\chapter*{Acknowledgments}

First and foremost, I want to thank my supervisor, Rafal Bogacz. He’s taught me so much—not just about science, but how to think like a scientist. From him, I learned to approach big questions by starting from the simplest systems, which often reveal the deepest insights. He also showed me how to communicate science clearly to different audiences. What I’ve appreciated most is who he is beyond the science: always kind, humble, and supportive. No matter how rough or strange my ideas were, he’d listen with genuine interest and often get excited about them. He truly cares not just about the work, but about the people behind it, and that’s made my D.Phil. journey as enjoyable as it could be.

I also want to thank my co-supervisor, Helen Barron, for bringing fresh experimental neuroscience perspectives into my research. Coming from statistics and machine learning, I often thought in terms of models and abstractions, but Helen’s insights, and the thoughtful questions from her and her lab, helped ground my thinking in real neural data. Their curiosity thinking often sparked new ideas or pushed me to refine my models in ways I wouldn’t have considered on my own. That cross-disciplinary input has been incredibly valuable, and I’m truly grateful for it.

A big thanks to my lab mates—Yuhao, Charlotte, Gaspard, and Nima—for making the office such a warm and fun place. Whether it was lunch chats, random deep dives into weird topics, or just sharing jokes throughout the day, you made the work environment genuinely enjoyable. Being around people who get the research and know how to have fun made this journey all the more memorable.

Lastly, I want to thank my family. Thank you to my parents for supporting me throughout all these years while I am far away from home. I would like to thank my fiancé and best friend, Wan, for her love and support since we met in 2015. Thank you for making me understand what is truely important in life is not the goal that we try to reach, but the journey towards it and the people that we experience the journey with. I am thankful that you've been by my side during all these years and I'm excited for what lies ahead of us.