Cliona O'Doherty
@clionaod.bsky.social
Postdoctoral Researcher in the Cusack Lab at Trinity College Dublin
| Passionate about Neuroscience and AI, infant and machine learning 💡
| Passionate about Neuroscience and AI, infant and machine learning 💡
Reposted by Cliona O'Doherty
Introducing CorText: a framework that fuses brain data directly into a large language model, allowing for interactive neural readout using natural language.
tl;dr: you can now chat with a brain scan 🧠💬
1/n
tl;dr: you can now chat with a brain scan 🧠💬
1/n
November 3, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Introducing CorText: a framework that fuses brain data directly into a large language model, allowing for interactive neural readout using natural language.
tl;dr: you can now chat with a brain scan 🧠💬
1/n
tl;dr: you can now chat with a brain scan 🧠💬
1/n
It's been a great FIT'NG so far 🧠👶🏻 I'm always excited to present the work from the amazing FOUNDCOG team, and chat all things developmental cog comp neuro. Feel free to reach out to me or find me on the last day tomorrow!
Cliona O'Doherty present pioneering work relating awake infant fMRI data to adults and computational models of vision, with strong correspondence at 2 months of age!
September 7, 2025 at 9:53 PM
It's been a great FIT'NG so far 🧠👶🏻 I'm always excited to present the work from the amazing FOUNDCOG team, and chat all things developmental cog comp neuro. Feel free to reach out to me or find me on the last day tomorrow!
Reposted by Cliona O'Doherty
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 Cliona O'Doherty
This was so fun to write! Grateful to ICIS and the Baby Blog for the space to reflect on infant memory
New on the Baby Blog - Episodic-like memory in infancy: Insights from the developing hippocampus by Tristan S. Yates #EarlyYears #DevPsychSky #PsychSciSky #infantstudies infantstudies.org/episodic-lik...
July 18, 2025 at 12:30 PM
This was so fun to write! Grateful to ICIS and the Baby Blog for the space to reflect on infant memory
Reposted by Cliona O'Doherty
My paper with @stellalourenco.bsky.social is now out in Science Advances!
We found that children have robust object recognition abilities that surpass many ANNs. Models only outperformed kids when their training far exceeded what a child could experience in their lifetime
doi.org/10.1126/scia...
We found that children have robust object recognition abilities that surpass many ANNs. Models only outperformed kids when their training far exceeded what a child could experience in their lifetime
doi.org/10.1126/scia...
Fast and robust visual object recognition in young children
The visual recognition abilities of preschool children rival those of state-of-the-art artificial intelligence models.
doi.org
July 2, 2025 at 7:38 PM
My paper with @stellalourenco.bsky.social is now out in Science Advances!
We found that children have robust object recognition abilities that surpass many ANNs. Models only outperformed kids when their training far exceeded what a child could experience in their lifetime
doi.org/10.1126/scia...
We found that children have robust object recognition abilities that surpass many ANNs. Models only outperformed kids when their training far exceeded what a child could experience in their lifetime
doi.org/10.1126/scia...
Reposted by Cliona O'Doherty
Thanks to fellow defenders @clionaod.bsky.social, Marc'Aurelio Ranzato, and @charvetcj.bsky.social
Defending the foundation model view of infant development www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Defending the foundation model view of infant development www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Defending the foundation model view of infant development
www.sciencedirect.com
July 2, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Thanks to fellow defenders @clionaod.bsky.social, Marc'Aurelio Ranzato, and @charvetcj.bsky.social
Defending the foundation model view of infant development www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Defending the foundation model view of infant development www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Excited for CCN this year! The lineup is full of super interesting developmental work👶🏻🧠🤖 Looking forward to presenting my results as a contributed talk as well!
Not just one, but two fantastic chances to discuss how infant development can inform machine learning and vice-versa at CCN 2025 in Amsterdam!!! Satellite workshop sites.google.com/view/child2m...
and Generative Adversarial Collaboration sites.google.com/ccneuro.org/...
and Generative Adversarial Collaboration sites.google.com/ccneuro.org/...
