Ali Shiravand
@alishiravand.bsky.social
Doctoral student & Normalien in cognitive neuroscience at ENS Paris-PSL University, Human Reinforcement Learning Team | Interested in photography & decision-making
Pinned
🧠Our new preprint is out on PsyArXiv!
We study how getting more feedback (seeing what you could have earned) and facing gains vs losses change the way people choose between risky and safe options.
🖇️Link: doi.org/10.31234/osf...
It's a thread🧶:
We study how getting more feedback (seeing what you could have earned) and facing gains vs losses change the way people choose between risky and safe options.
🖇️Link: doi.org/10.31234/osf...
It's a thread🧶:
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
New pontification piece with @awestbrook.bsky.social and Jean Daunizeau, just out in TICS:
Why is cognitive effort experienced as costly?
(or why does it hurt to think)
never written a review paper before in my life, that was a new and unusual experience
Why is cognitive effort experienced as costly?
(or why does it hurt to think)
never written a review paper before in my life, that was a new and unusual experience
Why is cognitive effort experienced as costly?
A widespread observation is that people avoid mentally effortful courses of action,
and much recent work examining cognitive effort has explained subjective effort evaluation
– and, consequently, pref...
www.cell.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:48 PM
New pontification piece with @awestbrook.bsky.social and Jean Daunizeau, just out in TICS:
Why is cognitive effort experienced as costly?
(or why does it hurt to think)
never written a review paper before in my life, that was a new and unusual experience
Why is cognitive effort experienced as costly?
(or why does it hurt to think)
never written a review paper before in my life, that was a new and unusual experience
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
Our latest preprint where we show (among other things!) that the main effect of complete feedback information is increase risk (not performance) in experience-based show. We also show that the description experience gap is not due to sampling issue
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
November 18, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Our latest preprint where we show (among other things!) that the main effect of complete feedback information is increase risk (not performance) in experience-based show. We also show that the description experience gap is not due to sampling issue
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
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
🧠Our new preprint is out on PsyArXiv!
We study how getting more feedback (seeing what you could have earned) and facing gains vs losses change the way people choose between risky and safe options.
🖇️Link: doi.org/10.31234/osf...
It's a thread🧶:
We study how getting more feedback (seeing what you could have earned) and facing gains vs losses change the way people choose between risky and safe options.
🖇️Link: doi.org/10.31234/osf...
It's a thread🧶:
November 16, 2025 at 12:09 PM
🧠Our new preprint is out on PsyArXiv!
We study how getting more feedback (seeing what you could have earned) and facing gains vs losses change the way people choose between risky and safe options.
🖇️Link: doi.org/10.31234/osf...
It's a thread🧶:
We study how getting more feedback (seeing what you could have earned) and facing gains vs losses change the way people choose between risky and safe options.
🖇️Link: doi.org/10.31234/osf...
It's a thread🧶:
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
The winner’s curse — Behavioral economics anomalies, then and now.
The presentation of Richard Thaler's (Chicago Booth) latest book, followed by a roundtable discussion, organized by the "An integrated approach of economic decisions" project.
www.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/en/events/th...
The presentation of Richard Thaler's (Chicago Booth) latest book, followed by a roundtable discussion, organized by the "An integrated approach of economic decisions" project.
www.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/en/events/th...
www.parisschoolofeconomics.eu
November 13, 2025 at 8:13 PM
The winner’s curse — Behavioral economics anomalies, then and now.
The presentation of Richard Thaler's (Chicago Booth) latest book, followed by a roundtable discussion, organized by the "An integrated approach of economic decisions" project.
www.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/en/events/th...
The presentation of Richard Thaler's (Chicago Booth) latest book, followed by a roundtable discussion, organized by the "An integrated approach of economic decisions" project.
www.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/en/events/th...
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
🚨 Inviting collaborators! 🚨
We’re launching PsychLing-101 — an open, community-driven initiative to gather psycholinguistic datasets for cross-dataset analyses and the development of psycholinguistic foundation models.
👉 To contribute or propose a dataset, go to:
🔗 github.com/Data-X01/Psy...
We’re launching PsychLing-101 — an open, community-driven initiative to gather psycholinguistic datasets for cross-dataset analyses and the development of psycholinguistic foundation models.
👉 To contribute or propose a dataset, go to:
🔗 github.com/Data-X01/Psy...
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
lnkd.in
November 12, 2025 at 9:10 AM
🚨 Inviting collaborators! 🚨
We’re launching PsychLing-101 — an open, community-driven initiative to gather psycholinguistic datasets for cross-dataset analyses and the development of psycholinguistic foundation models.
👉 To contribute or propose a dataset, go to:
🔗 github.com/Data-X01/Psy...
