Dr. Robert Peach, physicist and computational neuroscientist at the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital of Würzburg (UKW), and Prof. Adam Gosztolai, mathematician at the Medical University of Vienna, have developed the computer program MARBLE together with researchers at Imperial College in London and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland.

The researchers tested MARBLE on artificial neural networks, simulated systems and real brain data from primates and rodents. They found recurring patterns associated with thought processes such as decision-making or adaptation to new situations.  Instead of examining all neurons individually, MARBLE looks at sections of brain activity and compares them between different species and tasks. The program analyses temporal changes in the signals and can thus detect subtle differences between thinking strategies.

Original publication:
Gosztolai, A., Peach, R.L., Arnaudon, A. et al. MARBLE: interpretable representations of neural population dynamics using geometric deep learning. Nat Methods (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-024-02582-2

For more information:
https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/aktuelles/einblick/single/news/auf-mustersuche-im-gehirn/