Marcelo Mattar
@marcelomattar.bsky.social
Assistant professor at NYU.
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
My paper is out!
Computational modeling of error patterns during reward-based learning show evidence that habit learning (value free!) supplements working memory in 7 human data sets.
rdcu.be/eQjLN
Computational modeling of error patterns during reward-based learning show evidence that habit learning (value free!) supplements working memory in 7 human data sets.
rdcu.be/eQjLN
A habit and working memory model as an alternative account of human reward-based learning
Nature Human Behaviour - In this study, Collins proposes an alternative dual-process (working memory and habit) model of reinforcement learning in humans.
rdcu.be
November 17, 2025 at 5:18 PM
My paper is out!
Computational modeling of error patterns during reward-based learning show evidence that habit learning (value free!) supplements working memory in 7 human data sets.
rdcu.be/eQjLN
Computational modeling of error patterns during reward-based learning show evidence that habit learning (value free!) supplements working memory in 7 human data sets.
rdcu.be/eQjLN
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
I'm recruiting a grad student! My lab at NYU (psych dept) studies the computational basis of moral cognition and aims to build AI systems that are aligned with human values. Now admitting a PhD student for Fall 2026. Apps due 12/1. sites.google.com/corp/site/sy...
Sydney Levine - Open Positions
Graduate Students (PhD program)
I will be accepting PhD students through the NYU psychology department for the current application cycle (for admission in Fall 2026). My lab is joint between the Co...
sites.google.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:18 AM
I'm recruiting a grad student! My lab at NYU (psych dept) studies the computational basis of moral cognition and aims to build AI systems that are aligned with human values. Now admitting a PhD student for Fall 2026. Apps due 12/1. sites.google.com/corp/site/sy...
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
I will be recruiting 🌟PhD students🌟 for my newish lab! If you're interested in learning & memory mechanisms applied to individual, interactive & collective behavior using computational modeling, real-world experiments and fMRI, email me! RTs much appreciated 🙏 rouhanilab.com
Interactive Cognition Lab | USC
Interactive Cognition Lab at USC, led by principal investigator, Dr. Nina Rouhani.
rouhanilab.com
October 24, 2025 at 4:57 PM
I will be recruiting 🌟PhD students🌟 for my newish lab! If you're interested in learning & memory mechanisms applied to individual, interactive & collective behavior using computational modeling, real-world experiments and fMRI, email me! RTs much appreciated 🙏 rouhanilab.com
So happy to see this manuscript on biorxiv after so many years in the making! Thank you Matthieu for all your hard work, and @sreejan.bsky.social for all of the novel contributions and for pushing it through the finish line! And looking forward to comments from the community!
I'm excited to share that my new postdoctoral position is going so well that I submitted a new paper at the end of my first week! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... A thread below
Sensory Compression as a Unifying Principle for Action Chunking and Time Coding in the Brain
The brain seamlessly transforms sensory information into precisely-timed movements, enabling us to type familiar words, play musical instruments, or perform complex motor routines with millisecond pre...
www.biorxiv.org
September 7, 2025 at 2:37 PM
So happy to see this manuscript on biorxiv after so many years in the making! Thank you Matthieu for all your hard work, and @sreejan.bsky.social for all of the novel contributions and for pushing it through the finish line! And looking forward to comments from the community!
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
🚀Excited to share our project: Canonical Representational Mapping for Cognitive Neuroscience. @schottdorflab.bsky.social and I propose a novel multivariate method to isolate neural representations aligned with specific cognitive hypotheses 🧵https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.01.673485v1
September 5, 2025 at 4:18 PM
🚀Excited to share our project: Canonical Representational Mapping for Cognitive Neuroscience. @schottdorflab.bsky.social and I propose a novel multivariate method to isolate neural representations aligned with specific cognitive hypotheses 🧵https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.01.673485v1
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
What are your pros/cons of using AI in science?
Feel free to respond wrt use or harm in the design of experiments, coding experiments, coding analysis, brain storming analysis, summarizing literature, synthesis of ideas, modeling, novel model development, mathematical proofs, writing, editing.
Feel free to respond wrt use or harm in the design of experiments, coding experiments, coding analysis, brain storming analysis, summarizing literature, synthesis of ideas, modeling, novel model development, mathematical proofs, writing, editing.
