Simon van Gaal

Ever wondered how the Dalmatian Dog effect works?

The human brain can quickly learn from a single experience and generalize it to related experiences — an impressive feat so far not matched by AI.

Our new paper in @natcomms.nature.com reveals how this works.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

What is the brain for? Active inference is widely discussed as a unifying framework for understanding brain function, yet its empirical status remains debated. Our review identifies core predictions across the action-perception cycle and evaluates their empirical support: osf.io/preprints/ps...

I have a PhD opening for my #VIDI BrainShorts project 📽️🧠🤖! Are you or do you know an ambitious, recent (or almost) MSc graduate with a background in NeuroAI and interest in large-scale data collection and video perception? Check out our vacancy! (deadline Feb 15).
werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

Congratulations!

Join us in ASSC 2026 !

New today in @Nature: your visual cortex contains touch-based body maps. bit.ly/VisualBodyMaps
Your brain transforms what you see into first-person, body-referenced codes: A previously unknown bridge between vision and touch.

Pre-print 🎉 "Subjective and objective approaches in the study of conscious perception" will be a chapter in www.horizon-minds.com. We explain that subjective and objective are poorly defined constructs and provide a taxonomy.
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
with @svangaal.bsky.social @timostein.bsky.social

Out for a while but forgot to post it. Using pupil size as a proxy for arousal, we show that the inverted-U shaped arousal–performance curve (Yerkes-Dodson law) is not fixed, but can shift globally depending on neuromodulatory state (atomoxetine): arousal recalibration www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

🧠 New preprint: Why do deep neural networks predict brain responses so well?
We find a striking dissociation: it’s not shared object recognition. Alignment is driven by sensitivity to texture-like local statistics.
📊 Study: n=57, 624k trials, 5 models doi.org/10.1101/2025...

A great example of engagement with open peer review 👇

The great @stijnnuiten.bsky.social on the mechanisms of optimal arousal state. #ASSC28 @assc28.bsky.social

Confirmation bias through selective readout of information encoded in human parietal cortex Nature Communications - People often discard incoming information when it contradicts their pre-existing beliefs about the world. Here, the authors show that this discarded information is precisely...

1/ New paper by Hame Park, (@AraziAyelet), Bharath Talluri, Marco Celotto, Stefano Panzeri, Alan Stocker & Tobias Donner published in Nature Communications – “Confirmation Bias through Selective Readout of Information Encoded in Human Parietal Cortex”: rdcu.be/etlR7. Here is a summary:

Very happy this is finally out 🎉. In this paper, we show that conf. reports are biased by a visual illusion, an asymmetrical base rate and a payoff scheme. Crucially, we show that only the visual illusion affects subj. experience, suggesting decision bias leaks onto confidence reports.

Illusory object recognition is either perceptual or cognitive in origin depending on decision confidence The occurrence of perceptual illusions, the misinterpretation of sensory input, is a common characteristic of several neurological and psychiatric disorders. This study shows that such illusions have ...

Similar feedback-related neural decoding measures were also informative of having false percepts (e.g., seeing a house when a face was presented). Early decoding: presented stimulus properties; late decoding: neural representation flips and reflects false percept.
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

A causal role of the NMDA receptor in recurrent processing during perceptual integration Memantine selectively improves neural decoding of attended illusory contours, revealing NMDA receptor-dependent enhancement of feedback processing in human visual perception.

We show that memantine selectively improves neural decoding of attended illusory Kanizsa triangles, revealing NMDA receptor-dependent enhancement of feedback processing.

elifesciences.org/articles/100...

Thanks to Samuel Noorman @fahrenfort.bsky.social @timostein.bsky.social Jasper Zantvoord

Out now @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social, w/ @akalt.bsky.social & @drmattdavis.bsky.social.

