Soroush Mirjalili
@soroushmirjalili.bsky.social
Postdoc in the Kuhl Lab at the University of Oregon, PhD from UT Austin. Episodic Memory | Computational Neuroscience | Cognitive Neuroscience | Machine Learning. 🌿 -> 🐝 -> 🐂 -> 🦆, he/him
soroushmirjalili.com
soroushmirjalili.com
Pinned
Hippocampal transformations occur along dimensions of memory interference
The role of the hippocampus in resolving memory interference has been greatly elucidated by considering the relationship between the similarity of visual stimuli (input) and corresponding similarity o...
www.biorxiv.org
🧠🚨 How does the hippocampus transform the visual similarity space to resolve memory interference?
In this new preprint, we found that the hippocampus sequentially inverts the behaviorally relevant dimensions of similarity 🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
In this new preprint, we found that the hippocampus sequentially inverts the behaviorally relevant dimensions of similarity 🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
I wrote a thing on episodic memory and systems consolidation. I hope you all enjoy it and/or find it interesting.
A neural state space for episodic memories
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#neuroskyence #psychscisky #cognition 🧪
A neural state space for episodic memories
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#neuroskyence #psychscisky #cognition 🧪
A neural state space for episodic memories
Episodic memories are highly dynamic and change in nonlinear ways over time. This dynamism is not captured by existing systems consolidation theories …
www.sciencedirect.com
November 3, 2025 at 12:56 PM
I wrote a thing on episodic memory and systems consolidation. I hope you all enjoy it and/or find it interesting.
A neural state space for episodic memories
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#neuroskyence #psychscisky #cognition 🧪
A neural state space for episodic memories
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#neuroskyence #psychscisky #cognition 🧪
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
When does new learning interfere with existing knowledge in people and ANNs? Great to have this out today in @nathumbehav.nature.com
Work with @summerfieldlab.bsky.social, @tsonj.bsky.social, Lukas Braun and Jan Grohn
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Work with @summerfieldlab.bsky.social, @tsonj.bsky.social, Lukas Braun and Jan Grohn
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
October 31, 2025 at 2:47 PM
When does new learning interfere with existing knowledge in people and ANNs? Great to have this out today in @nathumbehav.nature.com
Work with @summerfieldlab.bsky.social, @tsonj.bsky.social, Lukas Braun and Jan Grohn
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Work with @summerfieldlab.bsky.social, @tsonj.bsky.social, Lukas Braun and Jan Grohn
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
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
🧠🚨 How does the hippocampus transform the visual similarity space to resolve memory interference?
In this new preprint, we found that the hippocampus sequentially inverts the behaviorally relevant dimensions of similarity 🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
In this new preprint, we found that the hippocampus sequentially inverts the behaviorally relevant dimensions of similarity 🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Hippocampal transformations occur along dimensions of memory interference
The role of the hippocampus in resolving memory interference has been greatly elucidated by considering the relationship between the similarity of visual stimuli (input) and corresponding similarity o...
www.biorxiv.org
October 14, 2025 at 4:48 PM
🧠🚨 How does the hippocampus transform the visual similarity space to resolve memory interference?
In this new preprint, we found that the hippocampus sequentially inverts the behaviorally relevant dimensions of similarity 🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
In this new preprint, we found that the hippocampus sequentially inverts the behaviorally relevant dimensions of similarity 🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
Hippocampal transformations occur along dimensions of memory interference https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.13.682242v1
October 14, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Hippocampal transformations occur along dimensions of memory interference https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.13.682242v1
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
Excited to share that I'm joining WashU in January as an Assistant Prof in Psych & Brain Sciences! 🧠✨!
I'm also recruiting grad students to start next September - come hang out with us! Details about our lab here: www.deckerlab.com
Reposts are very welcome! 🙌 Please help spread the word!
I'm also recruiting grad students to start next September - come hang out with us! Details about our lab here: www.deckerlab.com
Reposts are very welcome! 🙌 Please help spread the word!
DeckerLab
www.deckerlab.com
October 1, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Excited to share that I'm joining WashU in January as an Assistant Prof in Psych & Brain Sciences! 🧠✨!
I'm also recruiting grad students to start next September - come hang out with us! Details about our lab here: www.deckerlab.com
Reposts are very welcome! 🙌 Please help spread the word!
I'm also recruiting grad students to start next September - come hang out with us! Details about our lab here: www.deckerlab.com
Reposts are very welcome! 🙌 Please help spread the word!
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
Years ago my lab tried to brainstorm ways to separately manipulate low-level (texture/pattern) and high-level (scene/object) image properties, for studying visual representations in the brain. Thanks to imaginative work by PhD student Zall Hirschstein, we now have a stimulus set that does just that!
