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Marcel S. Kehl

Marcel S. Kehl

@mskehl.bsky.social

250 followers 500 following 10 posts

Oxford Postdoc in the Staresina Lab | Sleep | Memory | Human Olfaction & Single Neurons

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Marcel S. Kehl @mskehl.bsky.social · 9d

🚨Preprint: Semantic Tuning of Single Neurons in the Human Medial Temporal Lobe

1/8: How do human neurons encode meaning?
In this work, led by Katharina Karkowski, we recorded hundreds of human MTL neurons to study semantic coding in the human brain:

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Semantic Tuning of Single Neurons in the Human Medial Temporal Lobe

The Medial Temporal Lobe (MTL) is key to human cognition, supporting memory, emotional processing, navigation, and semantic coding. Rare direct human MTL recordings revealed concept cells, which were ...

Reposted by Marcel S. Kehl

Yvonne Chen @yvonnechen.bsky.social · 5h

My Lab @unlv.edu is recruiting motivated students interested in human memory and brain research! Learn #EEG, #fMRI, and data analysis while exploring how we remember 🧠
📧 DM me or check out #PhD program www.unlv.edu/degree/phd-n... & www.unlv.edu/psychology/g...
Plus, Vegas is a fun place to live!🤟

Doctor of Philosophy - Neuroscience

This interdisciplinary Ph.D. program provides coursework and research training in neuroscience, with research mentoring spanning a range of different dimensions (basic to applied/clinical neuroscience...

Reposted by Marcel S. Kehl

Martin Hebart @martinhebart.bsky.social · 1d

Please repost! I am looking for a PhD candidate in the area of Computational Cognitive Neuroscience to start in early 2026.

The position is funded as part of the Excellence Cluster "The Adaptive Mind" at @jlugiessen.bsky.social.

Please apply here until Nov 25:
www.uni-giessen.de/de/ueber-uns...

View from your office onto Giessen and surrounding villages.

Marcel S. Kehl @mskehl.bsky.social · 9d

8/8: A huge thanks to Katharina Karkowski and everyone contributing! @humansingleneuron.bsky.social, Florian Mormann, Yair Lakretz, @martinhebart.bsky.social, @standehaene.bsky.social, @alanadarcher.bsky.social @treber.bsky.social, @yjqin.bsky.social, Philipp Karkowski, Valeri Borger & Rainer Surges

Marcel S. Kehl @mskehl.bsky.social · 9d

7/8: Which semantic models best explain these neuronal responses?
Continuous, vector-based embeddings capture MTL activity more accurately than categorical or network-based models, shedding light on how meaning is structured in the human brain.

Marcel S. Kehl @mskehl.bsky.social · 9d

6/8: Investigating graded responses across neurons revealed region-specific tuning of MTL subregions. Amygdala neurons, for example, showed a preference for food items. These tuning patterns link single-neuron coding with large-scale activity seen in human brain imaging.

Marcel S. Kehl @mskehl.bsky.social · 9d

5/8: This example amygdala neuron responds to several food- and drink-related items but not to unrelated items (such as the bus).

Marcel S. Kehl @mskehl.bsky.social · 9d

4/8: Human MTL neurons exhibit semantic tuning, with graded responses that follow narrow and steep tuning curves (steepest in hippocampus).
Neurons preferentially respond to semantically related stimuli, and their firing rates correlate with semantic similarity to preferred stimuli.

Marcel S. Kehl @mskehl.bsky.social · 9d

3/8: Neuronal tuning curves are core coding principles in neuroscience (e.g., in vision and audition). They can vary in width and steepness. Using semantic embeddings and standardised image sets (THINGS), we presented items at controlled semantic distances to map the local semantic vicinity.

Marcel S. Kehl @mskehl.bsky.social · 9d

2/8: The discovery of concept cells sparked debate about binary vs distributed coding. Here, we developed a closed-loop algorithm that adaptively presents images semantically related to response-eliciting stimuli to explore the semantic tuning of MTL neurons.

Marcel S. Kehl @mskehl.bsky.social · 9d

🚨Preprint: Semantic Tuning of Single Neurons in the Human Medial Temporal Lobe

1/8: How do human neurons encode meaning?
In this work, led by Katharina Karkowski, we recorded hundreds of human MTL neurons to study semantic coding in the human brain:

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Semantic Tuning of Single Neurons in the Human Medial Temporal Lobe

The Medial Temporal Lobe (MTL) is key to human cognition, supporting memory, emotional processing, navigation, and semantic coding. Rare direct human MTL recordings revealed concept cells, which were ...

Reposted by Marcel S. Kehl

bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 9d

Semantic Tuning of Single Neurons in the Human Medial Temporal Lobe https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.21.682935v1

Reposted by Marcel S. Kehl

bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · Aug 22

Hippocampal stimulation reveals causal role of persistent neural activity in human working memory https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.20.671301v1

Reposted by Marcel S. Kehl

Tim Guth @timaguth.bsky.social · Aug 11

Excited to share our new paper on theta-phase locking of single neurons during human spatial memory:

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

With @lukaskunz.bsky.social, Joshua Jacobs, and our colleagues from the University of Freiburg

Neuronal theta-phase locking increased during periods of elevated theta power, when aperiodic activity exhibited steeper slopes, and when clear theta oscillations were detected. Theta-phase locking was similarly strong during the successful and unsuccessful encoding and retrieval of memories. Some neurons changed their preferred theta phases between encoding and retrieval.

