Jonathan Tsay
@tsay.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University | Studying how we acquire, adapt, and retain skilled movements | Physical Intelligence Lab: www.tsaylab.com
Pinned
Target configuration determines how and what we learn during sensorimotor adaptation - npj Science of Learning
npj Science of Learning - Target configuration determines how and what we learn during sensorimotor adaptation
www.nature.com
How does training context—specifically, the configuration of targets—shape motor learning?
In our new paper led by Pam, we show that training context determines both how people learn (implicit vs. explicit) and what rules they learn during motor learning.
tinyurl.com/2xn8mj9w
Feedback welcomed!
In our new paper led by Pam, we show that training context determines both how people learn (implicit vs. explicit) and what rules they learn during motor learning.
tinyurl.com/2xn8mj9w
Feedback welcomed!
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
Interested in the latest advances in neuroscience (neural dynamics and internal models) and how they can be leveraged to build smarter, adaptive AI?
➡️ My first real solo piece 🖤🫶 @natneuro.nature.com
rdcu.be/eWVmA
➡️ My first real solo piece 🖤🫶 @natneuro.nature.com
rdcu.be/eWVmA
Leveraging insights from neuroscience to build adaptive artificial intelligence
Nature Neuroscience - Adaptive intelligence envisions AI that, like animals, learns online, generalizes and adapts quickly. This Perspective reviews biological foundations, progress in AI and...
rdcu.be
December 31, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Interested in the latest advances in neuroscience (neural dynamics and internal models) and how they can be leveraged to build smarter, adaptive AI?
➡️ My first real solo piece 🖤🫶 @natneuro.nature.com
rdcu.be/eWVmA
➡️ My first real solo piece 🖤🫶 @natneuro.nature.com
rdcu.be/eWVmA
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
This is an outstanding essay describing some of the important roles and influences of NIH program officers (from an insider perspective).
Read!
elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/the-quiet-...
Read!
elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/the-quiet-...
The Quiet Power of Program Officers
How invisible decisions shape what science gets done—and whether it matters
elizabethginexi.substack.com
December 28, 2025 at 11:56 AM
This is an outstanding essay describing some of the important roles and influences of NIH program officers (from an insider perspective).
Read!
elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/the-quiet-...
Read!
elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/the-quiet-...
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
This is your brain on Ritalin. Got your attention? Stimulant medications like Ritalin (methylphenidate) do, but not in the way you might think. They don't act directly on the brain’s attention systems! Find out what's really happening in @cellpress.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
December 24, 2025 at 4:46 PM
This is your brain on Ritalin. Got your attention? Stimulant medications like Ritalin (methylphenidate) do, but not in the way you might think. They don't act directly on the brain’s attention systems! Find out what's really happening in @cellpress.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
I’m excited to share our new Current Biology paper! We use retrograde optogenetics in non-human primate and revealed a visuomotor convergence mechanism in the FEF-SC pathway.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Retrograde optogenetics reveals sensorimotor convergence within a corticotectal pathway of non-human primates
Yu et al. demonstrate that diverse frontal eye field signals converge on motor-selective
superior colliculus neurons to generate saccades, revealing visuomotor convergence
and establishing retrograde ...
www.cell.com
December 23, 2025 at 4:43 AM
I’m excited to share our new Current Biology paper! We use retrograde optogenetics in non-human primate and revealed a visuomotor convergence mechanism in the FEF-SC pathway.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
Thrilled to share our paper in @pnas.org!
"Neural synchrony links sensorimotor cortices in a network for facial motor control"
With superb team: Ianni GR (co-first), Rassi E, Rouse AG, Schieber MH, Yazdani F, Prut Y, Freiwald WA.
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
"Neural synchrony links sensorimotor cortices in a network for facial motor control"
With superb team: Ianni GR (co-first), Rassi E, Rouse AG, Schieber MH, Yazdani F, Prut Y, Freiwald WA.
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
December 23, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Thrilled to share our paper in @pnas.org!
"Neural synchrony links sensorimotor cortices in a network for facial motor control"
With superb team: Ianni GR (co-first), Rassi E, Rouse AG, Schieber MH, Yazdani F, Prut Y, Freiwald WA.
