Borjan (Boki) Milinković
@neuromorphicboki.bsky.social
Mathematical Neuroscientist. Biologically Inclined.
Postdoctoral Researcher @ Destexhe Lab, CNRS, Paris-Saclay.
Modelling psychedelic- and stimulation-induced shifts in consciousness.
Theorising about computation, causation, information, and emergence.
Postdoctoral Researcher @ Destexhe Lab, CNRS, Paris-Saclay.
Modelling psychedelic- and stimulation-induced shifts in consciousness.
Theorising about computation, causation, information, and emergence.
Pinned
Dynamical independence reveals anaesthetic specific fragmentation of emergent structure in neural dynamics
Conscious experience depends on the coordinated activity of neural processes that span multiple scales--from synapses to whole-brain dynamics. A recently introduced measure, dynamical independence, id...
www.biorxiv.org
📜🪇[PUBLISHED]: NEW PREPRINT!🪇📜
I am incredibly excited to announce that we have published our paper on how "Dynamical independence reveals anaesthetic specific fragmentation of emergent structure in neural dynamics"
[email protected] @anilseth.bsky.social Barnett, Carter
Strap in!
1/n
I am incredibly excited to announce that we have published our paper on how "Dynamical independence reveals anaesthetic specific fragmentation of emergent structure in neural dynamics"
[email protected] @anilseth.bsky.social Barnett, Carter
Strap in!
1/n
This place..
November 25, 2025 at 1:30 PM
This place..
The process of writing feels like a never-ending process of not being able to deliver. A constant regurgitation of ideas that one is never satisfied with once vomited out.
It is not satisfaction that deems the work complete, but the inability to stomach the bile any longer.
It is not satisfaction that deems the work complete, but the inability to stomach the bile any longer.
November 23, 2025 at 12:13 PM
The process of writing feels like a never-ending process of not being able to deliver. A constant regurgitation of ideas that one is never satisfied with once vomited out.
It is not satisfaction that deems the work complete, but the inability to stomach the bile any longer.
It is not satisfaction that deems the work complete, but the inability to stomach the bile any longer.
Beeping the hive-mind: Has there been anything published as an exposition of, *if* and *how* GNWT aligns with functional computationalism? ..Or is it primarily based on unofficially assumed relations?
November 22, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Beeping the hive-mind: Has there been anything published as an exposition of, *if* and *how* GNWT aligns with functional computationalism? ..Or is it primarily based on unofficially assumed relations?
Doom scrolling BlueSky recently, I love that @earlkmiller.bsky.social single-handedly stirred you all.
..On whichever side of the argument you sit on. ;-)
Keeping it Punk whilst retaining rigour. Solid move, if you ask me.
..On whichever side of the argument you sit on. ;-)
Keeping it Punk whilst retaining rigour. Solid move, if you ask me.
November 20, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Doom scrolling BlueSky recently, I love that @earlkmiller.bsky.social single-handedly stirred you all.
..On whichever side of the argument you sit on. ;-)
Keeping it Punk whilst retaining rigour. Solid move, if you ask me.
..On whichever side of the argument you sit on. ;-)
Keeping it Punk whilst retaining rigour. Solid move, if you ask me.
Reposted by Borjan (Boki) Milinković
If we continue like this, a degree will soon be nothing more than a driving licence for AI.
November 20, 2025 at 1:03 PM
If we continue like this, a degree will soon be nothing more than a driving licence for AI.
This looks really nice!
1. New preprint resolving a conundrum in systems neuroscience with an AI scientist, and humans Reilly Tilbury, Dabin Kwon, @haydari.bsky.social, @jacobmratliff.bsky.social, @bio-emergent.bsky.social, @carandinilab.net, @kevinjmiller.bsky.social, @neurokim.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Characterizing neuronal population geometry with AI equation discovery
The visual cortex contains millions of neurons, whose combined activity forms a population code representing visual stimuli. There is, however, a discrepancy between our understanding of this code at ...
www.biorxiv.org
November 16, 2025 at 4:55 PM
This looks really nice!
Reposted by Borjan (Boki) Milinković
I am super happy to share that our project on training biophysical models with Jaxley is now published in Nature Methods: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Jaxley: differentiable simulation enables large-scale training of detailed biophysical models of neural dynamics - Nature Methods
Jaxley is a versatile platform for biophysical modeling in neuroscience. It allows efficiently simulating large-scale biophysical models on CPUs, GPUs and TPUs. Model parameters can be optimized with ...
www.nature.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:38 PM
I am super happy to share that our project on training biophysical models with Jaxley is now published in Nature Methods: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Wow
What is the most profitable industry in the world, this side of the law? Not oil, not IT, not pharma.
