Armin Lak
@laklab.bsky.social
Neuroscientist investigating neuronal bases of reward and learning. Associate Prof at Oxford University. www.laklab.org
Pinned
Armin Lak
@laklab.bsky.social
· Jun 11
Our work, out at Cell, shows that the brain’s dopamine signals teach each individual a unique learning trajectory. Collaborative experiment-theory effort, led by Sam Liebana in the lab. The first experiment my lab started just shy of 6y ago & v excited to see it out: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Reposted by Armin Lak
Actually the view from my office just got more interesting, as the official celebrations of the 200th anniversary now include a pirate projection saying "Free Palestine". Regardless of opinions, may UCL enjoy 200 more years of freedom of speech.
February 11, 2026 at 6:39 PM
Actually the view from my office just got more interesting, as the official celebrations of the 200th anniversary now include a pirate projection saying "Free Palestine". Regardless of opinions, may UCL enjoy 200 more years of freedom of speech.
RA job alert. We are looking for a fearless experimentalist to join our experiments on cortical neuromodulators during visually guided learning, lead by @michael-lynn.bsky.social . Opportunity to learn 2p imaging, design and conduct experiments. RT plz. Apply here: my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Job Details
my.corehr.com
January 30, 2026 at 1:43 PM
RA job alert. We are looking for a fearless experimentalist to join our experiments on cortical neuromodulators during visually guided learning, lead by @michael-lynn.bsky.social . Opportunity to learn 2p imaging, design and conduct experiments. RT plz. Apply here: my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Reposted by Armin Lak
There is a new Postdoctoral Research Associate position available in my group, to work on computational analysis of human neuroimaging workflows to develop robust, interpretable and scalable biomarkers of cognitive brain health.
Closing date 10th Feb 2026.
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
Closing date 10th Feb 2026.
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
Description
Please note that job descriptions are not exhaustive, and you may be asked to take on additional duties that align with the key responsibilities ment...
www.imperial.ac.uk
January 27, 2026 at 4:48 PM
There is a new Postdoctoral Research Associate position available in my group, to work on computational analysis of human neuroimaging workflows to develop robust, interpretable and scalable biomarkers of cognitive brain health.
Closing date 10th Feb 2026.
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
Closing date 10th Feb 2026.
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
Reposted by Armin Lak
Out today in Neurophotonics, we show that cross-talk between the imaging laser and opsin in all-optical experiments can affect response dynamics beyond what has been accounted for. Imaging conditions subthreshold for evoking spikes can accelerate opsin desensitization:
doi.org/10.1117/1.NP...
doi.org/10.1117/1.NP...
doi.org
January 26, 2026 at 9:47 PM
Out today in Neurophotonics, we show that cross-talk between the imaging laser and opsin in all-optical experiments can affect response dynamics beyond what has been accounted for. Imaging conditions subthreshold for evoking spikes can accelerate opsin desensitization:
doi.org/10.1117/1.NP...
doi.org/10.1117/1.NP...
Reposted by Armin Lak
We're running a 5th edition of the always-exciting UCL Summer School on Consciousness and Metacognition this year, 8th-10th July 2026 in London. Accommodation and travel expenses are covered.
For more information and how to apply, check out metacoglab.org/summer-schoo...
For more information and how to apply, check out metacoglab.org/summer-schoo...
Summer School - About — the MetaLab
metacoglab.org
January 20, 2026 at 5:07 PM
We're running a 5th edition of the always-exciting UCL Summer School on Consciousness and Metacognition this year, 8th-10th July 2026 in London. Accommodation and travel expenses are covered.
For more information and how to apply, check out metacoglab.org/summer-schoo...
For more information and how to apply, check out metacoglab.org/summer-schoo...
