Deng Pan
@dengpan.bsky.social
DPhil(PhD) student @ox.ac.uk, @oxexppsy.bsky.social studying #CognitiveNeuroscience | B.S. from @pku1898.bsky.social.
Website: https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/people/deng-pan
Twitter: https://x.com/DengPan18
Website: https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/people/deng-pan
Twitter: https://x.com/DengPan18
Pinned
Deng Pan
@dengpan.bsky.social
· Aug 28
🚨We believe this is a major step forward in how we study hippocampus function in healthy humans.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
Reposted by Deng Pan
Oops, wrong time in the original post! It will be 15:30 CET 😉
In our Learning Club @cmc-lab.bsky.social today (Sep 25, Thu, 2pm CET), @dengpan.bsky.social will tell us about his recent paper (👇) [joint work w/ Rushworth lab]. Want to attend, send an empty email to virtual-talk-link-request@cmclab.org to get the link!
🚨We believe this is a major step forward in how we study hippocampus function in healthy humans.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
September 25, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Oops, wrong time in the original post! It will be 15:30 CET 😉
Reposted by Deng Pan
I’m super excited to finally put my recent work with @behrenstimb.bsky.social on bioRxiv, where we develop a new mechanistic theory of how PFC structures adaptive behaviour using attractor dynamics in space and time!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
September 24, 2025 at 12:04 PM
I’m super excited to finally put my recent work with @behrenstimb.bsky.social on bioRxiv, where we develop a new mechanistic theory of how PFC structures adaptive behaviour using attractor dynamics in space and time!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Deng Pan
Might focused ultrasound one day replace DBS?
UK Scientists built a 256-panel focused ultrasound helmet that can precisely target deep brain regions. Using theta-burst TUS, they stimulated the LGN and found visual cortex activity with effects lasting up to 40 minutes.
#neuroskyence #ultrasound
UK Scientists built a 256-panel focused ultrasound helmet that can precisely target deep brain regions. Using theta-burst TUS, they stimulated the LGN and found visual cortex activity with effects lasting up to 40 minutes.
#neuroskyence #ultrasound
Ultrasound system for precise neuromodulation of human deep brain circuits - Nature Communications
Modulating deep brain structure can lead to therapies for neurological conditions. Here, the authors show a transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) system featuring a 256-element helmet-shaped trans...
www.nature.com
September 14, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Might focused ultrasound one day replace DBS?
UK Scientists built a 256-panel focused ultrasound helmet that can precisely target deep brain regions. Using theta-burst TUS, they stimulated the LGN and found visual cortex activity with effects lasting up to 40 minutes.
#neuroskyence #ultrasound
UK Scientists built a 256-panel focused ultrasound helmet that can precisely target deep brain regions. Using theta-burst TUS, they stimulated the LGN and found visual cortex activity with effects lasting up to 40 minutes.
#neuroskyence #ultrasound
Reposted by Deng Pan
📢 We are hiring! 📢
For our @wellcometrust.bsky.social grant on information gathering biases in #OCD and #Schizophrenia, we are looking for a Postdoc in Computational Modelling, supervised by Peter Dayan and myself.
Interested? See all the details in the job advert here: devcompsy.org/wp-content/u...
For our @wellcometrust.bsky.social grant on information gathering biases in #OCD and #Schizophrenia, we are looking for a Postdoc in Computational Modelling, supervised by Peter Dayan and myself.
Interested? See all the details in the job advert here: devcompsy.org/wp-content/u...
a penguin is sticking his head out of a hole next to a job application
ALT: a penguin is sticking his head out of a hole next to a job application
media.tenor.com
August 19, 2025 at 11:32 AM
📢 We are hiring! 📢
For our @wellcometrust.bsky.social grant on information gathering biases in #OCD and #Schizophrenia, we are looking for a Postdoc in Computational Modelling, supervised by Peter Dayan and myself.
Interested? See all the details in the job advert here: devcompsy.org/wp-content/u...
For our @wellcometrust.bsky.social grant on information gathering biases in #OCD and #Schizophrenia, we are looking for a Postdoc in Computational Modelling, supervised by Peter Dayan and myself.
Interested? See all the details in the job advert here: devcompsy.org/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Deng Pan
📢 We're hiring a Research Assistant in cognitive neuroscience & computational psychiatry! 📢
Join us at UCL to conduct an MEG study of reward & memory, exploring how brain signals link to variability in apathy and anhedonia.
