{"about":{"site":"https://codewithpapers.app","non_affiliation":"Code with Papers and Syntology are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Papers with Code, Meta, or the pwc-archive mirror.","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","licence_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode","attribution":"https://codewithpapers.app/attribution","modified":"archive material modified by Syntology; see the attribution page"},"url":"/paper/cortico-cerebellar-networks-as-decoupling","title":"Cortico-cerebellar networks as decoupling neural interfaces","arxiv_id":"2110.11501","date":"2021-10-21","proceeding":"NeurIPS 2021 12","authors":["Joseph Pemberton","Ellen Boven","Richard Apps","Rui Ponte Costa"],"abstract":"The brain solves the credit assignment problem remarkably well. For credit to be assigned across neural networks they must, in principle, wait for specific neural computations to finish. How the brain deals with this inherent locking problem has remained unclear. Deep learning methods suffer from similar locking constraints both on the forward and feedback phase. Recently, decoupled neural interfaces (DNIs) were introduced as a solution to the forward and feedback locking problems in deep networks. Here we propose that a specialised brain region, the cerebellum, helps the cerebral cortex solve similar locking problems akin to DNIs. To demonstrate the potential of this framework we introduce a systems-level model in which a recurrent cortical network receives online temporal feedback predictions from a cerebellar module. We test this cortico-cerebellar recurrent neural network (ccRNN) model on a number of sensorimotor (line and digit drawing) and cognitive tasks (pattern recognition and caption generation) that have been shown to be cerebellar-dependent. In all tasks, we observe that ccRNNs facilitates learning while reducing ataxia-like behaviours, consistent with classical experimental observations. Moreover, our model also explains recent behavioural and neuronal observations while making several testable predictions across multiple levels. Overall, our work offers a novel perspective on the cerebellum as a brain-wide decoupling machine for efficient credit assignment and opens a new avenue between deep learning and neuroscience.","url_abs":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.11501v2","url_pdf":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2110.11501v2.pdf","source":{"archive":"pwc-archive (Hugging Face), CC BY-SA 4.0","snapshot":"2025-07-28","licence_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode","row_kind":"abstracts"},"code_links":[{"paper_slug":"cortico-cerebellar-networks-as-decoupling","repo_url":"https://github.com/neuralml/ccdni","is_official":1,"mentioned_in_paper":1,"mentioned_in_github":0,"framework":"pytorch","reach":{"status":"ok"}}],"tasks":[{"task_slug":"caption-generation","task_name":"Caption Generation"}],"methods":[{"method_slug":"test","method_name":"Test"}],"datasets_introduced":[],"methods_introduced":[],"results":[],"syntology":{"syntology_url":"https://syntology.ai/paper/2110.11501","atlas_url":"https://app.syntology.ai/?focus=2110.11501","mcp":{"get_harvested_code_for_paper":{"arxiv_id":"2110.11501"}},"developers":"https://syntology.ai/developers","read_at":"2026-09-25T09:33:49+00:00","read_at_is":"when the build read Syntology's graph, not when any sample ran","claim":"Per-sample execution status on synthesized fixtures; not a correctness claim about the paper. Samples come from repositories linked to the paper, official or community; repo_kind says which.","repos":[{"provenance":"deterministic:regex_extraction","url":"https://github.com/koz4k/dni-pytorch","reach":null},{"provenance":"deterministic:regex_extraction","url":"https://github.com/neuralml/ccDNI","reach":{"status":"ok"}},{"provenance":"external:paperswithcode_snapshot_2025-07-28","url":"https://github.com/neuralml/ccdni","reach":{"status":"ok"}}],"summary":{"ran":8,"ran_draft_wrong":1,"unverified":3},"by_repo_kind":{"official":{"samples":8,"ran":7,"repositories":1},"found_in_text":{"samples":4,"ran":2,"repositories":1}},"repo_kind_vocabulary":{"official":"The archive marks this repository official for the paper","named_in_paper":"The archive records that the paper mentions this repository; it is not marked official","listed":"In the archive's code links for this paper, not marked official and not recorded as mentioned in the paper","found_in_text":"Syntology found this repository in the paper's own text; whether it is the authors' implementation is not asserted","community":"Not in the archive's code links for this paper; a community repository Syntology harvested"},"n_pointer_only_for_licence":8,"samples":[{"code_sha256_prefix":"a93206440f7a897c","entry":"BackwardInterface","repo":"neuralml/ccdni","repo_kind":"official","path":"src/dni.py","file_url":"https://github.com/neuralml/ccdni/blob/HEAD/src/dni.