Matan Mazor
@matanmazor.bsky.social
Interested in complex systems and in simple systems who believe they are complex systems. Leader of the Oxford Self-Modelling Group (Dept. of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford);
Pinned
Matan Mazor
@matanmazor.bsky.social
· Oct 10
OSF
osf.io
Consciousness science as a marketplace of rationalizations
my commentary on @smfleming.bsky.social and @matthiasmichel.bsky.social's thought-provoking BBS paper, and more generally about the field.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
my commentary on @smfleming.bsky.social and @matthiasmichel.bsky.social's thought-provoking BBS paper, and more generally about the field.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Matan Mazor
@dotproduct.bsky.social's first first author paper is finally out in @sfnjournals.bsky.social! Her findings show that content-specific predictions fluctuate with alpha frequencies, suggesting a more specific role for alpha oscillations than we may have thought. With @jhaarsma.bsky.social. 🧠🟦 🧠🤖
Contents of visual predictions oscillate at alpha frequencies
Predictions of future events have a major impact on how we process sensory signals. However, it remains unclear how the brain keeps predictions online in anticipation of future inputs. Here, we combin...
www.jneurosci.org
October 21, 2025 at 11:05 AM
@dotproduct.bsky.social's first first author paper is finally out in @sfnjournals.bsky.social! Her findings show that content-specific predictions fluctuate with alpha frequencies, suggesting a more specific role for alpha oscillations than we may have thought. With @jhaarsma.bsky.social. 🧠🟦 🧠🤖
Reposted by Matan Mazor
Very happy to see "Pretending not to know reveals a capacity for model-based self-simulation", a collaboration with @chazfirestone.bsky.social and @ianbphillips.bsky.social, out in Psych. Science!
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177...
🧵
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177...
🧵
February 10, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Very happy to see "Pretending not to know reveals a capacity for model-based self-simulation", a collaboration with @chazfirestone.bsky.social and @ianbphillips.bsky.social, out in Psych. Science!
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177...
🧵
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177...
🧵
Reposted by Matan Mazor
New Preprint with @matanmazor.bsky.social: Overcoming both bias and sycophancy requires LLMs to imagine not knowing something they know. Like humans, they struggle with this. But unlike humans, LLMs can do something remarkable: they can, quite simply, *ask their counterfactual selves*.
February 10, 2026 at 5:24 PM
New Preprint with @matanmazor.bsky.social: Overcoming both bias and sycophancy requires LLMs to imagine not knowing something they know. Like humans, they struggle with this. But unlike humans, LLMs can do something remarkable: they can, quite simply, *ask their counterfactual selves*.
Reposted by Matan Mazor
Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin
February 12, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin
Reposted by Matan Mazor
Reposted by Matan Mazor
checking the status of my manuscript
February 11, 2026 at 2:03 PM
checking the status of my manuscript
Reposted by Matan Mazor
Introducing “Pretend Battleship”: you’re told where all the ships are but then have to play like you never got that information. Could you do it? And what would your performance reveal about your understanding of your own mind? A joy to be part of this creative project led by @matanmazor.bsky.social
Very happy to see "Pretending not to know reveals a capacity for model-based self-simulation", a collaboration with @chazfirestone.bsky.social and @ianbphillips.bsky.social, out in Psych. Science!
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177...
🧵
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177...
🧵
February 10, 2026 at 8:40 PM
Introducing “Pretend Battleship”: you’re told where all the ships are but then have to play like you never got that information. Could you do it? And what would your performance reveal about your understanding of your own mind? A joy to be part of this creative project led by @matanmazor.bsky.social
Reposted by Matan Mazor
But in both bias and sycophancy scenarios, LLMs can do something amazing that people cannot. They can use their own API to simply *ask themselves* the question with the relevant information redacted. We show this literal self-simulation vastly outperforms prompting.
February 10, 2026 at 5:24 PM
But in both bias and sycophancy scenarios, LLMs can do something amazing that people cannot. They can use their own API to simply *ask themselves* the question with the relevant information redacted. We show this literal self-simulation vastly outperforms prompting.
Give it a try here!
self-model.github.io/pretendingNo...
self-model.github.io/pretendingNo...
February 10, 2026 at 5:54 PM
Give it a try here!
self-model.github.io/pretendingNo...
self-model.github.io/pretendingNo...