We’re launching PsychLing-101 — an open, community-driven initiative to gather psycholinguistic datasets for cross-dataset analyses and the development of psycholinguistic foundation models.
👉 To contribute or propose a dataset, go to:
🔗 github.com/Data-X01/Psy...
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
Just 1 week to apply! 4 year @erc.europa.eu funded PhD position working in an interdisciplinary team to study #culturalEvolution as a process of reuse, recombination, and creative re-engineering of past solutions. Details 👉 hmc-lab.com/ERCPhDCultur... 🙏Please share!
November 5, 2025 at 10:24 AM
Just 1 week to apply! 4 year @erc.europa.eu funded PhD position working in an interdisciplinary team to study #culturalEvolution as a process of reuse, recombination, and creative re-engineering of past solutions. Details 👉 hmc-lab.com/ERCPhDCultur... 🙏Please share!
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
🚨 New preprint - Advancing Cognitive Science with LLMs
Excited to share this new preprint together with Rui Mata. We review how 🤖 LLMs can help address long-standing problems in cognitive science, highlighting opportunities and pitfalls.
🔗 Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2511.00206
Excited to share this new preprint together with Rui Mata. We review how 🤖 LLMs can help address long-standing problems in cognitive science, highlighting opportunities and pitfalls.
🔗 Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2511.00206
November 4, 2025 at 10:19 AM
🚨 New preprint - Advancing Cognitive Science with LLMs
Excited to share this new preprint together with Rui Mata. We review how 🤖 LLMs can help address long-standing problems in cognitive science, highlighting opportunities and pitfalls.
🔗 Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2511.00206
Excited to share this new preprint together with Rui Mata. We review how 🤖 LLMs can help address long-standing problems in cognitive science, highlighting opportunities and pitfalls.
🔗 Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2511.00206
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
🚨 New preprint 🚨
Are reinforcement learning models complete accounts of decisions from experience if they ignore explicit memory?
In this new preprint, we show that people indeed form robust explicit memory representations that flexibly guide later decisions.
🔗 Preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Are reinforcement learning models complete accounts of decisions from experience if they ignore explicit memory?
In this new preprint, we show that people indeed form robust explicit memory representations that flexibly guide later decisions.
🔗 Preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
October 29, 2025 at 8:24 AM
🚨 New preprint 🚨
Are reinforcement learning models complete accounts of decisions from experience if they ignore explicit memory?
In this new preprint, we show that people indeed form robust explicit memory representations that flexibly guide later decisions.
🔗 Preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Are reinforcement learning models complete accounts of decisions from experience if they ignore explicit memory?
In this new preprint, we show that people indeed form robust explicit memory representations that flexibly guide later decisions.
🔗 Preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
🚨 New publication: How to improve conceptual clarity in psychological science?
Thrilled to see this article with @ruimata.bsky.social out. We discuss how LLMs can be leveraged to map, clarify, and generate psychological measures and constructs.
Open access article: doi.org/10.1177/0963...
Thrilled to see this article with @ruimata.bsky.social out. We discuss how LLMs can be leveraged to map, clarify, and generate psychological measures and constructs.
Open access article: doi.org/10.1177/0963...
October 23, 2025 at 7:27 AM
🚨 New publication: How to improve conceptual clarity in psychological science?
Thrilled to see this article with @ruimata.bsky.social out. We discuss how LLMs can be leveraged to map, clarify, and generate psychological measures and constructs.
Open access article: doi.org/10.1177/0963...
Thrilled to see this article with @ruimata.bsky.social out. We discuss how LLMs can be leveraged to map, clarify, and generate psychological measures and constructs.
Open access article: doi.org/10.1177/0963...
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
Looking for a PhD? Interested in cognitive computational neuroscience, motivation and decision-making? See our project listed in the BBSRC MIBTP competition for funding for a 4-year PhD in the @msnlab.bsky.social in the @thechbh.bsky.social. Deadline 27/11. More info: tinyurl.com/5d5vz8m7
The computational and neural dynamics of human motivation and cognitive control at University of Birmingham on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - The computational and neural dynamics of human motivation and cognitive control at University of Birmingham, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
October 23, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Looking for a PhD? Interested in cognitive computational neuroscience, motivation and decision-making? See our project listed in the BBSRC MIBTP competition for funding for a 4-year PhD in the @msnlab.bsky.social in the @thechbh.bsky.social. Deadline 27/11. More info: tinyurl.com/5d5vz8m7
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
Fully-funded 4-year #PhD in Cultural Evolution! Join my @erc.europa.eu project exploring how compression & compositionality drive cultural innovation: hmc-lab.com/ERCPhDCultur...
Apply by Nov 12!
Maybe of interest to folks from #COSMOS2025 or @eslr.bsky.social? Please feel free to share! 🙏
Apply by Nov 12!
