hakwan lau
@hakwan.bsky.social
neuroscientist in Korea (co-director of IBS-CNIR) interested in how neuroimaging (e.g. fMRI or widefield optical imaging) can facilitate closed-loop causal interventions (e.g. neurofeedback, patterned stimulations). https://tinyurl.com/hakwan
Pinned
hakwan lau
@hakwan.bsky.social
· Dec 10
OSF
osf.io
are better-performing face recognition models more human-like? turns out: NO
in terms of how we see/treat different faces as similar/different to each other, there seems to be tradeoff: better models are LESS human-like
so they already work in some 'alien' ways...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
🧠📈🧠🤖🧠💻
in terms of how we see/treat different faces as similar/different to each other, there seems to be tradeoff: better models are LESS human-like
so they already work in some 'alien' ways...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
🧠📈🧠🤖🧠💻
i think so too, but i'm not sure
Everybody knows Metacognition is the most boring subject in Cognitive Psychology, famously the most boring subject in Psychology
January 25, 2026 at 9:03 AM
i think so too, but i'm not sure
this debate is about whether 99% of the so called science of consciousness is basically superfluous nonsense
Is Signal Strength a Confound in Consciousness Research?
today's blog post, critiquing @matthiasmichel.bsky.social and @hakwan.bsky.social -- link in comments
today's blog post, critiquing @matthiasmichel.bsky.social and @hakwan.bsky.social -- link in comments
January 23, 2026 at 9:34 PM
this debate is about whether 99% of the so called science of consciousness is basically superfluous nonsense
Reposted by hakwan lau
Reposted by hakwan lau
When a brain researcher solved a logistical problem by going rogue, the idea proved remarkably infectious.
By @lyrebard.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/brain-imagin...
By @lyrebard.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/brain-imagin...
A brief history of precision self-scanning
When a researcher solved a logistical problem by going rogue, the idea proved remarkably infectious.
www.thetransmitter.org
January 21, 2026 at 3:37 PM
When a brain researcher solved a logistical problem by going rogue, the idea proved remarkably infectious.
By @lyrebard.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/brain-imagin...
By @lyrebard.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/brain-imagin...
Reposted by hakwan lau
Brain/MINDS Marmoset Brain Atlas 2.0: Population Cortical Parcellation With Multi-Modal Templates | Scientific Data www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Brain/MINDS Marmoset Brain Atlas 2.0: Population Cortical Parcellation With Multi-Modal Templates - Scientific Data
Scientific Data - Brain/MINDS Marmoset Brain Atlas 2.0: Population Cortical Parcellation With Multi-Modal Templates
www.nature.com
January 21, 2026 at 11:50 PM
Brain/MINDS Marmoset Brain Atlas 2.0: Population Cortical Parcellation With Multi-Modal Templates | Scientific Data www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by hakwan lau
The connection between viral infection and other apparently unrelated diseases — HPV ➡️ cervical cancer; Epstein-Barr Virus (mono) ➡️ multiple sclerosis (MS); and increasingly looking like herpes zoster (shingles) ➡️ dementia — is probably the most paradigm-shifting medical discovery of my lifetime. 🧪
The Shingles vaccine and reduction of dementia: a new natural experiment from Canada replicated 3 others and adds to this week's link to slowing of biological aging.
erictopol.substack.com/p/spotlight-...
erictopol.substack.com/p/spotlight-...
Spotlight on the Shingles Vaccine—Again!
Two new studies add to a remarkable body of evidence for benefit
erictopol.substack.com
January 22, 2026 at 12:43 AM
The connection between viral infection and other apparently unrelated diseases — HPV ➡️ cervical cancer; Epstein-Barr Virus (mono) ➡️ multiple sclerosis (MS); and increasingly looking like herpes zoster (shingles) ➡️ dementia — is probably the most paradigm-shifting medical discovery of my lifetime. 🧪
which means that hype-driven popularizers will gain further influence & power.
Many respondents expect that drops in public funding will drive interactions with industry; researchers will have to seek out industry partnerships, spin out startups or collaborate with companies to sustain their work.
#neuroskyence #StateOfNeuroscience
www.thetransmitter.org/neuroscience...
#neuroskyence #StateOfNeuroscience
www.thetransmitter.org/neuroscience...
Survey: What should neuroscience prioritize over the next 10 years?
