[Onwar-phd] FW: Thursday 19 February, 16.00 - 17.00 hrs, room C3.161, Science Park 904, 1098 XH Amsterdam; ABC & SILS Center for Neuroscience - Seminar By Rufin VanRullen

[Hubregtse, K. (Kim)]

[cid:image001.jpg at 01DC9689.1CCEC0B0]

Section CNS

You are cordially invited to attend the following ABC & SILS Center for Neuroscience - Seminar:



Speaker:    Rufin VanRullen<https://rufinv.github.io/> is a CNRS Research Director at CerCo (Toulouse) and holds an AI Research Chair at

          ANITI (Artificial and Natural Intelligence Toulouse Institute)


Title:             The Global Latent Workspace: a model of cognition with AI applications
Date:            Thursday 19 February
Time:           16.00 - 17.00 hrs
Room:       C3.161 @ Science Park
Host:      Cyriel Pennartz

Abstract
Global Workspace Theory (GWT) is a leading account of human cognition and consciousness. In this view, a number of independent specialized modules connect to a shared central representation space; when a module is selected by attention, its contents are mobilized into the Global Workspace, and broadcast across the entire brain, resulting in a unified and integrated experience. Inspired by this framework, we have developed a deep learning architecture that captures key features of GWT: the Global Latent Workspace (GLW). I will present our GLW and its initial implementations, with promising applications in various AI domains. The model shows improvements in sample efficiency for multimodal representation learning, and demonstrates grounding and affordance-like properties. The GLW can be leveraged for downstream tasks, or as an input space for RL policy training: the policy is learned with fewer environment steps, and displays zero-shot cross-modal transfer abilities. Finally, augmenting the GLW with an attention-controlled routing mechanism could open the way toward System-2 reasoning and sequential problem-solving. As GWT is also widely held as a neuroscientific theory of consciousness, I will finish by discussing the possible implications of these systems for AI consciousness.

Bio:

Rufin VanRullen is a CNRS Research Director at CerCo (Toulouse) and holds an AI Research Chair at ANITI (Artificial and Natural Intelligence Toulouse Institute). He leads the ERC Advanced GLoW project, exploring novel deep-learning architectures based on the Global Workspace Theory. He has published more than 150 scientific papers, including influential articles on neural coding, object recognition, feed-forward vs. feedback processes, and attention.


There will be time to continue discussions after the seminar with a borrel -
Register here<https://forms.office.com/e/D4pQiK5yya> & let us know that you will attend.


ABC & Swammerdam Institute-Center for Neuroscience Seminar - SILS - University of Amsterdam<https://sils.uva.nl/content/agenda/2026/01/abc--sils-center-for-neuroscience-seminar.html?origin=iZ9XMywIRHyIZ5Dw7ATJeQ>



  







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