Tarana Nigam
@tarananigam.bsky.social
Interested in the building blocks of intelligence: neural & computational mechanisms underlying how we rapidly learn, generalize; how our mental models help us experience & infer; curiosity and ideation
https://tarananigam.github.io/TaranaNigam/index.html
https://tarananigam.github.io/TaranaNigam/index.html
Pinned
Tarana Nigam
@tarananigam.bsky.social
· Dec 4
Multiple task-demands flexibly optimize neural geometry in human ventral temporal cortex
A hallmark of human intelligence is the ability to perform multiple tasks immediately upon instruction. Yet, the neural processes that implement such flexibility remain unclear. Using intracranial ele...
biorxiv.org
🎉 Excited to share one of my projects that I worked on with Caspar Schwiedrzik! Check out my latest preprint: Multiple task-demands flexibly optimize neural geometry in human ventral temporal cortex biorxiv.org/content/10.6... (0/10)
Reposted by Tarana Nigam
I like journal clubs where you are only allowed to say positive things about a paper. They are so much more satisfying.
My suspicion from dealing with Reviewer 2 over a 30-year career was that PIs can contribute by supporting balance in e.g., journal clubs. I think new generations of GLPs are raised at PhD/postdoc level, when trainees are encouraged to be destructively critical of other labs' work.
Let's talk about "grumpy lab person". Many labs have them. With an eye to keeping science at its most rigorous, they cross the line into criticism that's too harsh. They are the ones who risk killing your scientific spirit. They are reviewer 2. /1
January 23, 2026 at 8:51 AM
I like journal clubs where you are only allowed to say positive things about a paper. They are so much more satisfying.
Reposted by Tarana Nigam
A recent study from the #FreiwaldLab found that emotion-driven facial expressions activate the same cortical pathways as do voluntary movements, such as chewing.
Learn more in this piece from @thetransmitter.bsky.social:
Learn more in this piece from @thetransmitter.bsky.social:
Facial expressions less reflexive than previously thought
A countenance such as a grimace activates many of the same cortical pathways as voluntary facial movements.
www.thetransmitter.org
January 23, 2026 at 5:31 PM
A recent study from the #FreiwaldLab found that emotion-driven facial expressions activate the same cortical pathways as do voluntary movements, such as chewing.
Learn more in this piece from @thetransmitter.bsky.social:
Learn more in this piece from @thetransmitter.bsky.social:
My absolutely fantastic colleague @auksz.bsky.social just got awarded an ERC consolidator grant !!!!!!!!! Congrats Ryszard ! So well deserved and I can't wait to see the amazing things you will do and discover :)
For PhDs/postdocs interested, I HIGHLY recommend ryszard as a supervisor!
For PhDs/postdocs interested, I HIGHLY recommend ryszard as a supervisor!
Thrilled to announce that I’ve been awarded an ERC grant #ERCCoG to work on disentangling memory and prediction. I’m super grateful to my lab members, collaborators, and mentors! If you’re looking for a PhD/postdoc position, stay tuned! @erc.europa.eu @maastrichtu.bsky.social
December 9, 2025 at 11:30 AM
My absolutely fantastic colleague @auksz.bsky.social just got awarded an ERC consolidator grant !!!!!!!!! Congrats Ryszard ! So well deserved and I can't wait to see the amazing things you will do and discover :)
For PhDs/postdocs interested, I HIGHLY recommend ryszard as a supervisor!
For PhDs/postdocs interested, I HIGHLY recommend ryszard as a supervisor!
🎉 Excited to share one of my projects that I worked on with Caspar Schwiedrzik! Check out my latest preprint: Multiple task-demands flexibly optimize neural geometry in human ventral temporal cortex biorxiv.org/content/10.6... (0/10)
Multiple task-demands flexibly optimize neural geometry in human ventral temporal cortex
A hallmark of human intelligence is the ability to perform multiple tasks immediately upon instruction. Yet, the neural processes that implement such flexibility remain unclear. Using intracranial ele...
biorxiv.org
December 4, 2025 at 1:46 PM
🎉 Excited to share one of my projects that I worked on with Caspar Schwiedrzik! Check out my latest preprint: Multiple task-demands flexibly optimize neural geometry in human ventral temporal cortex biorxiv.org/content/10.6... (0/10)
Exciting computational cognitive neuroscience PhD position in our lab on Flexible Dimensionality of Representational Spaces in Category Learning!
Caspar Schwiedrzik, my supervisor is an absolutely fantastic scientist & an incredible supervisor. I strongly recommend this position & working with him!
Caspar Schwiedrzik, my supervisor is an absolutely fantastic scientist & an incredible supervisor. I strongly recommend this position & working with him!
