Sander van Bree
@sandervanbree.bsky.social
Postdoc JLU Giessen — how is cognition realized by the brain? Oscillations aficionado, mind sciences omnivore, hip-hop head
sandervanbree.com
sandervanbree.com
Reposted by Sander van Bree
🔔✨Call for papers and symposia on Frances Egan’s (@francesegan.bsky.social) ‘Deflating Mental Representation’ (13/04 - 15/04) alongside Neural Mechanisms Online and Philosophy and the Mind Sciences (@phimisci.bsky.social)!
More info: tinyurl.com/NMO-ISPSM and tinyurl.com/Phimisci-Egan
#philsky
More info: tinyurl.com/NMO-ISPSM and tinyurl.com/Phimisci-Egan
#philsky
January 21, 2026 at 12:56 PM
🔔✨Call for papers and symposia on Frances Egan’s (@francesegan.bsky.social) ‘Deflating Mental Representation’ (13/04 - 15/04) alongside Neural Mechanisms Online and Philosophy and the Mind Sciences (@phimisci.bsky.social)!
More info: tinyurl.com/NMO-ISPSM and tinyurl.com/Phimisci-Egan
#philsky
More info: tinyurl.com/NMO-ISPSM and tinyurl.com/Phimisci-Egan
#philsky
Reposted by Sander van Bree
main goal for this year: find a new job! 🙂
looking for a role with fun & complex technical challenges & within a great community. my main expertise is in signal processing/EEG/MEG, but topic-wise I am quite flexible.
science/industry both great! starting mid-year. nschawor.github.io/cv
looking for a role with fun & complex technical challenges & within a great community. my main expertise is in signal processing/EEG/MEG, but topic-wise I am quite flexible.
science/industry both great! starting mid-year. nschawor.github.io/cv
January 16, 2026 at 10:14 AM
main goal for this year: find a new job! 🙂
looking for a role with fun & complex technical challenges & within a great community. my main expertise is in signal processing/EEG/MEG, but topic-wise I am quite flexible.
science/industry both great! starting mid-year. nschawor.github.io/cv
looking for a role with fun & complex technical challenges & within a great community. my main expertise is in signal processing/EEG/MEG, but topic-wise I am quite flexible.
science/industry both great! starting mid-year. nschawor.github.io/cv
Reposted by Sander van Bree
New preprint: Inference over hidden contexts shapes the geometry of conceptual knowledge for flexible behaviour.
In this pre-reg study, our core claim was that we don’t just learn stimulus-reward. We infer hidden context and that inference re-wires attention and neural state space on the fly.
1/8
In this pre-reg study, our core claim was that we don’t just learn stimulus-reward. We infer hidden context and that inference re-wires attention and neural state space on the fly.
1/8
January 8, 2026 at 7:46 AM
New preprint: Inference over hidden contexts shapes the geometry of conceptual knowledge for flexible behaviour.
In this pre-reg study, our core claim was that we don’t just learn stimulus-reward. We infer hidden context and that inference re-wires attention and neural state space on the fly.
1/8
In this pre-reg study, our core claim was that we don’t just learn stimulus-reward. We infer hidden context and that inference re-wires attention and neural state space on the fly.
1/8
Reposted by Sander van Bree
A “universal” pattern of cortical brain oscillations may be less ubiquitous than previously proposed.
By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/brain-waves/...
By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/brain-waves/...
Dispute erupts over universal cortical brain-wave claim
The debate highlights opposing views on how the cortex transmits information.
www.thetransmitter.org
December 12, 2025 at 2:20 PM
A “universal” pattern of cortical brain oscillations may be less ubiquitous than previously proposed.
By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/brain-waves/...
By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/brain-waves/...
Good postdoc opportunity ⬇️
It’s official! The postdoc positions announcement is here 🚀
If you know great candidates interested in attention, memory transformation and EEG, please help spread the word:
Project (ReDAS) -> cimcyc.ugr.es/en/informati...
Job offer -> cimcyc.ugr.es/en/informati...
If you know great candidates interested in attention, memory transformation and EEG, please help spread the word:
Project (ReDAS) -> cimcyc.ugr.es/en/informati...
Job offer -> cimcyc.ugr.es/en/informati...