Respondents pointed to a range of challenges in basic neuroscience and called for more circuit-level research and more precise brain recordings.
www.thetransmitter.org
January 21, 2026 at 8:43 AM
which means that hype-driven popularizers will gain further influence & power.
Reposted by hakwan lau
"Artificial-intelligence systems are feeding on Wikipedia without giving back, and academic indifference is threatening the survival of what is arguably the most widely used reference work on the planet." www.nature.com/articles/d41... Check out the WikiJournal of Science, created to address this.
January 19, 2026 at 9:26 PM
"Artificial-intelligence systems are feeding on Wikipedia without giving back, and academic indifference is threatening the survival of what is arguably the most widely used reference work on the planet." www.nature.com/articles/d41... Check out the WikiJournal of Science, created to address this.
Reposted by hakwan lau
Here’s @jsresearchpro.bsky.social reporting on ridiculous new ARC grant time-scales (e.g. 16 months for DPs).
The ARC “did not respond to questions about the reasons for the length of the delays or on how the changes will affect researchers’ planning”.
I reckon they haven’t thought that far ahead.
The ARC “did not respond to questions about the reasons for the length of the delays or on how the changes will affect researchers’ planning”.
I reckon they haven’t thought that far ahead.
New ARC grant timescales ‘completely unworkable’ - Research Professional News
Australian Research Council cites security checks as reason for major delays to grant outcomes
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
January 20, 2026 at 2:05 AM
Here’s @jsresearchpro.bsky.social reporting on ridiculous new ARC grant time-scales (e.g. 16 months for DPs).
The ARC “did not respond to questions about the reasons for the length of the delays or on how the changes will affect researchers’ planning”.
I reckon they haven’t thought that far ahead.
The ARC “did not respond to questions about the reasons for the length of the delays or on how the changes will affect researchers’ planning”.
I reckon they haven’t thought that far ahead.
Reposted by hakwan lau
Thanks to The Transmitter for reaching out to me for comments on this methodological challenge to lesion network mapping. Scientific debate is critical to methodological advancement - so let the debate begin!
www.thetransmitter.org/brain-imagin...
www.thetransmitter.org/brain-imagin...
Methodological flaw may upend network mapping tool
The lesion network mapping method, used to identify disease-specific brain networks for clinical stimulation, produces a nearly identical network map for any given condition, according to a new study.
www.thetransmitter.org
January 18, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Thanks to The Transmitter for reaching out to me for comments on this methodological challenge to lesion network mapping. Scientific debate is critical to methodological advancement - so let the debate begin!
www.thetransmitter.org/brain-imagin...
www.thetransmitter.org/brain-imagin...
Reposted by hakwan lau
New paper coming out in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research: "Consciousness doesn't do that". I explain why I believe that animal sentience research is in large part built on sand. In my opinion, we should be skeptical of many of the claims made in this field. philpapers.org/rec/MICCDD
Matthias Michel, Consciousness doesn't do that - PhilPapers
The question of which mental functions require consciousness has recently come to the forefront because of its relevance for investigating animal consciousness. Finding out that an animal can perform ...
philpapers.org
January 14, 2026 at 6:05 PM
New paper coming out in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research: "Consciousness doesn't do that". I explain why I believe that animal sentience research is in large part built on sand. In my opinion, we should be skeptical of many of the claims made in this field. philpapers.org/rec/MICCDD
Reposted by hakwan lau
Time Cells in the Human Brain Support Working Memory Maintenance
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Time Cells in the Human Brain Support Working Memory Maintenance
Working memory (WM), the active retention of information over short periods, is a fundamental cognitive function, yet its underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. In rodents, cue-selective "time c...
