Senne Braem
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sebraem.bsky.social
Senne Braem
@sebraem.bsky.social
1.5K followers 510 following 24 posts
Professor of cognitive science, Ghent University. Cognitive control, reinforcement learning, fear conditioning, autism. https://users.ugent.be/~sbraem/
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Reposted by Senne Braem
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
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
Reposted by Senne Braem
frabraendle.bsky.social
What influences whether people have fun with a task?

Our paper “Leveling up fun: learning progress, expectations and success influence enjoyment in video games” with @thecharleywu.bsky.social and @ericschulz.bsky.social now in Scientific Reports!

rdcu.be/eI069

Paper summary below 1/4
Leveling up fun: learning progress, expectations, and success influence enjoyment in video games
Scientific Reports - Leveling up fun: learning progress, expectations, and success influence enjoyment in video games
rdcu.be
October 2, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Reposted by Senne Braem
irenecogliatidezza.bsky.social
Very happy to have presented our work on the computational basis of doomscrolling at the CocoFlex seminar (organized by @sebraem.bsky.social) in Ghent today!!!
More information about our work on the lab website sites.google.com/site/ireneco...
September 10, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Senne Braem
tifenpan.bsky.social
New paper out in Behavioral Research Methods! We introduce a simulation-based method using RNNs to infer trial-varying latent variables from computational cognitive models.
Link: doi.org/10.3758/s134...
#ComputationalCognitiveModeling #SBI
Latent variable sequence identification for cognitive models with neural network estimators - Behavior Research Methods
Extracting time-varying latent variables from computational cognitive models plays a key role in uncovering the dynamic cognitive processes that drive behaviors. However, existing methods are limited ...
doi.org
August 29, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Reposted by Senne Braem
shenhavlab.bsky.social
After scrolling Twitter, it will take you a while to get back into “work mode”. Why is this the case? Our new work (out now in Psych Review), led by Ivan Grahek and Xiamin Leng, explores the costs of adjusting cognitive control to meet different goals:
psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...

🧵 A thread:
APA PsycNet
psycnet.apa.org
August 27, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Reposted by Senne Braem
caterinagratton.bsky.social
The lateral prefrontal cortex 🧠— which we think of as critical for goal driven behavior + is a target for psychiatric treatments— is fundamentally different in individuals relative to the group averages we’ve often studied.

👇see preprint and thread, led by Zach Ladwig
#neuroskyence #PsychSciSky
Image of brain networks in a group average and individual LPFC. Individuals show: 1) smaller FP network 2) more interdigitation 3) conserved motifs 4) idiosyncratic features This was validated with task and rest fMRI
August 14, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by Senne Braem
carlbergstrom.com
What makes a puzzle hard?

I found this video delightful.
Adventures in State Space
YouTube video by 2swap
www.youtube.com
August 23, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Reposted by Senne Braem
lakens.bsky.social
An abbreviation (ABB) in a journal article (JA) or Grant Application (GA) is rarely worth the words it saves. Every ABB requires cognitive resources (CR) and at my age by the time I'm halfway through a JA or GA I no longer have the CR to remember what your ABB stood for.
August 15, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Reposted by Senne Braem
lampinen.bsky.social
In neuroscience, we often try to understand systems by analyzing their representations — using tools like regression or RSA. But are these analyses biased towards discovering a subset of what a system represents? If you're interested in this question, check out our new commentary! Thread:
What do representations tell us about a system? Image of a mouse with a scope showing a vector of activity patterns, and a neural network with a vector of unit activity patterns Common analyses of neural representations: Encoding models (relating activity to task features) drawing of an arrow from a trace saying [on_____on____] to a neuron and spike train. Comparing models via neural predictivity: comparing two neural networks by their R^2 to mouse brain activity. RSA: assessing brain-brain or model-brain correspondence using representational dissimilarity matrices
August 5, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Reposted by Senne Braem
lucylai.bsky.social
🚨📊ɴᴇᴡ ᴘᴀᴘᴇʀ!! When we learn a new skill—like tying shoelaces or making pasta—we often start with a series of deliberate steps. But eventually, those steps blend into a smooth, single unit: an action chunk. But why and when do we chunk? 👇
📰https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1lMMD2Hx2-9B8
July 25, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Reposted by Senne Braem
gonzalezgarcia.bsky.social
🚨 We’re hiring a postdoc!
Join the FLARE project @cimcyc.bsky.social to study sudden perceptual learning using fMRI, RSA, and DNNs.
🧠 2 years, fully funded, flexible start
More info 👉 gonzalezgarcia.github.io/postdoc/

DMs or emails welcome! Please share!
Postdoc Position – FLARE Project
gonzalezgarcia.github.io
July 18, 2025 at 11:17 AM
Reposted by Senne Braem
seongminpark.bsky.social
🚨 We’re hiring! The Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at Virginia Tech is looking for a postdoc to join our team studying the neural + computational mechanisms of structure learning and flexible cognition: ccnvt.github.io#positions
CCN Lab
ccnvt.github.io
July 10, 2025 at 12:17 PM
sebraem.bsky.social
We moved our symposium to a bigger room so we have a few more extra seats available now! Join us September 10th for our symosium on "Flexible Definitions of Cognitive Flexibility"
shengjiexu.ugent.be/CoCoFlex_Sem.... Poster or talk submission deadline is in two weeks: July 31st!
July 17, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Reposted by Senne Braem
gonzalezgarcia.bsky.social
🧠💻 We (a bunch of colleagues at @cimcyc.bsky.social) just released a programming guide for psych & cog neuro students. Instead of a tutorial, this is a starting point: a collection of reflections, examples, and recommendations.