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
"Neural synchrony links sensorimotor cortices in a network for facial motor control"
With superb team: Ianni GR (co-first), Rassi E, Rouse AG, Schieber MH, Yazdani F, Prut Y, Freiwald WA.
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
Scientists have developed a robotic hand exoskeleton that can passively train expert pianists to play faster keystrokes and overcome the ceiling effect in motor skills.
Read more in #ScienceRobotics: https://scim.ag/3N3bJil
Read more in #ScienceRobotics: https://scim.ag/3N3bJil
December 23, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Scientists have developed a robotic hand exoskeleton that can passively train expert pianists to play faster keystrokes and overcome the ceiling effect in motor skills.
Read more in #ScienceRobotics: https://scim.ag/3N3bJil
Read more in #ScienceRobotics: https://scim.ag/3N3bJil
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
New Perspective from myself, Sarah Heilbronner and @myoo.bsky.social . “Rethinking the centrality of brain areas in understanding functional organization” in Nature Neuroscience. 🧵
rdcu.be/eVZ1A
rdcu.be/eVZ1A
Rethinking the centrality of brain areas in understanding functional organization
Nature Neuroscience - Parcellation of the cortex into functionally modular brain areas is foundational to neuroscience. Here, Hayden, Heilbronner and Yoo question the central status of brain areas...
rdcu.be
December 23, 2025 at 1:02 PM
New Perspective from myself, Sarah Heilbronner and @myoo.bsky.social . “Rethinking the centrality of brain areas in understanding functional organization” in Nature Neuroscience. 🧵
rdcu.be/eVZ1A
rdcu.be/eVZ1A
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
Sleep dependent consolidation and replay that doesn’t require the hippocampus?
Very beautiful work by Marcus Stephenson-Jones’ lab on sleep driven sequential skill consolidation in the striatum.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Very beautiful work by Marcus Stephenson-Jones’ lab on sleep driven sequential skill consolidation in the striatum.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
December 22, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Sleep dependent consolidation and replay that doesn’t require the hippocampus?
Very beautiful work by Marcus Stephenson-Jones’ lab on sleep driven sequential skill consolidation in the striatum.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Very beautiful work by Marcus Stephenson-Jones’ lab on sleep driven sequential skill consolidation in the striatum.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
Gov. Shapiro highlights $5M investment in neurodegenerative disease research during Pitt visit
Gov. Shapiro highlights $5M investment in neurodegenerative disease research during Pitt visit
Governor Josh Shapiro and state Health Secretary Debra Bogen on Friday joined researchers and officials at the University of Pittsburgh to highlight a...
www.post-gazette.com
December 20, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Gov. Shapiro highlights $5M investment in neurodegenerative disease research during Pitt visit
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
Preprint updated -->
Key new results: we found a brain-behavior correlation between performance on an RL task (under short feedback delays) and short-delay RPE signals in the 'cognitive' cerebellum!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Key new results: we found a brain-behavior correlation between performance on an RL task (under short feedback delays) and short-delay RPE signals in the 'cognitive' cerebellum!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
December 19, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Preprint updated -->
Key new results: we found a brain-behavior correlation between performance on an RL task (under short feedback delays) and short-delay RPE signals in the 'cognitive' cerebellum!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Key new results: we found a brain-behavior correlation between performance on an RL task (under short feedback delays) and short-delay RPE signals in the 'cognitive' cerebellum!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
Are you interested in a MSc/PhD in human sensorimotor neuroscience? Learn to design experiments, analyze data, read & write papers, present at conferences, & work with a vibrant group of students & faculty in a world-class research environment.
#neuroskyence #psychscisky
gribblelab.org/join.html
#neuroskyence #psychscisky
gribblelab.org/join.html
December 17, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Are you interested in a MSc/PhD in human sensorimotor neuroscience? Learn to design experiments, analyze data, read & write papers, present at conferences, & work with a vibrant group of students & faculty in a world-class research environment.
#neuroskyence #psychscisky
gribblelab.org/join.html
#neuroskyence #psychscisky
gribblelab.org/join.html
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
New preprint out! (doi.org/10.64898/202...)