CCN 2025 Satellite Event
Background
The human visual system is full of optimisations—mechanisms designed to extract the most useful information from a constant stream of incoming data. The field of neuro-AI has made significa...
sites.google.com
June 26, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Excited for CCN this year! The lineup is full of super interesting developmental work👶🏻🧠🤖 Looking forward to presenting my results as a contributed talk as well!
Reposted by Cliona O'Doherty
What makes humans similar or different to AI? In a paper out in @natmachintell.nature.com led by @florianmahner.bsky.social & @lukasmut.bsky.social, w/ Umut Güclü, we took a deep look at the factors underlying their representational alignment, with surprising results.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Dimensions underlying the representational alignment of deep neural networks with humans - Nature Machine Intelligence
An interpretability framework that compares how humans and deep neural networks process images has been presented. Their findings reveal that, unlike humans, deep neural networks focus more on visual ...
www.nature.com
June 23, 2025 at 8:03 PM
What makes humans similar or different to AI? In a paper out in @natmachintell.nature.com led by @florianmahner.bsky.social & @lukasmut.bsky.social, w/ Umut Güclü, we took a deep look at the factors underlying their representational alignment, with surprising results.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Reposted by Cliona O'Doherty
There are 2 PhD positions in my lab in Amsterdam (collaboration with Sander Bohte, @tessamdekker.bsky.social and Ingmar Visser) on NeuroAI of developmental vision.
academicpositions.nl/ad/centrum-w...
academicpositions.nl/ad/centrum-w...
2 PHD-STUDENTS IN NEUROAI OF DEVELOPMENTAL VISION (M/F/X) - Academic Positions
Join an interdisciplinary team to research developmental vision in NeuroAI. Requires a strong computational background, deep learning skills, and a Master's ...
academicpositions.nl
May 28, 2025 at 9:29 AM
There are 2 PhD positions in my lab in Amsterdam (collaboration with Sander Bohte, @tessamdekker.bsky.social and Ingmar Visser) on NeuroAI of developmental vision.
academicpositions.nl/ad/centrum-w...
academicpositions.nl/ad/centrum-w...
Thinking about brain development is hard ... but modern computational models can hint towards potential learning mechanisms! Of course, these need to be contextualised within the findings from developmental psychology. Check out the discussion out now in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social
Excited to see our response published www.cell.com/trends/cogni... to Zettersten at al's thoughtful commentary www.cell.com/trends/cogni... on our TiCS perspective "Helpless infants are learning a foundation model" www.cell.com/trends/cogni... @trinityneuro.bsky.social @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social
Defending the foundation model view of infant development
In response to the opinion article by Cusack et al. [1], Zettersten et al. [2] challenge
the proposal that human infants undergo a stage-like development from sensory to goal-directed
actions. Zetters...
www.cell.com
May 27, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Thinking about brain development is hard ... but modern computational models can hint towards potential learning mechanisms! Of course, these need to be contextualised within the findings from developmental psychology. Check out the discussion out now in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social
Reposted by Cliona O'Doherty
Please help: Do you know a baby, less than 12 months old, who can walk? We are trying to complete a project, 7 years in the works. And all we need are 3 infants who are less than a year old and can walk, to do a short online looking-time study.
🆘
🆘
May 15, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Please help: Do you know a baby, less than 12 months old, who can walk? We are trying to complete a project, 7 years in the works. And all we need are 3 infants who are less than a year old and can walk, to do a short online looking-time study.
🆘
🆘
Reposted by Cliona O'Doherty
Fascinating talk by @rhodricusack.bsky.social showing his & @clionaod.bsky.social’s work on 2 and 9-month olds with 130 (!) infants & 20 min (!) data showing a largely similar representation of medial ventral vision but a largely absent response in LO, dovetailing with myelin development. #CAOS2025
May 8, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Fascinating talk by @rhodricusack.bsky.social showing his & @clionaod.bsky.social’s work on 2 and 9-month olds with 130 (!) infants & 20 min (!) data showing a largely similar representation of medial ventral vision but a largely absent response in LO, dovetailing with myelin development. #CAOS2025
Reposted by Cliona O'Doherty
"How infants learn and explore: From behavior to computations" 👶⚙️
This review outlines my take on early development, mostly driven by frustration that infancy research focuses on what infants can do, not how.
Still a Preprint! Missing-literature suggestions welcome :)
osf.io/preprints/ps...