👉 Still growing, but ready to explore: wobc.github.io/programming_book/
Programming in psychological science
A practical introduction
wobc.github.io
July 16, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Reposted by Senne Braem
annaschapiro.bsky.social
Super excited to share this one!! Meta-learning sparsity and learning rate gives rise to brain-like gradients of complementary learning systems. So complementary learning systems emerge organically through behavior optimization, and it's not just two of them!!
neurozz.bsky.social Zhenglong Zhou @neurozz.bsky.social · Jul 16
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 4:18 PM
Reposted by Senne Braem
bjornlindstrom.bsky.social
💥New postdoc position! 💥

Join us to explore how people learn from each other—and how that drives cultural evolution.

Run experiments, build computational models & collaborate across Europe w. @lucasmolleman.bsky.social
📍 Stockholm
More info: shorturl.at/CY4wk
Postdoctoral Researcher in psychology/cognitive science with focus on social learning and cultural evolution
Do you want to contribute to top quality medical research? The Mechanisms of Social Behavior lab at the Karolinska Institutet (PI: Björn Lindström) in Stockholm, Sweden is seeking a highly qualified
shorturl.at
June 26, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Reposted by Senne Braem
thecharleywu.bsky.social
The deadline has been extended until July 16th!

👉 PhDs: hmc-lab.com/ERC_PhDs.html
👉 Postdoc: hmc-lab.com/ERC_Postdoc....
July 8, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Reposted by Senne Braem
kobedesender.bsky.social
Impressive behavioral + modelling + eeg work, led by @lucvermeylen.bsky.social , relating time-on-task changes in comp parameters to changes in metacognitive reports!
July 5, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Reposted by Senne Braem
commspsychol.nature.com
The study suggests a few metacognitive states correlate with rational behavioural adjustments; this might help steering behaviour towards optimality.
@lucvermeylen.bsky.social @sebraem.bsky.social @kobedesender.bsky.social @gonzalezgarcia.bsky.social @mruz.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
The temporal dynamics of metacognitive experiences track rational adaptations in task performance - Communications Psychology
Using computational modeling and EEG, the study suggests several metacognitive states correlate with rational adjustments in behavior; this might benefit steering behavior towards optimality
www.nature.com
July 4, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Reposted by Senne Braem
anne-urai.bsky.social
My latest: a short review on latent variable models to help uncover trial-to-trial structure in perceptual decision-making strategies

authors.elsevier.com/a/1lMiv4sIRv...
July 4, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Senne Braem
marcelomattar.bsky.social
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
Reposted by Senne Braem
earlkmiller.bsky.social
Abstract rule learning promotes cognitive flexibility in complex environments across species
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
Abstract rule learning promotes cognitive flexibility in complex environments across species - Nature Communications
Whether neurocomputational mechanisms that speed up human learning in changing environments also exist in other species remains unclear. Here, the authors show that both rats and humans sequentially t...
www.nature.com
June 28, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Reposted by Senne Braem
ghentccn.bsky.social
The Learning and Cognitive Control Laboratory at Ghent University (Belgium), led by Clay Holroyd, is recruiting two highly motivated postdoctoral fellows to apply a control-theoretic approach to investigate the neurocognitive mechanisms of cognitive effort ( doi.org/10.1037/rev0... )
APA PsycNet
doi.org
June 27, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Senne Braem
francescopoli.bsky.social
Out now in Science Advances! We find that infants estimate environmental volatility to learn optimally, with early individual differences linked to temperament. This has be so much fun to work on and ended up being my favourite personal paper! So excited it's out!

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Volatility-driven learning in human infants
Infants estimate environmental volatility to learn optimally, with early individual differences linked to temperament.
www.science.org
June 25, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Reposted by Senne Braem
thecharleywu.bsky.social
🚀Join our team @tuda.bsky.social ! 🚀
I'm looking for 3 PhDs & 1 Postdoc for my @erc.europa.eu project “C4: Compositional Compression in Cognition and Culture” to study learning across individuals, teams, and cultural timescales
👉 PhD: hmc-lab.com/ERC_PhDs.html
👉 Postdoc: hmc-lab.com/ERC_Postdoc....
June 11, 2025 at 8:00 AM