www.biorxiv.org
January 14, 2026 at 8:54 PM
Time Cells in the Human Brain Support Working Memory Maintenance
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by hakwan lau
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Hua Xie, Seok-Jun Hong, et al:
Local-global functional gradients of the thalamus capturing different aspects of thalamic structure and function
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
Local-global functional gradients of the thalamus capturing different aspects of thalamic structure and function
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
January 14, 2026 at 9:13 PM
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Hua Xie, Seok-Jun Hong, et al:
Local-global functional gradients of the thalamus capturing different aspects of thalamic structure and function
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
Local-global functional gradients of the thalamus capturing different aspects of thalamic structure and function
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
Reposted by hakwan lau
We're already in the phase that each of us (Iranians) by now know someone killed/injured in our circle of friends/family. And this is despite the continued internet blackout, when millions haven't still managed to hear from their family/friends since Thursday, January 8th. This tells a lot ... 😥😥
January 14, 2026 at 9:18 PM
We're already in the phase that each of us (Iranians) by now know someone killed/injured in our circle of friends/family. And this is despite the continued internet blackout, when millions haven't still managed to hear from their family/friends since Thursday, January 8th. This tells a lot ... 😥😥
Reposted by hakwan lau
“A unifying account of replay as context-driven memory reactivation” doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
Been waiting for this one for a while! Congrats @annaschapiro.bsky.social @neurozz.bsky.social
Been waiting for this one for a while! Congrats @annaschapiro.bsky.social @neurozz.bsky.social
A unifying account of replay as context-driven memory reactivation
A context-driven memory model simulates a wide range of characteristics of waking and sleeping hippocampal replay, providing a new account of how and why replay occurs.
doi.org
January 14, 2026 at 11:28 PM
“A unifying account of replay as context-driven memory reactivation” doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
Been waiting for this one for a while! Congrats @annaschapiro.bsky.social @neurozz.bsky.social
Been waiting for this one for a while! Congrats @annaschapiro.bsky.social @neurozz.bsky.social
wow
Most Alzheimer’s cases linked to variants in a single gene ucl.ac.uk/news/2026/ja... by @ucl.ac.uk
#Alzheimers #dementia #science #neuroscience #NeuroSkyence
#Alzheimers #dementia #science #neuroscience #NeuroSkyence
Most Alzheimer’s cases linked to variants in a single gene
Potentially more than 90% of Alzheimer’s disease cases would not occur without the contribution of a single gene (APOE), according to a new analysis led by UCL researchers.
ucl.ac.uk
January 12, 2026 at 1:51 AM
wow
Reposted by hakwan lau
We recently published a theoretical review about how compositional and generative mechanisms in working memory provide a flexible engine for creative perception and imagery.
Pre-print:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Pre-print:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
January 6, 2026 at 7:04 PM
We recently published a theoretical review about how compositional and generative mechanisms in working memory provide a flexible engine for creative perception and imagery.
Pre-print:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Pre-print:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by hakwan lau
To celebrate the launch of the xphi-journal and kick-off our talk series, we are happy to invite everyone to this talk by Edouard Machery.
ruhr-uni-bochum.zoom-x.de/j/6780355881...
ruhr-uni-bochum.zoom-x.de/j/6780355881...
January 6, 2026 at 3:28 AM
Reposted by hakwan lau
✨New Corder Lab preprint 🧠⚡️
- from Dr Sophie Rogers !
Differential modulation of aversive signaling by expectation across the cingulate cortex
We image the same ACC + RSC neurons over time during noxious fear learning to ask: who encodes aversion vs who predicts it 🔮
biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- from Dr Sophie Rogers !
Differential modulation of aversive signaling by expectation across the cingulate cortex
We image the same ACC + RSC neurons over time during noxious fear learning to ask: who encodes aversion vs who predicts it 🔮
biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
January 6, 2026 at 1:21 AM
✨New Corder Lab preprint 🧠⚡️
- from Dr Sophie Rogers !
Differential modulation of aversive signaling by expectation across the cingulate cortex
We image the same ACC + RSC neurons over time during noxious fear learning to ask: who encodes aversion vs who predicts it 🔮
biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- from Dr Sophie Rogers !
Differential modulation of aversive signaling by expectation across the cingulate cortex
We image the same ACC + RSC neurons over time during noxious fear learning to ask: who encodes aversion vs who predicts it 🔮
biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by hakwan lau
Published @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social with @drewlinsley.bsky.social & @tonyfeng.bsky.social: As vision models scale to human/superhuman accuracy, they’re becoming worse models of primate vision—benchmark engineering isn’t neuroscience. @carneyinstitute.bsky.social @browncopsy.bsky.social
Better artificial intelligence does not mean better models of biology
Deep neural networks (DNNs) once showed increasing alignment with primate perception
as they improved on vision benchmarks, raising hopes that advances in artificial intelligence
(AI) would naturally ...
cell.com
January 5, 2026 at 3:33 PM
Published @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social with @drewlinsley.bsky.social & @tonyfeng.bsky.social: As vision models scale to human/superhuman accuracy, they’re becoming worse models of primate vision—benchmark engineering isn’t neuroscience. @carneyinstitute.bsky.social @browncopsy.bsky.social
Reposted by hakwan lau
🚨 New preprint!
