Poster Presentation

Poster E in Poster Session E: Thursday, August 6, 10:30 am – 12:15 pm, Kimmel Center, Shorin & Rosenthal Rooms

Integrated Representational Signatures Strengthen Specificity in Brains and Models

Jialin Wu¹, Shreya Saha¹, Yiqing Bo¹, Meenakshi Khosla¹; ¹University of California, San Diego

Presenter: Jialin Wu

The extent to which different neural or artificial neural networks (models) rely on equivalent representations to support similar tasks remains a central question in neuroscience and machine learning. Prior work has typically compared systems using a single representational similarity metric, yet each captures only one facet of representational structure. To address this, we leverage a suite of representational similarity metrics—each capturing a distinct facet of representational correspondence, such as geometry, unit-level tuning, or linear decodability—and assess brain region or model separability using multiple complementary measures. Metrics that preserve geometric or tuning structure (e.g., RSA, Soft Matching) yield stronger region-based discrimination, whereas more flexible mappings such as Linear Predictivity show weaker separation. These findings suggest that geometry and tuning encode brain-region- or model-family-specific signatures, while linearly decodable information tends to be more globally shared across regions or models. To integrate these complementary representational facets, we adapt Similarity Network Fusion (SNF), a framework originally developed for multi-omics data integration. SNF produces substantially sharper regional and model family-level separation than any single metric and yields robust composite similarity profiles. Moreover, clustering cortical regions using SNF-derived similarity scores reveals a clearer hierarchical organization that aligns closely with established anatomical and functional hierarchies of the visual cortex—surpassing the correspondence achieved by individual metrics.

Topic Area: Methods, Tools, Theory & Neural Coding