The Algonauts Project 2021
How the Human Brain Makes Sense of a World in Motion
Explore the ChallengeSession @ CCN 2021
Thank you very much to everyone who participated in the Challenge and Workshop for the Algonauts Project 2019!
Click here for the current edition of the Algonauts Project
Sep 10, 2021: The Algonauts Challenge 2021 officially ended on August 15th, 2021. However, we've re-enabled submissions (Mini Track/Full Track) to allow you to test and improve your models further!
The quest to understand the nature of human intelligence and engineer more advanced forms of artificial intelligence are becoming increasingly intertwined. The Algonauts Project brings biological and machine intelligence researchers together on a common platform to exchange ideas and advance both fields.
In 2019, the challenge focused on explaining brain responses as human subjects studied still images. The challenge returns this year, centered around video perception and understanding. The 2021 challenge will focus on explaining responses in the human brain as subjects watch short video clips of everyday actions. We are pleased to announce that from this year onwards, the challenge will be organized in partnership with the Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience (CCN).
Inspired by the astronauts who launched into space to explore a new frontier, the Algonauts Project aims to explore human and machine intelligence with the latest algorithmic tools. Comparing how brains and models respond could lead to unexpected insights into what makes intelligent systems efficient, robust and trustworthy.
The brain has inspired many of the algorithms responsible for the recent and spectacular progress in artificial intelligence. Those algorithms are now critical in testing new theories about the brain. The Algonauts Project brings together intelligence researchers in both domains to accelerate the pace of innovation.
Hackathon-like competitions create an environment for sharing and collaboration, which are important for advancing science and ensuring that results are valid and reproducible. The Algonauts Project is committed to a spirit of open collaboration.
The Algonauts Project is designed to expand to other fields, from physics and biology to the social sciences, and to complement experimental, theoretical and computational disciplines. It will grow, in content and methods, with the communities that shape this endeavor.
The Algonauts Project 2021 Challenge will evaluate the computational models of your choice on how well they predict
human visual brain data recorded while humans watch short video clips of everyday events.
Learn more about the challenge
The Algonauts Project 2021 Challenge will conclude with a session at the 2021 Conference on Cognitive Computational
Neuroscience, held virtually this year.
Check the schedule below (all times in UTC-4/EDT) for the Algonauts segment and register for CCN 2021 here.
| 12:00–12:15pm | Opening of CNN (Kendrick Kay & Thomas Naselaris) |
| 12:15–12:30pm | Introduction to the 2021 Algonauts Challenge (Radek Cichy) |
| 12:30–01:30pm | Hands-on Tutorial on the 2021 Challenge (Kshitij Dwivedi) [Google Colab] |
| 01:30–02:45pm | Talks by the best performing teams (moderator: Gemma Roig) |
| 02:45pm–end | Announcement of Algonauts 2022 Challenge & Goodbye (Radek Cichy) |
Click here to watch a recording of the Algonauts segment at CCN.
| Training data, test data, and development kit released: | May 1st, 2021 |
| Challenge submission deadline: | August 15th, 2021 at 11:59pm (UTC-4) |
| Challenge report submission deadline: | August 22nd, 2021 |
| Challenge results released: | August 23rd, 2021 |
| Session at CCN 2021 (virtual): | September 7th, 2021 |
If you participated in the Challenge, use this form to submit the challenge report.
For general inquiries about the Algonauts Project, please contact algonauts.mit@gmail.com.
For specific questions about the Algonauts Project challenge, please use the Forum of
the respective track once the competition is live — Mini Track and Full Track.
If you use the data provided for the Algonauts Project 2021 Challenge please cite this manuscript.