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"ran","verification_level":1,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":"deterministic","behaviour_fingerprint":true,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"a93206440f7a897c"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"bc34e4b901e776ff","entry":"ForwardInterface","repo":"neuralml/ccdni","repo_kind":"official","path":"src/dni.py","file_url":"https://github.com/neuralml/ccdni/blob/HEAD/src/dni.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"ran","verification_level":1,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":"deterministic","behaviour_fingerprint":true,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"bc34e4b901e776ff"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"8ef0406bf25d2ddf","entry":"ForwardInterface","repo":"koz4k/dni-pytorch","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"dni.py","file_url":"https://github.com/koz4k/dni-pytorch/blob/HEAD/dni.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"ran","verification_level":1,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":true,"licence":"MIT","inline_ok":true,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"8ef0406bf25d2ddf"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"758c7c237fe33875","entry":"UnidirectionalInterface","repo":"neuralml/ccdni","repo_kind":"official","path":"src/dni.py","file_url":"https://github.com/neuralml/ccdni/blob/HEAD/src/dni.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"ran","verification_level":1,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":"deterministic","behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"758c7c237fe33875"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"3732c152de7ddb6e","entry":"UnidirectionalInterface","repo":"koz4k/dni-pytorch","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"dni.py","file_url":"https://github.com/koz4k/dni-pytorch/blob/HEAD/dni.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"ran","verification_level":1,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":true,"licence":"MIT","inline_ok":true,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"3732c152de7ddb6e"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"642b4288d66b9bce","entry":"_Manager","repo":"neuralml/ccdni","repo_kind":"official","path":"src/dni.py","file_url":"https://github.com/neuralml/ccdni/blob/HEAD/src/dni.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"ran","verification_level":1,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"642b4288d66b9bce"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"fed9864cbd49eff5","entry":"_SyntheticGradientUpdater","repo":"neuralml/ccdni","repo_kind":"official","path":"src/dni.py","file_url":"https://github.com/neuralml/ccdni/blob/HEAD/src/dni.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"ran","verification_level":1,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"fed9864cbd49eff5"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"c3036c0ca8077c51","entry":"_ones_like","repo":"neuralml/ccdni","repo_kind":"official","path":"src/dni.py","file_url":"https://github.com/neuralml/ccdni/blob/HEAD/src/dni.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"ran_draft_wrong","verification_level":1,"contract_check":"MISDECLARED","metamorphic_tier":"invariant","behaviour_fingerprint":true,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"c3036c0ca8077c51"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"373d3936bcca86fb","entry":"defer_backward","repo":"neuralml/ccdni","repo_kind":"official","path":"src/dni.py","file_url":"https://github.com/neuralml/ccdni/blob/HEAD/src/dni.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"ran","verification_level":1,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"373d3936bcca86fb"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"1ecf7b307455a0db","entry":"BackwardInterface","repo":"koz4k/dni-pytorch","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"dni.py","file_url":"https://github.com/koz4k/dni-pytorch/blob/HEAD/dni.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"unverified","verification_level":0,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"MIT","inline_ok":true,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"1ecf7b307455a0db"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"62959a2085c5a16f","entry":"BidirectionalInterface","repo":"neuralml/ccdni","repo_kind":"official","path":"src/dni.py","file_url":"https://github.com/neuralml/ccdni/blob/HEAD/src/dni.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"unverified","verification_level":0,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"NONE","inline_ok":false,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"62959a2085c5a16f"}},{"code_sha256_prefix":"a929055939c35741","entry":"BidirectionalInterface","repo":"koz4k/dni-pytorch","repo_kind":"found_in_text","path":"dni.py","file_url":"https://github.com/koz4k/dni-pytorch/blob/HEAD/dni.py","link_basis":"first_harvest_node","language":"python","status":"unverified","verification_level":0,"contract_check":null,"metamorphic_tier":null,"behaviour_fingerprint":false,"licence":"MIT","inline_ok":true,"mcp_get_code":{"code_sha256":"a929055939c35741"}}]},"arxiv_metadata":null,"syntology_extracted_results":null}