Bridging Fields in Psychology and Neuroscience with Multidisciplinary Collaboration
Strengthening collaboration to encourage novel research connections between scientific areas is central to the CIMCYC - María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence strategy . To encourage this, the CIMCYC has ...
cimcyc.ugr.es
December 9, 2025 at 8:52 AM
Good postdoc opportunity ⬇️
Reposted by Sander van Bree
Spread the word: I'm looking to hire a postdoc to explore the concept of attention (as studied in psych/neuro, not the transformer mechanism) in large Vision-Language Models. More details here: lindsay-lab.github.io/2025/12/08/p...
#MLSky #neurojobs #compneuro
#MLSky #neurojobs #compneuro
Lindsay Lab - Postdoc Position
Artificial neural networks applied to psychology, neuroscience, and climate change
lindsay-lab.github.io
December 8, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Spread the word: I'm looking to hire a postdoc to explore the concept of attention (as studied in psych/neuro, not the transformer mechanism) in large Vision-Language Models. More details here: lindsay-lab.github.io/2025/12/08/p...
#MLSky #neurojobs #compneuro
#MLSky #neurojobs #compneuro
Reposted by Sander van Bree
If you calculated noise ceilings (NC) based on split-half reliability - e.g. to compare models - this one is important!
Seems many published studies miscalculated it, overestimating model performance. First, let's make this crystal clear:
NC = 2*r / (1+r)
where r is split-half correlation.
Seems many published studies miscalculated it, overestimating model performance. First, let's make this crystal clear:
NC = 2*r / (1+r)
where r is split-half correlation.
New preprint w/ Malin Styrnal & @martinhebart.bsky.social
Have you ever computed noise ceilings to understand how well a model performs? We wrote a clarifying note on a subtle and common misapplication that can make models appear quite a lot better than they are.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Have you ever computed noise ceilings to understand how well a model performs? We wrote a clarifying note on a subtle and common misapplication that can make models appear quite a lot better than they are.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
December 8, 2025 at 12:51 AM
If you calculated noise ceilings (NC) based on split-half reliability - e.g. to compare models - this one is important!
Seems many published studies miscalculated it, overestimating model performance. First, let's make this crystal clear:
NC = 2*r / (1+r)
where r is split-half correlation.
Seems many published studies miscalculated it, overestimating model performance. First, let's make this crystal clear:
NC = 2*r / (1+r)
where r is split-half correlation.
Reposted by Sander van Bree
We recently stumbled upon a surprisingly common misunderstanding in computing noise ceilings that can be quite consequential. So if you care about noise ceilings, please check out Sander’s thread and our preprint! 👇
New preprint w/ Malin Styrnal & @martinhebart.bsky.social
Have you ever computed noise ceilings to understand how well a model performs? We wrote a clarifying note on a subtle and common misapplication that can make models appear quite a lot better than they are.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Have you ever computed noise ceilings to understand how well a model performs? We wrote a clarifying note on a subtle and common misapplication that can make models appear quite a lot better than they are.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
December 5, 2025 at 8:39 AM
We recently stumbled upon a surprisingly common misunderstanding in computing noise ceilings that can be quite consequential. So if you care about noise ceilings, please check out Sander’s thread and our preprint! 👇
New preprint w/ Malin Styrnal & @martinhebart.bsky.social
Have you ever computed noise ceilings to understand how well a model performs? We wrote a clarifying note on a subtle and common misapplication that can make models appear quite a lot better than they are.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Have you ever computed noise ceilings to understand how well a model performs? We wrote a clarifying note on a subtle and common misapplication that can make models appear quite a lot better than they are.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
December 4, 2025 at 6:53 PM
New preprint w/ Malin Styrnal & @martinhebart.bsky.social
Have you ever computed noise ceilings to understand how well a model performs? We wrote a clarifying note on a subtle and common misapplication that can make models appear quite a lot better than they are.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Have you ever computed noise ceilings to understand how well a model performs? We wrote a clarifying note on a subtle and common misapplication that can make models appear quite a lot better than they are.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Sander van Bree
Finally got the job ad—looking for 2 PhD students to start spring next year:
www.gao-unit.com/join-us/
If comp neuro, ML, and AI4Neuro is your thing, or you just nerd out over brain recordings, apply!
I'm at neurips. DM me here / on the conference app or email if you want to meet 🏖️🌮
www.gao-unit.com/join-us/
If comp neuro, ML, and AI4Neuro is your thing, or you just nerd out over brain recordings, apply!
I'm at neurips. DM me here / on the conference app or email if you want to meet 🏖️🌮
December 3, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Finally got the job ad—looking for 2 PhD students to start spring next year:
www.gao-unit.com/join-us/
If comp neuro, ML, and AI4Neuro is your thing, or you just nerd out over brain recordings, apply!
