Dr Max Garagnani

Staff details

Position Senior Lecturer in Computer Science

Department Computing

Email M.Garagnani (@gold.ac.uk)

Max is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science and co-director of the MSc in Computational Cognitive Neuroscience programme at Goldsmiths. He holds a PhD in Computational Cognitive Neuroscience from Cambridge (2009), and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from Durham (1999).

Max's research focuses on the implementation of biologically realistic, deep, spiking neural-network models closely mimicking structure, connectivity, and physiology of the human cortex. These models are applied to simulate and explain the brain mechanisms underlying the natural emergence of cognitive function starting from a randomly connected, uniform neural substrate.

His previous posts include Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Plymouth, Investigator Scientist at MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (Cambridge), Visiting Scholar at the International Computer Science Institute (Berkeley, CA) and Research Fellow at the Open University (Milton Keynes).

Academic qualifications

PhD in Computational Cognitive Neuroscience 2009
PhD in Artificial Intelligence 1999
Laurea (BSc + MSc) in Computer Science 1994

Teaching and Supervision

I supervise projects in my areas of interest (see "Research Interests" below).
I teach on the following programmes:

Research interests

I investigate the neural mechanisms underlying word learning, action planning and decision making, as well as attention, using biologically constrained computational models. In parallel to modelling work, I collaborate with experimental labs to apply brain imaging and behavioural methods as a tool to test and validate the predictions emerging from the models.

While my work has been focussing mainly on the brain mechanisms underlying language acquisition, the neurocomputational models I developed have been used successfully in other domains, too (for example, to explain automatic change detection and attention processes, the emergence of spontaneous decisions to act, or "free will", the formation and cortical distribution of memory cells in the neocortex, and the recruitment of the visual cortex in blind individuals -- see list of publications below).

I have been working closely and for many years with the Brain Language Lab at the Freie Universität Berlin (Germany), directed by Prof. Friedemann Pulvermüller, and was co-PI and staff member of the jointly EPSRC/BBSRC-funded interdisciplinary project BABEL, which investigated the neural mechanisms underlying embodied word learning by joint use of neuroimaging, brain-inspired modelling, neuromorphic engineering and real-time implementation on the humanoid robot iCub.

Publications and research outputs

Book Section

Garagnani, M.; Kirilina, E. and Pulvermüller, F.. 2020. Perception-action circuits for word learning and semantic grounding: a neurocomputational model and neuroimaging study. In: Maria Raposo; Paulo Ribeiro; Susanna Sério; Antonino Staiano and Angelo Ciaramella, eds. Computational Intelligence Methods for Bioinformatics and Biostatistics: 15th International Meeting, CIBB 2018, Caparica, Portugal, September 6–8, 2018, Revised Selected Papers. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. ISBN 9783030345846

Garagnani, M.. 2005. A Diagrammatic Inter-Lingua for Planning Domain Descriptions. In: Luis Castillo; Daniel Borrajo; Miguel A. Salido and Angelo Oddi, eds. Planning, Scheduling and Constraint Satisfaction: From Theory to Practice. 117 Amsterdam: IOS Press, pp. 129-138. ISBN 9781586034849

Garagnani, M.. 2005. A Framework for Hybrid Planning. In: Max Bramer; Frans Coenen and Tony Allen, eds. Research and Development in Intelligent Systems XXI: Proceedings of AI-2004, the Twenty-fourth SGAI International Conference on Innovative Techniques and Applications of Artificial Intelligence. London: Springer, pp. 214-227. ISBN 9781852339074

Garagnani, M.. 2005. A Framework for Hybrid and Analogical Planning. In: Ioannis Vlahavas and Dimitris Vrakas, eds. Intelligent Techniques for Planning. Hershey, Pennsylvania: Idea Group Publishing, pp. 35-89. ISBN 9781591404507

Garagnani, M.. 2004. Model-based Planning in Physical domains using SetGraphs. In: Frans Coenen; Alun Preece and Ann L. Macintosh, eds. Research and Development in Intelligent Systems XX: Proceedings of AI2003, the Twenty-third SGAI International Conference on Innovative Techniques and Applications of Artificial Intelligence. London: Springer, pp. 295-308. ISBN 9781852337803

Garagnani, M.. 2001. A Correct Algorithm for Efficient Planning with Preprocessed Domain Axioms. In: Max Bramer; Alun Preece and Frans Coenen, eds. Research and Development in Intelligent Systems XVII: Proceedings of ES2000, the Twentieth SGES International Conference on Knowledge Based Systems and Applied Artificial Intelligence, Cambridge, December 2000. London: Springer, pp. 363-374. ISBN 9781852334031

Reed, C.; Long, D.; Fox, M. and Garagnani, M.. 1997. Persuasion as a form of inter-agent negotiation. In: Chengqi Zhang and Dickson Lukose, eds. Multi-Agent Systems Methodologies and Applications: Second Australian Workshop on Distributed Artificial Intelligence Cairns, QLD, Australia, August 27, 1996 Selected Papers. Berlin: Springer, pp. 120-136. ISBN 9783540634126