We examined how EEG activity during movement preparation and error processing distinguishes learning and error processing between motor adaptation and de novo learning.
We examined how EEG activity during movement preparation and error processing distinguishes learning and error processing between motor adaptation and de novo learning.
EEG Dynamics of Movement Preparation and Error Processing Distinguish Motor Adaptation From De Novo Learning
Previous research has distinguished behavioral mechanisms between motor adaptation and de novo learning. However, electroencephalography (EEG) markers dissociating them remain unclear. Here, participa...
doi.org
December 18, 2025 at 7:44 PM
New preprint out! (doi.org/10.64898/202...)
We examined how EEG activity during movement preparation and error processing distinguishes learning and error processing between motor adaptation and de novo learning.
We examined how EEG activity during movement preparation and error processing distinguishes learning and error processing between motor adaptation and de novo learning.
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
Goal selection through the lens of subjective functions:
arxiv.org/abs/2512.15948
I welcome any feedback on these preliminary ideas.
arxiv.org/abs/2512.15948
I welcome any feedback on these preliminary ideas.
Subjective functions
Where do objective functions come from? How do we select what goals to pursue? Human intelligence is adept at synthesizing new objective functions on the fly. How does this work, and can we endow arti...
arxiv.org
December 19, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Goal selection through the lens of subjective functions:
arxiv.org/abs/2512.15948
I welcome any feedback on these preliminary ideas.
arxiv.org/abs/2512.15948
I welcome any feedback on these preliminary ideas.
How does training context—specifically, the configuration of targets—shape motor learning?
In our new paper led by Pam, we show that training context determines both how people learn (implicit vs. explicit) and what rules they learn during motor learning.
tinyurl.com/2xn8mj9w
Feedback welcomed!
In our new paper led by Pam, we show that training context determines both how people learn (implicit vs. explicit) and what rules they learn during motor learning.
tinyurl.com/2xn8mj9w
Feedback welcomed!
Target configuration determines how and what we learn during sensorimotor adaptation - npj Science of Learning
npj Science of Learning - Target configuration determines how and what we learn during sensorimotor adaptation
www.nature.com
December 19, 2025 at 12:47 PM
How does training context—specifically, the configuration of targets—shape motor learning?
In our new paper led by Pam, we show that training context determines both how people learn (implicit vs. explicit) and what rules they learn during motor learning.
tinyurl.com/2xn8mj9w
Feedback welcomed!
In our new paper led by Pam, we show that training context determines both how people learn (implicit vs. explicit) and what rules they learn during motor learning.
tinyurl.com/2xn8mj9w
Feedback welcomed!
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
Very happy to share our paper on the "summer slide" in kid's cognitive test scores is out now in @pnas.org!
We find a replicable dip in performance across multiple domains of cognition in >23,000 kids across 4 datasets!
Check out the 🧵 from @ariellekeller.bsky.social below! 👇
We find a replicable dip in performance across multiple domains of cognition in >23,000 kids across 4 datasets!
Check out the 🧵 from @ariellekeller.bsky.social below! 👇
Our paper on the ☀️ "summer slide" 🛝 is out now @pnas.org!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Summer slide is a replicable phenomenon across diverse datasets that's more than "forgetting" school material in vacation months, but effects of socioeconomic inequality are ➡️ 7x bigger! ⬅️
#PsychSciSky #DevPsy
🧵👇
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Summer slide is a replicable phenomenon across diverse datasets that's more than "forgetting" school material in vacation months, but effects of socioeconomic inequality are ➡️ 7x bigger! ⬅️
#PsychSciSky #DevPsy
🧵👇
December 18, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Very happy to share our paper on the "summer slide" in kid's cognitive test scores is out now in @pnas.org!
We find a replicable dip in performance across multiple domains of cognition in >23,000 kids across 4 datasets!
Check out the 🧵 from @ariellekeller.bsky.social below! 👇
We find a replicable dip in performance across multiple domains of cognition in >23,000 kids across 4 datasets!