It's *scientific publishing*.
We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing.
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_...
Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy 👇
It's *scientific publishing*.
We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing.
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_...
Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy 👇
November 12, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Wow
Reposted by Borjan (Boki) Milinković
Our new preprint on the FOODEEG open dataset is out! EEG recordings and behavioural responses on food cognition tasks for 117 participants will be made publicly available 🧠 @danfeuerriegel.bsky.social @tgro.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
FOODEEG: An open dataset of human electroencephalographic and behavioural responses to food images
Investigating the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying food choices has the potential to advance our understanding of eating behaviour and inform health-targeted interventions and policy. Large, publi...
www.biorxiv.org
November 10, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Our new preprint on the FOODEEG open dataset is out! EEG recordings and behavioural responses on food cognition tasks for 117 participants will be made publicly available 🧠 @danfeuerriegel.bsky.social @tgro.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Borjan (Boki) Milinković
Our School is recruiting! Come and join a great team
@MonashUni
careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
@MonashUni
careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
Job Search
careers.pageuppeople.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Our School is recruiting! Come and join a great team
@MonashUni
careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
@MonashUni
careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...
Reposted by Borjan (Boki) Milinković
🚨New spotlight paper at Neurips 2025🚨
We show that in sign-diverse networks, inherent non-gradient “curl” terms arise, and can, depending on network architecture, destabilize gradient-descent solutions or paradoxically accelerate learning beyond pure gradient flow.
🧵⬇️
www.arxiv.org/abs/2510.02765
We show that in sign-diverse networks, inherent non-gradient “curl” terms arise, and can, depending on network architecture, destabilize gradient-descent solutions or paradoxically accelerate learning beyond pure gradient flow.
🧵⬇️
www.arxiv.org/abs/2510.02765
Curl Descent: Non-Gradient Learning Dynamics with Sign-Diverse Plasticity
Gradient-based algorithms are a cornerstone of artificial neural network training, yet it remains unclear whether biological neural networks use similar gradient-based strategies during learning. Expe...
www.arxiv.org
October 10, 2025 at 5:53 PM
🚨New spotlight paper at Neurips 2025🚨
We show that in sign-diverse networks, inherent non-gradient “curl” terms arise, and can, depending on network architecture, destabilize gradient-descent solutions or paradoxically accelerate learning beyond pure gradient flow.
🧵⬇️
www.arxiv.org/abs/2510.02765
We show that in sign-diverse networks, inherent non-gradient “curl” terms arise, and can, depending on network architecture, destabilize gradient-descent solutions or paradoxically accelerate learning beyond pure gradient flow.
🧵⬇️
www.arxiv.org/abs/2510.02765
Reposted by Borjan (Boki) Milinković
A multiple sclerosis patient in the UK was the first to receive CAR T cell therapy, invented by UCL researchers, in a clinical trial testing whether this personalised treatment can slow or even halt the progression of the disease. @uclqsion.bsky.social
www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/oc...
www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/oc...
October 28, 2025 at 3:43 PM
A multiple sclerosis patient in the UK was the first to receive CAR T cell therapy, invented by UCL researchers, in a clinical trial testing whether this personalised treatment can slow or even halt the progression of the disease. @uclqsion.bsky.social
www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/oc...
www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/oc...
Reposted by Borjan (Boki) Milinković
The final paper of my PhD is now out as a preprint. This is a follow-up piece in series of two companion papers modelling awareness and suppression in a new variant of continuous flash suppression.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.17154
🧵 1/3
arxiv.org/abs/2510.17154
🧵 1/3
A Minimal Quantitative Model of Perceptual Suppression and Breakthrough in Visual Rivalry
When conflicting images are presented to either eye, binocular fusion is disrupted. Rather than experiencing a blend of both percepts, often only one eye's image is experienced, whilst the other is su...
arxiv.org
October 21, 2025 at 6:10 AM
The final paper of my PhD is now out as a preprint. This is a follow-up piece in series of two companion papers modelling awareness and suppression in a new variant of continuous flash suppression.
arxiv.org/abs/2510.17154
🧵 1/3
arxiv.org/abs/2510.17154
🧵 1/3
Reposted by Borjan (Boki) Milinković
It is an enormous pleasure—and a dream, really—to share that the University of Bamberg has approved an initiative dedicated to mathematical approaches in #ConSci. The initiative is called Bamberg Mathematical Consciousness Science Initiative, or BAMΞ for short.
bamxi.org #BAMΞ @uni-bamberg.de
bamxi.org #BAMΞ @uni-bamberg.de
October 17, 2025 at 12:34 PM
It is an enormous pleasure—and a dream, really—to share that the University of Bamberg has approved an initiative dedicated to mathematical approaches in #ConSci. The initiative is called Bamberg Mathematical Consciousness Science Initiative, or BAMΞ for short.
bamxi.org #BAMΞ @uni-bamberg.de
bamxi.org #BAMΞ @uni-bamberg.de
Will academia remain a viable option for many of us?