September 3, 2025 at 9:09 PM
What are your pros/cons of using AI in science?
Feel free to respond wrt use or harm in the design of experiments, coding experiments, coding analysis, brain storming analysis, summarizing literature, synthesis of ideas, modeling, novel model development, mathematical proofs, writing, editing.
Feel free to respond wrt use or harm in the design of experiments, coding experiments, coding analysis, brain storming analysis, summarizing literature, synthesis of ideas, modeling, novel model development, mathematical proofs, writing, editing.
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
🚨We believe this is a major step forward in how we study hippocampus function in healthy humans.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
August 28, 2025 at 2:00 PM
🚨We believe this is a major step forward in how we study hippocampus function in healthy humans.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
I'm honored to serve as Expert Advisor for "The Alignment Project", an international initiative dedicated to ensuring AI systems are safe and beneficial. They are providing significant funding, compute, and collaboration opportunities for researchers---including those in cogsci/neuro. Please apply!
I am very excited that AISI is announcing over £15M in funding for AI alignment and control, in partnership with other governments, industry, VCs, and philanthropists!
Here is a 🧵 about why it is important to bring more independent ideas and expertise into this space.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
Here is a 🧵 about why it is important to bring more independent ideas and expertise into this space.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
The Alignment Project by AISI — The AI Security Institute
The Alignment Project funds groundbreaking AI alignment research to address one of AI’s most urgent challenges: ensuring advanced systems act predictably, safely, and for society’s benefit.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
August 20, 2025 at 5:54 PM
I'm honored to serve as Expert Advisor for "The Alignment Project", an international initiative dedicated to ensuring AI systems are safe and beneficial. They are providing significant funding, compute, and collaboration opportunities for researchers---including those in cogsci/neuro. Please apply!
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
I am very excited that AISI is announcing over £15M in funding for AI alignment and control, in partnership with other governments, industry, VCs, and philanthropists!
Here is a 🧵 about why it is important to bring more independent ideas and expertise into this space.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
Here is a 🧵 about why it is important to bring more independent ideas and expertise into this space.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
The Alignment Project by AISI — The AI Security Institute
The Alignment Project funds groundbreaking AI alignment research to address one of AI’s most urgent challenges: ensuring advanced systems act predictably, safely, and for society’s benefit.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
July 30, 2025 at 11:53 AM
I am very excited that AISI is announcing over £15M in funding for AI alignment and control, in partnership with other governments, industry, VCs, and philanthropists!
Here is a 🧵 about why it is important to bring more independent ideas and expertise into this space.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
Here is a 🧵 about why it is important to bring more independent ideas and expertise into this space.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
Are similar representations in neural nets evidence of shared computation? In new theory work w/ Lukas Braun (lukasbraun.com) & @saxelab.bsky.social, we prove that representational comparisons are ill-posed in general, unless networks are efficient.
@icmlconf.bsky.social @cogcompneuro.bsky.social
@icmlconf.bsky.social @cogcompneuro.bsky.social
August 13, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Are similar representations in neural nets evidence of shared computation? In new theory work w/ Lukas Braun (lukasbraun.com) & @saxelab.bsky.social, we prove that representational comparisons are ill-posed in general, unless networks are efficient.
@icmlconf.bsky.social @cogcompneuro.bsky.social
@icmlconf.bsky.social @cogcompneuro.bsky.social
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
Our new paper is out! When navigating through an environment, how do we combine our general sense of direction with known landmark states? To explore this, @denislan.bsky.social used a task that allowed subjects (or neural networks) to choose either their next action or next state at each step.
How do humans navigate unfamiliar environments? @denislan.bsky.social @lhuntneuro.bsky.social @summerfieldlab.bsky.social show that humans & deep meta-learning networks combine ‘vector-based’ & ‘transition-based’ strategies for flexible navigation in similar ways @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/45uSwNm
August 2, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Our new paper is out! When navigating through an environment, how do we combine our general sense of direction with known landmark states? To explore this, @denislan.bsky.social used a task that allowed subjects (or neural networks) to choose either their next action or next state at each step.
