Anna-Lena Eckert
@eckertal.bsky.social
Research fellow computational psychiatry @ UCL
🧠 working on psychosis, planning, neural nets
🎓PhD: BCCN Berlin 🌍Post-doc: Uni Marburg
👟 runner 👩🎓 1st gen
she,her
🌐 https://eckertal.github.io/personal-website
🧠 working on psychosis, planning, neural nets
🎓PhD: BCCN Berlin 🌍Post-doc: Uni Marburg
👟 runner 👩🎓 1st gen
she,her
🌐 https://eckertal.github.io/personal-website
Pinned
Anna-Lena Eckert
@eckertal.bsky.social
· Aug 14
10 years after I came as a participant in 2015, tonight I had the pleasure of giving an evening lecture at the Studienstiftung summer academy in the Swiss mountains ⛰️
My talk on brains-as-computers fell on open ears and there were 45 min of super exciting questions. What a joy!
My talk on brains-as-computers fell on open ears and there were 45 min of super exciting questions. What a joy!
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
All theory is wrong until verified by data. Greatly indebted to @mhyaghoubi.bsky.social, @markbrandonlab.bsky.social, @douglasresearch.bsky.social for finding the hippocampus encoding reward prediction! Grateful to my advisor @cpehlevan.bsky.social, @kempnerinstitute.bsky.social.
#RL #hippocampus
#RL #hippocampus
January 19, 2026 at 9:32 AM
All theory is wrong until verified by data. Greatly indebted to @mhyaghoubi.bsky.social, @markbrandonlab.bsky.social, @douglasresearch.bsky.social for finding the hippocampus encoding reward prediction! Grateful to my advisor @cpehlevan.bsky.social, @kempnerinstitute.bsky.social.
#RL #hippocampus
#RL #hippocampus
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
One week left to apply!
Job alert 🚨 Fully funded PhD position available in our Maastricht lab! Are you interested in the relationship between memory and prediction, and have a track record of neuroimaging/decoding? Please apply! #NeuroJobs
www.academictransfer.com/nl/jobs/3576...
www.academictransfer.com/nl/jobs/3576...
PhD Candidate: Cognitive Computational Neuroscience of Memory and Prediction
Welcome to Maastricht University! Are you fascinated by how the brain remembers and predicts information, and how it can tell apart representations of past and future? At Maastricht University, you wi...
www.academictransfer.com
January 19, 2026 at 6:53 AM
One week left to apply!
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
🚨 New paper! "What is next? Predictable visual sequences are encoded with anticipatory biases and reduced neural responses" with @baisongyun.bsky.social and @davidpascucci.bsky.social
#EEG #neuroimaging #neuroskyence
#EEG #neuroimaging #neuroskyence
What is next? Predictable visual sequences are encoded with anticipatory biases and reduced neural responses
Objects in motion follow predictable trajectories that the brain can easily anticipate.
We investigated the underlying neural mechanisms, focusing on a form of representational
momentum (RM), whereby ...
www.cell.com
January 14, 2026 at 5:01 PM
🚨 New paper! "What is next? Predictable visual sequences are encoded with anticipatory biases and reduced neural responses" with @baisongyun.bsky.social and @davidpascucci.bsky.social
#EEG #neuroimaging #neuroskyence
#EEG #neuroimaging #neuroskyence
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
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...
postdocs.yale.edu/posts/2026-0...
Postgraduate Associate Position in Computational Psychiatry — Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
postdocs.yale.edu
January 13, 2026 at 1:49 PM
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...
postdocs.yale.edu/posts/2026-0...
Today marks my last day @ MR theoretical neuro lab 👋🥲
Deeply grateful to Dominik & team for everything I learned here. Spent my last week pushing to finish things, VR piloting & farewell partying.
Exciting things ahead - super thrilled to join @drrickadams.bsky.social lab at UCL in January!
Deeply grateful to Dominik & team for everything I learned here. Spent my last week pushing to finish things, VR piloting & farewell partying.
Exciting things ahead - super thrilled to join @drrickadams.bsky.social lab at UCL in January!
December 12, 2025 at 10:06 AM
Today marks my last day @ MR theoretical neuro lab 👋🥲
Deeply grateful to Dominik & team for everything I learned here. Spent my last week pushing to finish things, VR piloting & farewell partying.
Exciting things ahead - super thrilled to join @drrickadams.bsky.social lab at UCL in January!
Deeply grateful to Dominik & team for everything I learned here. Spent my last week pushing to finish things, VR piloting & farewell partying.
Exciting things ahead - super thrilled to join @drrickadams.bsky.social lab at UCL in January!