Article

Shtyrov, Y.; Efremov, A.; Kuptsova, A.; Wennekers, T.; Gutkin, B. and Garagnani, M.. 2023. Breakdown of category-specific word representations in a brain-constrained neurocomputational model of semantic dementia. Scientific Reports, ISSN 2045-2322

Henningsen-Schomers, Malte R.; Garagnani, Max and Pulvermüller, Friedemann. 2023. Influence of language on perception and concept formation in a brain-constrained deep neural network model. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 378(1870), 20210373. ISSN 0962-8436

Garagnani, M.; Kirilina, E. and Pulvermüller, F. 2021. Semantic grounding of novel spoken words in the primary visual cortex. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 15, 581847. ISSN 1662-5161

Tomasello, R.; Wennekers, T.; Garagnani, M. and Pulvermüller, F.. 2019. Visual cortex recruitment during language processing in blind individuals is explained by Hebbian learning. Scientific Reports, 9, 3579. ISSN 2045-2322

Tomasello, R.; Garagnani, M.; Wennekers, T. and Pulvermüller, F.. 2018. A neurobiologically constrained cortex model of semantic grounding with spiking neurons and brain-like connectivity. Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, 12(88),

Tomasello, R.; Garagnani, M.; Wennekers, T. and Pulvermüller, F.. 2017. Brain connections of words, perceptions and actions: A neurobiological model of spatio-temporal semantic activation in the human cortex. Neuropsychologia, 98, pp. 111-129. ISSN 0028-3932

Schomers, M.R.; Garagnani, M. and Pulvermüller, F.. 2017. Neurocomputational Consequences of Evolutionary Connectivity Changes in Perisylvian Language Cortex. The Journal of Neuroscience, 37(11), pp. 3045-3055. ISSN 0270-6474

Garagnani, M.; Lucchese, G.; Tomasello, R.; Wennekers, T. and Pulvermüller, F.. 2017. A Spiking Neurocomputational Model of High-Frequency Oscillatory Brain Responses to Words and Pseudowords. Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, 10, 145. ISSN 1662-5188

Garagnani, M. and Pulvermüller, F.. 2016. Conceptual grounding of language in action and perception: a neurocomputational model of the emergence of category specificity and semantic hubs. European Journal of Neuroscience, 43(6), pp. 721-737. ISSN 0953-816X

Pulvermüller, F.; Garagnani, M. and Wennekers, T.. 2014. Thinking in circuits: toward neurobiological explanation in cognitive neuroscience. Biological Cybernetics, 108(5), pp. 573-593. ISSN 0340-1200

Pulvermüller, F. and Garagnani, M.. 2014. From sensorimotor learning to memory cells in prefrontal and temporal association cortex: A neurocomputational study of disembodiment. Cortex, 57, pp. 1-21. ISSN 0010-9452

Ludlow, A.; Mohr, B.; Whitmore, A.; Garagnani, M.; Pulvermüller, F. and Gutierrez, R.. 2014. Auditory processing and sensory behaviours in children with autism spectrum disorders as revealed by mismatch negativity. Brain and Cognition, 86, pp. 55-63. ISSN 0278-2626

Garagnani, M. and Pulvermüller, F.. 2013. Neuronal correlates of decisions to speak and act: Spontaneous emergence and dynamic topographies in a computational model of frontal and temporal areas. Brain & Language, 127(1), pp. 75-85. ISSN 0093-934X

Garagnani, M. and Pulvermüller, Friedemann. 2011. Investigating cognitive representations with brain-like networks and MEG/EEG. Clinical Neurophysiology, 122, S12. ISSN 1388-2457

Garagnani, M. and Pulvermüller, F.. 2011. From sounds to words: A neurocomputational model of adaptation, inhibition and memory processes in auditory change detection. Neuroimage, 54(1), pp. 170-181. ISSN 1053-8119

Garagnani, M.; Shtyrov, Y. and Pulvermüller, F.. 2009. Effects of attention on what is known and what is not: MEG evidence for functionally discrete memory circuits. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience,

Garagnani, M.; Wennekers, T. and Pulvermüller, F.. 2009. Recruitment and Consolidation of Cell Assemblies for Words by Way of Hebbian Learning and Competition in a Multi-Layer Neural Network. Cognitive Computation, 1(2), pp. 160-176. ISSN 1866-9956

Garagnani, M.; Wennekers, T. and Pulvermüller, F.. 2008. A neuroanatomically grounded Hebbian-learning model of attention–language interactions in the human brain. European Journal of Neuroscience, 27(2), pp. 492-513. ISSN 0953-816X

Garagnani, M.; Wennekers, Thomas and Pulvermüller, Friedemann. 2007. Explaining the effects of attention on lexical processes using a single Hebbian neuronal model of the language cortex. Neural Plasticity, 2007, pp. 66-67. ISSN 2090-5904

Garagnani, M.; Wennekers, Thomas and Pulvermüller, Friedemann. 2006. A neuronal model of the language cortex. Neurocomputing, 70(10-12), pp. 1914-1919. ISSN 0925-2312

Wennekers, Thomas; Garagnani, M. and Pulvermüller, Friedemann. 2006. Language models based on Hebbian cell assemblies. Journal of Physiology-Paris, 100(1-3), pp. 16-30. ISSN 0928-4257

Conference or Workshop Item

Bourne, Josh; Rosas, Fernando, E. and Garagnani, M.. 2023. 'Using information theory to measure the emergence of artificial free will in a spiking brain-constrained model of the human cortex'. In: 32nd Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting. Leipzig, Germany 15 - 19 July 2023.

