Marcelo Mattar
@marcelomattar.bsky.social
Assistant professor at NYU.
Amazing postdoc opportunity!
Postdoc position in Paris: come help develop new generation human brain computer interfaces ⚡🧠💻
Interested? Contact me if you have experience with machine learning (e.g. simulation-based inference, RL, generative/diffusion models) or dynamical systems.
See below for + details and retweet 🙏
Interested? Contact me if you have experience with machine learning (e.g. simulation-based inference, RL, generative/diffusion models) or dynamical systems.
See below for + details and retweet 🙏
January 27, 2026 at 11:54 PM
Amazing postdoc opportunity!
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
Our experiences have countless details, and it can be hard to know which matter.
How can we behave effectively in the future when, right now, we don't know what we'll need?
Out today in @nathumbehav.nature.com , @marcelomattar.bsky.social and I find that people solve this by using episodic memory.
How can we behave effectively in the future when, right now, we don't know what we'll need?
Out today in @nathumbehav.nature.com , @marcelomattar.bsky.social and I find that people solve this by using episodic memory.
Episodic memory facilitates flexible decision-making via access to detailed events - Nature Human Behaviour
Nicholas and Mattar found that people use episodic memory to make decisions when it is unclear what will be needed in the future. These findings reveal how the rich representational capacity of episod...
www.nature.com
January 23, 2026 at 1:18 PM
Our experiences have countless details, and it can be hard to know which matter.
How can we behave effectively in the future when, right now, we don't know what we'll need?
Out today in @nathumbehav.nature.com , @marcelomattar.bsky.social and I find that people solve this by using episodic memory.
How can we behave effectively in the future when, right now, we don't know what we'll need?
Out today in @nathumbehav.nature.com , @marcelomattar.bsky.social and I find that people solve this by using episodic memory.
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
How terrific! Free in person summer school for future PhDs who want more quantitative training before grad school; happening at one of the best places in the world to pursue it (the Gatsby at UCL).
📢 Applications open on 19 Jan for the 7-week #Mathematics #SummerSchool in London. You will develop the maths skills and intuition necessary to enter the #TheoreticalNeuroscience / #MachineLearning field.
Find out more & register for the information webinar 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/life-science...
Find out more & register for the information webinar 👉 www.ucl.ac.uk/life-science...
January 18, 2026 at 10:00 AM
How terrific! Free in person summer school for future PhDs who want more quantitative training before grad school; happening at one of the best places in the world to pursue it (the Gatsby at UCL).
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
New preprint from the lab!
A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We use a novel task in mice, cortex-wide imaging and optogenetics, NPX recording and modelling to reveal a circuit mechanism that transforms abstract decisions to spatial actions.
A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We use a novel task in mice, cortex-wide imaging and optogenetics, NPX recording and modelling to reveal a circuit mechanism that transforms abstract decisions to spatial actions.
A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions
Flexible behaviour requires transforming abstract cognitive representations, such as value preferences, into concrete motor actions. During economic decision-making, individuals evaluate options to gu...
www.biorxiv.org
December 14, 2025 at 10:59 AM
New preprint from the lab!
A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We use a novel task in mice, cortex-wide imaging and optogenetics, NPX recording and modelling to reveal a circuit mechanism that transforms abstract decisions to spatial actions.
A frontal motor circuit for economic decisions and actions:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We use a novel task in mice, cortex-wide imaging and optogenetics, NPX recording and modelling to reveal a circuit mechanism that transforms abstract decisions to spatial actions.