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
Thinking of applying to US-based Ph.D. programs in neuroscience, psychology, or cognitive science? We’ve got your back! NYU’s Application Support Group is a student-led, free mentorship program offering 1-on-1 support and guidance. Apply now! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
NYU Application Support Group Matching Form
Dear Prospective Neuroscience & Psychology PhD Students,
We are a group of current NYU Neuroscience & Psychology PhD students who would like to help you with your PhD applications. We want to support...
docs.google.com
July 28, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Thinking of applying to US-based Ph.D. programs in neuroscience, psychology, or cognitive science? We’ve got your back! NYU’s Application Support Group is a student-led, free mentorship program offering 1-on-1 support and guidance. Apply now! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
🚨 Fully Funded PhD positions
Gonda Brain Institute, Sharp Lab
We will explore how people build and deploy world models efficiently for planning and decision making. We will also seek to characterize how world models construal and use is biased in anxiety.
Deadline: 1 Sept 2025. Please share!
Gonda Brain Institute, Sharp Lab
We will explore how people build and deploy world models efficiently for planning and decision making. We will also seek to characterize how world models construal and use is biased in anxiety.
Deadline: 1 Sept 2025. Please share!
July 22, 2025 at 8:48 AM
🚨 Fully Funded PhD positions
Gonda Brain Institute, Sharp Lab
We will explore how people build and deploy world models efficiently for planning and decision making. We will also seek to characterize how world models construal and use is biased in anxiety.
Deadline: 1 Sept 2025. Please share!
Gonda Brain Institute, Sharp Lab
We will explore how people build and deploy world models efficiently for planning and decision making. We will also seek to characterize how world models construal and use is biased in anxiety.
Deadline: 1 Sept 2025. Please share!
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
📣 I'm looking for a postdoc to join my lab at NYU! Come work with me on a principled, theory-driven approach to studying language, learning, and reasoning, in humans and AI agents.
Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/170656
And come chat with me at #CogSci2025 if interested!
Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/170656
And come chat with me at #CogSci2025 if interested!
July 21, 2025 at 10:28 PM
📣 I'm looking for a postdoc to join my lab at NYU! Come work with me on a principled, theory-driven approach to studying language, learning, and reasoning, in humans and AI agents.
Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/170656
And come chat with me at #CogSci2025 if interested!
Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/170656
And come chat with me at #CogSci2025 if interested!
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
Fantastic work by our (now former) lab manager Liv Christiano. We assess the test-retest reliability of OPM and compare it to fMRI and iEEG. 🧠📄🧵
How reliable is OPM-MEG, and how does it compare to other neuroimaging modalities? 🤔
In a new preprint with @s-michelmann.bsky.social, we evaluate the reliability of OPM-MEG within & between individuals, and compare it to fMRI & iEEG during repeated movie viewing. 🧠
📄 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
In a new preprint with @s-michelmann.bsky.social, we evaluate the reliability of OPM-MEG within & between individuals, and compare it to fMRI & iEEG during repeated movie viewing. 🧠
📄 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reliability and signal comparison of OPM-MEG, fMRI & iEEG in a repeated movie viewing paradigm
Optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) offer a promising advancement in noninvasive neuroimaging via magnetoencephalography (MEG), but establishing their reliability and comparability to existing metho...
doi.org
July 19, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Fantastic work by our (now former) lab manager Liv Christiano. We assess the test-retest reliability of OPM and compare it to fMRI and iEEG. 🧠📄🧵
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
How reliable is OPM-MEG, and how does it compare to other neuroimaging modalities? 🤔
In a new preprint with @s-michelmann.bsky.social, we evaluate the reliability of OPM-MEG within & between individuals, and compare it to fMRI & iEEG during repeated movie viewing. 🧠
📄 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
In a new preprint with @s-michelmann.bsky.social, we evaluate the reliability of OPM-MEG within & between individuals, and compare it to fMRI & iEEG during repeated movie viewing. 🧠
📄 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reliability and signal comparison of OPM-MEG, fMRI & iEEG in a repeated movie viewing paradigm
Optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) offer a promising advancement in noninvasive neuroimaging via magnetoencephalography (MEG), but establishing their reliability and comparability to existing metho...
doi.org
July 19, 2025 at 4:10 PM
How reliable is OPM-MEG, and how does it compare to other neuroimaging modalities? 🤔
In a new preprint with @s-michelmann.bsky.social, we evaluate the reliability of OPM-MEG within & between individuals, and compare it to fMRI & iEEG during repeated movie viewing. 🧠
📄 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
In a new preprint with @s-michelmann.bsky.social, we evaluate the reliability of OPM-MEG within & between individuals, and compare it to fMRI & iEEG during repeated movie viewing. 🧠
📄 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Beautiful work by @neurozz.bsky.social and @annaschapiro.bsky.social !
