lab

Circuit dynamics of temporal control

Lab Head: Devika-Narain

Lab Description

Losing the ability to precisely time movements can lead to debilitating disorders. Our research approaches this problem from three facets. First, we investigate the neural mechanisms that enable the brain to exert precise temporal control of movement by integrating prior experience. Second, we use closed-loop brain-computer interfaces to restore and rehabilitate movement that ameliorates motor dysfunction arising from impaired cortico-cerebellar circuits. Third, we develop machine learning tools that enable precise large-scale perturbations of neural activity and allow us to reliably decode information embedded in high-dimensional neural activity data.  

Selected Publications

Neural circuits encode prior knowledge of temporal statistics

Koppen, J., Klinkhamer, I., Runge, M., Bayones, L., & Narain, D.
in Nature Neuroscience 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-026-02255-7

A neural manifold view of the brain

Perich M., Narain D., & Gallego, JAG
in Nature Neuroscience 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-02031-z

RATS: Unsupervised manifold learning using low-distortion alignment of tangent spaces

Kohli D*., Nieuwenhuis J.S.*, Zegwaard K., Cloninger A., Mishne G.#, Narain D.#
in 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.10.31.621292

Heterogeneous encoding of temporal stimuli in the cerebellar cortex

De Zeeuw, C.*. Koppen, J.*, Bregman, G.G.B., Runge, M., & Narain, D.
in Nature Communications 2023
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43139-9

Neural Implementations of Bayesian Inference

H. Sohn & D. Narain
in Current Opinion in Neurobiology 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2021.09.008

Lab Members

Devika Narain
Dr. ir. Devika Narain (D.)
Associate Professor
Lab Head
Mathieu Charbonnier
Mathieu Charbonnier
Phd Student
Lorenzo Bina
Lorenzo Bina
Phd Student
Julius Koppen
Julius Koppen
Phd Student
Luca Mangili
Luca Mangili
Phd Student
Bas Nieuwenhuis
Bas Nieuwenhuis
Scientific Researcher
Daria Roman
Daria Roman
Research Technician

Selected Publications

Neural circuits encode prior knowledge of temporal statistics

Koppen, J., Klinkhamer, I., Runge, M., Bayones, L., & Narain, D.
in Nature Neuroscience 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-026-02255-7

A neural manifold view of the brain

Perich M., Narain D., & Gallego, JAG
in Nature Neuroscience 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-02031-z

RATS: Unsupervised manifold learning using low-distortion alignment of tangent spaces

Kohli D*., Nieuwenhuis J.S.*, Zegwaard K., Cloninger A., Mishne G.#, Narain D.#
in 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.10.31.621292

Heterogeneous encoding of temporal stimuli in the cerebellar cortex

De Zeeuw, C.*. Koppen, J.*, Bregman, G.G.B., Runge, M., & Narain, D.
in Nature Communications 2023
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43139-9

Neural Implementations of Bayesian Inference

H. Sohn & D. Narain
in Current Opinion in Neurobiology 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2021.09.008

Recent Publications

Neural circuits encode prior knowledge of temporal statistics

Koppen, J., Klinkhamer, I., Runge, M., Bayones, L., & Narain, D.
in Nature Neuroscience 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-026-02255-7

Cerebellar control of targeted tongue movements.

Bina L, Ciapponi C, Yu SY, Wang X, Bosman LWJ, De Zeeuw CI
in The Journal of physiology 2025
DOI: 10.1113/JP287732

Fast implicit and slow explicit learning of temporal context

Mangili, L.*, Wissing, C.*, & Narain, D.
in Scientific Reports 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-01664-1

A neural manifold view of the brain

Perich M., Narain D., & Gallego, JAG
in Nature Neuroscience 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-025-02031-z

Cerebellar encoding of prior knowledge of temporal statistics

Koppen, J., Bayones, L., Klinkhamer, I., Runge, M., & Narain, D.
in 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.08.19.608550

Fast implicit and slow explicit learning of temporal context in cortico-cerebellar loops

Mangili, L.*, Wissing, C.*, & Narain, D.
in 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.08.19.608568

RATS: Unsupervised manifold learning using low-distortion alignment of tangent spaces

Kohli D*., Nieuwenhuis J.S.*, Zegwaard K., Cloninger A., Mishne G.#, Narain D.#
in 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.10.31.621292

Disynaptic inhibitory cerebellar control over caudal medial accessory olive.

van Hoogstraten WS, Lute MCC, Liu Z, Broersen R, Mangili L, Kros L, Gao Z, Wang X, van den Maagdenberg AMJM, De Zeeuw CI
in eNeuro 2024
DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0262-23.2023

Heterogeneous encoding of temporal stimuli in the cerebellar cortex

De Zeeuw, C.*. Koppen, J.*, Bregman, G.G.B., Runge, M., & Narain, D.
in Nature Communications 2023
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43139-9

Purkinje cells translate subjective salience into readiness to act and choice performance.

Bina L, Romano V, Hoogland TM, Bosman LWJ, De Zeeuw CI
in Cell reports 2021
DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.110116

Neural Implementations of Bayesian Inference

H. Sohn & D. Narain
in Current Opinion in Neurobiology 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2021.09.008

NeuroGym: An open resource for developing and sharing neuroscience tasks

Manuel Molano-Mazon, Joao Barbosa, Jordi Pastor-Ciurana, Marta Fradera, Ru-yuan Zhang, Jeremy Forest, Jorge del Pozo Lerida, Li Ji-An, Christopher J Cueva, Jaime de la Rocha, Devika Narain, Guangyu Robert Yang
in 2021
DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/aqc9n

Bayesian computations through latent cortical dynamics.

H. Sohn*, D. Narain * , N. Mierhaege* & M. Jazayeri
in Neuron 2019
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.06.012

Flexible timing by temporal scaling of cortical responses.

J. Wang*, D. Narain * et al.
in Nature neuroscience 2018
DOI: 10.1038/s41593-017-0028-6

A dynamical systems perspective on flexible motor timing.

E.D. Remington*, S.W. Egger*, D. Narain, J. Wang & M. Jazayeri
in Trends in Cognitive Science 2018
DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2018.07.010
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Vacancies

There are currently no vacancies on our lab.