I'm at neurips. DM me here / on the conference app or email if you want to meet 🏖️🌮
www.gao-unit.com/join-us/
If comp neuro, ML, and AI4Neuro is your thing, or you just nerd out over brain recordings, apply!
I'm at neurips. DM me here / on the conference app or email if you want to meet 🏖️🌮
New Correspondence with @davidpoeppel.bsky.social in Nat Rev Neurosci. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Here, we critique a recent paper by Rosas et al. We argue that "Bottom-up" and "Top-down" neuroscience have various meanings in the literature.
PDF: rdcu.be/eSKYI
Here, we critique a recent paper by Rosas et al. We argue that "Bottom-up" and "Top-down" neuroscience have various meanings in the literature.
PDF: rdcu.be/eSKYI
Top-down and bottom-up neuroscience as collections of practices - Nature Reviews Neuroscience
Nature Reviews Neuroscience - Top-down and bottom-up neuroscience as collections of practices
www.nature.com
December 2, 2025 at 3:13 PM
New Correspondence with @davidpoeppel.bsky.social in Nat Rev Neurosci. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Here, we critique a recent paper by Rosas et al. We argue that "Bottom-up" and "Top-down" neuroscience have various meanings in the literature.
PDF: rdcu.be/eSKYI
Here, we critique a recent paper by Rosas et al. We argue that "Bottom-up" and "Top-down" neuroscience have various meanings in the literature.
PDF: rdcu.be/eSKYI
Reposted by Sander van Bree
Investigating individual-specific topographic organization has traditionally been a resource-intensive and time-consuming process. But what if we could map visual cortex organization in thousands of brains? Here we offer the community with a toolbox that can do just that! tinyurl.com/deepretinotopy
December 1, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Investigating individual-specific topographic organization has traditionally been a resource-intensive and time-consuming process. But what if we could map visual cortex organization in thousands of brains? Here we offer the community with a toolbox that can do just that! tinyurl.com/deepretinotopy
Reposted by Sander van Bree
🚨🧠🚨 POSTDOC POSITION 🚨🧠🚨 in my lab: www.ru.nl/en/working-a... Connectivity in Working Memory. Deadline 12 Nov! Apply via website; please repost.
Postdoc Position: Neural Circuitry Underlying Working Memory | Radboud University
Do you want to work as a Postdoc Position: Neural Circuitry Underlying Working Memory at the Faculty of Social Sciences? Check our vacancy!
www.ru.nl
November 9, 2025 at 9:17 AM
🚨🧠🚨 POSTDOC POSITION 🚨🧠🚨 in my lab: www.ru.nl/en/working-a... Connectivity in Working Memory. Deadline 12 Nov! Apply via website; please repost.
Reposted by Sander van Bree
*Neurocomputational architecture for syntax/learning*
Neuroscience & Philo Salon: join our discussion with @elliot-murphy.bsky.social with commentaries by @wmatchin.bsky.social and @sandervanbree.bsky.social
Nov 5, 10:30 am eastern US
Register:
umd.zoom.us/my/luizpesso...
#neuroskyence
Neuroscience & Philo Salon: join our discussion with @elliot-murphy.bsky.social with commentaries by @wmatchin.bsky.social and @sandervanbree.bsky.social
Nov 5, 10:30 am eastern US
Register:
umd.zoom.us/my/luizpesso...
#neuroskyence
October 27, 2025 at 4:52 PM
*Neurocomputational architecture for syntax/learning*
Neuroscience & Philo Salon: join our discussion with @elliot-murphy.bsky.social with commentaries by @wmatchin.bsky.social and @sandervanbree.bsky.social
Nov 5, 10:30 am eastern US
Register:
umd.zoom.us/my/luizpesso...
#neuroskyence
Neuroscience & Philo Salon: join our discussion with @elliot-murphy.bsky.social with commentaries by @wmatchin.bsky.social and @sandervanbree.bsky.social
Nov 5, 10:30 am eastern US
Register:
umd.zoom.us/my/luizpesso...
#neuroskyence
Reposted by Sander van Bree
My commentary on @anilseth.bsky.social's BBS article: philpapers.org/rec/MICBOF. We should bet on functionalism.
Matthias Michel, Bet on functionalism - PhilPapers
I argue that there is currently no alternative to functionalism. Functionalism explains the differences between types of mental states. No biological theory does. Functionalist theories account for th...
philpapers.org
October 24, 2025 at 2:43 PM
My commentary on @anilseth.bsky.social's BBS article: philpapers.org/rec/MICBOF. We should bet on functionalism.
