Nischal Mainali

I study mathematical theories of cognition and how biological and artificial minds represent the world.

I’m Nisch, a PhD candidate in Neuroscience at the Burak Lab, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Selected works

2025 Exact Learning Dynamics of In-Context Learning in Linear Transformers and Its Application with L. Teixeira

arXiv
A conceptual trace of separated learning timescales and the later onset of in-context learning.
We derive exact stochastic gradient dynamics for a linear transformer, which reveal staged learning and conservation laws, and then use the same measurements to study nonlinear models.
Paper PDF HTML
2025 Universal statistics of hippocampal place fields across species and dimensionalities with R. da Silveira and Y. Burak

Neuron
A related technical plate showing smooth Gaussian process paths crossing a field threshold.
Across species and environments, the statistics of hippocampal place fields are captured by threshold crossings of a Gaussian process.
Article Preprint Notes
2024 Statistical mechanics of deep learning with F. Behrens and others
2018 Automated Classification of Modes of Moral Reasoning in Judicial Decisions with collaborators