Excited to share a new preprint w/ @annaschapiro.bsky.social! Why are there gradients of plasticity and sparsity along the neocortex–hippocampus hierarchy? We show that brain-like organization of these properties emerges in ANNs that meta-learn layer-wise plasticity and sparsity. bit.ly/4kB1yg5
A gradient of complementary learning systems emerges through meta-learning
Long-term learning and memory in the primate brain rely on a series of hierarchically organized subsystems extending from early sensory neocortical areas to the hippocampus. The components differ in t...
bit.ly
July 17, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Beautiful work by @neurozz.bsky.social and @annaschapiro.bsky.social !
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
Excited to share a new preprint w/ @annaschapiro.bsky.social! Why are there gradients of plasticity and sparsity along the neocortex–hippocampus hierarchy? We show that brain-like organization of these properties emerges in ANNs that meta-learn layer-wise plasticity and sparsity. bit.ly/4kB1yg5
A gradient of complementary learning systems emerges through meta-learning
Long-term learning and memory in the primate brain rely on a series of hierarchically organized subsystems extending from early sensory neocortical areas to the hippocampus. The components differ in t...
bit.ly
July 16, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Excited to share a new preprint w/ @annaschapiro.bsky.social! Why are there gradients of plasticity and sparsity along the neocortex–hippocampus hierarchy? We show that brain-like organization of these properties emerges in ANNs that meta-learn layer-wise plasticity and sparsity. bit.ly/4kB1yg5
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
Our newest paper, led by Romy Froemer
and @fredcallaway.bsky.social, is now out in Open Mind: “Considering What We Know and What We Don’t Know: Expectations and Confidence Guide Value Integration in Value-Based Decision-Making”
direct.mit.edu/opmi/article...
and @fredcallaway.bsky.social, is now out in Open Mind: “Considering What We Know and What We Don’t Know: Expectations and Confidence Guide Value Integration in Value-Based Decision-Making”
direct.mit.edu/opmi/article...
Considering What We Know and What We Don’t Know: Expectations and Confidence Guide Value Integration in Value-Based Decision-Making
Abstract. When making decisions, we often have more information about some options than others. Previous work has shown that people are more likely to choose options that they look at more and those t...
direct.mit.edu
July 10, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Our newest paper, led by Romy Froemer
and @fredcallaway.bsky.social, is now out in Open Mind: “Considering What We Know and What We Don’t Know: Expectations and Confidence Guide Value Integration in Value-Based Decision-Making”
direct.mit.edu/opmi/article...
and @fredcallaway.bsky.social, is now out in Open Mind: “Considering What We Know and What We Don’t Know: Expectations and Confidence Guide Value Integration in Value-Based Decision-Making”
direct.mit.edu/opmi/article...
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
Want to know what kinds of studies webcam-based eye tracking can be used for? Here's our take on the current tech. This certainly isn't the first paper on this topic, but it provides some converging evidence about the viability of eye tracking with online methods. online.ucpress.edu/collabra/art...
What Paradigms Can Webcam Eye-Tracking Be Used For? Attempted Replications of Five Cognitive Science Experiments
Web-based data collection allows researchers to recruit large and diverse samples with fewer resources than lab-based studies require. Recent innovations have expanded the set of methodolgies that are...
online.ucpress.edu
July 8, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Want to know what kinds of studies webcam-based eye tracking can be used for? Here's our take on the current tech. This certainly isn't the first paper on this topic, but it provides some converging evidence about the viability of eye tracking with online methods. online.ucpress.edu/collabra/art...
