iancballard.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

New paper alert! Have you ever looked at single-trial fMRI activation maps? If so, you know that they are super variable. Here we show that the variability is not just noise. In fact, the same task can consistently elicit different activation patterns. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

submitted 8 days ago • 3 comments

Exciting news - early bird registration is now open for #RLDM2025! 🔗 Register now: forms.gle/QZS1GkZhYGRF... Register now to save €100 on your ticket. Early bird prices are only available until 1st April.

submitted 17 days ago • 2 comments

Advancing Inclusive AI in Women’s Brain Health 🧠✨ We are thrilled to announce a $1.5M award from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to support the Women’s Brain Health Initiative in advancing inclusive AI through multi-modal biomedical datasets.

submitted 25 days ago • 9 comments

New lab paper out now in JEP:G! From Juliana Trach, @mdebettencourt.bsky.social , @angelaradulescu.bsky.social , and myself. "Rewards Transiently and Automatically Enhance Sustained Attention." t.co/r72fZRn3Nh 👇

submitted 35 days ago • 2 comments

New paper with Johanna Jarcho, Isabel Leiva, and Sam Reisman looking at distortions in perceived liking and its relationship with bullying (in adults!). Don’t worry we collected memory data for future analyses! www.jmoodanxdisorders.org/article/S295...

submitted 38 days ago • 2 comments

The RLDM workshop list is now up! Have a look: rldm.org/call-for-wor... More workshop details coming soon :) There were so many wonderful submissions---this was really tough for the committee. Huge thanks to all involved, and looking forward to seeing folks in Dublin

submitted 47 days ago • 2 comments

Some tips for making and keeping New Year's resolutions! @ucriverside.bsky.social news.ucr.edu/articles/202...

submitted 53 days ago • 0 comments

In our recent preprint, we unveil a new role for neural activity in the human dopaminergic system in reward learning - at the single neuron level! 🧠🖥️ #EEG #neuroskyence www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

submitted 98 days ago • 0 comments

How do rewards influence how we select and pursue goals? Our study finds that rewards can create 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐢𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 in goal selection and execution—similar to habits—but without reducing cognitive flexibility. Check out our paper for more! @jocn.bsky.social direct.mit.edu/jocn/article...

submitted 80 days ago • 2 comments

Get your abstract submissions ready for RLDM 2025, at Trinity College in Dublin (abstracts due 1/15). Tutorial submissions close on 12/20. RLDM is a terrific interdisciplinary conference at the intersection of computational theory (AI, ML, robotics), cognitive science, psychology, and neuroscience.

submitted 80 days ago • 1 comment

My paper on hierarchical plans is out in Cognition!🎉 tldr: We ask participants to generate hierarchical plans in a programming game. People prefer to reuse beyond what standard accounts predict, which we formalize as induction of a grammar over actions. authors.elsevier.com/a/1kBQr2Hx2x...

submitted 87 days ago • 1 comment

submitted 95 days ago • 0 comments

Starter pack for researchers studying the control of cognitive processes e.g., attentional control, inhibition, task switching, working memory, error adaptation etc go.bsky.app/12KTqED

submitted 95 days ago • 27 comments

Representational spaces in orbitofrontal and ventromedial prefrontal cortex: task states, values, and beyond www.cell.com/trends/neuro... #neuroscience

submitted 94 days ago • 0 comments

Are you tempted to orthogonalize the regressors in your fMRI model? @jeanette-mumford.bsky.social tells you why this is almost never a good idea, and is likely to wreck the interpretation of your model. mumfordbrainstats.tumblr.com/post/1337933...

submitted 95 days ago • 5 comments

ALSO in this month's @jocn.bsky.social Special Focus: Neural and Computational Mechanisms of Motivation and Decision Making Debbie M. Yee Tyler J. Adkins, Taraz G. Lee Ian C. Ballard, Michael Waskom, Kerry C. Nix, Mark D’Esposito Yue Zhang, Xiamin Leng, Amitai Shenhav

submitted 95 days ago • 0 comments

Check out our Special Focus on motivation and decision-making in JOCN 🚨. Each paper applies computational process modeling to reveal how motivational factors shape the cognitive processes guiding decision-making. @tarazlee.bsky.social @lindazhang.bsky.social