New preprint. We show that in addition to reward prediction errors (RPEs), dorsal striatal dopamine signals encode sensory prediction errors (SPEs), the difference between sensory prior & observed stimulus. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Dorsal striatal dopamine integrates sensory and reward prediction errors to guide perceptual decisions
Perceptual decisions are shaped by expectations about sensory stimuli and rewards, learned through sensory and reward prediction errors. Dopamine is known to convey reward prediction errors that shape...
www.biorxiv.org
January 5, 2026 at 10:49 AM
New preprint. We show that in addition to reward prediction errors (RPEs), dorsal striatal dopamine signals encode sensory prediction errors (SPEs), the difference between sensory prior & observed stimulus. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Armin Lak
We tend to think of neurons as either excitatory or inhibitory, but some neurons chemically inhibit their downstream targets while electrically exciting their neighbors. What is gained by having an inhibitory neuron excite its neighbor?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
December 8, 2025 at 6:49 PM
We tend to think of neurons as either excitatory or inhibitory, but some neurons chemically inhibit their downstream targets while electrically exciting their neighbors. What is gained by having an inhibitory neuron excite its neighbor?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Armin Lak
Please repost widely. @vanderhaeghenp2.bsky.social and I are hiring a postdoc with expertise in sensory physiology and in vivo circuit imaging/manipulation. The project centers on human-specific brain development and SYNGAP1-related disorders. Call closing soon—apply ASAP
jobs.vib.be/j/119852/pos...
jobs.vib.be/j/119852/pos...
Postdoctoral Fellow / PhD Student in Systems Neuroscience - VIB
The Laboratory of Cortical Information Processing | Vision to Action at NERF (www.nerf.be) invites applications for a Postdoctoral Fellow or PhD Student to work on a new research project funded by the...
jobs.vib.be
November 25, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Please repost widely. @vanderhaeghenp2.bsky.social and I are hiring a postdoc with expertise in sensory physiology and in vivo circuit imaging/manipulation. The project centers on human-specific brain development and SYNGAP1-related disorders. Call closing soon—apply ASAP
jobs.vib.be/j/119852/pos...
jobs.vib.be/j/119852/pos...
concise and informative review article on corticostriatal pathways in sensory process by @giladsilberberg.bsky.social et al . I find myself looking into it frequently and learn/cross check a new thing every time : www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Corticostriatal pathways for bilateral sensorimotor functions
Corticostriatal pathways are essential for a multitude of motor, sensory, cognitive, and affective functions. They are mediated by cortical pyramidal …
www.sciencedirect.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:04 PM
concise and informative review article on corticostriatal pathways in sensory process by @giladsilberberg.bsky.social et al . I find myself looking into it frequently and learn/cross check a new thing every time : www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Armin Lak
Our lab is looking for a postdoc! We have interesting projects and cutting-edge techniques such as Neuropixels Opto, Light Beads Microscopy and more. We would be delighted to receive your application. Deadline is 25 November 2025. More info here:
www.ucl.ac.uk/cortexlab/po...
www.ucl.ac.uk/cortexlab/po...
November 12, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Our lab is looking for a postdoc! We have interesting projects and cutting-edge techniques such as Neuropixels Opto, Light Beads Microscopy and more. We would be delighted to receive your application. Deadline is 25 November 2025. More info here:
www.ucl.ac.uk/cortexlab/po...
www.ucl.ac.uk/cortexlab/po...
Out today at Neuron, our experiments show that frontal cortical representation of economic variables is jointly determined by spatial organization and downstream
connectivity of neurons, revealing a structured, multi-scale code for economic variables. www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
connectivity of neurons, revealing a structured, multi-scale code for economic variables. www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
October 16, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Out today at Neuron, our experiments show that frontal cortical representation of economic variables is jointly determined by spatial organization and downstream
connectivity of neurons, revealing a structured, multi-scale code for economic variables. www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
connectivity of neurons, revealing a structured, multi-scale code for economic variables. www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
All-optical experiments are great but @neurorussell.bsky.social found that opsin desensitization due to cross-talk between the imaging laser and the opsin causes major issues. These can be ameleorated with long inter-stimulus intervals & short imaging doses. All here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Desensitization of opsin responses during all-optical interrogation depends on imaging parameters
Significance The combination of two-photon calcium imaging and two-photon optogenetic stimulation, termed all-optical interrogation, provides spatial and temporal precision when recording and manipula...
www.biorxiv.org
October 12, 2025 at 12:27 PM
All-optical experiments are great but @neurorussell.bsky.social found that opsin desensitization due to cross-talk between the imaging laser and the opsin causes major issues. These can be ameleorated with long inter-stimulus intervals & short imaging doses. All here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Armin Lak
Looking for a PhD next year? Want to come and work on the next generation of OPM-MEG/EEG biomarkers in computational psychiatry?