This review outlines my take on early development, mostly driven by frustration that infancy research focuses on what infants can do, not how.
Still a Preprint! Missing-literature suggestions welcome :)
osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
April 29, 2025 at 3:52 PM
"How infants learn and explore: From behavior to computations" 👶⚙️
This review outlines my take on early development, mostly driven by frustration that infancy research focuses on what infants can do, not how.
Still a Preprint! Missing-literature suggestions welcome :)
osf.io/preprints/ps...
This review outlines my take on early development, mostly driven by frustration that infancy research focuses on what infants can do, not how.
Still a Preprint! Missing-literature suggestions welcome :)
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Cliona O'Doherty
Why do we not remember being a baby? One idea is that the hippocampus, which is essential for episodic memory in adults, is too immature to form individual memories in infancy. We tested this using awake infant fMRI, new in @science.org #ScienceResearch www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Hippocampal encoding of memories in human infants
Humans lack memories for specific events from the first few years of life. We investigated the mechanistic basis of this infantile amnesia by scanning the brains of awake infants with functional magne...
www.science.org
March 20, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Why do we not remember being a baby? One idea is that the hippocampus, which is essential for episodic memory in adults, is too immature to form individual memories in infancy. We tested this using awake infant fMRI, new in @science.org #ScienceResearch www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Cliona O'Doherty
A brave (and patient) group of neuroscientists have figured out how to do task-based fMRI in babies and toddlers. They aim to uncover how the infant mind takes shape—and the method has already provided new insight into infantile amnesia. My latest www.thetransmitter.org/cognitive-ne... #neuroskyence
What infant fMRI is revealing about the developing mind
Cognitive neuroscientists have finally clocked how to perform task-based fMRI experiments in awake babies. Now they want watch cognition take shape.
www.thetransmitter.org
March 20, 2025 at 6:55 PM
A brave (and patient) group of neuroscientists have figured out how to do task-based fMRI in babies and toddlers. They aim to uncover how the infant mind takes shape—and the method has already provided new insight into infantile amnesia. My latest www.thetransmitter.org/cognitive-ne... #neuroskyence
Reposted by Cliona O'Doherty
The Saxe Lab @ MIT is hiring! We seek one lab manager to start in summer 2025. Research in our lab focuses on social cognition (learn more on saxelab.mit.edu).
Please apply at: tinyurl.com/saxe2025 (Job ID 31993).
Review of applications starts on March 24, 2025.
Sharing appreciated. Thank you!
Please apply at: tinyurl.com/saxe2025 (Job ID 31993).
Review of applications starts on March 24, 2025.
Sharing appreciated. Thank you!
Saxelab Social Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory at MIT |
saxelab.mit.edu
March 3, 2025 at 6:32 PM
The Saxe Lab @ MIT is hiring! We seek one lab manager to start in summer 2025. Research in our lab focuses on social cognition (learn more on saxelab.mit.edu).
Please apply at: tinyurl.com/saxe2025 (Job ID 31993).
Review of applications starts on March 24, 2025.
Sharing appreciated. Thank you!
Please apply at: tinyurl.com/saxe2025 (Job ID 31993).
Review of applications starts on March 24, 2025.
Sharing appreciated. Thank you!
Reposted by Cliona O'Doherty
JOB ALERT: Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Postdoc position in Osaka, Japan! Plus PhD positions for April 2026. PLEASE REPOST! #postdocjobs #neuroskyence #neuroscience #psychscisky #compneurosky
We had to re-start the process after our preferred candidate withdrew. Info 👇.
We had to re-start the process after our preferred candidate withdrew. Info 👇.
PLEASE SHARE: apply to my postdoc in Osaka. Comp cogneuro of learning, control, & concept representation. fMRI, cognitive models & deep nets.
Initial deadline Oct 18. The deadline will be extended once so don't worry if u need more time.
#neuroskyence #psychscisky #compneurosky
Initial deadline Oct 18. The deadline will be extended once so don't worry if u need more time.
