Neuroscience on MayaLucIA

DMT-Eval: Universal Validation Framework

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 22:00:00 +0100

Data, Models, Tests — validation as structured scientific argumentation.

DMT-Eval decouples analyses from models through formal adapter interfaces, producing structured scientific reports (LabReports) from any (model, data) pair. The architectural insight was proven over seven years at the Blue Brain Project (EPFL, 2017–2024) and is now rebuilt for any domain where computational models need systematic evaluation.

Live Demo

bench.mayalucia.dev — run evaluations in real time. Weather prediction, drug efficacy, and Brain-Score NeuroAI benchmarks, all producing structured LabReports through the same pipeline.

Path Integration: The CPU4 Circuit

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 12:00:00 +0100

Path integration is the ability to maintain an estimate of displacement from a starting point by accumulating self-motion cues. In desert ants and bees, this is the primary homing mechanism. In Drosophila, the CPU4 neurons in the central complex are believed to perform this computation.

The CPU4 Model

Eight neurons with preferred directions spaced evenly around the circle. Each neuron integrates the component of velocity along its preferred direction:

Input: heading (from ring attractor) and speed (constant in our model)
Accumulation: half-wave rectified projection of velocity onto preferred direction
Memory leak: optional exponential decay parameter λ that causes old displacements to fade
Decoding: population vector gives the home direction; its magnitude gives the distance

The Memory Leak Trade-Off

A perfect integrator (λ = 0) remembers everything but accumulates drift errors on long journeys. A leaky integrator (λ > 0) forgets old displacements, creating a “horizon” beyond which the bug cannot navigate home. This trade-off generates a phase diagram: for each noise level, there is an optimal exploration duration beyond which homing fails.

The Ring Attractor and Quantum Compass

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 12:00:00 +0100

How does an insect brain represent a compass heading? The ring attractor is a neural circuit where activity forms a bump that rotates around a ring of neurons, tracking the animal’s heading. In Drosophila, this circuit lives in the ellipsoid body (E-PG neurons). In our model, it serves as the bridge between quantum chemistry and behaviour.

The Radical-Pair Compass

The compass sensor models cryptochrome — a flavoprotein in the insect eye that forms radical pairs under blue light. The singlet yield of the radical pair depends on the orientation of the Earth’s magnetic field relative to the molecule’s hyperfine axis. This anisotropy is tiny (a few percent) but sufficient for navigation.