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
🚀🎓We have exciting opportunities at the PhD and Postdoc level, including in the new Simons Collaboration on Ecological Neuroscience, a 10-year initiative spanning a powerful international network of labs working across species and disciplines - please reach out if interested
bsky.app/profile/simo...
bsky.app/profile/simo...
We are excited to announce our new Simons Collaboration on Ecological Neuroscience (SCENE)! This program will unite experts in experimental and computational #neuroscience approaches to investigate how the brain represents sensorimotor interactions. www.simonsfoundation.org/2025/04/24/s... #science
Simons Foundation Launches Collaboration on Ecological Neuroscience
Simons Foundation Launches Collaboration on Ecological Neuroscience on Simons Foundation
www.simonsfoundation.org
December 11, 2025 at 12:20 PM
🚀🎓We have exciting opportunities at the PhD and Postdoc level, including in the new Simons Collaboration on Ecological Neuroscience, a 10-year initiative spanning a powerful international network of labs working across species and disciplines - please reach out if interested
bsky.app/profile/simo...
bsky.app/profile/simo...
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
Postdoc opportunity @uni-konstanz.de, @uni-freiburg.de, @unituebingen.bsky.social for ECRs who can't continue their research in the US: www.uni-konstanz.de/zukunftskoll...
Early Career Rescue Fellowship
www.uni-konstanz.de
December 9, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Postdoc opportunity @uni-konstanz.de, @uni-freiburg.de, @unituebingen.bsky.social for ECRs who can't continue their research in the US: www.uni-konstanz.de/zukunftskoll...
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
We are excited to announce that the Cognitive Computational Neuroscience meeting (CCN 2026) will be held at New York University from August 3–6, 2026.
2026.ccneuro.org
2026.ccneuro.org
December 3, 2025 at 10:01 AM
We are excited to announce that the Cognitive Computational Neuroscience meeting (CCN 2026) will be held at New York University from August 3–6, 2026.
2026.ccneuro.org
2026.ccneuro.org
Enjoyed reading this post. Funny enough we had a pretty lively debate on this in our last labmeeting. I was one of the folks defending theory w/out data, so it resonated a lot 😅
"But some of the most important papers don't explain data, they restructure the space of possible explanations"
"But some of the most important papers don't explain data, they restructure the space of possible explanations"
How I contributed to rejecting one of my favorite papers of all times, Yes, I teach it to students daily, and refer to it in lots of papers. Sorry. open.substack.com/pub/kording/...
How I contributed to rejecting one of my favorite papers of all time
I believe we should talk about the mistakes we make.
open.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Enjoyed reading this post. Funny enough we had a pretty lively debate on this in our last labmeeting. I was one of the folks defending theory w/out data, so it resonated a lot 😅
"But some of the most important papers don't explain data, they restructure the space of possible explanations"
"But some of the most important papers don't explain data, they restructure the space of possible explanations"
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
A beautiful summary of our paper! Thank you @neurosock.bsky.social
The hippocampus is not a library, it is a simulation engine.
HPC is known for storing maps of the environment but not so known for generating planned trajectories.
This paper proposes that recurrence in CA3 is crucial for planning.
A🧵with my toy model and notes:
#neuroskyence #compneuro #NeuroAI
HPC is known for storing maps of the environment but not so known for generating planned trajectories.
This paper proposes that recurrence in CA3 is crucial for planning.
A🧵with my toy model and notes:
#neuroskyence #compneuro #NeuroAI
November 28, 2025 at 7:58 AM
A beautiful summary of our paper! Thank you @neurosock.bsky.social
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
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.
Your brain transforms what you see into first-person, body-referenced codes: A previously unknown bridge between vision and touch.
November 26, 2025 at 4:01 PM
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.
Your brain transforms what you see into first-person, body-referenced codes: A previously unknown bridge between vision and touch.
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
✈️ Die Koalitionsspitzen wollen die Flugsteuer senken – und gleichzeitig wird das Deutschlandticket teurer. Statt Billigflüge zu subventionieren, sollten sie lieber in die marode Bahn investieren und für günstige Zugtickets sorgen. Jetzt Appell unterzeichnen ➡️ aktion.campact.de/s/flugsteuer...
Flugsteuer muss bleiben – jetzt Appell unterzeichnen
Die Koalitionsspitzen wollen die Flugsteuer senken – auf Kosten des Klimas. Das müssen wir verhindern!
aktion.campact.de
November 24, 2025 at 2:45 PM
✈️ Die Koalitionsspitzen wollen die Flugsteuer senken – und gleichzeitig wird das Deutschlandticket teurer. Statt Billigflüge zu subventionieren, sollten sie lieber in die marode Bahn investieren und für günstige Zugtickets sorgen. Jetzt Appell unterzeichnen ➡️ aktion.campact.de/s/flugsteuer...