Maybe of interest to folks from #COSMOS2025 or @eslr.bsky.social? Please feel free to share! 🙏
ERC funded PhD position on Cultural Evolution
ERC funded PhD position on Cultural Evolution
posted on October 16, 2025
We are currently seeking a highly motivated individual for a ful...
hmc-lab.com
October 20, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Fully-funded 4-year #PhD in Cultural Evolution! Join my @erc.europa.eu project exploring how compression & compositionality drive cultural innovation: hmc-lab.com/ERCPhDCultur...
Apply by Nov 12!
Maybe of interest to folks from #COSMOS2025 or @eslr.bsky.social? Please feel free to share! 🙏
Apply by Nov 12!
Maybe of interest to folks from #COSMOS2025 or @eslr.bsky.social? Please feel free to share! 🙏
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
🚨 New preprint: What does the research landscape of behavioral reinforcement learning look like 🌍?
We developed an LLM-powered bibliometric analysis to characterize article clusters, investigate their connections, and examine the distribution of topics across the landscape.
osf.io/6c2va_v1
We developed an LLM-powered bibliometric analysis to characterize article clusters, investigate their connections, and examine the distribution of topics across the landscape.
osf.io/6c2va_v1
OSF
osf.io
October 17, 2025 at 7:25 AM
🚨 New preprint: What does the research landscape of behavioral reinforcement learning look like 🌍?
We developed an LLM-powered bibliometric analysis to characterize article clusters, investigate their connections, and examine the distribution of topics across the landscape.
osf.io/6c2va_v1
We developed an LLM-powered bibliometric analysis to characterize article clusters, investigate their connections, and examine the distribution of topics across the landscape.
osf.io/6c2va_v1
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
Check out @bcdavidson.bsky.social's preprint (w/ @georgiaturner.bsky.social @orbenamy.bsky.social @livia-tomova.bsky.social and co.) about the (computational) consequences of social isolation in social media use during covid!
🚨 New Preprint 🚨
Prolonged Isolation is associated with an increased behavioural sensitivity to ‘Likes’ on social media.
🧵
Social media rewards are inherently social—but does posting change during social isolation, when in-person social rewards are limited?
It turns out, yes!
Prolonged Isolation is associated with an increased behavioural sensitivity to ‘Likes’ on social media.
🧵
Social media rewards are inherently social—but does posting change during social isolation, when in-person social rewards are limited?
It turns out, yes!
September 16, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Check out @bcdavidson.bsky.social's preprint (w/ @georgiaturner.bsky.social @orbenamy.bsky.social @livia-tomova.bsky.social and co.) about the (computational) consequences of social isolation in social media use during covid!
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
New paper our in @pnas.org, lead by @isabellehoxha.bsky.social with Léo Sperber. We use evolutionary simulation to assess and compare the adaptive value of positivity bias and gradual perseveration in reinforcement learning. Follow the thread below (and Isabelle!) for more details!
Ever wondered why you keep going to that restaurant with stale fries? Is it because you went often in the past (perseveration) or because you remember past good experiences better (positivity bias)? Our study out in PNAS investigates the normative basis for these biases www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Evolving choice hysteresis in reinforcement learning: Comparing the adaptive value of positivity bias and gradual perseveration | PNAS
The tendency to repeat past choices more often than expected from the history of outcomes
has been repeatedly empirically observed in reinforcement...
www.pnas.org
September 3, 2025 at 9:17 AM
New paper our in @pnas.org, lead by @isabellehoxha.bsky.social with Léo Sperber. We use evolutionary simulation to assess and compare the adaptive value of positivity bias and gradual perseveration in reinforcement learning. Follow the thread below (and Isabelle!) for more details!
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
Ever wondered why you keep going to that restaurant with stale fries? Is it because you went often in the past (perseveration) or because you remember past good experiences better (positivity bias)? Our study out in PNAS investigates the normative basis for these biases www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Evolving choice hysteresis in reinforcement learning: Comparing the adaptive value of positivity bias and gradual perseveration | PNAS
The tendency to repeat past choices more often than expected from the history of outcomes
has been repeatedly empirically observed in reinforcement...
www.pnas.org
September 3, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Ever wondered why you keep going to that restaurant with stale fries? Is it because you went often in the past (perseveration) or because you remember past good experiences better (positivity bias)? Our study out in PNAS investigates the normative basis for these biases www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
I'm feeling very glad & grateful these days to be part of neuroeconomics summer school in Fontainebleau! 👾
August 12, 2025 at 8:06 PM
I'm feeling very glad & grateful these days to be part of neuroeconomics summer school in Fontainebleau! 👾
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
Hi, we will have three NeuroAI postdoc openings (3 years each, fully funded) to work with Sebastian Musslick (@musslick.bsky.social), Pascal Nieters and myself on task-switching, replay, and visual information routing.