🔗 apply from next week: lmdlab.github.io
🚨closes September 12th!
Join us at UCL to conduct an MEG study of reward & memory, exploring how brain signals link to variability in apathy and anhedonia.
🔗 apply from next week: lmdlab.github.io
🚨closes September 12th!
August 28, 2025 at 8:05 AM
📢 We're hiring a Research Assistant in cognitive neuroscience & computational psychiatry! 📢
Join us at UCL to conduct an MEG study of reward & memory, exploring how brain signals link to variability in apathy and anhedonia.
🔗 apply from next week: lmdlab.github.io
🚨closes September 12th!
Join us at UCL to conduct an MEG study of reward & memory, exploring how brain signals link to variability in apathy and anhedonia.
🔗 apply from next week: lmdlab.github.io
🚨closes September 12th!
Reposted by Deng Pan
Some scientists haven't yet internalized the "why" behind science writing for the public - not just as a service, but for themselves. (I didn't always get it). In this piece for @natrevneuro.nature.com, I draw on the neuroscience of curiosity & decision making to unpack its value.
rdcu.be/eCGr7
rdcu.be/eCGr7
The unexpected value of communicating science to the public
Nature Reviews Neuroscience - As a group, our scientific community has a responsibility to unpack the ‘what’ and ‘why’ behind our work for the public, not least because much...
rdcu.be
August 27, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Some scientists haven't yet internalized the "why" behind science writing for the public - not just as a service, but for themselves. (I didn't always get it). In this piece for @natrevneuro.nature.com, I draw on the neuroscience of curiosity & decision making to unpack its value.
rdcu.be/eCGr7
rdcu.be/eCGr7
Reposted by Deng Pan
🚨We believe this is a major step forward in how we study hippocampus function in healthy humans.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
August 28, 2025 at 2:00 PM
🚨We believe this is a major step forward in how we study hippocampus function in healthy humans.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
Also check out the TUS study from @mkflugge.bsky.social lab! Hope TUS opens up a new avenue for exploring deep brain functions in healthy humans!
We are super excited about the first human transcranial ultrasound study from our lab which is now on BiorXiv, showing the amygdala‘s role in processing ambiguous emotions and showing TUS changed resting-state connectivity and metabolite concentrations (GABA) in the amygdala - a huge team effort! 🥳🙏🏼
Very happy to share my first preprint from @oxexppsy.bsky.social @oxneuro.bsky.social ! We (me + co-first authors @lilweb.bsky.social @mirunarascu.bsky.social + PI @mkflugge.bsky.social + many others) used transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation (TUS/tFUS/LIFU) of the human amygdala ... (1/15)
August 30, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Also check out the TUS study from @mkflugge.bsky.social lab! Hope TUS opens up a new avenue for exploring deep brain functions in healthy humans!
🚨We believe this is a major step forward in how we study hippocampus function in healthy humans.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
August 28, 2025 at 2:00 PM
🚨We believe this is a major step forward in how we study hippocampus function in healthy humans.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
Reposted by Deng Pan
Causal necessity of human hippocampus for structure-based inference in learning https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.19.664920v1
August 19, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Causal necessity of human hippocampus for structure-based inference in learning https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.19.664920v1
Reposted by Deng Pan
📢 Job announcement: Two (!) 3-year postdoc jobs in our lab at UCL 📢
🧠💫🔊 We are looking for postdocs interested in the abstract mechanisms underlying social cognition. Modelling, fMRI and non-invasive ultrasound, a new deep-brain stimulation method.
Please RT
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
🧠💫🔊 We are looking for postdocs interested in the abstract mechanisms underlying social cognition. Modelling, fMRI and non-invasive ultrasound, a new deep-brain stimulation method.
Please RT
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
www.ucl.ac.uk
August 7, 2025 at 2:25 PM
📢 Job announcement: Two (!) 3-year postdoc jobs in our lab at UCL 📢
🧠💫🔊 We are looking for postdocs interested in the abstract mechanisms underlying social cognition. Modelling, fMRI and non-invasive ultrasound, a new deep-brain stimulation method.
Please RT
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
🧠💫🔊 We are looking for postdocs interested in the abstract mechanisms underlying social cognition. Modelling, fMRI and non-invasive ultrasound, a new deep-brain stimulation method.