Apply for our MRC iCase studentship with @mkflugge.bsky.social, collabs with @lilweb.bsky.social + industrial placement at P1Vital:
www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/gradua...
Apply for our MRC iCase studentship with @mkflugge.bsky.social, collabs with @lilweb.bsky.social + industrial placement at P1Vital:
www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/gradua...
Development of robust, single-subject markers of predictive inference for computational psychiatry
www.medsci.ox.ac.uk
September 26, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Looking for a PhD next year? Want to come and work on the next generation of OPM-MEG/EEG biomarkers in computational psychiatry?
Apply for our MRC iCase studentship with @mkflugge.bsky.social, collabs with @lilweb.bsky.social + industrial placement at P1Vital:
www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/gradua...
Apply for our MRC iCase studentship with @mkflugge.bsky.social, collabs with @lilweb.bsky.social + industrial placement at P1Vital:
www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/gradua...
Beautiful and clear results showing that temporal difference error calculation is hardwired in the dopamine/striatum mircocircuits: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
from @malcolmgcampbell.bsky.social and @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social
from @malcolmgcampbell.bsky.social and @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social
A hardwired neural circuit for temporal difference learning
The neurotransmitter dopamine plays a major role in learning by acting as a teaching signal to update the brain's predictions about rewards. A leading theory proposes that this process is analogous to...
www.biorxiv.org
September 20, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Beautiful and clear results showing that temporal difference error calculation is hardwired in the dopamine/striatum mircocircuits: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
from @malcolmgcampbell.bsky.social and @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social
from @malcolmgcampbell.bsky.social and @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social
Reposted by Armin Lak
In our Learning Club @cmc-lab.bsky.social today (Aug 18, Thu, 2pm CET), Samuel Liebana will tell us about his paper (www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... [joint work w/ @saxelab.bsky.social & @laklab.bsky.social]. Want to attend, send an empty email to virtual-talk-link-request@cmclab.org to get the link!
www.cell.com
September 18, 2025 at 7:44 AM
In our Learning Club @cmc-lab.bsky.social today (Aug 18, Thu, 2pm CET), Samuel Liebana will tell us about his paper (www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... [joint work w/ @saxelab.bsky.social & @laklab.bsky.social]. Want to attend, send an empty email to virtual-talk-link-request@cmclab.org to get the link!
Concise and informative highlight on our recent paper, thanks to Seung Chan Kim, Sehwan Kim & Sang Ryong Kim. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
September 9, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Concise and informative highlight on our recent paper, thanks to Seung Chan Kim, Sehwan Kim & Sang Ryong Kim. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Armin Lak
Hagai Bergman - whose celebrated work was a critical step in identifying the subthalamic nucleus as a target for deep brain stimulation in Parkinson's disease - & Josh Goldberg, both of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, helping to stop traffic (posted by Josh on X): Stop the war! Bring them home!
August 17, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Hagai Bergman - whose celebrated work was a critical step in identifying the subthalamic nucleus as a target for deep brain stimulation in Parkinson's disease - & Josh Goldberg, both of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, helping to stop traffic (posted by Josh on X): Stop the war! Bring them home!
Reposted by Armin Lak
We are recruiting a new PI at the FIL @imagingneuroucl.bsky.social, Associate or Full Professor. This is an amazing place to do cognitive neuroscience, in the heart of London. If you or someone you know might be interested, please pass it on. #neuroskyence
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
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 8, 2025 at 10:52 AM
We are recruiting a new PI at the FIL @imagingneuroucl.bsky.social, Associate or Full Professor. This is an amazing place to do cognitive neuroscience, in the heart of London. If you or someone you know might be interested, please pass it on. #neuroskyence
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Reposted by Armin Lak
New preprint + thread 🧵
#Psychedelics induce the formation of new synapses, but where do they connect?
Our rabies tracing study reveals that #psilocybin shifts connectivity across specific cortical networks.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/12
#Psychedelics induce the formation of new synapses, but where do they connect?
Our rabies tracing study reveals that #psilocybin shifts connectivity across specific cortical networks.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/12
August 7, 2025 at 2:49 PM
New preprint + thread 🧵
#Psychedelics induce the formation of new synapses, but where do they connect?