Check out the 🧵 from @ariellekeller.bsky.social below! 👇
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
Very excited to share the first empirical paper from LEVANTE: we describe the LEVANTE core tasks, a set of nine open source tasks for measuring learning and development in kids ages 5-12 years.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
🧵
osf.io/preprints/ps...
🧵
December 18, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Very excited to share the first empirical paper from LEVANTE: we describe the LEVANTE core tasks, a set of nine open source tasks for measuring learning and development in kids ages 5-12 years.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
🧵
osf.io/preprints/ps...
🧵
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
How do biological agents learn for the future?
Our perspective piece on the value of prospective learning in neuroscience is finally out. This is part of a long running collaboration with @kordinglab.bsky.social & Josh Vogelstein (as well as many other people)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Our perspective piece on the value of prospective learning in neuroscience is finally out. This is part of a long running collaboration with @kordinglab.bsky.social & Josh Vogelstein (as well as many other people)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
December 17, 2025 at 5:06 PM
How do biological agents learn for the future?
Our perspective piece on the value of prospective learning in neuroscience is finally out. This is part of a long running collaboration with @kordinglab.bsky.social & Josh Vogelstein (as well as many other people)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Our perspective piece on the value of prospective learning in neuroscience is finally out. This is part of a long running collaboration with @kordinglab.bsky.social & Josh Vogelstein (as well as many other people)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
New preprint from the lab!
A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We use a novel task in mice, cortex-wide imaging and optogenetics, NPX recording and modelling to reveal a circuit mechanism that transforms abstract decisions to spatial actions.
A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We use a novel task in mice, cortex-wide imaging and optogenetics, NPX recording and modelling to reveal a circuit mechanism that transforms abstract decisions to spatial actions.
A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions
Flexible behaviour requires transforming abstract cognitive representations, such as value preferences, into concrete motor actions. During economic decision-making, individuals evaluate options to gu...
www.biorxiv.org
December 14, 2025 at 10:59 AM
New preprint from the lab!
A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We use a novel task in mice, cortex-wide imaging and optogenetics, NPX recording and modelling to reveal a circuit mechanism that transforms abstract decisions to spatial actions.
A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We use a novel task in mice, cortex-wide imaging and optogenetics, NPX recording and modelling to reveal a circuit mechanism that transforms abstract decisions to spatial actions.
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
Our paper on the ☀️ "summer slide" 🛝 is out now @pnas.org!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Summer slide is a replicable phenomenon across diverse datasets that's more than "forgetting" school material in vacation months, but effects of socioeconomic inequality are ➡️ 7x bigger! ⬅️
#PsychSciSky #DevPsy
🧵👇
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Summer slide is a replicable phenomenon across diverse datasets that's more than "forgetting" school material in vacation months, but effects of socioeconomic inequality are ➡️ 7x bigger! ⬅️
#PsychSciSky #DevPsy
🧵👇
December 16, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Our paper on the ☀️ "summer slide" 🛝 is out now @pnas.org!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Summer slide is a replicable phenomenon across diverse datasets that's more than "forgetting" school material in vacation months, but effects of socioeconomic inequality are ➡️ 7x bigger! ⬅️
#PsychSciSky #DevPsy
🧵👇
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Summer slide is a replicable phenomenon across diverse datasets that's more than "forgetting" school material in vacation months, but effects of socioeconomic inequality are ➡️ 7x bigger! ⬅️
#PsychSciSky #DevPsy
🧵👇
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
New preprint on prosody in the brain!
tinyurl.com/2ndswjwu
HeeSoKim NiharikaJhingan SaraSwords @hopekean.bsky.social @coltoncasto.bsky.social JenniferCole @evfedorenko.bsky.social
Prosody areas are distinct from pitch, speech, and multiple-demand areas, and partly overlap with lang+social areas→🧵
tinyurl.com/2ndswjwu
HeeSoKim NiharikaJhingan SaraSwords @hopekean.bsky.social @coltoncasto.bsky.social JenniferCole @evfedorenko.bsky.social
Prosody areas are distinct from pitch, speech, and multiple-demand areas, and partly overlap with lang+social areas→🧵
A distinct set of brain areas process prosody--the melody of speech
Human speech carries information beyond the words themselves: pitch, loudness, duration, and pauses--jointly referred to as 'prosody'--emphasize critical words, help group words into phrases, and conv...
