Computational Neuroscience Research Group
Home of the
Neural Engineering Framework
and
How to Build a Brain.
Welcome to the Computational Neuroscience Research Group (CNRG) site. We are one of the labs in the Waterloo Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience.
We are interested in understanding how the brain works. We research perception, action, cognition, and basic theoretical issues from a neural perspective. Most of this research is carried out by building large-scale models (usually simulating single neurons) of various brain areas. The main software tool we use and developed for this purpose is Nengo. The books Neural Engineering and How to build a brain summarize the main theoretical approaches we take. We recently proposed the Legendre Memory Unit (LMU) and Spatial Semantic Pointers (SSPs) based on our understanding of brain function. Both are helping to improve deep learning.
We are currently offering the Nengo summer school on how to use Nengo to build large-scale brain models.
You can find and download our publications on this site.
Recent publications
- Biologically-plausible Markov Chain Monte Carlo Sampling from Vector Symbolic Algebra-encoded Distributions
- Artificial Cognition
- A scalable spiking amygdala model that explains fear conditioning, extinction, renewal and generalization
- A Unified Neurocomputational Model of Prospective and Retrospective Timing
- QAVSA: Question Answering using Vector Symbolic Algebras
- Bridging Cognitive Architectures and Generative Models with Vector Symbolic Algebras
- Biologically-Based Computation: How Neural Details and Dynamics Are Suited for Implementing a Variety of Algorithms
- Legendre Memory Units: Continuous-Time Representation in Recurrent Neural Networks
- Improving Spiking Dynamical Networks: Accurate Delays, Higher-Order Synapses, and Time Cells
- Braindrop: A Mixed-Signal Neuromorphic Architecture With a Dynamical Systems-Based Programming Model
- Using neural networks to generate inferential roles for natural language
- A neural model of hierarchical reinforcement learning
- A Spiking Neuron Model of Word Associations for the Remote Associates Test
- Automatic Optimization of the Computation Graph in the Nengo Neural Network Simulator
- BioSpaun: A large-scale behaving brain model with complex neurons
- Biologically Plausible, Human-Scale Knowledge Representation
- A large-scale model of the functioning brain