Excited to release the SPOT grid: a new image set that factorially crosses scene-object & texture-pattern pairings.
We hope these stimuli will be useful to researchers aiming to (partially) disentangle the contributions of lower- and higher-level visual features to behavior & brain activity.
1/
We hope these stimuli will be useful to researchers aiming to (partially) disentangle the contributions of lower- and higher-level visual features to behavior & brain activity.
1/
September 22, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Years ago my lab tried to brainstorm ways to separately manipulate low-level (texture/pattern) and high-level (scene/object) image properties, for studying visual representations in the brain. Thanks to imaginative work by PhD student Zall Hirschstein, we now have a stimulus set that does just that!
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
🚀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 Soroush Mirjalili
Excited to share our new paper w/ @cibaker.bsky.social in @natcomms.nature.com linking active vision & memory!
We provide evidence that gaze reinstatement & neural reactivation are deeply related phenomena that jointly reflect the experiences constructed during recall. doi.org/10.1038/s414...
🧵1/9
We provide evidence that gaze reinstatement & neural reactivation are deeply related phenomena that jointly reflect the experiences constructed during recall. doi.org/10.1038/s414...
🧵1/9
Neural and behavioral reinstatement jointly reflect retrieval of narrative events - Nature Communications
When people recall a movie, their eye movements and brain activity resemble those observed during the viewing. These behavioral and neural reactivations are linked through a common process, likely ref...
doi.org
August 25, 2025 at 9:41 AM
Excited to share our new paper w/ @cibaker.bsky.social in @natcomms.nature.com linking active vision & memory!
We provide evidence that gaze reinstatement & neural reactivation are deeply related phenomena that jointly reflect the experiences constructed during recall. doi.org/10.1038/s414...
🧵1/9
We provide evidence that gaze reinstatement & neural reactivation are deeply related phenomena that jointly reflect the experiences constructed during recall. doi.org/10.1038/s414...
🧵1/9
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
Thrilled to share our new @NatureComms
paper: "Exploration is associated with socioeconomic disparities in learning and academic achievement in adolescence." www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵1/7
paper: "Exploration is associated with socioeconomic disparities in learning and academic achievement in adolescence." www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵1/7
Exploration is associated with socioeconomic disparities in learning and academic achievement in adolescence - Nature Communications
Children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds often show lower academic achievement, commonly linked to limited resources. Here, the authors show that reduced exploration–a behavior tuned for learning...
www.nature.com
July 31, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Thrilled to share our new @NatureComms
paper: "Exploration is associated with socioeconomic disparities in learning and academic achievement in adolescence." www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵1/7
paper: "Exploration is associated with socioeconomic disparities in learning and academic achievement in adolescence." www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵1/7
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
I’m excited to share my final co-first author paper from my postdoc in Dan Dombeck's lab!
We explored how behavior, senses, and neurons influence how much information in the brain changes over time.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#science #research #neuroscience #hippocampus #placecells
We explored how behavior, senses, and neurons influence how much information in the brain changes over time.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#science #research #neuroscience #hippocampus #placecells
Hippocampal representations drift in stable multisensory environments - Nature
Tracking of individual place cells in mouse CA1 shows that representational drift is not influenced by changes in environment or behaviour, and is lower for more excitable place cells.
www.nature.com
July 23, 2025 at 4:12 PM
I’m excited to share my final co-first author paper from my postdoc in Dan Dombeck's lab!
We explored how behavior, senses, and neurons influence how much information in the brain changes over time.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#science #research #neuroscience #hippocampus #placecells
We explored how behavior, senses, and neurons influence how much information in the brain changes over time.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#science #research #neuroscience #hippocampus #placecells
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
I'm excited to share a new preprint! We built a digital, scalable intervention to reduce intrusive memories, combining an AI chatbot with LLM scoring of human-AI conversations and pupillometry predictors of effort and intervention success. I hope you enjoy! arxiv.org/abs/2507.01081
AI-guided digital intervention with physiological monitoring reduces intrusive memories after experimental trauma
Trauma prevalence is vast globally. Evidence-based digital treatments can help, but most require human guidance. Human guides provide tailored instructions and responsiveness to internal cognitive sta...
arxiv.org
July 21, 2025 at 10:41 PM
I'm excited to share a new preprint! We built a digital, scalable intervention to reduce intrusive memories, combining an AI chatbot with LLM scoring of human-AI conversations and pupillometry predictors of effort and intervention success. I hope you enjoy! arxiv.org/abs/2507.01081
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
New paper from our lab in which we show that altered arousal in Autism Spectrum Disorders reduces episodic memory for emotional events. Stronger effects with age support an accelerated aging hypothesis of ASD. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Emotional Arousal‐Induced Episodic Memory Benefits Are Attenuated in Autism Spectrum Disorders, Especially in Older Age
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder associated with episodic memory impairment. Although emotional factors such as arousal, as well as age and depression symptoms, ...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
July 18, 2025 at 7:46 PM
New paper from our lab in which we show that altered arousal in Autism Spectrum Disorders reduces episodic memory for emotional events. Stronger effects with age support an accelerated aging hypothesis of ASD. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
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 Soroush Mirjalili
🧠 Paper out!