Our rabies tracing study reveals that #psilocybin shifts connectivity across specific cortical networks.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/12
#Psychedelics induce the formation of new synapses, but where do they connect?
Our rabies tracing study reveals that #psilocybin shifts connectivity across specific cortical networks.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/12
Reposted by Armin Lak
Can we use what we’ve learned about cognitive maps to understand social cognition, including theory of mind?
If you’re interested in answering this question then this is a fantastic postdoc opportunity with @mkwittmann.bsky.social in collaboration with @summerfieldlab.bsky.social and my lab.
If you’re interested in answering this question then this is a fantastic postdoc opportunity with @mkwittmann.bsky.social in collaboration with @summerfieldlab.bsky.social and my lab.
📢 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 4:14 PM
Can we use what we’ve learned about cognitive maps to understand social cognition, including theory of mind?
If you’re interested in answering this question then this is a fantastic postdoc opportunity with @mkwittmann.bsky.social in collaboration with @summerfieldlab.bsky.social and my lab.
If you’re interested in answering this question then this is a fantastic postdoc opportunity with @mkwittmann.bsky.social in collaboration with @summerfieldlab.bsky.social and my lab.
Reposted by Armin Lak
Our paper on foraging is now published in Neuron! Read it here:
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
This project was co-led by Michael Bukwich (not on Bluesky) and me, with major contributions from all co-authors. Huge thanks to the whole team!
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
This project was co-led by Michael Bukwich (not on Bluesky) and me, with major contributions from all co-authors. Huge thanks to the whole team!
Competitive integration of time and reward explains value-sensitive foraging decisions and frontal cortex ramping dynamics
Bukwich and Campbell et al. show that mice integrate elapsed time and reward intake,
scaled by a latent patience variable, to decide when to leave virtual “patches.” Frontal
cortex ramping activity ma...
www.cell.com
August 7, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Our paper on foraging is now published in Neuron! Read it here:
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
This project was co-led by Michael Bukwich (not on Bluesky) and me, with major contributions from all co-authors. Huge thanks to the whole team!
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
This project was co-led by Michael Bukwich (not on Bluesky) and me, with major contributions from all co-authors. Huge thanks to the whole team!
Reposted by Armin Lak
🚨Pre-print alert🚨
We stimulated serotonin with optogenetics while doing large-scale Neuropixel recordings across the mouse brain. We found strong widespread modulation of neural activity, but no effect on the choices of the mouse 🐭
How is this possible? Strap in! (1/9) 👇🧵
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
We stimulated serotonin with optogenetics while doing large-scale Neuropixel recordings across the mouse brain. We found strong widespread modulation of neural activity, but no effect on the choices of the mouse 🐭
How is this possible? Strap in! (1/9) 👇🧵
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Serotonin drives choice-independent reconfiguration of distributed neural activity
Serotonin (5-HT) is a central neuromodulator which is implicated in, amongst other functions, cognitive flexibility. 5-HT is released from the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) throughout nearly the entire f...
doi.org
August 5, 2025 at 12:32 PM
🚨Pre-print alert🚨
We stimulated serotonin with optogenetics while doing large-scale Neuropixel recordings across the mouse brain. We found strong widespread modulation of neural activity, but no effect on the choices of the mouse 🐭
How is this possible? Strap in! (1/9) 👇🧵
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
We stimulated serotonin with optogenetics while doing large-scale Neuropixel recordings across the mouse brain. We found strong widespread modulation of neural activity, but no effect on the choices of the mouse 🐭
How is this possible? Strap in! (1/9) 👇🧵
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reposted by Armin Lak
We're looking for a research assistant to work in our neuroscience lab at @princetonneuro.bsky.social @hhmi.org where we study learning and decision-making circuitry.
Apply here: research-princeton.icims.com/jobs/21001/r...
Pls share w/ anyone who might be interested!
Apply here: research-princeton.icims.com/jobs/21001/r...
Pls share w/ anyone who might be interested!
August 5, 2025 at 1:26 PM
We're looking for a research assistant to work in our neuroscience lab at @princetonneuro.bsky.social @hhmi.org where we study learning and decision-making circuitry.
Apply here: research-princeton.icims.com/jobs/21001/r...
Pls share w/ anyone who might be interested!
Apply here: research-princeton.icims.com/jobs/21001/r...
Pls share w/ anyone who might be interested!