Shawn Rhoads
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shawnrhoadsphd.com
Shawn Rhoads
@shawnrhoadsphd.com
Assistant Professor @ ISMMS
NIH Director's Early Independence Awardee
Lindau Nobel Laureate Young Scientist
PI @ sinclaboratory.com

Using computational models, fMRI, & intracranial EEG to study social inference, learning, empathy, loneliness, & well-being
Pinned
📢 Thrilled to share our paper is out now in @natcomms.nature.com

Shared computations underlie how we acquire actions that are mutually beneficial, instrumentally harmful (benefits self at the expense of others), altruistic (benefit others at the expense of self), or mutually costly

🧵 rdcu.be/eL8mZ
Neurocomputational basis of learning when choices simultaneously affect both oneself and others
Nature Communications - When learning to make choices that simultaneously affect the self and others, asymmetric encoding of information guides future social behaviors across mutually beneficial,...
rdcu.be
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
Very excited that this paper is out!
www.science.org/doi/full/10....
Led by the fabulous @dorsaamir.bsky.social with invaluable contributions from many awesome collaborators.
The emergence of cooperative behaviors, norms, and strategies across five diverse societies
Children’s cooperative behaviors and norms develop along distinct cultural pathways shaped by local norms.
www.science.org
February 6, 2026 at 10:25 PM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
Hybrid neural–cognitive models reveal how memory shapes human reward learning
Hybrid neural–cognitive models reveal how memory shapes human reward learning
Nature Human Behaviour, Published online: 05 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41562-025-02324-0Using artificial neural networks applied to human data, Eckstein et al. show that good models of reinforcement learning require memory components that track representations of the past.
dlvr.it
February 5, 2026 at 11:28 AM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
Very happy to see our ice-fishing paper on the cover of @science.org this week! 🎣🎉

We tracked large groups of Finnish competitive ice-fishers to study how social foragers use social information when searching for resources. 🐟

Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... (contact me for open access)
www.science.org
January 30, 2026 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
🌟 Job alert! We are looking for a postdoc to join a multidisciplinary research team working on the Individually Measured Phenotypes to Advance Computational Translation at Yale (IMPACT-Y) study.
postdocs.yale.edu/posts/2026-0...
IMPACT-MH: Clinical and behavioral fingerprints of psychopathology – IMPACT-MH
impact-mh.org
January 29, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
Basic Experimental Studies in Humans (BESH) Will No Longer Be Considered Clinical Trials by the NIH grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
NOT-OD-26-032: Basic Experimental Studies in Humans (BESH) Will No Longer Be Considered Clinical Trials by the NIH
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Basic Experimental Studies in Humans (BESH) Will No Longer Be Considered Clinical Trials by the NIH NOT-OD-26-032. NIH
grants.nih.gov
January 29, 2026 at 7:09 PM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
Applications for NeuroHackademy 2026 are now open! This is a two-week NIH-funded summer experience that combines neuroimaging and data science in a summer school / experiential hackathon: neurohackademy.org/apply/

@uwpsychology.bsky.social @uwescience.bsky.social
Apply | Neurohackademy
neurohackademy.org
January 26, 2026 at 7:45 PM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
Very happy to see this out now in @nathumbehav.nature.com - kudos to @magdadelrio.bsky.social who has led this work and nicely brought together data from two very different studies!
article is here: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
and PDF is here: rdcu.be/eZ27x
January 21, 2026 at 11:44 AM
Delighted to be featured in @thetransmitter.bsky.social's Liftoff series: bit.ly/3ZkMQl8

Learn more about our lab's work at the intersection of social interaction, neural computation, & mental health. Reach out if you are interested in collaborating or becoming involved!

sinclaboratory.com
January 21, 2026 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
This month’s newsletter features a Q&A with @ubadahsabbagh.com on his transition from neuroscience to a biotech firm. Plus, read about @shawnrhoadsphd.com and @zurisullivan.bsky.social’s new labs, job opportunities and more. Sign up for the 'Launch' newsletter.
www.thetransmitter.org/newsletters-...
Newsletters and alerts
The latest news and perspectives on the neuroscience topics that interest you most, direct to your inbox
www.thetransmitter.org
January 20, 2026 at 6:33 PM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
In this month’s “Liftoff,” @shawnrhoadsphd.com talks about how he’ll implement hackathons to foster community in his lab, and @zurisullivan.bsky.social shares how weekly discussions about unfamiliar topics can encourage curiosity in a lab. bit.ly/3ZkMQl8

By @franciscorr25.bsky.social

#neuroskyence
January 20, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
We’re launching a bi-weekly m-Path blog on #ESM / #EMA measurement, new papers & showcases.

🗓️ Every 2 weeks (Wed).

First up: item quality.
A paper by @gudruneisele.bsky.social introduces ESM-Q: a consensus checklist for good momentary items.

👉 Read the blog: blog.m-path.io/blog/our-blo...
What makes a good ESM / EMA survey item?
blog.m-path.io
January 14, 2026 at 8:46 AM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
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...
Postgraduate Associate Position in Computational Psychiatry — Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
postdocs.yale.edu
January 13, 2026 at 1:49 PM
Thrilled to be at #ACNP2026 this week! 🏝️😎

If you are interested in computational modeling of social cognition for mental health, I'd love to connect and nerd out!

