TUTORIALS
COSYNE 2026 Tutorial Session Sponsored by the Simons Foundation
TOPIC: Comparative Analysis of Neural Population Codes
SPEAKER: Alex Williams, New York University/Flatiron Institute Center for Computational Neuroscience
DATE: 12 March 2026
TIME: 12:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Large-scale neural recordings across diverse organisms, alongside an expanding array of deep and recurrent network models, present a key challenge: how to systematically quantify similarities and differences in the population dynamics and representations of these systems. Recent approaches—from linear predictivity and canonical correlation analysis to representational similarity analysis and Procrustes distance—reflect a proliferation of strategies without clear unification.
This tutorial will introduce a framework showing that many of these comparison methods share common mathematical principles, suggesting a path toward standardized tools. As comparative cross-system analyses underpin progress in many other areas of biology—anatomy, physiology, evolution, and genetics, to name a few—a unified approach to comparing neural population codes promises to accelerate discoveries in computational neuroscience.
Please keep in mind that the tutorial has a limited number of participants and that a separate registration fee is required to attend. When registering for the main meeting, select the COSYNE Tutorial add-on.
Alex Williams
New York University/Flatiron Institute Center for Computational Neuroscience
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY:
Alex Williams is Assistant Professor of Neural Science at New York University and a Project Leader, Associate Research Scientist at the Flatiron Institute Center for Computational Neuroscience. His lab develops statistical methods for analyzing large-scale neural and behavioral measurements, with a special focus on methods for characterizing trial-to-trial and animal-to-animal variability in neural population activity.
COSYNE Tutorials are sponsored by the Simons Foundation. Past COSYNE Tutorials can be found here.