Are sensory sampling rhythms fixed by intrinsically-determined processes, or do they couple to external structure? Here we highlight the incompatibility between these accounts and propose a resolution [1/6]

🥳 The 2024 Impact Factor & CiteScores are now released. We're pleased to inform you that Neuroscience of Consciousness #NCONSC achieved an Impact Factor of  4.3 (2023 IF 4.1). We are very excited and thankful for our prolific community of consciousness science! #consci @thomasandrillon.bsky.social

1/ Can AI be conscious? My Behavioral & Brain Sciences target article on ‘Conscious AI and Biological Naturalism’ is now open for commentary proposals. Deadline is June 12. Take-home: real artificial consciousness is very unlikely along current trajectories. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

abstract blue and ink image that resembles a slice through a brain

🧠 Did you really see that? Or did your brain just think you did?

How confidently we report what we see can shape our brain activity. That means our own reporting habits might blur the line between “aware” and “unaware” in research on #consciousness.
buff.ly/L3c7sVe

Large-scale interactions in perception and prediction across species | HiLIFE – Helsinki Institute of Life Science | University of Helsinki Andres Canales-Johnson research group

I am opening one PhD position at the Neuroscience Center @uhneuro.bsky.social, focusing on large-scale neural interactions in perception and prediction (ECoG/LFPs/MEG) across human and non-human primates using comp. modeling and information theory. contact: www.helsinki.fi/en/hilife-he...

Finally the Version of Record of our paper "Criterion placement threatens the construct validity of neural measures of consciousness" is out in @elife.bsky.social as *fundamental* and *compelling*!
doi.org/10.7554/eLif....

2 PHD-STUDENTS IN NEUROAI OF DEVELOPMENTAL VISION (M/F/X) - Academic Positions Join an interdisciplinary team to research developmental vision in NeuroAI. Requires a strong computational background, deep learning skills, and a Master's ...

There are 2 PhD positions in my lab in Amsterdam (collaboration with Sander Bohte, @tessamdekker.bsky.social and Ingmar Visser) on NeuroAI of developmental vision.

academicpositions.nl/ad/centrum-w...

(couldn't wait till Monday because I'm impatient) this lovely preprint has the last part of my phd work and now is out and about 🎉🎊. will write a thread on Monday. stay tuned 📻.

osf.io/preprints/ps...

Higher-level spatial prediction in natural vision across mouse visual cortex Theories of predictive processing propose that sensory systems constantly predict incoming signals, based on spatial and temporal context. However, evidence for prediction in sensory cortex largely co...

New preprint, w/ @predictivebrain.bsky.social !

we've found that visual cortex, even when just viewing natural scenes, predicts *higher-level* visual features

The aligns with developments in ML, but challenges some assumptions about early sensory cortex

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

To celebrate the defence of my PhD, and thanks to
@ibbamsterdam.bsky.social, I will host a symposium titled "Vision as prediction: learning, action, and biases" on June 6. Program, registration and more information here: bit.ly/43reOgR

🎉 Our paper "Criterion placement threatens the construct validity of neural measures of consciousness" is now out in eLife! 🎉
TL;DR: Both simulations and empirical data show that you should not post-hoc sort neural data based on subjective measures of consciousness.
elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

Bias manipulation modulates pre-stimulus motor cortex lateralisation, reflecting a starting point bias. This task-related modulation of lateralised activity is weakest on trials with large phasic pupil-linked arousal.

Neural and computational analyses further revealed that task effects on preparatory activity over motor cortex, resembling a starting point bias, were smallest on trials with high phasic pupil-linked arousal. (5/6)

For more details, go check out the full preprint at: dx.doi.org/10.21203/rs.... (6/6)

⚠️ Come see our new preprint, in which we (@degeelab.bsky.social, Jasper Zantvoord, @psterzer.bsky.social, @fahrenfort.bsky.social & @svangaal.bsky.social) show that phasic (task-evoked) and tonic (baseline) arousal distinctly shape human decision bias! (1/6)

dx.doi.org/10.21203/rs....

Against Language Barriers: A Call to Protect International Education in Dutch Academia

Protect international education in Dutch Academia! openletter.earth/against-lang...