#neuroskyence #psychscisky #compneurosky
POSTDOC position: cognitive and/or computational neuroscientist to study how learning of new concepts and categories leads to long-term semantic concepts using multi-session fMRI & comp modelling (hippocampal-cortical interactions). Listing 2024R-148: www.nict.go.jp/en/employmen.... 3/
January 23, 2025 at 11:39 AM
JOB ALERT: Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Postdoc position in Osaka, Japan! Plus PhD positions for April 2026. PLEASE REPOST! #postdocjobs #neuroskyence #neuroscience #psychscisky #compneurosky
We had to re-start the process after our preferred candidate withdrew. Info 👇.
We had to re-start the process after our preferred candidate withdrew. Info 👇.
Reposted by Cliona O'Doherty
If you are a member of the FIT'NG society then please consider voting for me! To vote, check for the email, and here is a link describing the candidates... fitng.org/elections/ I can't believe this is my first ever election!! @fitngin.bsky.social
Elections | fitng.org
fitng.org
December 10, 2024 at 9:02 PM
If you are a member of the FIT'NG society then please consider voting for me! To vote, check for the email, and here is a link describing the candidates... fitng.org/elections/ I can't believe this is my first ever election!! @fitngin.bsky.social
Reposted by Cliona O'Doherty
🥁 FIT'NG is thrilled to announce our 2025 destination is 🌎 Dublin, Ireland.
Join us next fall September 7 - 8, 2025!
🌐 Learn more about this beautiful and historic city by visiting: fitng.org/destination/
#FITNG2025 #RSNA2024 #BrainDevelopment
Join us next fall September 7 - 8, 2025!
🌐 Learn more about this beautiful and historic city by visiting: fitng.org/destination/
#FITNG2025 #RSNA2024 #BrainDevelopment
December 3, 2024 at 9:04 PM
🥁 FIT'NG is thrilled to announce our 2025 destination is 🌎 Dublin, Ireland.
Join us next fall September 7 - 8, 2025!
🌐 Learn more about this beautiful and historic city by visiting: fitng.org/destination/
#FITNG2025 #RSNA2024 #BrainDevelopment
Join us next fall September 7 - 8, 2025!
🌐 Learn more about this beautiful and historic city by visiting: fitng.org/destination/
#FITNG2025 #RSNA2024 #BrainDevelopment
It's been so rewarding discussing our results throughout the year, and I can't wait for the community to continue to hear what we have been working on! 👶🏻🧠👩🏻💻 @rhodricusack.bsky.social
We were dazzled by @clionaod.bsky.social's talk. Sitting at the apex of AI, neuroimaging, and developmental research, this research is not to be missed. Invite her to give this talk; you won't regret it!
December 4, 2024 at 11:23 AM
It's been so rewarding discussing our results throughout the year, and I can't wait for the community to continue to hear what we have been working on! 👶🏻🧠👩🏻💻 @rhodricusack.bsky.social
Reposted by Cliona O'Doherty
What if you are a student interested in NeuroAI and are looking for resources to learn more? We provide a list of resources with the paper! If you know other great resources, please open a pull request or DM me! We hope this to become a ‘living document’!
github.com/8erberg/Neur...
github.com/8erberg/Neur...
GitHub - 8erberg/NeuroAI_Trainee_Resources
Contribute to 8erberg/NeuroAI_Trainee_Resources development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
November 8, 2024 at 8:32 AM
What if you are a student interested in NeuroAI and are looking for resources to learn more? We provide a list of resources with the paper! If you know other great resources, please open a pull request or DM me! We hope this to become a ‘living document’!
github.com/8erberg/Neur...
github.com/8erberg/Neur...
It's done! 👩🏻🎓 I'm so happy to share that last Friday I successfully defended my PhD. After a crazy four years of ambitious awake infant neuroimaging, NeuroAI and everything in between ... somehow, I'm even more excited now to see where this research takes me next 💡 #PhDone
November 4, 2024 at 1:14 PM
It's done! 👩🏻🎓 I'm so happy to share that last Friday I successfully defended my PhD. After a crazy four years of ambitious awake infant neuroimaging, NeuroAI and everything in between ... somehow, I'm even more excited now to see where this research takes me next 💡 #PhDone
Reposted by Cliona O'Doherty
A great new piece on infant neuroscience, from two of the best: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
April 6, 2024 at 5:10 PM
A great new piece on infant neuroscience, from two of the best: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...