Please RT
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Reposted by Deng Pan
Thrilled to see our TinyRNN paper in @nature! We show how tiny RNNs predict choices of individual subjects accurately while staying fully interpretable. This approach can transform how we model cognitive processes in both healthy and disordered decisions. doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Discovering cognitive strategies with tiny recurrent neural networks - Nature
Modelling biological decision-making with tiny recurrent neural networks enables more accurate predictions of animal choices than classical cognitive models and offers insights into the underlying cog...
doi.org
July 2, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Thrilled to see our TinyRNN paper in @nature! We show how tiny RNNs predict choices of individual subjects accurately while staying fully interpretable. This approach can transform how we model cognitive processes in both healthy and disordered decisions. doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Reposted by Deng Pan
🚨 We’re hiring! The Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at Virginia Tech is looking for a postdoc to join our team studying the neural + computational mechanisms of structure learning and flexible cognition: ccnvt.github.io#positions
CCN Lab
ccnvt.github.io
July 10, 2025 at 12:17 PM
🚨 We’re hiring! The Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at Virginia Tech is looking for a postdoc to join our team studying the neural + computational mechanisms of structure learning and flexible cognition: ccnvt.github.io#positions
Reposted by Deng Pan
We're excited to announce that WIN is now the Oxford University Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging: OxCIN! Our mission: developing and deploying neuroimaging and related technology to solve big challenges in basic neuroscience and brain health. oxcin.ox.ac.uk/about/vision
April 28, 2025 at 4:23 PM
We're excited to announce that WIN is now the Oxford University Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging: OxCIN! Our mission: developing and deploying neuroimaging and related technology to solve big challenges in basic neuroscience and brain health. oxcin.ox.ac.uk/about/vision
Reposted by Deng Pan
Our study using layer fMRI to study the direction of communication between the hippocampus and cortex during perceptual predictions is finally out in Science Advances! Predicted-but-omitted shapes are represented in CA2/3 and correlate specifically with deep layers of PHC, suggesting feedback. 🧠🟦
Communication of perceptual predictions from the hippocampus to the deep layers of the parahippocampal cortex
High-resolution neuroimaging reveals stimulus-specific predictions sent from hippocampus to the neocortex during perception.
www.science.org
May 22, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Our study using layer fMRI to study the direction of communication between the hippocampus and cortex during perceptual predictions is finally out in Science Advances! Predicted-but-omitted shapes are represented in CA2/3 and correlate specifically with deep layers of PHC, suggesting feedback. 🧠🟦
Reposted by Deng Pan
announcing this year's neuroeconomics summer school, this time outside paris. too many great lecturers to list, even too many great organizers (plassmann,glimcher,tymula,kable,me). & you wouldnt believe all the past students and where they are now. sign up: www.insead.edu/events/neuro...
Neuroeconomics Summer School
www.insead.edu
February 10, 2025 at 2:26 AM
announcing this year's neuroeconomics summer school, this time outside paris. too many great lecturers to list, even too many great organizers (plassmann,glimcher,tymula,kable,me). & you wouldnt believe all the past students and where they are now. sign up: www.insead.edu/events/neuro...
Reposted by Deng Pan
🚨 SUMMER SCHOOL!
Announcing the 2nd Birmingham-Leiden Summer School in Computational Social Cognition, Sep 2-5, 2025.
Fantastic line-up of keynote: Matthew Rushworth, Diana Tamir @dianatamir.bsky.social, and David Amodio @davidamodio.bsky.social .
👇
Apply by 18 April (compsoccog.com) and RT!
Announcing the 2nd Birmingham-Leiden Summer School in Computational Social Cognition, Sep 2-5, 2025.
Fantastic line-up of keynote: Matthew Rushworth, Diana Tamir @dianatamir.bsky.social, and David Amodio @davidamodio.bsky.social .
👇
Apply by 18 April (compsoccog.com) and RT!
February 17, 2025 at 4:16 PM
🚨 SUMMER SCHOOL!
Announcing the 2nd Birmingham-Leiden Summer School in Computational Social Cognition, Sep 2-5, 2025.
Fantastic line-up of keynote: Matthew Rushworth, Diana Tamir @dianatamir.bsky.social, and David Amodio @davidamodio.bsky.social .
👇
Apply by 18 April (compsoccog.com) and RT!
Announcing the 2nd Birmingham-Leiden Summer School in Computational Social Cognition, Sep 2-5, 2025.
Fantastic line-up of keynote: Matthew Rushworth, Diana Tamir @dianatamir.bsky.social, and David Amodio @davidamodio.bsky.social .