tinyurl.com
December 15, 2025 at 7:28 PM
New preprint on prosody in the brain!
tinyurl.com/2ndswjwu
HeeSoKim NiharikaJhingan SaraSwords @hopekean.bsky.social @coltoncasto.bsky.social JenniferCole @evfedorenko.bsky.social
Prosody areas are distinct from pitch, speech, and multiple-demand areas, and partly overlap with lang+social areas→🧵
tinyurl.com/2ndswjwu
HeeSoKim NiharikaJhingan SaraSwords @hopekean.bsky.social @coltoncasto.bsky.social JenniferCole @evfedorenko.bsky.social
Prosody areas are distinct from pitch, speech, and multiple-demand areas, and partly overlap with lang+social areas→🧵
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
📣We have 2 open faculty positions for senior researchers in Neuroscience at Queen's University!
healthsci.queensu.ca/administrati...
1. a new Director for our Centre for Neuroscience Studies
2. a non-human primate NeuroAI researcher
Please share widely and reach out for questions!
healthsci.queensu.ca/administrati...
1. a new Director for our Centre for Neuroscience Studies
2. a non-human primate NeuroAI researcher
Please share widely and reach out for questions!
Administrative Opportunities
healthsci.queensu.ca
December 9, 2025 at 6:55 PM
📣We have 2 open faculty positions for senior researchers in Neuroscience at Queen's University!
healthsci.queensu.ca/administrati...
1. a new Director for our Centre for Neuroscience Studies
2. a non-human primate NeuroAI researcher
Please share widely and reach out for questions!
healthsci.queensu.ca/administrati...
1. a new Director for our Centre for Neuroscience Studies
2. a non-human primate NeuroAI researcher
Please share widely and reach out for questions!
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
Now published in the Journal of Neurophysiology:
journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10....
Get in touch if you think this tool could help in your science! We will be developing improvements and extensions over the next year.
journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10....
Get in touch if you think this tool could help in your science! We will be developing improvements and extensions over the next year.
December 12, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Now published in the Journal of Neurophysiology:
journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10....
Get in touch if you think this tool could help in your science! We will be developing improvements and extensions over the next year.
journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10....
Get in touch if you think this tool could help in your science! We will be developing improvements and extensions over the next year.
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
I am looking to hire a great postdoc to join our lab in sunny Eugene at the University of Oregon for fun behavioral/fMRI experiments on sensorimotor control in young and older adults. Please share/get in touch if interested! pages.uoregon.edu/mmar/
December 12, 2025 at 4:43 AM
I am looking to hire a great postdoc to join our lab in sunny Eugene at the University of Oregon for fun behavioral/fMRI experiments on sensorimotor control in young and older adults. Please share/get in touch if interested! pages.uoregon.edu/mmar/
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
Another day, another paper accepted at Geroscience:
our work on the (limited) effect of age on proprioception has been accepted
preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
our work on the (limited) effect of age on proprioception has been accepted
preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Age-related changes in proprioception are of limited size, outcome-dependent and task-dependent
Our ability to sense the position and movement of our limbs is essential for all activities of daily living. This ability arises from the signal sent by muscle spindles to the brain. While there is cl...
www.biorxiv.org
December 11, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Another day, another paper accepted at Geroscience:
our work on the (limited) effect of age on proprioception has been accepted
preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
our work on the (limited) effect of age on proprioception has been accepted
preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Jonathan Tsay
We at COMPERE (www.compere.ca) have launched our 2026 funding round for Canadian-led motor neuroscience projects. Details here, contact me if you have questions. docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Funding Call 2026
Funding Opportunity: Collaboration on Motor Planning, Execution, and Resilience With support from the Azrieli Foundation, the Collaboration on Motor Planning, Execution, and Resilience (COMPERE) is e...
docs.google.com
December 10, 2025 at 6:28 PM
We at COMPERE (www.compere.ca) have launched our 2026 funding round for Canadian-led motor neuroscience projects. Details here, contact me if you have questions. docs.google.com/document/d/1...