Very happy to see "Pretending not to know reveals a capacity for model-based self-simulation", a collaboration with @chazfirestone.bsky.social and @ianbphillips.bsky.social, out in Psych. Science!
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177...
🧵
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177...
🧵
February 10, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Very happy to see "Pretending not to know reveals a capacity for model-based self-simulation", a collaboration with @chazfirestone.bsky.social and @ianbphillips.bsky.social, out in Psych. Science!
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177...
🧵
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177...
🧵
Reposted by Matan Mazor
Ninth UK university confirms opting out of Elsevier deal.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-o...
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-o...
Ninth UK university confirms opting out of Elsevier deal - Research Professional News
Sheffield Hallam and Swansea are the latest to drop agreements with the publishing giant
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
February 10, 2026 at 1:53 PM
Ninth UK university confirms opting out of Elsevier deal.
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-o...
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-o...
Reposted by Matan Mazor
We're starting a PhD programme in Philosophy at Ashoka! Anyone can apply by April 15 for admission this year, and we will ensure that admitted applicants receive enough funding to support them for the 5 year programme. More info here:
www.ashoka.edu.in/programme/ph...
www.ashoka.edu.in/programme/ph...
Ph.D. Programme in Philosophy - Ashoka University
The PhD in Philosophy programme conforms to all Ashoka PhD programme guidelines. Additional guidelines specific to the Philosophy PhD programme […]
www.ashoka.edu.in
February 9, 2026 at 6:22 AM
We're starting a PhD programme in Philosophy at Ashoka! Anyone can apply by April 15 for admission this year, and we will ensure that admitted applicants receive enough funding to support them for the 5 year programme. More info here:
www.ashoka.edu.in/programme/ph...
www.ashoka.edu.in/programme/ph...
לבדו בין כה וכה
מתי כספי - לא טוב היות האדם לבדו
YouTube video by Michal Bobrov
www.youtube.com
February 8, 2026 at 11:05 PM
לבדו בין כה וכה
Reposted by Matan Mazor
Reward models (RMs) are supposed to represent human values. But RMs are NOT blank slates – they inherit measurable biases from their base models that stubbornly persist through preference training. #ICLR2026 🧵
February 4, 2026 at 4:30 PM
Reward models (RMs) are supposed to represent human values. But RMs are NOT blank slates – they inherit measurable biases from their base models that stubbornly persist through preference training. #ICLR2026 🧵
Reposted by Matan Mazor
The race is on to re-home 120 ex-commercial laying hens in Didcot before February 8th. The British Hen Welfare Trust is appealing for would-be kind hearted chicken keepers to come forward by 4pm Friday and give the hens a chance at a free range retirement.
February 3, 2026 at 8:19 AM
The race is on to re-home 120 ex-commercial laying hens in Didcot before February 8th. The British Hen Welfare Trust is appealing for would-be kind hearted chicken keepers to come forward by 4pm Friday and give the hens a chance at a free range retirement.
Reposted by Matan Mazor
My Centre is a unique place to do a PhD in Philosophy, because you can be in constant contact with experts in veterinary medicine, psychology, zoology and policy and be part of a team united by a shared interest in animal minds. We now have our 1st ever PhD scholarship: www.lse.ac.uk/sentience/phd
PhD Scholarship
www.lse.ac.uk
January 30, 2026 at 7:39 AM
My Centre is a unique place to do a PhD in Philosophy, because you can be in constant contact with experts in veterinary medicine, psychology, zoology and policy and be part of a team united by a shared interest in animal minds. We now have our 1st ever PhD scholarship: www.lse.ac.uk/sentience/phd
Reposted by Matan Mazor
brass solidarity band performing “stand by me” in the streets of whittier next to alex pretti’s memorial. the crowd started chanting “the people united will never be defeated” so they incorporated it into the song. i love minneapolis
January 27, 2026 at 12:22 AM
brass solidarity band performing “stand by me” in the streets of whittier next to alex pretti’s memorial. the crowd started chanting “the people united will never be defeated” so they incorporated it into the song. i love minneapolis
Reposted by Matan Mazor
Are you sure there’s no mosquito in the room?
With @matanmazor.bsky.social, Chichi Dézier, @nfaivre.bsky.social & Louise Goupil, we study how we combine multiple sensory sources to be confident in presence and absence: While detection rely on one modality, confidence requires both channels to align!
