulations. Standalone mode is a new addition to Brian2 with no equivalent in Brian1. It takes a simulation script and generates a directory of completely Brian-independent C++ files from it that perform the [...]

An intriguing fact about the pitch of tones is that we tend to describe it using spatial characteristics such as “high” and “low”. In the same way, we speak of a rising intonation when the pitch increases. A sequence of notes with increasing frequency played on a piano scale is described as going “up” (even [...]

A general phrase that one reads very often about the brain in the context of perception is that it “processes information”. I have already discussed the term “information”, which is ambiguous and misleading. But here I want to discuss the term “process”. Is it true that the brain is in the business of “information processing”? [...]

Perhaps the most striking example of the halo effect that I have noticed is the weight given to very high-impact journals (say Nature). Most scientists I know would love to publish in such journals, because of the visibility and prestige, and because they know it helps their career (for example to get grants). But [...]

 This part will illustrate two psychological biases, known as the illusion of validity and the halo effect. For research and university positions in France, the candidate must provide a written application (CV, project, description of previous work) ... [More] and must also give an oral presentation and answer questions. The oral presentation is generally 5-15 minutes, [...] [Less]

It turns out that such criteria, based on the current employment status of the candidates, are also not legal according to French law. Public hiring must be based on criteria that are directly relevant to the position. Factors such as sex or race are obviously illegal, but any other criterion irrelevant to the advertised [...]

Even though experience is only a substitute for the attribute that is supposed to be evaluated in hiring decisions, there is at least some correlation between the two attributes, or at least in some cases (like number of publications). More troubling are the following criteria which have little to do with the target attribute: [...]

First I will comment on the criteria that corresponds to the question “what is the experience of the candidate?”, rather than the original question that the committee is supposed to answer: “how likely is the candidate to have a brilliant scientific career over the next 30-40 years”. There is no doubt that the candidate’s [...]