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
What is the most profitable industry in the world, this side of the law? Not oil, not IT, not pharma.
It's *scientific publishing*.
We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing.
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_...
Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy 👇
It's *scientific publishing*.
We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing.
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_...
Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy 👇
November 12, 2025 at 10:31 AM
What is the most profitable industry in the world, this side of the law? Not oil, not IT, not pharma.
It's *scientific publishing*.
We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing.
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_...
Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy 👇
It's *scientific publishing*.
We call this the Drain of Scientific Publishing.
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Background: doi.org/10.1162/qss_...
Thread @markhanson.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy 👇
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
This work is now out in Nature Communications! 🎉
Computational signatures of uncertainty are reflected in motor cortex excitatory neurochemistry: www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64702-6
Huge thanks to our amazing team! @beckyneuro.bsky.social @campsydept.bsky.social @camneuro.bsky.social
Computational signatures of uncertainty are reflected in motor cortex excitatory neurochemistry: www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64702-6
Huge thanks to our amazing team! @beckyneuro.bsky.social @campsydept.bsky.social @camneuro.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 1:26 PM
This work is now out in Nature Communications! 🎉
Computational signatures of uncertainty are reflected in motor cortex excitatory neurochemistry: www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64702-6
Huge thanks to our amazing team! @beckyneuro.bsky.social @campsydept.bsky.social @camneuro.bsky.social
Computational signatures of uncertainty are reflected in motor cortex excitatory neurochemistry: www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64702-6
Huge thanks to our amazing team! @beckyneuro.bsky.social @campsydept.bsky.social @camneuro.bsky.social
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
Merz Stadtbild-Aussage ist nicht nur rassistisch, sondern auch ein Ablenkungsmanöver: Unzufriedenheit soll sich an "Ausländern" entladen statt an der Politik, die versagt, lebenswerte Städte für alle zu schaffen. @keremschamberger.bsky.social @jacobinmagazin.bsky.social
Merz’ rassistische Ablenkung hat Tradition
Die Stadtbild-Debatte ist nicht nur ein Schauspiel des Alltagsrassismus in Deutschland, sondern auch ein Ablenkungsmanöver: Unzufriedenheit soll sich an Ausländern entladen statt an der Politik, die d...
jacobin.de
November 5, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Merz Stadtbild-Aussage ist nicht nur rassistisch, sondern auch ein Ablenkungsmanöver: Unzufriedenheit soll sich an "Ausländern" entladen statt an der Politik, die versagt, lebenswerte Städte für alle zu schaffen. @keremschamberger.bsky.social @jacobinmagazin.bsky.social
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
How does the brain find its way in realistic environments? 🧠 Using deep RL and neural data, we show that hippocampal-like networks support navigation, learning, and generalisation in partially observable environments—mirroring real animal behaviour. Now out:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroAI
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroAI
Hippocampus supports multi-task reinforcement learning under partial observability - Nature Communications
Neural mechanisms underlying reinforcement learning in naturalistic environments are not fully understood. Here authors show that reinforcement learning (RL) agents with hippocampal-like recurrence, u...
www.nature.com
November 3, 2025 at 10:20 AM
How does the brain find its way in realistic environments? 🧠 Using deep RL and neural data, we show that hippocampal-like networks support navigation, learning, and generalisation in partially observable environments—mirroring real animal behaviour. Now out:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroAI
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroAI
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
Post doc job alert 📢! Announcing a v exciting job on a Wellcome-funded project in my group at UCL, looking at auditory hallucinations... Advert here 👀: rb.gy/230w8l - deadline is end of Oct. Please apply! 1/5
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).
rb.gy
September 30, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Post doc job alert 📢! Announcing a v exciting job on a Wellcome-funded project in my group at UCL, looking at auditory hallucinations... Advert here 👀: rb.gy/230w8l - deadline is end of Oct. Please apply! 1/5
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
[logging on every day] man what
September 24, 2025 at 12:17 AM
[logging on every day] man what
My amazing husband Majed worked *so hard* on this project for >5 years - finally published today @natcomms.nature.com 😍
Absolutely insane array of methods, looking at microglia proliferation patterns & cell-cell interactions after stroke. Proud moment! 💫
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Absolutely insane array of methods, looking at microglia proliferation patterns & cell-cell interactions after stroke. Proud moment! 💫
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
September 16, 2025 at 1:19 PM
My amazing husband Majed worked *so hard* on this project for >5 years - finally published today @natcomms.nature.com 😍
Absolutely insane array of methods, looking at microglia proliferation patterns & cell-cell interactions after stroke. Proud moment! 💫
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Absolutely insane array of methods, looking at microglia proliferation patterns & cell-cell interactions after stroke. Proud moment! 💫
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
Big congrats to Marishka on this. I know how much time and effort went into it. Really happy to see it out! For those interested, she replicated prior longitudinal results using an approach-avoidance conflict task and showed how model parameters afforded out-of-sample clinical prediction.