I still hope so.
With love for this game, I hope science promises to still be a field we can participate it.
In this world filled with doom-noise, lets aspire for optimistic mindsets.
I still hope so.
With love for this game, I hope science promises to still be a field we can participate it.
In this world filled with doom-noise, lets aspire for optimistic mindsets.
Is academic research becoming too competitive? Nature examines the data
Applications for European research grants increased in 2025. Scientists say they’re feeling the competition.
www.nature.com
October 17, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Will academia remain a viable option for many of us?
I still hope so.
With love for this game, I hope science promises to still be a field we can participate it.
In this world filled with doom-noise, lets aspire for optimistic mindsets.
I still hope so.
With love for this game, I hope science promises to still be a field we can participate it.
In this world filled with doom-noise, lets aspire for optimistic mindsets.
“A musician finding his ear become every day more delicate, and correcting himself by reflection and attention, proceeds with the same act of the mind, even when the subject fails him, and entertains a notion of a compleat tierce or octave..”
Hume, 1739, presaging predictive processing
Hume, 1739, presaging predictive processing
October 10, 2025 at 10:28 AM
“A musician finding his ear become every day more delicate, and correcting himself by reflection and attention, proceeds with the same act of the mind, even when the subject fails him, and entertains a notion of a compleat tierce or octave..”
Hume, 1739, presaging predictive processing
Hume, 1739, presaging predictive processing
Reposted by Borjan (Boki) Milinković
Thrilled to share our new study: “Distilling the neurophenomenological signatures of pure awareness during Transcendental Meditation”, combining subjective reports with large-scale screening of neural features to investigate pure awareness. Thread below! 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
September 30, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Thrilled to share our new study: “Distilling the neurophenomenological signatures of pure awareness during Transcendental Meditation”, combining subjective reports with large-scale screening of neural features to investigate pure awareness. Thread below! 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The eternally flagrant optimist in me would like to believe that this work will have far-reaching impact.
Sharing knowledge is a fundamental principle within the scientific community, yet null and negative results are still being underreported. @scurry.bsky.social &co present a roadmap to a solution that has a role for everyone in the scientific community 🧪 #Academicsky #reproducibility
plos.io/3VwaU2O
plos.io/3VwaU2O
Ending publication bias: A values-based approach to surface null and negative results
Sharing knowledge is a fundamental principle within the scientific community, yet null and negative results are still being underreported. This Consensus View discusses the problem of such publication...
plos.io
September 25, 2025 at 7:31 PM
The eternally flagrant optimist in me would like to believe that this work will have far-reaching impact.
Reposted by Borjan (Boki) Milinković
🚨 How do collective behaviours (high-order interdependencies) *emerge*❓
Can systems with low-order interactions do it?
What do these minimal synergistic systems look like?
In arxiv.org/abs/2505.246... we show when and how synergies emerge when no high-order mechanisms are involved.
Short 🧵: 1/N
Can systems with low-order interactions do it?
What do these minimal synergistic systems look like?
In arxiv.org/abs/2505.246... we show when and how synergies emerge when no high-order mechanisms are involved.
Short 🧵: 1/N
Synergistic Motifs in Gaussian Systems
High-order interdependencies are central features of complex systems, yet a mechanistic explanation for their emergence remains elusive. Currently, it is unknown under what conditions high-order inter...
arxiv.org
September 18, 2025 at 12:12 PM
🚨 How do collective behaviours (high-order interdependencies) *emerge*❓
Can systems with low-order interactions do it?
What do these minimal synergistic systems look like?
In arxiv.org/abs/2505.246... we show when and how synergies emerge when no high-order mechanisms are involved.
Short 🧵: 1/N
Can systems with low-order interactions do it?
What do these minimal synergistic systems look like?
In arxiv.org/abs/2505.246... we show when and how synergies emerge when no high-order mechanisms are involved.