Why do some insights from spikes translate to field potentials while others don't? In this paper we compare visual memory representations in spikes and LFPs to propose a general framework that answers this question.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🧵 (1/10)
🧠🟦 🧠💻
Why do some insights from spikes translate to field potentials while others don't? In this paper we compare visual memory representations in spikes and LFPs to propose a general framework that answers this question.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🧵 (1/10)
🧠🟦 🧠💻
Neural representations of visual memory in inferotemporal cortex reveal a generalizable framework for translating between spikes and field potentials
Translating neurophysiological findings requires understanding the relationship between common measures of brain activity in animals (spiking activity) and humans (local field potentials, LFP). Prior ...
www.biorxiv.org
January 5, 2026 at 3:21 PM
🚨 New preprint!
Why do some insights from spikes translate to field potentials while others don't? In this paper we compare visual memory representations in spikes and LFPs to propose a general framework that answers this question.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🧵 (1/10)
🧠🟦 🧠💻
Why do some insights from spikes translate to field potentials while others don't? In this paper we compare visual memory representations in spikes and LFPs to propose a general framework that answers this question.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🧵 (1/10)
🧠🟦 🧠💻
Reposted by hakwan lau
🎉 Excited to share this! Low-level, naturally formed priors influence our perceptual inferences, but do they impact our confidence in the same way? With @elifilevich.bsky.social and @mamassian.bsky.social we found: they influence confidence even more strongly! More👇 1/5
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
Long-term perceptual priors drive confidence bias that favors prior-congruent evidence
Author summary Prior expectations play a critical role in shaping not only the perceptual inferences that we make, but also how confident we feel about those inferences. Bayesian confidence models cap...
dx.plos.org
January 5, 2026 at 11:46 AM
🎉 Excited to share this! Low-level, naturally formed priors influence our perceptual inferences, but do they impact our confidence in the same way? With @elifilevich.bsky.social and @mamassian.bsky.social we found: they influence confidence even more strongly! More👇 1/5
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
Reposted by hakwan lau
Are we ready to tackle perceptual segmentation of natural scenes?
Finally the review on perceptual segmentation you’ve been waiting for!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Finally the review on perceptual segmentation you’ve been waiting for!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
January 5, 2026 at 12:10 PM
Are we ready to tackle perceptual segmentation of natural scenes?
Finally the review on perceptual segmentation you’ve been waiting for!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Finally the review on perceptual segmentation you’ve been waiting for!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
"Mason’s criticism of the prosocial behavior field as a whole: It 'has a little bit too much of a pony in the race.' The job of science is to discover, not pick and choose the explanations that are preferred, she adds."
www.thetransmitter.org/empathy/up-a...
www.thetransmitter.org/empathy/up-a...
Up and out with Peggy Mason
Mason helped define the rodent prosocial behavior field, but now she’s changing course.
www.thetransmitter.org
January 2, 2026 at 12:22 AM
"Mason’s criticism of the prosocial behavior field as a whole: It 'has a little bit too much of a pony in the race.' The job of science is to discover, not pick and choose the explanations that are preferred, she adds."
www.thetransmitter.org/empathy/up-a...
www.thetransmitter.org/empathy/up-a...
on the 1st day of 2026 i woke up at 7am & made oxtail braised in red wine. i added beef tendon (for luciousness) & kimchi. the kimchi has been fried in butter to develop flavor.
i apologize to my Korean friends. to my French friends: you'll be alright.
i think we'll eat it w/ rice.
i apologize to my Korean friends. to my French friends: you'll be alright.
i think we'll eat it w/ rice.
January 1, 2026 at 12:12 AM
on the 1st day of 2026 i woke up at 7am & made oxtail braised in red wine. i added beef tendon (for luciousness) & kimchi. the kimchi has been fried in butter to develop flavor.
i apologize to my Korean friends. to my French friends: you'll be alright.
i think we'll eat it w/ rice.
i apologize to my Korean friends. to my French friends: you'll be alright.
i think we'll eat it w/ rice.