Why we value things more as we are about to lose them
A novel theory that explains why subjective value and effort-based decisions change over time, shedding light on reference-dependent behavior in both every day and high-stakes decision-making contexts
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
AI is rapidly changing how we write code — but how should we use it in research?
To kick off our 2026 “How-To” we welcome Russ Poldrack (@russpoldrack.org; Stanford University):
🧠 Better Code, Better Science
📅 22 April 2026
🔗 Register: forms.gle/WRUdGQEpd5is...
#OHBM #OpenScience
I’ll be participating in Current Directions in Neuroscience & the Law at the Center for Justice at Columbia University on Friday March 6, 2026.
Looking forward to contributing to conversations on how advances in neuroscience intersect with legal questions.
Changes in our feelings, or "affective surprise," may act as a learning signal that influences what we remember. Large magnitude deviations in experienced valence during encoding relate to better long-term associative memory.
excited to share some recent work!
neural networks trained on multi-view sensory data are the first to match human-level 3D shape perception
we predict human accuracy, error patterns, and reaction time—all zero-shot, no training on experimental data
arxiv.org/abs/2602.17650
1/🧠
After several years of work, my lab is starting to put out our first papers on learning in a unicellular organism (Stentor coeruleus).
Here we show evidence for a form of associative learning in Stentor:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Come be our colleague! The Center for Neural Science at NYU is accepting applications at the Assistant Professor level in computational neuroscience and/or neural engineering apply.interfolio.com/182074
The project started pre-Covid, so it’s especially exciting to finally see it in print. Huge thanks to my amazing collaborators who made this possible: Bas van Opheusden, @fredcallaway.bsky.social, @cocoscilab.bsky.social and James Hillis.
Paper here:
direct.mit.edu/opmi/article...
As we argued in earlier work, we can benefit from extending tasks to more naturalistic settings.
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
This paper takes a step toward that broader goal by integrating RL, perceptual inference, and decision dynamics in VR.
We trained RL agents to learn gaze policies under these constraints. The resulting eye movement patterns capture key structure in human immersive search behavior.
Eye movements require solving two coupled problems: where to fixate next and when to initiate a saccade. Each fixation reflects a tradeoff between expected information gain and computational cost.
To make that leap, we couldn’t stay inside a single modeling tradition. We combined reinforcement learning (sequential decisions), neural networks (rich perception), Bayesian cue integration (uncertainty), resource rationality (cognitive costs), and sequential sampling models (timing).
Modeling human behavior in naturalistic 3D environments with RL is still rare. Most computational models focus on simplified lab tasks.
Where you look next isn’t arbitrary.
In our new paper, we model human eye movements in immersive visual search as reinforcement learning under cognitive constraints. 🧵
Our new paper out in NHB! We started this back in @ptoncompmemlab.bsky.social's lab when I was a postdoc and Rolando was a grad student, showing that stable fMRI representations of places (learned in Rolando's custom-made VR world) provide the best anchors for later item learning
New preprint out 🎉
What happens to the hippocampal “place code” when an animal is actively engaged in a task?
The answer surprised us (and might surprise you too!).
Let's dive in ⬇️
Link:
"Hippocampal trace coding dominates and disrupts place coding" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
The biggest problem holding neuroscience back right now isn’t data or tools, thanks in large part to the BRAIN Initiative.
It’s fragmentation across species. I wrote this to hopefully spark discussion around an issue that can only be solved as a community👇
www.thetransmitter.org/animal-model...
Applications for BAMB! 2026 are officially open!
Join us in Barcelona (July 12–23) to master the art of behavioral modeling with our incredible faculty:
@meganakpeters.bsky.social
@marcelomattar.bsky.social
@khamascience.bsky.social
@thecharleywu.bsky.social
Apply now here: www.bambschool.org
The visual world is composed of objects, and those objects are composed of features. But do VLMs exploit this compositional structure when processing multi-object scenes? In our 🆒🆕 #ICLR2026 paper, we find they do – via emergent symbolic mechanisms for visual binding. 🧵👇
I just created a series of seven deep-dive videos about AI, which I've posted to youtube and now here. 😊
Targeted to laypeople, they explore how LLMs work, what they can do, and what impacts they have on learning, well-being, disinformation, the workplace, the economy, and the environment.
We are hiring a research specialist, to start this summer! This position would be a great fit for individuals looking to get more experience in computational and cognitive neuroscience research before applying to graduate school. #neurojobs Apply here: research-princeton.icims.com/jobs/21503/r...
Soon hiring a lab manager! Looking for someone who is really interested in language neuroscience, who is organised, motivated, a great communicator, and who works well in a research team. Express interest by submitting this form: tinyurl.com/glysn-labman...
Reposts appreciated!
🚨 #CCN2026 Proceedings submissions are open!
CCN 2026 again features an 8-page Proceedings track (alongside extended abstracts). Accepted papers will appear in CCN-Proceedings (CCN‑P) with DOIs on OpenReview.
The hippocampal map has its own attentional control signal!
Our new study reveals that theta #sweeps can be instantly biased towards behaviourally relevant locations. See 📹 in post 4/6 and preprint here 👉
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🧵(1/6)
Postdoc position in Paris: come help develop new generation human brain computer interfaces ⚡🧠💻
Interested? Contact me if you have experience with machine learning (e.g. simulation-based inference, RL, generative/diffusion models) or dynamical systems.
See below for + details and retweet 🙏
Applications will be opening soon for BAMB! 2026
The summer school will take place from 12 - 23 July 2026
www.bambschool.org
Can't recommend this enough!
I'm looking to hire a postgraduate research associate in Computational Psychiatry for my new lab at Yale. Please see link below for details & help RT 🙏
postdocs.yale.edu/posts/2026-0...
#ACNP2026 - Wednesday afternoon @biancaleonard.bsky.social will present a computational model-driven motivational conflict challenge that identifies novel, *opposing* influences of early-life unpredictability and anhedonia @mikeyassa.bsky.social @hartleylabnyu.bsky.social @malejandra.bsky.social
🚀 Huge congrats to @angelaradulescu.bsky.social
on being part of the Mount Sinai team awarded a @bipolardiscoveries.org grant to study the neural mechanisms behind mood state transitions and drive new discoveries in bipolar disorder biology! 🧠
👉Read more: www.bipolardiscoveries.org/our-work/dis...