With @matanmazor.bsky.social, Chichi Dézier, @nfaivre.bsky.social & Louise Goupil, we study how we combine multiple sensory sources to be confident in presence and absence: While detection rely on one modality, confidence requires both channels to align!
Audiovisual congruency drives confidence in presence and absence: https://osf.io/sqpmk
January 26, 2026 at 6:49 AM
Are you sure there’s no mosquito in the room?
With @matanmazor.bsky.social, Chichi Dézier, @nfaivre.bsky.social & Louise Goupil, we study how we combine multiple sensory sources to be confident in presence and absence: While detection rely on one modality, confidence requires both channels to align!
With @matanmazor.bsky.social, Chichi Dézier, @nfaivre.bsky.social & Louise Goupil, we study how we combine multiple sensory sources to be confident in presence and absence: While detection rely on one modality, confidence requires both channels to align!
Reposted by Matan Mazor
Fascinating. Also....what if the tiny people are real and all around us and the mushrooms just let us see them.
With most psychedelic drugs, you never know what you're going to get. But this mysterious mushroom from China - without fail - causes users to hallucinate tiny people: crawling up walls, popping out from under furniture and marching under doors. www.bbc.com/future/artic...
'They saw them on their dishes when eating': The mushroom making people hallucinate dozens of tiny humans
Only recently described by science, the mysterious mushrooms are found in different parts of the world, but they give people the same exact visions.
www.bbc.com
January 22, 2026 at 10:32 PM
Fascinating. Also....what if the tiny people are real and all around us and the mushrooms just let us see them.
Reposted by Matan Mazor
Reposted by Matan Mazor
Our new paper is out in @natmed.nature.com 😱! A thread:
Can our thoughts and feelings directly affect our physical well-being? Our pre-registered, double-blind RCT investigated this by testing if modulating the brain's reward system could enhance immune responses to vaccination.
Can our thoughts and feelings directly affect our physical well-being? Our pre-registered, double-blind RCT investigated this by testing if modulating the brain's reward system could enhance immune responses to vaccination.
January 21, 2026 at 5:55 PM
Our new paper is out in @natmed.nature.com 😱! A thread:
Can our thoughts and feelings directly affect our physical well-being? Our pre-registered, double-blind RCT investigated this by testing if modulating the brain's reward system could enhance immune responses to vaccination.
Can our thoughts and feelings directly affect our physical well-being? Our pre-registered, double-blind RCT investigated this by testing if modulating the brain's reward system could enhance immune responses to vaccination.
Reposted by Matan Mazor
January 19, 2026 at 7:14 PM
Loulan (19 months old, shoulder height 29cm, 11.5kg) is now in a shelter in Romania, but will arrive in the UK by the end of the month, and is looking for a loving home.
abldr.org.uk/applications...
abldr.org.uk/applications...
January 17, 2026 at 6:45 PM
Loulan (19 months old, shoulder height 29cm, 11.5kg) is now in a shelter in Romania, but will arrive in the UK by the end of the month, and is looking for a loving home.
abldr.org.uk/applications...
abldr.org.uk/applications...
Reposted by Matan Mazor
We have never needed this guy more
January 10, 2026 at 4:43 PM
We have never needed this guy more
Reposted by Matan Mazor
After 5 years of data collection, our WARN-D machine learning competition to forecast depression onset is now LIVE! We hope many of you will participate—we have incredibly rich data.
If you share a single thing of my lab this year, please make it this competition.
eiko-fried.com/warn-d-machi...
If you share a single thing of my lab this year, please make it this competition.
eiko-fried.com/warn-d-machi...
WARN-D machine learning competition is live » Eiko Fried
If you share one single thing of our team in 2026—on social media or per email with your colleagues—please let it be this machine learning competition. It was half a decade of work to get here, especi...
eiko-fried.com
January 7, 2026 at 7:39 PM
After 5 years of data collection, our WARN-D machine learning competition to forecast depression onset is now LIVE! We hope many of you will participate—we have incredibly rich data.
If you share a single thing of my lab this year, please make it this competition.
eiko-fried.com/warn-d-machi...
If you share a single thing of my lab this year, please make it this competition.
eiko-fried.com/warn-d-machi...