Reposted by Marcel S. Kehl

Olivia Christiano @oliviachristiano.bsky.social · Jul 19

How reliable is OPM-MEG, and how does it compare to other neuroimaging modalities? 🤔

In a new preprint with ‪@s-michelmann.bsky.social‬, we evaluate the reliability of OPM-MEG within & between individuals, and compare it to fMRI & iEEG during repeated movie viewing. 🧠

📄 doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Reliability and signal comparison of OPM-MEG, fMRI & iEEG in a repeated movie viewing paradigm

Optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) offer a promising advancement in noninvasive neuroimaging via magnetoencephalography (MEG), but establishing their reliability and comparability to existing metho...

Reposted by Marcel S. Kehl

Nature Human Behaviour @nathumbehav.nature.com · Jul 9

In this Article, Paluch et al. show that unattended working memory items, as well as attended ones, are encoded in persistent activity in the medial temporal lobe. @jankaminski.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Unattended working memory items are coded by persistent activity in human medial temporal lobe neurons - Nature Human Behaviour

Paluch et al. show that unattended working memory items, as well as attended ones, are encoded in persistent activity in the medial temporal lobe.

Reposted by Marcel S. Kehl

Martin Hebart @martinhebart.bsky.social · Jun 23

What makes humans similar or different to AI? In a paper out in @natmachintell.nature.com led by @florianmahner.bsky.social & @lukasmut.bsky.social, w/ Umut Güclü, we took a deep look at the factors underlying their representational alignment, with surprising results.

www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Dimensions underlying the representational alignment of deep neural networks with humans - Nature Machine Intelligence

An interpretability framework that compares how humans and deep neural networks process images has been presented. Their findings reveal that, unlike humans, deep neural networks focus more on visual ...

Reposted by Marcel S. Kehl

Xianhui He @xianhuihe.bsky.social · Jun 16

How does our brain learn that thunder follows lightning? We don't just remember two separate events; we build a predictive model to anticipate the world. My research dives into this very question: how we learn and predict the order of events. 🧵👇 1/9 #neuroscience #memory #sleep

Marcel S. Kehl @mskehl.bsky.social · Jun 16

How does sequence learning reshape item representations? We found that the brain incorporates high-level successor representations even outside the sequence task. This process is supported by slow-wave sleep. Great work by @xianhuihe.bsky.social and the team!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

www.biorxiv.org

Reposted by Marcel S. Kehl

bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · Jun 16

Sleep strengthens successor representations of learned sequences https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.11.658893v1

Reposted by Marcel S. Kehl

Brice Bathellier @bathellierlab.bsky.social · Jun 15

New study of the lab showing that sleep preserve sound representations geometry in the auditory cortex but intermittently blocks the transfer of sensory information, possibly to provide both opportunities for surveillance and offline processing.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

www.biorxiv.org

Reposted by Marcel S. Kehl

Thomas Schreiner @tschreiner.bsky.social · Jun 9

Born from a collaboration with @danlikesbrains.bsky.social ’s team, this project shows how your breathing shapes brain excitability across the entire wake–sleep cycle. Huge shoutout to everyone involved — go check it out! 💥

#neuroskyence

Andrea Sanchez Corzo @asanchezcorzo.bsky.social · Jun 9

Curious about how your brain’s excitability aligns with your breath, even while asleep? Check out our new preprint!!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A great collaboration between @tschreiner.bsky.social 's lab and @danlikesbrains.bsky.social 's lab.
(1/5)

Respiratory coordination of excitability states across the human wake-sleep cycle

While the respiratory rhythm is increasingly recognized as a key modulator of oscillatory brain activity across the wake-sleep cycle in humans, very little is known about its influence on aperiodic br...

www.biorxiv.org

Reposted by Marcel S. Kehl

Katrijn Schruers @katschruers.bsky.social · May 21

Just published my first paper!
Really grateful to everyone at the plasticity lab @oxcin.bsky.social who made this possible.

huge thanks to my co-authors — couldn’t have done it without you.

If you want to check it out:
📄 paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Sleep regularity index as a novel indicator of sleep disturbance in stroke survivors: a secondary data analysis - Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports - Sleep regularity index as a novel indicator of sleep disturbance in stroke survivors: a secondary data analysis

Reposted by Marcel S. Kehl

Tobias Ackels @tobiasackels.bsky.social · May 18

🚨 Preprint alert! 🚨
Can mice estimate the distance to an odour source?
New work led by Cristina Marin and colleagues, jointly supervised by @andreas-t-schaefer.bsky.social at the @crick.ac.uk and myself.

Spoiler alert: Yes, they can!

Read the paper here: bit.ly/43A9tF9
Short 🧵 below

Reposted by Marcel S. Kehl

Tamara Gedankien @gedankien.bsky.social · May 14

Hi Bluesky! First post here. Kicking things off with a new preprint.

🧠 Using human iEEG + pharmacology, we asked: is hippocampal theta required for retrieval?

Turns out it’s not. Instead, it may reflect a reinstated encoding mode.

Thread below.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Cholinergic blockade reveals role for human hippocampal theta in encoding but not retrieval

Cholinergic dysfunction is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease and other memory disorders. Yet, the neurophysiological mechanisms linking cholinergic signaling to memory remain poorly understood. In thi...

www.biorxiv.org

Reposted by Marcel S. Kehl

Bernhard Staresina @bstaresina.bsky.social · Apr 29

New paper out in SLEEP @sleepjournals.bsky.social!

In his study, Jude Thom shows how cortical regions excited by tDCS before sleep express more spindles during subsequent sleep. doi.org/10.1093/slee...

@oxexppsy.bsky.social @oxcin.bsky.social @ukri.org