Reach out if you are interested in any of the above, I'll be at CCN next week!
Reach out if you are interested in any of the above, I'll be at CCN next week!
August 9, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Hi, we will have three NeuroAI postdoc openings (3 years each, fully funded) to work with Sebastian Musslick (@musslick.bsky.social), Pascal Nieters and myself on task-switching, replay, and visual information routing.
Reach out if you are interested in any of the above, I'll be at CCN next week!
Reach out if you are interested in any of the above, I'll be at CCN next week!
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
Excited about #CCN2025 and sharing our research in @cmc-lab.bsky.social!
We are heading to #CCN2025 in Amsterdam with 3 awesome posters! Thread below 👇
B71, Wed, 1pm-4pm: 2025.ccneuro.org/poster/?id=8...
B90, Wed, 1pm-4pm: 2025.ccneuro.org/poster/?id=o...
C169, Fri, 2pm-5pm: 2025.ccneuro.org/poster/?id=l...
B71, Wed, 1pm-4pm: 2025.ccneuro.org/poster/?id=8...
B90, Wed, 1pm-4pm: 2025.ccneuro.org/poster/?id=o...
C169, Fri, 2pm-5pm: 2025.ccneuro.org/poster/?id=l...
Poster Presentation
2025.ccneuro.org
August 9, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Excited about #CCN2025 and sharing our research in @cmc-lab.bsky.social!
I've recently come across Ariel Rubinstein's argument that models are stories, mathematical ones, but stories nonetheless. Economic models should be viewed like fairytales: they illustrate specific ideas within narrowly defined settings but shouldn’t be assumed to offer \
August 1, 2025 at 12:09 PM
I've recently come across Ariel Rubinstein's argument that models are stories, mathematical ones, but stories nonetheless. Economic models should be viewed like fairytales: they illustrate specific ideas within narrowly defined settings but shouldn’t be assumed to offer \
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
Using a gamified punishment task, this study identifies specific learning and decision-making deficits that drive robust, consequential differences in choice within an international population sample across a 6-month interval.
@philjrdb.bsky.social @gavan.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
@philjrdb.bsky.social @gavan.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Causal inference and cognitive-behavioral integration deficits drive stable variation in human punishment sensitivity - Communications Psychology
Using a gamified punishment task, this study identifies specific learning and decision-making deficits that drive robust, consequential differences in choice within an international, general populatio...
www.nature.com
July 10, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Using a gamified punishment task, this study identifies specific learning and decision-making deficits that drive robust, consequential differences in choice within an international population sample across a 6-month interval.
@philjrdb.bsky.social @gavan.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
@philjrdb.bsky.social @gavan.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
I recently took part in an amazing experience at the “Solve for Healthcare & Life Sciences with Gemma” hackathon, organized by Google Paris!
Our team worked on triage in emergency rooms, improving communication, prioritization and decision-making in critical circumstances.
Our team worked on triage in emergency rooms, improving communication, prioritization and decision-making in critical circumstances.
July 8, 2025 at 1:01 PM
I recently took part in an amazing experience at the “Solve for Healthcare & Life Sciences with Gemma” hackathon, organized by Google Paris!
Our team worked on triage in emergency rooms, improving communication, prioritization and decision-making in critical circumstances.
Our team worked on triage in emergency rooms, improving communication, prioritization and decision-making in critical circumstances.
Reposted by Ali Shiravand
🚨 New preprint 🚨
Experimental Evidence for the Propagation and Preservation of Machine Discoveries in Human Populations
arxiv.org/abs/2506.17741
with team members @levinbrinkmann.bsky.social @thomasfmueller.bsky.social Ann-Marie Nussberger, @maximederex.bsky.social, Sara Bonati, Valerii Chirkov
Experimental Evidence for the Propagation and Preservation of Machine Discoveries in Human Populations
arxiv.org/abs/2506.17741
with team members @levinbrinkmann.bsky.social @thomasfmueller.bsky.social Ann-Marie Nussberger, @maximederex.bsky.social, Sara Bonati, Valerii Chirkov
June 27, 2025 at 10:33 AM
🚨 New preprint 🚨
Experimental Evidence for the Propagation and Preservation of Machine Discoveries in Human Populations
arxiv.org/abs/2506.17741
with team members @levinbrinkmann.bsky.social @thomasfmueller.bsky.social Ann-Marie Nussberger, @maximederex.bsky.social, Sara Bonati, Valerii Chirkov
Experimental Evidence for the Propagation and Preservation of Machine Discoveries in Human Populations
arxiv.org/abs/2506.17741
with team members @levinbrinkmann.bsky.social @thomasfmueller.bsky.social Ann-Marie Nussberger, @maximederex.bsky.social, Sara Bonati, Valerii Chirkov