👇
Apply by 18 April (compsoccog.com) and RT!
Reposted by Deng Pan
Our human relationship project has been published in Nature Human Behavior nature.com/articles/s41.... Freely download rdcu.be/edpa2. We also wrote a behind-the-paper blog communities.springernature.com/posts/mappin.... Thanks to all co-authors & helpful editorial team @naturehumbehav.bsky.social
The conceptual structure of human relationships across modern and historical cultures - Nature Human Behaviour
Cheng et al. explore the universality and cultural variability in how people understand human relationships, revealing a five-dimensional framework for relationship concepts across both modern and anc...
nature.com
March 15, 2025 at 1:56 AM
Our human relationship project has been published in Nature Human Behavior nature.com/articles/s41.... Freely download rdcu.be/edpa2. We also wrote a behind-the-paper blog communities.springernature.com/posts/mappin.... Thanks to all co-authors & helpful editorial team @naturehumbehav.bsky.social
Reposted by Deng Pan
A model of compositional state spaces in the #hippocampus shows latent learning and rapid generalisation, and predicts the emergence of place responses in replay – which is discovered empirically in an existing dataset 🧪🧠
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Constructing future behavior in the hippocampal formation through composition and replay - Nature Neuroscience
A model of compositional state spaces in the hippocampus shows latent learning and rapid generalization. Bakermans et al. show that this model predicts the emergence of place responses in replay.
www.nature.com
March 12, 2025 at 10:34 AM
A model of compositional state spaces in the #hippocampus shows latent learning and rapid generalisation, and predicts the emergence of place responses in replay – which is discovered empirically in an existing dataset 🧪🧠
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Deng Pan
Even while processing current experiences, people reactivate old ones and re-encode them (shown using intracranial EEG), turning thoughts into memories.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Study-phase reinstatement predicts subsequent recall - Nature Neuroscience
How can the brain improve memory for an experience after it has occurred? Halpern et al. use intracranial EEG to show that, even while processing current experiences, people reactivate old ones and re...
www.nature.com
March 14, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Even while processing current experiences, people reactivate old ones and re-encode them (shown using intracranial EEG), turning thoughts into memories.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Deng Pan
Our January 2025 issue is now live! Check out the table of contents:
https://www.nature.c...
https://www.nature.c...
February 25, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Our January 2025 issue is now live! Check out the table of contents:
https://www.nature.c...
https://www.nature.c...
Reposted by Deng Pan
👨🎤COSMOS strikes back🌠! This time in Tokyo 🇯🇵 with a fantastic new program designed to teach computational modeling of social phenomena. As always, it's free to attend & we will offer travel stipends to ensure diverse attendance. For details visit 👉 cosmossummerschool.github.io/application/ pls share🙏
March 12, 2025 at 12:54 PM
👨🎤COSMOS strikes back🌠! This time in Tokyo 🇯🇵 with a fantastic new program designed to teach computational modeling of social phenomena. As always, it's free to attend & we will offer travel stipends to ensure diverse attendance. For details visit 👉 cosmossummerschool.github.io/application/ pls share🙏
Reposted by Deng Pan
New paper from our lab now in @nature.com . We show that our brains use basis functions or "building blocks" to navigate social interactions. Rather than tracking every individual separately, social information is compressed into patterns that can be flexibly combined. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Basis functions for complex social decisions in dorsomedial frontal cortex - Nature
A study combining group decision-making tasks with fMRI shows that the brain’s dorsomedial prefrontal cortex uses basis functions, similar to those in the visual, motor and spatial domains, to re...
www.nature.com
March 13, 2025 at 8:43 AM
New paper from our lab now in @nature.com . We show that our brains use basis functions or "building blocks" to navigate social interactions. Rather than tracking every individual separately, social information is compressed into patterns that can be flexibly combined. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Deng Pan
Super excited for my first summer school as faculty with such an awesome group! I was a CCN student (2016) and TA (2019), and I highly recommend it.
Apply by March 31, 2025
www.csh-asia.org?content/2621
Apply by March 31, 2025
www.csh-asia.org?content/2621
March 3, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Super excited for my first summer school as faculty with such an awesome group! I was a CCN student (2016) and TA (2019), and I highly recommend it.
Apply by March 31, 2025
www.csh-asia.org?content/2621
Apply by March 31, 2025
www.csh-asia.org?content/2621