PhD student in computational modeling of highdimensional visual category learning (m/f/x)
jobs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de
June 14, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Exciting computational cognitive neuroscience PhD position in our lab on Flexible Dimensionality of Representational Spaces in Category Learning!
Caspar Schwiedrzik, my supervisor is an absolutely fantastic scientist & an incredible supervisor. I strongly recommend this position & working with him!
Caspar Schwiedrzik, my supervisor is an absolutely fantastic scientist & an incredible supervisor. I strongly recommend this position & working with him!
My incredible friend & colleague @nedash.bsky.social has an interesting open position to use machine learning for predicting decision making of primates in naturalistic scenarios! She's a fantastic scientist, very supportive supervisor & has many ambitious & exciting projects going on in her lab!
I have an open position for an M.Sc. thesis, with the potential to continue into a paid PhD. If you know machine learning and are interested in naturalistic decision making in primates, email me a CV: www.uni-goettingen.de/de/embodied+...
Embodied Cognition Group - Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Webseiten der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
www.uni-goettingen.de
June 14, 2025 at 10:32 AM
My incredible friend & colleague @nedash.bsky.social has an interesting open position to use machine learning for predicting decision making of primates in naturalistic scenarios! She's a fantastic scientist, very supportive supervisor & has many ambitious & exciting projects going on in her lab!
Reposted by Tarana Nigam
Now officially out in JML:
"Shades of Zero: Distinguishing Impossibility from Inconceivability"
(cool kidz summary below)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
"Shades of Zero: Distinguishing Impossibility from Inconceivability"
(cool kidz summary below)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
April 17, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Now officially out in JML:
"Shades of Zero: Distinguishing Impossibility from Inconceivability"
(cool kidz summary below)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
"Shades of Zero: Distinguishing Impossibility from Inconceivability"
(cool kidz summary below)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
My incredible ex-labmate , @auksz.bsky.social is advertising an interesting PhD position that he will be co-supervising ! Highly recommend Ryszard - He's a wonderful scientist and an absolutely lovely person!!
Job alert 🚨 another fully PhD position in Maastricht, this time with a more computational neuro focus, in the lab of Michelle Moerel @mmoerel.bsky.social and under my co-supervision. vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl/job/Maastric...
PhD candidate in Auditory Computational Neuroscience
PhD candidate in Auditory Computational Neuroscience
vacancies.maastrichtuniversity.nl
April 15, 2025 at 2:50 PM
My incredible ex-labmate , @auksz.bsky.social is advertising an interesting PhD position that he will be co-supervising ! Highly recommend Ryszard - He's a wonderful scientist and an absolutely lovely person!!
In case you missed my talk at Cosyne yesterday, drop by to hear me talk about my work on top-down flexibility through predictive context in the macaque face processing system.
Where: Primate Neurobiology meeting @primatenzentrum.bsky.social
When: 4th April at 9am
Looking forward to more feedback!
Where: Primate Neurobiology meeting @primatenzentrum.bsky.social
When: 4th April at 9am
Looking forward to more feedback!
PrimateNeurobiology 2025
For the 14th PrimateNeurobiology Meeting (www.dpz.eu/en/events/pn...), we will meet in Göttingen, and we hope to welcome you to this event, which will take place from April 2nd to 4th, 2025.
For the 14th PrimateNeurobiology Meeting (www.dpz.eu/en/events/pn...), we will meet in Göttingen, and we hope to welcome you to this event, which will take place from April 2nd to 4th, 2025.
April 2, 2025 at 10:04 PM
In case you missed my talk at Cosyne yesterday, drop by to hear me talk about my work on top-down flexibility through predictive context in the macaque face processing system.
Where: Primate Neurobiology meeting @primatenzentrum.bsky.social
When: 4th April at 9am
Looking forward to more feedback!
Where: Primate Neurobiology meeting @primatenzentrum.bsky.social
When: 4th April at 9am
Looking forward to more feedback!
I'm giving a talk on dynamic code-switching and top-down flexibility in the neural codes for face processing in macaque monkeys at #Cosyne2025 @cosynemeeting.bsky.social in the exciting workshop on Object-centric representations! (organized by @katrinfranke.bsky.social & @mdiamantaki.bsky.social )
March 26, 2025 at 6:27 PM
I'm giving a talk on dynamic code-switching and top-down flexibility in the neural codes for face processing in macaque monkeys at #Cosyne2025 @cosynemeeting.bsky.social in the exciting workshop on Object-centric representations! (organized by @katrinfranke.bsky.social & @mdiamantaki.bsky.social )