Topo-Omni

Topo-Omni: Topographic multimodal model discovers functionally selective brain regions consistent with human neuroimaging

Researchers introduce Topo-Omni, a topographic multimodal model that jointly represents visual, auditory, and language/cognitive processing on a single contiguous in-silico cortical sheet, built by fine-tuning a pretrained foundation model with a spatial smoothness objective. The model develops clusters consistent with human neuroimaging data, and driving or suppressing clusters selectively biases or impairs perception in ways that parallel human intervention studies. The authors use the model to screen for novel cortical networks in-silico and validate discoveries — including natural landscape and animal networks — in human neuroimaging data. The work bridges deep learning architectures and computational neuroscience, offering testable hypotheses about cortical organization.