A new study reveals what brain networks govern social mentalization and adaptation, making it possible to predict how flexibly one person reacts to others.
Published in @natneuro.nature.com
👉 www.econ.uzh.ch/en/news/rese...
Paper: nature.com/articles/s41...
TICS spotlight: cell.com/trends/cogni...
Press release: idw-online.de/en/news867205
(4/4)
- Identify a distributed multivariate signature of this ability using fMRI
- Replicate these results using a large series of behavioral studies and an independent neuroimaging sample
(3/4)
In the paper, we:
- Develop a new computational model of how people adjust their mentalization strategy in the repeated rock-paper-scissors game
- Use the model to estimate individual adaptive mentalization ability
(2/4)
📣 New publication 📣
Very excited to share our new paper "A neural signature of adaptive mentalization" out now in Nature Neuroscience (the project started all the way back in 2018!); with
@niklasbuergi.bsky.social
@drgokhanaydogan.bsky.social
@christianruff.bsky.social
(1/4)
How does the brain decide which mental strategy to use when inferring others' beliefs?
Excited to (finally!) see my first first-author paper out @natneuro.nature.com
Summary below 🧵 #CogSci #CogNeuro
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A free preprint is available here: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Make sure to check out the full book for contributions by many leaders in the field: link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
📣 New book chapter
Excited to see my chapter "The Neural Mechanisms of Strategic Decision-Making" finally out in a new book, "Neuroeconomics: Core Topics and Current Directions", edited by @dvsmith.bsky.social, @thepsychologist.bsky.social, and Dominic Fareri.
link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
My lab website: konelab.org
This position is competitive and funded by the School of Psychology at the University of Birmingham.
Only open to home (UK) students; a Master's degree and a strong academic record are expected.
📣 Funded PhD position (competitive, UK students only!)
Reach out to me via a.konovalov@bham.ac.uk by February 20th, attaching your CV and cover letter if you are interested in applying for a PhD position to study cooperation and prosocial behavior using neuroimaging (1/2)
General details on Marie Curie fellowships are here: marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/post...
Our department offers travel fellowships to visit the University of Birmingham in April 2026, get to know the people and labs here, and present your research. I am happy to offer support in co-developing and preparing the application. Feel free to reach out to me via email! (2/2)
Interested in applying for a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowship (deadline September 2026) with me in decision neuroscience and economics (social and strategic decision making, cooperation, value-based choice, fMRI, computational modeling)? (1/2)
Very sad to hear that John Kagel passed away. He was one of the towering figures of experimental and behavioral economics and a true leader in the field. I was extremely lucky to have John on my PhD committee, and I will never forget his support and unique sense of humor.
📢 New preprint! 📢
Very excited to be a part of the project led by
@saurabhbedi.bsky.social on how the brain learns from multimodal inputs (e.g. audiovisual):
Separable neurocomputational mechanisms underlying multisensory learning
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
📢 New (economics) preprint 📢
(with Jiaxin Yu)
Excited to share our study on the cooperation in the infinitely repeated Prisoner's Dilemma, where we use payoff manipulations and all kinds of methods to disentangle strategies, beliefs, and preferences: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
📢 New preprint 📢
(with Daniil Luzyanin)
We use a new task to distinguish between the instantaneous and instrumental (goal-oriented) value of the same choice option in the brain using fMRI: biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Today's the day we welcome over 80 participants, instructors & keynote speakers from all over the world to @uob-sop.bsky.social @unibirmingham.bsky.social for the Computational Social Cognition (CSC) Summer School with @leidenpsychology.bsky.social @unileiden.bsky.social
#CSC2025
www.compsoccog.com
Excited to share our new lab website!
Konovalov Neuroeconomics Lab
konelab.org
Our research covers quite a few topics and methods across neuroeconomics, decision neuroscience, and behavioral economics:
🚨 PhD opportunity for Fall 2025 🚨
Send me your CV and cover letter by May 30th to apply to work on neural mechanisms of altruism and cooperation (fMRI, eye-tracking, computational).
ONLY open to UK (home) students.
Funded by @UoB_SoP
Please share and RT!
The application deadline for our summer school in Computational Social Cognition is today! 👇
Funded PhD, UK applicants only this time 🚨 @mgsesrcdtp.bsky.social
Apply by May 19 for a PhD with James Goulding, Evgeniya Lukinova (Nottingham) and myself (Birmingham) to work on consumer behavior, big data, machine learning, behavioral experiments, and eye-tracking www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMT549/p...
It turns out that these choices can be rationalized by the Charness-Rabin social preferences......unless you manipulate the stakes a bit. In two alternative treatments, cooperation rates decrease over time; we then introduce a generalized version of the Charness-Rabin function.
🚨 New preprint 🚨
"Unrewarded Cooperation" papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Remember the poll that went viral in 2023?
We reproduced these results using real monetary rewards in an online lab experiment (sorry, no life and death).
🚨 New paper 🚨
Out in @commspsychol.bsky.social: "Manipulating attention facilitates cooperation" with Claire Lugrin and @ccruff.bsky.social
We use gaze data and display manipulations in one-shot Prisoner's Dilemma games and find that these manipulations can drive choices through attention 👇
In a one-shot prisoner’s dilemma game, manipulating the location of payout information on computer screens changed participants’ gaze pattern sequences and resulted in greater cooperation when more focus was given to others’ outcomes.
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Final call to UK and international candidates (Closing date: 2nd March 2025)! Join us as Full Professor in Human/Cognitive/Translational Neuroscience with the opportunity to step in as (Co-)Director at the @thechbh.bsky.social 👇 edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
Final call for a Full Professor position in our school! See details below
🌟 Join us for the 2nd Birmingham-Leiden Summer School in Computational Social Cognition! Amazing line-up of keynote speakers and instructors, new topics, and only £480 with 4 nights accommodation, social events and meals included! 🌟
www.compsoccog.com
Funded PhD:
Apply by Feb 24th for a PhD with James Goulding, Evgeniya Lukinova (Nottingham) and myself (Birmingham) to work on consumer behavior, big data, machine learning, behavioral experiments, and eye-tracking: jobs.ac.uk/job/DLQ917/p....
Please share with anyone who might be interested!