Short 🧵: 1/N
Reposted by Borjan (Boki) Milinković
🚨 New preprint 🚨
"Immersive NREM dreaming preserves subjective sleep depth against declining sleep pressure." We analyzed 1,024 awakenings collected across 196 nights with high-density EEG (256 ch.) to explore the relationship between dreaming and subjective sleep depth.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
"Immersive NREM dreaming preserves subjective sleep depth against declining sleep pressure." We analyzed 1,024 awakenings collected across 196 nights with high-density EEG (256 ch.) to explore the relationship between dreaming and subjective sleep depth.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Immersive NREM dreaming preserves subjective sleep depth against declining sleep pressure
Perceived sleep depth is a key determinant of subjective sleep quality, traditionally thought to reflect unconsciousness and reduced cortical activation. Here, we combined high-density EEG with a seri...
doi.org
September 10, 2025 at 7:54 AM
🚨 New preprint 🚨
"Immersive NREM dreaming preserves subjective sleep depth against declining sleep pressure." We analyzed 1,024 awakenings collected across 196 nights with high-density EEG (256 ch.) to explore the relationship between dreaming and subjective sleep depth.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
"Immersive NREM dreaming preserves subjective sleep depth against declining sleep pressure." We analyzed 1,024 awakenings collected across 196 nights with high-density EEG (256 ch.) to explore the relationship between dreaming and subjective sleep depth.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Throwing this one into the virtual void in the hope there are a few hapless souls interested:
Would anyone like to participate in an #Information #Geometry reading/journal/study club? Preferably in person, if you're in Paris.
But, would consider doing an online one *for sure*.
Would anyone like to participate in an #Information #Geometry reading/journal/study club? Preferably in person, if you're in Paris.
But, would consider doing an online one *for sure*.
September 11, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Throwing this one into the virtual void in the hope there are a few hapless souls interested:
Would anyone like to participate in an #Information #Geometry reading/journal/study club? Preferably in person, if you're in Paris.
But, would consider doing an online one *for sure*.
Would anyone like to participate in an #Information #Geometry reading/journal/study club? Preferably in person, if you're in Paris.
But, would consider doing an online one *for sure*.
Brighton feels as good as I remember it.
September 10, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Brighton feels as good as I remember it.
Reposted by Borjan (Boki) Milinković
🧠 New preprint! 🧠
As part of a forthcoming book on consciousness, we wrote a chapter on:
Spontaneous thoughts and experiences across wakefulness and sleep
osf.io/preprints/ps...
with @parboulakis.bsky.social @ademertzi.bsky.social and @jdsitt.bsky.social
A brief 🧵!
As part of a forthcoming book on consciousness, we wrote a chapter on:
Spontaneous thoughts and experiences across wakefulness and sleep
osf.io/preprints/ps...
with @parboulakis.bsky.social @ademertzi.bsky.social and @jdsitt.bsky.social
A brief 🧵!
September 4, 2025 at 3:18 PM
🧠 New preprint! 🧠
As part of a forthcoming book on consciousness, we wrote a chapter on:
Spontaneous thoughts and experiences across wakefulness and sleep
osf.io/preprints/ps...
with @parboulakis.bsky.social @ademertzi.bsky.social and @jdsitt.bsky.social
A brief 🧵!
As part of a forthcoming book on consciousness, we wrote a chapter on:
Spontaneous thoughts and experiences across wakefulness and sleep
osf.io/preprints/ps...
with @parboulakis.bsky.social @ademertzi.bsky.social and @jdsitt.bsky.social
A brief 🧵!
This really does sound amazing. I'll be looking into this.
Also, I absolutely love the colour pallette. :-)
Congratulations!
Also, I absolutely love the colour pallette. :-)
Congratulations!
This looks pretty cool: ultrasound can now see through the skull! 🧠🔊
The skull has long been a barrier to ultrasound. This reprint shows how to make it quickly transparent → enabling full-depth, high-res fUSI in mice (& humans! 🤯🤯)
Huge congrats to the authors!!!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The skull has long been a barrier to ultrasound. This reprint shows how to make it quickly transparent → enabling full-depth, high-res fUSI in mice (& humans! 🤯🤯)
Huge congrats to the authors!!!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
September 3, 2025 at 1:42 PM
This really does sound amazing. I'll be looking into this.
Also, I absolutely love the colour pallette. :-)
Congratulations!
Also, I absolutely love the colour pallette. :-)
Congratulations!
Reposted by Borjan (Boki) Milinković
The first major output of the @templetonworld.bsky.social @arc-intrepid.bsky.social adversarial collaboration testing IIT & predictive processing theories of consciousness is out now
arxiv.org/abs/2509.00555
arxiv.org/abs/2509.00555
Integrated information and predictive processing theories of consciousness: An adversarial collaborative review
As neuroscientific theories of consciousness continue to proliferate, the need to assess their similarities and differences -- as well as their predictive and explanatory power -- becomes ever more pr...
arxiv.org
September 3, 2025 at 7:00 AM
The first major output of the @templetonworld.bsky.social @arc-intrepid.bsky.social adversarial collaboration testing IIT & predictive processing theories of consciousness is out now
arxiv.org/abs/2509.00555
arxiv.org/abs/2509.00555