We investigated how hippocampal and cortical ripples support memory during movie watching. We found that:
🎬 Hippocampal ripples mark event boundaries
🧩 Cortical ripples predict later recall
Ripples may help transform real-life experiences into lasting memories!
rdcu.be/eui9l
We investigated how hippocampal and cortical ripples support memory during movie watching. We found that:
🎬 Hippocampal ripples mark event boundaries
🧩 Cortical ripples predict later recall
Ripples may help transform real-life experiences into lasting memories!
rdcu.be/eui9l
Movie-watching evokes ripple-like activity within events and at event boundaries
Nature Communications - The neural processes involved in memory formation for realistic experiences remain poorly understood. Here, the authors found that ripple-like activity in the human...
rdcu.be
July 1, 2025 at 1:26 PM
🧠 Paper out!
We investigated how hippocampal and cortical ripples support memory during movie watching. We found that:
🎬 Hippocampal ripples mark event boundaries
🧩 Cortical ripples predict later recall
Ripples may help transform real-life experiences into lasting memories!
rdcu.be/eui9l
We investigated how hippocampal and cortical ripples support memory during movie watching. We found that:
🎬 Hippocampal ripples mark event boundaries
🧩 Cortical ripples predict later recall
Ripples may help transform real-life experiences into lasting memories!
rdcu.be/eui9l
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
Do girls and boys really differ in their mathematical skills? A recent @nature.com paper by @standehaene.bsky.social et al shows that French boys and girls enter school with similar abilities, but after just four months, boys pull ahead 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Rapid emergence of a maths gender gap in first grade - Nature
Boys and girls exhibit very similar maths scores upon school entry, but a gender gap in favour of boys becomes highly significant after 4 months of schooling, which increases with years of schooling,&...
www.nature.com
June 13, 2025 at 1:33 AM
Do girls and boys really differ in their mathematical skills? A recent @nature.com paper by @standehaene.bsky.social et al shows that French boys and girls enter school with similar abilities, but after just four months, boys pull ahead 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
Our work with Pablo Tano, @hyunggoo-kim.bsky.social Athar Malik, Alexandre Pouget and @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social exploring how dopamine neurons could enable multi-timescale reinforcement learning in the brain is out in @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Multi-timescale reinforcement learning in the brain - Nature
Individual dopaminergic neurons encode future rewards over distinct temporal horizons.
www.nature.com
June 4, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Our work with Pablo Tano, @hyunggoo-kim.bsky.social Athar Malik, Alexandre Pouget and @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social exploring how dopamine neurons could enable multi-timescale reinforcement learning in the brain is out in @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
New preprint! 🚨→ Determinants of Visual Ambiguity Resolution. A new work with @ortiztudela.bsky.social @jvoeller.bsky.social @martinhebart.bsky.social and @gonzalezgarcia.bsky.social
We created ~2k images and collected ~100k responses to study visual ambiguity.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We created ~2k images and collected ~100k responses to study visual ambiguity.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
May 29, 2025 at 12:46 PM
New preprint! 🚨→ Determinants of Visual Ambiguity Resolution. A new work with @ortiztudela.bsky.social @jvoeller.bsky.social @martinhebart.bsky.social and @gonzalezgarcia.bsky.social
We created ~2k images and collected ~100k responses to study visual ambiguity.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We created ~2k images and collected ~100k responses to study visual ambiguity.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
So excited to share my *first* first-author paper, out now in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social!! In this review, we argue that even if you don’t remember being a baby, evidence that infants form episodic-like memories is actually all around us: authors.elsevier.com/c/1l82g4sIRv...
authors.elsevier.com
May 21, 2025 at 10:33 PM
So excited to share my *first* first-author paper, out now in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social!! In this review, we argue that even if you don’t remember being a baby, evidence that infants form episodic-like memories is actually all around us: authors.elsevier.com/c/1l82g4sIRv...
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
New from our lab: your brain doesn’t just remember time - it bends it.