submitted 95 days ago • 0 comments

My paper is out!! 🎉 "Opponent control of reinforcement by striatal dopamine and serotonin", @Nature Here, we show that dopamine and serotonin signals form a gas-brake system for reward in the mammalian brain THREAD ⬇️ 1/n

submitted 95 days ago • 12 comments

Check out our work on the circuitry of WM-action interplay, led by the ever-inspiring Anastasia Kiyonaga! Two distinct TMS protocols to lPFC differentially interfered with proactive vs. reactive control mechanisms between WM and action goals, suggesting multiple timescales of adaptive control in PFC

submitted 163 days ago • 0 comments

Hello #neuroeconomists and decision (neuro)scientists - did I miss you in this starterpack? Just reply to this post or DM if you'd like to be added! go.bsky.app/1K9Suh

submitted 97 days ago • 9 comments

First go at a starter pack for everyone who is interested in Cognitive Control research. go.bsky.app/R28hGhN Let me know if I should add anyone. #neuroskyence

submitted 107 days ago • 13 comments

I want to draw attention to a special issue that Lila Davachi and I put together to memorialize our friend and colleague Sarah DuBrow. It’s full of papers inspired by her work and her being from a group of collaborators, friends, and fans! Thanks @bradpostle.bsky.social for helping make this happen.

submitted 98 days ago • 6 comments

My lab at UCRiverside is once again recruiting grad students - come join us if you're interested in studying memory using EEG and/or fMRI in younger and older adults! You can check out more info on my grad app FAQ: bit.ly/dzmac Lots of my other fab colleagues are also recruiting: bit.ly/ccngrad

submitted 150 days ago • 0 comments

🤖 Meet Our Incredible Speakers! 🧠 We’re thrilled to announce the invited speakers for RLDM 2025: ✨ Iain Couzin ✨ Andreas Krause ✨ Alison Adcock ... and many more (see pictures)! 📅 Don’t miss their insights on Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making 🎟️ Register now: rldm.org/call-for-abs...

submitted 100 days ago • 1 comment

What better first post than an annoucment that my lab is recruiting a PhD student! The deadline for the PhD program in Applied Cognitive and Brain Sciences at Drexel University is 12/1 - join us in fabulous Philadelphia!

submitted 141 days ago • 1 comment

So happy to see this published! Lila and I looked at how memory representations of sequences became integrated over time through their shared predictive cues. We had fun thinking about the different aspects of systems consolidation that may play a role in this transformation

submitted 101 days ago • 3 comments

🚨New preprint 🚨 A computational model of reward learning and habits on social media 🧵 We develop a computational reward learning model of real-world social media data, which infers the separate goal-directed and habitual cognitive processes driving posting...

submitted 107 days ago • 4 comments

The Computational and Cognitive Neural Sciences lab at UC Riverside is recruiting psychology PhD students to join our team! Check out the flyer to learn about the lab and our stellar research community at UCR. Apply by 12/1! @halledz.bsky.social @ilanabennett.bsky.social @ucriverside.bsky.social

submitted 102 days ago • 2 comments

Super excited to share our official ACORN Lab website!! 🍁🧠 appliedcognitionlab.psychology.uconn.edu We are recruiting new team members at the undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels - join us! #Neuroskyence #neuroimaging #PsychSciSky #CogPsyc #ClinPsych #CogDev #devpsy #CogSci

submitted 102 days ago • 2 comments

Fantastic explanation of the anatomy of the human #Hippocampus! Great video and visualizations!👌 #neuroscience #PsychSciSky vimeo.com/323365182

submitted 103 days ago • 12 comments

Come join us at Trinity College Dublin for the 6th Multidisciplinary Conference on Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making (RLDM2025) Abstract deadline January 15: rldm.org/submit

submitted 105 days ago • 1 comment

Why do we sometimes rely on habits, even when they conflict with our goals? In our new preprint, 'A dopaminergic basis of behavioral control,' we explore how dopamine in the striatum influences the trade-off between automatic and goal-directed action. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

submitted 122 days ago • 1 comment

Come join our fantastic research community at UCRiverside! The Computational Cognitive and Neural Sciences lab is recruiting at all levels. Check out our research at www.ballardlab.org

submitted 478 days ago • 0 comments