Ušacka, A.; Schurger, A. and Garagnani, M.. 2023. 'A brain-constrained deep neural-network model that can account for the readiness potential in self-initiated volitional action'. In: 32nd Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting. Leipzig, Germany 15 - 19 July 2023.

Vanegdom, A.; Nikolaev, N. and Garagnani, M.. 2022. 'Standard feedforward neural networks with backprop cannot support cognitive superposition'. In: Bernstein Conference 2022. Berlin, Germany 13-16 September 2022.

Henningsen-Schomers, M.; Garagnani, M. and Pulvermüller, F.. 2022. 'Influence of language on concept formation and perception in a brain-constrained deep neural network model'. In: TABU Dag 2022. Groningen, Netherlands 9 - 22 June 2022.

Garagnani, M. and Lucchese, G.. 2021. 'Reconciling forgetting and memory consolidation: simulating the dissociable effects of neuronal noise levels on cortical memory traces.'. In: 30th Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS-2021). Online 3 - 7 July 2021.

Garagnani, M.. 2020. 'Action-perception circuits for word learning and semantic grounding'. In: NAACL Workshop on Visually-Grounded Interaction and Language (ViGIL). Mexico City, Mexico 10 June 2021.

Henningsen-Schomers, M.; Garagnani, M. and Pulvermüller, F.. 2020. 'Influence of verbal labels on concept formation and perception in a deep unsupervised neural network model'. In: 14th International Conference of Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON 2022). Helsinki, Finland 18 - 22 May 2022.

Tomasello, R.; Wennekers, T.; Garagnani, M. and Pulvermüller, F.. 2019. 'Recruitment of visual cortex for language processing in blind individuals: A neurobiological model'. In: 2019 Annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS 2019). San Francisco, United States 25 March 2019.

Garagnani, M.. 2017. 'Simulating word learning and high-frequency brain responses to linguistic items in a neurobiologically realistic model of the cortex'. In: 7th Joint IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning and on Epigenetic Robotics (ICDL/EPIROB 2017) – 2nd Workshop on Language Learning. Lisbon, Portugal 18-21 September 2017.

Tomasello, Rosario; Garagnani, M.; Wennekers, Thomas and Pulvermüller, Friedemann. 2017. 'Semantic grounding in a neurobiologically-constrained cortex-model with realistic connectivity and spiking neurons'. In: 24th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS 2017). San Francisco, United States 25-28 March 2017.

Garagnani, M.. 2016. 'Word acquisition and semantic grounding in a neuroanatomically realistic, Hebbian-learning, spiking neural network model of the cortex'. In: Neuroinformatics 2016. Reading, United Kingdom 3-4 September 2016.

Schomers, M.R.; Garagnani, M. and Pulvermüller, F.. 2015. 'Highway to (verbal) memory: Neurocomputational consequences of specifically human connectivity in perisylvian cortex.'. In: 23rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS 2016). New York, United States.

Adams, S.V.; Wennekers, T.; Cangelosi, A.; Garagnani, M. and Pulvermüller, F.. 2015. 'Learning Visual-Motor Cell Assemblies for the iCub Robot using a Neuroanatomically Grounded Neural Network'. In: IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence, Cognitive Algorithms, Mind and Brain (SSCI-CCMB 2014). Orlando, United States 9-12 December 2014.

Shtyrov, Y.; Kimppa, L. and Garagnani, M.. 2014. 'Electrophysiological and haemodynamic biomarkers of rapid acquisition of novel wordforms'. In: Microstructures of Learning: Novel methods and approaches for assessing structural and functional changes underlying knowledge acquisition in the brain. Lund, Sweden 23 May, 2014.

Garagnani, M.; Shtyrov, Y. and Davis, M.. 2012. 'Effects of sleep and number of repetitions on novel spoken word learning: fMRI evidence.'. In: 20th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS 2013). San Francisco, United States.

Garagnani, M.; Wennekers, Thomas and Pulvermüller, Friedemann. 2009. 'MMN reflections of language and attention: a neurocomputational model'. In: MMN 09 Fifth Conference on Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and its Clinical and Scientific Applications. Budapest, Hungary 4-7 April 2009.

Garagnani, M.; Shtyrov, Yury and Pulvermüller, Friedemann. 2009. 'Explaining Attention and Language interactions: magnetic MMN validation of neurocomputational predictions'. In: MMN 09 Fifth Conference on Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and its Clinical and Scientific Applications. Budapest, Hungary 4-7 April 2009.

Garagnani, M.; Shastri, Lokendra and Wendelken, Carter. 2002. 'A Connectionist model of Planning via Back-chaining Search'. In: 24th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (CogSci 2002). Fairfax, VA, United States 7-10 August 2002.