Thrilled to see our TinyRNN paper in @nature! We show how tiny RNNs predict choices of individual subjects accurately while staying fully interpretable. This approach can transform how we model cognitive processes in both healthy and disordered decisions. doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Discovering cognitive strategies with tiny recurrent neural networks - Nature
Modelling biological decision-making with tiny recurrent neural networks enables more accurate predictions of animal choices than classical cognitive models and offers insights into the underlying cog...
doi.org
July 2, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Thrilled to see our TinyRNN paper in @nature! We show how tiny RNNs predict choices of individual subjects accurately while staying fully interpretable. This approach can transform how we model cognitive processes in both healthy and disordered decisions. doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
Excited to share our upcoming workshop on neuroscience, reinforcement learning, and decision making at RLDM 2025 in Dublin, Ireland — June 11–14!
Check out the terrific speaker lineup:
🔗 sites.google.com/view/neurorl...
Co-organized with @angelaradulescu.bsky.social
@rldmdublin2025.bsky.social
Check out the terrific speaker lineup:
🔗 sites.google.com/view/neurorl...
Co-organized with @angelaradulescu.bsky.social
@rldmdublin2025.bsky.social
May 29, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Excited to share our upcoming workshop on neuroscience, reinforcement learning, and decision making at RLDM 2025 in Dublin, Ireland — June 11–14!
Check out the terrific speaker lineup:
🔗 sites.google.com/view/neurorl...
Co-organized with @angelaradulescu.bsky.social
@rldmdublin2025.bsky.social
Check out the terrific speaker lineup:
🔗 sites.google.com/view/neurorl...
Co-organized with @angelaradulescu.bsky.social
@rldmdublin2025.bsky.social
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
Now out 🚨 🧪 : our preprint describing dynamics of an extended frontal lobe network (4 cortical regions) in monkeys solving complex multi-step spatial problems! We observe distributed codes for goals, states, and planned moves across PFC!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroscience #compneuro
🧵👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroscience #compneuro
🧵👇
Neural dynamics of an extended frontal lobe network in goal-subgoal problem solving
Complex behavior calls for hierarchical representation of current state, goal, and component moves. In the human brain, a network of “multiple-demand” (MD) regions underpins cognitive control. We reco...
www.biorxiv.org
May 29, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Now out 🚨 🧪 : our preprint describing dynamics of an extended frontal lobe network (4 cortical regions) in monkeys solving complex multi-step spatial problems! We observe distributed codes for goals, states, and planned moves across PFC!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroscience #compneuro
🧵👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroscience #compneuro
🧵👇
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
📢 I'm happy to share the preprint: _Reward-Aware Proto-Representations in Reinforcement Learning_ ‼️
My PhD student, Hon Tik Tse, led this work, and my MSc student, Siddarth Chandrasekar, assisted us.
arxiv.org/abs/2505.16217
Basically, it's the SR with rewards. See below 👇
My PhD student, Hon Tik Tse, led this work, and my MSc student, Siddarth Chandrasekar, assisted us.
arxiv.org/abs/2505.16217
Basically, it's the SR with rewards. See below 👇
May 24, 2025 at 3:23 PM
📢 I'm happy to share the preprint: _Reward-Aware Proto-Representations in Reinforcement Learning_ ‼️
My PhD student, Hon Tik Tse, led this work, and my MSc student, Siddarth Chandrasekar, assisted us.
arxiv.org/abs/2505.16217
Basically, it's the SR with rewards. See below 👇
My PhD student, Hon Tik Tse, led this work, and my MSc student, Siddarth Chandrasekar, assisted us.
arxiv.org/abs/2505.16217
Basically, it's the SR with rewards. See below 👇
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
🤖🧠 Paper out in Nature Communications! 🧠🤖
Bayesian models can learn rapidly. Neural networks can handle messy, naturalistic data. How can we combine these strengths?
Our answer: Use meta-learning to distill Bayesian priors into a neural network!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/n
Bayesian models can learn rapidly. Neural networks can handle messy, naturalistic data. How can we combine these strengths?
Our answer: Use meta-learning to distill Bayesian priors into a neural network!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/n
May 20, 2025 at 7:04 PM
🤖🧠 Paper out in Nature Communications! 🧠🤖
Bayesian models can learn rapidly. Neural networks can handle messy, naturalistic data. How can we combine these strengths?
Our answer: Use meta-learning to distill Bayesian priors into a neural network!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/n
Bayesian models can learn rapidly. Neural networks can handle messy, naturalistic data. How can we combine these strengths?
Our answer: Use meta-learning to distill Bayesian priors into a neural network!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/n