Reposted by Sander van Bree
🎉New Paper Alert!🎉
Really excited that this collaboration is finally out! It shows that combining oscillatory dynamics with hierarchical predictive frameworks generates speech perception that is robust to temporal distortions: similarly to human behavior and more so than current ASR models.
Really excited that this collaboration is finally out! It shows that combining oscillatory dynamics with hierarchical predictive frameworks generates speech perception that is robust to temporal distortions: similarly to human behavior and more so than current ASR models.
📢Out now! Olesia Dogonasheva and colleagues from @neurospeech.bsky.social present a predictive model for speech processing in the auditory cortex. www.nature.com/articles/s43... #compneurosky
🔓 rdcu.be/eImit
🔓 rdcu.be/eImit
Rhythm-based hierarchical predictive computations support acoustic−semantic transformation in speech processing - Nature Computational Science
This study presents a brain rhythm-based inference model (BRyBI) for speech processing in the auditory cortex. BRyBI shows how rhythmic neural activity enables robust speech processing by dynamically predicting context and elucidates mechanistic principles that allow robust speech parsing in the brain.
www.nature.com
September 29, 2025 at 10:01 AM
🎉New Paper Alert!🎉
Really excited that this collaboration is finally out! It shows that combining oscillatory dynamics with hierarchical predictive frameworks generates speech perception that is robust to temporal distortions: similarly to human behavior and more so than current ASR models.
Really excited that this collaboration is finally out! It shows that combining oscillatory dynamics with hierarchical predictive frameworks generates speech perception that is robust to temporal distortions: similarly to human behavior and more so than current ASR models.
Great PhD opportunity!! ⬇️
I've been waiting some years to make this joke and now it’s real:
I conned somebody into giving me a faculty job!
I’m starting as a W1 Tenure-Track Professor at Goethe University Frankfurt in a week (lol), in the Faculty of CS and Math
and I'm recruiting PhD students 🤗
I conned somebody into giving me a faculty job!
I’m starting as a W1 Tenure-Track Professor at Goethe University Frankfurt in a week (lol), in the Faculty of CS and Math
and I'm recruiting PhD students 🤗
a man wearing a white shirt and tie smiles in front of a window
ALT: a man wearing a white shirt and tie smiles in front of a window
media.tenor.com
September 23, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Great PhD opportunity!! ⬇️
Reposted by Sander van Bree
ATTN🚨: I will be looking for PhD students through NYU's Center for Data Science PhD program this year. Applicants should have an interest in either NeuroAI (specifically biological attention or AI interpretability) or ML for Remote Sensing. Visit my lab website for more info: lindsay-lab.github.io
PhD in Data Science: Admissions Requirements | NYU CDS
Discover the PhD in Data Science requirements at NYU. Learn about deadlines, required degrees, coursework, and application details for Fall 2025 admissions.
cds.nyu.edu
August 24, 2025 at 5:41 PM
ATTN🚨: I will be looking for PhD students through NYU's Center for Data Science PhD program this year. Applicants should have an interest in either NeuroAI (specifically biological attention or AI interpretability) or ML for Remote Sensing. Visit my lab website for more info: lindsay-lab.github.io
Reposted by Sander van Bree
New preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2508.11423
"Open Questions about Time and Self-reference in Living Systems"
by Samson Abramsky, Wolfgang Banzhaf, Leo S. D. Caves, Michael Levin, Penousal Machado, Charles Ofria, Susan Stepney, Roger White
🧪
"Open Questions about Time and Self-reference in Living Systems"
by Samson Abramsky, Wolfgang Banzhaf, Leo S. D. Caves, Michael Levin, Penousal Machado, Charles Ofria, Susan Stepney, Roger White
🧪
Open Questions about Time and Self-reference in Living Systems
Living systems exhibit a range of fundamental characteristics: they are active, self-referential, self-modifying systems. This paper explores how these characteristics create challenges for convention...
arxiv.org
August 18, 2025 at 10:05 AM
New preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2508.11423
"Open Questions about Time and Self-reference in Living Systems"
by Samson Abramsky, Wolfgang Banzhaf, Leo S. D. Caves, Michael Levin, Penousal Machado, Charles Ofria, Susan Stepney, Roger White
🧪
"Open Questions about Time and Self-reference in Living Systems"
by Samson Abramsky, Wolfgang Banzhaf, Leo S. D. Caves, Michael Levin, Penousal Machado, Charles Ofria, Susan Stepney, Roger White
🧪
Reposted by Sander van Bree
Really looking forward to #CCN2025!
