Luca Kolibius
@lucakolibius.bsky.social
Postdoctoral Research Scientist with Prof. Joshua Jacobs at University of Chicago. In search for the memory code. • Intracranial EEG & Single Neurons • Human hippocampus 🌐 lucakolibius.com
Even this is not your research topic this is worth a read for the methods!
Sander van Bree@sandervanbree.bsky.social · 4w agoExcited to share our preprint! w/ @martinhebart.bsky.social To understand how primates visually process objects in the world, we rely on both research in human and macaque IT. But what representations of object space are actually shared between them? biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Quick thread 🧵
Excited to see our work (Kolibius, Josselyn & Hanslmayr, TICS 2025) was cited in the most recent Kurzgesagt video on “How Is a Memory Stored Inside Your Brain”. It’s a fantastic video and I recommend watching it! Video: youtube.com/watch?v=Pqtg... Paper: www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
How Is a Memory Stored Inside Your Squishy Brain?
YouTube video by Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
youtube.com
Delighted to share our new publication in @apertureohbm.bsky.social - the "Human Single-Neuron Pipeline" for managing human single-neuron research projects! It's an open-source resource of new & existing tools & resources curated for HSN projects: hsnpipeline.github.io
HSNPipeline
A pipeline for processing and analyzing human single-neuron data.
hsnpipeline.github.io
Aperture Neuro@apertureohbm.bsky.social · 4mo agoDonoghue et al. introduce the Human Single-Neuron Pipeline, an open source processing pipeline for collecting and analyzing human single-neuron data: doi.org/10.52294/001... @ohbmossig.bsky.social @ohbmofficial.bsky.social #OpenDatasets #SpecialIssues
Next week, I’ll be presenting updates on my work on hippocampal phase codes at the Hippocampus Green Meeting in Barcelona. Beyond rate: Hippocampal Phase Codes 11 May 2026
Also if you are interested in our most recent work, which uses ideas from AI to help understand the brain, please see our team's latest preprint, "Polysemanticity in human hippocampal neurons" - led by @xinyuanyan.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Polysemanticity in human hippocampal neurons
To comprehend language, the brain must navigate a high-dimensional semantic landscape while seamlessly contextualizing meaning. Inspired by recent advances in the mechanistic interpretability of large language models (LLMs), we hypothesized that the brain utilizes polysemanticity, a coding strategy wherein individual neurons represent multiple semantically unrelated features through high-dimensional superposition ([Elhage et al., 2022][1]; [Olah et al., 2020][2]). We recorded single-unit activity from the human hippocampus during podcast listening. We found that hippocampal neurons exhibit dense semantic codes characterized by multiple tuning peaks with an overdispersed, isotropic geometry. This geometry satisfies the theoretical requirements for interference minimization in superimposed codes. Furthermore, semantic responses are strongly modulated by lexical and speaker-identity context; nonetheless, the underlying population geometry remains stable. This coding strategy permits rapid contextualization without requiring specialized, context-specific neurons. Indeed, we show clear pattern separation of similar terms, along with pattern completion for held-out words. Together, these results demonstrate that the human brain leverages superposition to solve a universal computational problem: maximizing semantic capacity within a constrained representational space. ### Competing Interest Statement S.A.S has consulting agreements with Boston Scientific, Zimmer Biomet, Koh Young, Abbott, and Neuropace. SAS is Co-founder of Motif Neurotech. [1]: #ref-29 [2]: #ref-77
biorxiv.org
New paper from the lab! "Plasticity and language in the anaesthetized human hippocampus" www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Plasticity and language in the anaesthetized human hippocampus - Nature
In the hippocampus, complex processing of sensory stimuli occurs even in the unconscious state.
nature.com
Our group has been looking at beta bursts for the last 5 years, but we do it a little differently than most - we group into types them based on their waveforms. In this open access article we lay out why and what we think this might mean journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... #neuroskyence
New preprint w/ Malin Styrnal & @martinhebart.bsky.social Have you ever computed noise ceilings to understand how well a model performs? We wrote a clarifying note on a subtle and common misapplication that can make models appear quite a lot better than they are. osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
1/7 New preprint on the role of insular traveling waves in memory and behavior, using depth recordings from neurosurgical patients, with @chenwumd.bsky.social, Sameer Sheth, and Josh Jacobs. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Insular Traveling Waves Link Distributed Neural Dynamics to Human Memory Performance
The insula is a critical brain region that plays a foundational role in adaptive human behaviors, with diverse subregions performing distinct functional roles. However, explaining how these insular su...
biorxiv.org
Phase-locking as a complementary code to rate code in the human hippocampus. Happening today (13:00-17:00) at poster TT11. #sfn25
Luca Kolibius@lucakolibius.bsky.social · 10mo ago#SfN Poster ⬇️ We report rate-independent, location-specific phase locking in human hippocampus, and episode-specific phase coding during memory. Bring your critique - any feedback welcome! Poster attached. #SfN25 | PSTR362.24 (Human Navigation) — Tue Nov 18, 1–5 pm, SDCC Halls B–H.
Happening today! #HSN25
Luca Kolibius@lucakolibius.bsky.social · 10mo agoCome and visit my poster at HSN (Poster B12; Fri Nov 14, 12:45–2:30)! Neuropixels in human hippocampus (anesthesia). Neurons show strong tracking of the auditory envelope of sound cues. No evidence for sound-evoked spatial reactivation. Come and have a look! Poster attached. #HSN25
Come and visit my poster at HSN (Poster B12; Fri Nov 14, 12:45–2:30)! Neuropixels in human hippocampus (anesthesia). Neurons show strong tracking of the auditory envelope of sound cues. No evidence for sound-evoked spatial reactivation. Come and have a look! Poster attached. #HSN25
Despite recent criticism from Quiroga to our claim that Concept Neurons emerge from Conjunctive Coding Neurons we claim: “And yet, the hippocampus codes conjunctively!”. We hope it sparks a smile (and maybe a few debates). Read here: tinyurl.com/3ycv3vj2
🧠 Paper out! We investigated how hippocampal and cortical ripples support memory during movie watching. We found that: 🎬 Hippocampal ripples mark event boundaries 🧩 Cortical ripples predict later recall Ripples may help transform real-life experiences into lasting memories! rdcu.be/eui9l
Movie-watching evokes ripple-like activity within events and at event boundaries
Nature Communications - The neural processes involved in memory formation for realistic experiences remain poorly understood. Here, the authors found that ripple-like activity in the human...
rdcu.be
New preprint from the team at BCM Neurosurgery, led by superstar neuroscientist / neurosurgeon Vigi Katlowitz! “Attention is all you need (in the brain): semantic contextualization in human hippocampus” 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
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...
biorxiv.org
We are recruiting for 5 permanent staff positions (Prof, Senior-, Lecturer) including for 7T-MRI. Please have a look and share widely. (Closing date: May 12) www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Professor, Senior Lecturer/Lecturer and Lecturer posts - Glasgow City (GB) job with University of Glasgow | 12838283
University of Glasgow College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences School of Psychology & Neuroscience Professor in Cognitive Neuroscience/Psy...
nature.com
New manuscript published! ✍️👀 Concept neurons evolve from index neurons through overlapping memories. Check it out here: www.cell.com/trends/cogni... 1/15
On the origin of memory neurons in the human hippocampus
The hippocampus is essential for episodic memory, yet its coding mechanism remains debated. In humans, two main theories have been proposed: one suggests that concept neurons represent specific elemen...
cell.com