Also excited to share the latest from my new Social Interaction & Neural Computation Lab: sinclaboratory.com
Home | SINC LAB
SOCIAL INTERACTION &<br>NEURAL COMPUTATION LAB. The Social Interaction & Neural Computation Lab examines the neural and computational basis of social cognition and interaction. We are particularly int...
sinclaboratory.com
January 12, 2026 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
With some trepidation, I'm putting this out into the world:
gershmanlab.com/textbook.html
It's a textbook called Computational Foundations of Cognitive Neuroscience, which I wrote for my class.

My hope is that this will be a living document, continuously improved as I get feedback.
January 9, 2026 at 1:27 AM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
What if we could tell you how well you’ll remember your next visit to your local coffee shop? ☕️

In our new Nature Human Behaviour paper, we show that the 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 can be measured with neuroimaging – and 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸.
January 5, 2026 at 6:43 PM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
This paper had a pretty shocking headline result (40% of voxels!), so I dug into it, and I think it is wrong. Essentially: they compare two noisy measures and find that about 40% of voxels have different sign between the two. I think this is just noise!
January 5, 2026 at 5:22 PM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
🧵 If you're looking for a fully funded PhD or Postdoc in Computational Psychiatry, please reach out!
We are expanding the lab and tackling some big questions. Here is a thread on what we are currently up to: 👇
December 18, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
So honored to join the other exceptional social psych scholars in this forthcoming issue of PIBBS!

🧠📊 Our paper examines how insights from social neuroscience can inform better public policy

@fabbs.org
@spspnews.bsky.social
@sansmeeting.bsky.social

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Psychologically Anchored Social Neuroscience Benefits Policy - J.T. Kubota, M. Welte, J. Cloutier, 2025
Social neuroscience, grounded in social psychological theory, provides policy-relevant insights by identifying mechanisms through which social factors influence...
journals.sagepub.com
December 18, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
New job alert 💫 We’re hiring a 3-year postdoc for the NEPTUNE project to study the causal mechanisms of paranoia and social learning.

Work with us on experimental psychopharmacology (THC), social cognition, and psychosis 🧑‍🔬

Apply here: lnkd.in/gQqnNvjR](my.corehr.com/pls/kclrecru...)

Please RT :)
December 18, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
Officially out! In this review, Aaron Chuey and I discuss how existing work on ToM mostly focused on a single individual’s mental states (e.g., what Sally thinks). Extending ToM, we argue for ToMS—an understanding of how multiple individuals communicate and influence each others’ minds. t.ly/u4rtb
Theory of Minds: Early Understanding of Interacting Minds
The idea that we understand others’ actions in terms of their underlying mental states has shaped decades of developmental research on social cognition. Existing work, however, has primarily focused o...
www.annualreviews.org
December 10, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
Delighted to share our new Perspective article @natrevneuro.nature.com, led by the great @edoardochidichimo.bsky.social : "Towards an informational account of interpersonal coordination". With @loopyluppi.bsky.social, Pedro Mediano, @introspection.bsky.social, Victoria Leong and Richard Bethlehem.
November 19, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
In this systematic review, Kabotyanski and colleagues summarize how intracranial neural biomarkers relate to psychiatric symptoms and can guide the development of closed-loop neuromodulatory therapies, emphasizing the need to consider disorder-specific time constants for effective implementation.
Intracranial neural biomarkers of psychiatric symptoms and their utility for guiding neuromodulation therapy: a systematic review
The quest to develop and improve neuromodulatory therapies for treatment-resistant psychiatric disorders has been fueled by the discovery of intracranial neural biomarkers of symptom dimensions. These...
www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com
October 13, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
📣🔥Thrilled to announce that 2026 Computational Psychiatry Conference will take place in New Haven, CT, btw July 14-16 -
www.cpconf.org

@robbrutledge.bsky.social @drrickadams.bsky.social @tobiasuhauser.bsky.social @docqhuys.bsky.social @clairegillan.bsky.social Sonia Bishop

More info to come soon!
November 21, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
We are thrilled to announce that the preliminary program for the 2026 GRC on the Frontal Cortex is now live!
www.grc.org/frontal-cort...
Registration is now open for both the GRC and our GRS, chaired by @albitc.bsky.social and @jorge-miranda.bsky.social!
2026 Frontal Cortex Conference GRC
The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Frontal Cortex will be held in Holderness, New Hampshire. Apply today to reserve your spot.
www.grc.org
November 18, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by Shawn Rhoads
And the next step? Full voxel-level modeling.

Recent numerical advances cracked the scalability barrier. Voxel-level hierarchical modeling is now feasible, revealing just how punishing traditional multiple-comparison adjustments really are.
arxiv.org/abs/2511.12825
SIMBA: Scalable Image Modeling using a Bayesian Approach, A Consistent Framework for Including Spatial Dependencies in fMRI Studies
Bayesian spatial modeling provides a flexible framework for whole-brain fMRI analysis by explicitly incorporating spatial dependencies, overcoming the limitations of traditional massive univariate app...
arxiv.org
November 18, 2025 at 10:13 PM