On Tuesday, I'm presenting new work with @kathadobs.bsky.social on segregated vs. integrated face & body processing in visual cortex 😊🧍🧠
Using DNNs & fMRI, we test competing hypotheses, finding both distinct & shared selectivity.
Come by Poster A64 for more.
On Tuesday, I'm presenting new work with @kathadobs.bsky.social on segregated vs. integrated face & body processing in visual cortex 😊🧍🧠
Using DNNs & fMRI, we test competing hypotheses, finding both distinct & shared selectivity.
Come by Poster A64 for more.
August 11, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Really looking forward to #CCN2025!
On Tuesday, I'm presenting new work with @kathadobs.bsky.social on segregated vs. integrated face & body processing in visual cortex 😊🧍🧠
Using DNNs & fMRI, we test competing hypotheses, finding both distinct & shared selectivity.
Come by Poster A64 for more.
On Tuesday, I'm presenting new work with @kathadobs.bsky.social on segregated vs. integrated face & body processing in visual cortex 😊🧍🧠
Using DNNs & fMRI, we test competing hypotheses, finding both distinct & shared selectivity.
Come by Poster A64 for more.
Reposted by Sander van Bree
Despite recent criticism from Quiroga to our claim that Concept Neurons emerge from Conjunctive Coding Neurons we claim: “And yet, the hippocampus codes conjunctively!”.
We hope it sparks a smile (and maybe a few debates).
Read here: tinyurl.com/3ycv3vj2
We hope it sparks a smile (and maybe a few debates).
Read here: tinyurl.com/3ycv3vj2
July 2, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Despite recent criticism from Quiroga to our claim that Concept Neurons emerge from Conjunctive Coding Neurons we claim: “And yet, the hippocampus codes conjunctively!”.
We hope it sparks a smile (and maybe a few debates).
Read here: tinyurl.com/3ycv3vj2
We hope it sparks a smile (and maybe a few debates).
Read here: tinyurl.com/3ycv3vj2
Reposted by Sander van Bree
How is high-level visual cortex organized?
In a new preprint with @martinhebart.bsky.social & @kathadobs.bsky.social, we show that category-selective areas encode a rich, multidimensional feature space 🌈
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
🧵 1/n
In a new preprint with @martinhebart.bsky.social & @kathadobs.bsky.social, we show that category-selective areas encode a rich, multidimensional feature space 🌈
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
🧵 1/n
www.biorxiv.org
June 18, 2025 at 12:28 PM
How is high-level visual cortex organized?
In a new preprint with @martinhebart.bsky.social & @kathadobs.bsky.social, we show that category-selective areas encode a rich, multidimensional feature space 🌈
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
🧵 1/n
In a new preprint with @martinhebart.bsky.social & @kathadobs.bsky.social, we show that category-selective areas encode a rich, multidimensional feature space 🌈
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
🧵 1/n
Reposted by Sander van Bree
How strong is the Rhythm of Perception? Molly Henry, Jonathan Peelle, and team found out in a large-scale registered replication of Hickok, et al. 2015. @jpeelle.bsky.social
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
How strong is the rhythm of perception? A registered replication of Hickok et al. (2015) | Royal Society Open Science
Our ability to predict upcoming events is a fundamental component of human cognition.
One way in which we do so is by exploiting temporal regularities in sensory signals:
the ticking of a clock, falli...
royalsocietypublishing.org
June 11, 2025 at 3:21 PM
How strong is the Rhythm of Perception? Molly Henry, Jonathan Peelle, and team found out in a large-scale registered replication of Hickok, et al. 2015. @jpeelle.bsky.social
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Reposted by Sander van Bree
✨We are organising (again) an online workshop on Theoretical Modeling for PhD candidates and Master students in cognitive science and psychology. Check out the website and the schedule: Registration is open! (closes July 1, spaces are limited) 🧵1/n computationalcognitivescience.github.io/workshop/
May 29, 2025 at 7:33 PM
✨We are organising (again) an online workshop on Theoretical Modeling for PhD candidates and Master students in cognitive science and psychology. Check out the website and the schedule: Registration is open! (closes July 1, spaces are limited) 🧵1/n computationalcognitivescience.github.io/workshop/