New paper in CPsy - 'Computational Mechanisms of Approach-Avoidance Conflict Predictively Differentiate Between Affective and Substance Use Disorders' from Marishka Mehta and the group of @rssmith.bsky.social
doi.org/10.5334/cpsy...
doi.org/10.5334/cpsy...
Computational Mechanisms of Approach-Avoidance Conflict Predictively Differentiate Between Affective and Substance Use Disorders | Computational Psychiatry
doi.org
September 16, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Big congrats to Marishka on this. I know how much time and effort went into it. Really happy to see it out! For those interested, she replicated prior longitudinal results using an approach-avoidance conflict task and showed how model parameters afforded out-of-sample clinical prediction.
Science demos at the town fair in Marburg this Saturday 🧑🔬💫
Talking to Marburgers of all ages about the quirks of perception, & introducing the new DFG-funded cluster of excellence "The Adaptive Mind".
We showed Ames room, a color constancy demo, and hollow mask, size-weight & rubber hand illusions
Talking to Marburgers of all ages about the quirks of perception, & introducing the new DFG-funded cluster of excellence "The Adaptive Mind".
We showed Ames room, a color constancy demo, and hollow mask, size-weight & rubber hand illusions
September 8, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Science demos at the town fair in Marburg this Saturday 🧑🔬💫
Talking to Marburgers of all ages about the quirks of perception, & introducing the new DFG-funded cluster of excellence "The Adaptive Mind".
We showed Ames room, a color constancy demo, and hollow mask, size-weight & rubber hand illusions
Talking to Marburgers of all ages about the quirks of perception, & introducing the new DFG-funded cluster of excellence "The Adaptive Mind".
We showed Ames room, a color constancy demo, and hollow mask, size-weight & rubber hand illusions
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
Thrilled to share that @cognemo.bsky.social and I are guest editors for a Schizophrenia Bulletin special issue on Computational markers of psychosis: From latent states to neurobiological mechanisms 🧠✨
If you’re working on this topic, we’d love to see your work!
academic.oup.com/schizophreni...
If you’re working on this topic, we’d love to see your work!
academic.oup.com/schizophreni...
September 5, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Thrilled to share that @cognemo.bsky.social and I are guest editors for a Schizophrenia Bulletin special issue on Computational markers of psychosis: From latent states to neurobiological mechanisms 🧠✨
If you’re working on this topic, we’d love to see your work!
academic.oup.com/schizophreni...
If you’re working on this topic, we’d love to see your work!
academic.oup.com/schizophreni...
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
The two key studies of the International Brain Laboratory @intlbrainlab.bsky.social are out today!
A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Brain-wide representations of prior information in mouse decision-making
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Brain-wide representations of prior information in mouse decision-making
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour - Nature
The International Brain Laboratory presents a brain-wide electrophysiological map obtained from pooling data from 12 laboratories that performed the same standardized perceptual decision-making task i...
www.nature.com
September 3, 2025 at 3:46 PM
The two key studies of the International Brain Laboratory @intlbrainlab.bsky.social are out today!
A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Brain-wide representations of prior information in mouse decision-making
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A brain-wide map of neural activity during complex behaviour
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Brain-wide representations of prior information in mouse decision-making
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Anna-Lena Eckert
🧠 We're hiring a computational postdoc!
3+ years with me & @mitulamehta.bsky.social on @wellcometrust.bsky.social funded social cognition/paranoia research at the IoPPN.
Lead & develop computational work, collaborate with experimentalists on psychosis/THC data.
DM for details! lnkd.in/eCMy9Jf5
3+ years with me & @mitulamehta.bsky.social on @wellcometrust.bsky.social funded social cognition/paranoia research at the IoPPN.
Lead & develop computational work, collaborate with experimentalists on psychosis/THC data.
DM for details! lnkd.in/eCMy9Jf5
September 3, 2025 at 7:13 AM
🧠 We're hiring a computational postdoc!
3+ years with me & @mitulamehta.bsky.social on @wellcometrust.bsky.social funded social cognition/paranoia research at the IoPPN.
Lead & develop computational work, collaborate with experimentalists on psychosis/THC data.
DM for details! lnkd.in/eCMy9Jf5
3+ years with me & @mitulamehta.bsky.social on @wellcometrust.bsky.social funded social cognition/paranoia research at the IoPPN.
Lead & develop computational work, collaborate with experimentalists on psychosis/THC data.
DM for details! lnkd.in/eCMy9Jf5