We show that the dopamine system responds to natural breakpoints in experience, and this relates to more stretched memories of time. Blinking also increases, signaling encoding of new memories.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We show that the dopamine system responds to natural breakpoints in experience, and this relates to more stretched memories of time. Blinking also increases, signaling encoding of new memories.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Dopaminergic processes predict temporal distortions in event memory
Our memories do not simply keep time - they warp it, bending the past to fit the structure of our experiences. For example, people tend to remember items as occurring farther apart in time if they spa...
www.biorxiv.org
May 19, 2025 at 9:56 PM
New from our lab: your brain doesn’t just remember time - it bends it.
We show that the dopamine system responds to natural breakpoints in experience, and this relates to more stretched memories of time. Blinking also increases, signaling encoding of new memories.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We show that the dopamine system responds to natural breakpoints in experience, and this relates to more stretched memories of time. Blinking also increases, signaling encoding of new memories.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
Sharing a new paper from the lab. This paper, led by Sangyoon Ko, represents a merging of two longstanding research themes in the lab-- adult neurogenesis and systems consolidation.
rdcu.be/el18q
A short thread follows for those interested.
1/n
rdcu.be/el18q
A short thread follows for those interested.
1/n
Systems consolidation reorganizes hippocampal engram circuitry
Nature - A study shows that loss of memory precision associated with systems consolidation can be explained by neurogenesis-dependent reorganization of engram circuitry within the hippocampus over...
rdcu.be
May 14, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Sharing a new paper from the lab. This paper, led by Sangyoon Ko, represents a merging of two longstanding research themes in the lab-- adult neurogenesis and systems consolidation.
rdcu.be/el18q
A short thread follows for those interested.
1/n
rdcu.be/el18q
A short thread follows for those interested.
1/n
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
Major team effort on phase-locked stim of human hippocampal theta rhythms finally out in the wild! W/ @jkragel.bsky.social @alikwidge.bsky.social and a cast of many. Thanks to the BRAIN Initiative for making it possible.
rdcu.be/ej7VE
rdcu.be/ej7VE
Closed-loop control of theta oscillations enhances human hippocampal network connectivity
Nature Communications - Closed-loop brain stimulation of the human hippocampal theta rhythm produces lasting enhancement of network communication. This implicates theta rhythms in human hippocampal...
rdcu.be
May 2, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Major team effort on phase-locked stim of human hippocampal theta rhythms finally out in the wild! W/ @jkragel.bsky.social @alikwidge.bsky.social and a cast of many. Thanks to the BRAIN Initiative for making it possible.
rdcu.be/ej7VE
rdcu.be/ej7VE
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
🧠✨How do we rebuild our memories? In our new study, we show that hippocampal ripples kickstart a coordinated expansion of cortical activity that helps reconstruct past experiences.
We recorded iEEG from patients during memory retrieval... and found something really cool 👇(thread)
We recorded iEEG from patients during memory retrieval... and found something really cool 👇(thread)
April 29, 2025 at 6:00 AM
🧠✨How do we rebuild our memories? In our new study, we show that hippocampal ripples kickstart a coordinated expansion of cortical activity that helps reconstruct past experiences.
We recorded iEEG from patients during memory retrieval... and found something really cool 👇(thread)
We recorded iEEG from patients during memory retrieval... and found something really cool 👇(thread)
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
Check out our new study by @atabk.bsky.social! He tweaked a word list memory task to have hidden rules at encoding, which shifted and created “event boundaries.” People recalled pre-boundary words more, and post-boundary words less. Other fun bits in the paper include a reinforcement learning model!
This study examines how events structured recall, which was impaired for items after event boundaries. A reinforcement learning model showed that decision certainty predicts recall success.
@atabk.bsky.social @wouterkool.bsky.social @zreagh.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
@atabk.bsky.social @wouterkool.bsky.social @zreagh.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Free recall is shaped by inference and scaffolded by event structure - Communications Psychology
This study examines how event boundaries affect recall of items in a decision-making task. Events structured recall, which was impaired for items after boundaries. A reinforcement learning model showe...
www.nature.com
April 28, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Check out our new study by @atabk.bsky.social! He tweaked a word list memory task to have hidden rules at encoding, which shifted and created “event boundaries.” People recalled pre-boundary words more, and post-boundary words less. Other fun bits in the paper include a reinforcement learning model!
Reposted by Soroush Mirjalili
New paper from my lab! @moorecogneuro.bsky.social shows that memory brain states are diminished or less robustly engaged in healthy older adults compared to young and middle-aged adults. longtermmemorylab.com/wp-content/u...
longtermmemorylab.com
April 25, 2025 at 2:36 PM
New paper from my lab! @moorecogneuro.bsky.social shows that memory brain states are diminished or less robustly engaged in healthy older adults compared to young and middle-aged adults. longtermmemorylab.com/wp-content/u...