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
Thrilled to start 2026 as faculty in Psych & CS
@ualberta.bsky.social + Amii.ca Fellow! 🥳 Recruiting students to develop theories of cognition in natural & artificial systems 🤖💭🧠. Find me at #NeurIPS2025 workshops (speaking coginterp.github.io/neurips2025 & organising @dataonbrainmind.bsky.social)
@ualberta.bsky.social + Amii.ca Fellow! 🥳 Recruiting students to develop theories of cognition in natural & artificial systems 🤖💭🧠. Find me at #NeurIPS2025 workshops (speaking coginterp.github.io/neurips2025 & organising @dataonbrainmind.bsky.social)
December 6, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Thrilled to start 2026 as faculty in Psych & CS
@ualberta.bsky.social + Amii.ca Fellow! 🥳 Recruiting students to develop theories of cognition in natural & artificial systems 🤖💭🧠. Find me at #NeurIPS2025 workshops (speaking coginterp.github.io/neurips2025 & organising @dataonbrainmind.bsky.social)
@ualberta.bsky.social + Amii.ca Fellow! 🥳 Recruiting students to develop theories of cognition in natural & artificial systems 🤖💭🧠. Find me at #NeurIPS2025 workshops (speaking coginterp.github.io/neurips2025 & organising @dataonbrainmind.bsky.social)
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
Tiny recurrent neural networks for discovering cognitive strategies — a Tools of the Trade article by Li Ji-An
#neuroscience #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
December 5, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Tiny recurrent neural networks for discovering cognitive strategies — a Tools of the Trade article by Li Ji-An
#neuroscience #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Great opportunity for PhD applicants this year!
December 3, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Great opportunity for PhD applicants this year!
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
Do you want to fund AI alignment research?
The AISI Alignment Team and I have reviewed >800 Alignment Project Applications from 42 countries, and we have ~100 that are very promising. Unfortunately, this means we have a £13-17M funding gap! Thread with details! 🧵
The AISI Alignment Team and I have reviewed >800 Alignment Project Applications from 42 countries, and we have ~100 that are very promising. Unfortunately, this means we have a £13-17M funding gap! Thread with details! 🧵
I am very excited that AISI is announcing over £15M in funding for AI alignment and control, in partnership with other governments, industry, VCs, and philanthropists!
Here is a 🧵 about why it is important to bring more independent ideas and expertise into this space.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
Here is a 🧵 about why it is important to bring more independent ideas and expertise into this space.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
The Alignment Project by AISI — The AI Security Institute
The Alignment Project funds groundbreaking AI alignment research to address one of AI’s most urgent challenges: ensuring advanced systems act predictably, safely, and for society’s benefit.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
November 27, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Do you want to fund AI alignment research?
The AISI Alignment Team and I have reviewed >800 Alignment Project Applications from 42 countries, and we have ~100 that are very promising. Unfortunately, this means we have a £13-17M funding gap! Thread with details! 🧵
The AISI Alignment Team and I have reviewed >800 Alignment Project Applications from 42 countries, and we have ~100 that are very promising. Unfortunately, this means we have a £13-17M funding gap! Thread with details! 🧵
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
Task learning is compositional, so would behavior be!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Building compositional tasks with shared neural subspaces - Nature
The brain can flexibly perform multiple tasks by compositionally combining task-relevant neural representations.
www.nature.com
November 27, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Task learning is compositional, so would behavior be!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
starting fall 2026 i'll be an assistant professor at @upenn.edu 🥳
my lab will develop scalable models/theories of human behavior, focused on memory and perception
currently recruiting PhD students in psychology, neuroscience, & computer science!
reach out if you're interested 😊
my lab will develop scalable models/theories of human behavior, focused on memory and perception
currently recruiting PhD students in psychology, neuroscience, & computer science!
reach out if you're interested 😊
November 25, 2025 at 9:36 PM
starting fall 2026 i'll be an assistant professor at @upenn.edu 🥳
my lab will develop scalable models/theories of human behavior, focused on memory and perception
currently recruiting PhD students in psychology, neuroscience, & computer science!
reach out if you're interested 😊
my lab will develop scalable models/theories of human behavior, focused on memory and perception
currently recruiting PhD students in psychology, neuroscience, & computer science!
reach out if you're interested 😊
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
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
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
I'm recruiting a grad student! My lab at NYU (psych dept) studies the computational basis of moral cognition and aims to build AI systems that are aligned with human values. Now admitting a PhD student for Fall 2026. Apps due 12/1. sites.google.com/corp/site/sy...
Sydney Levine - Open Positions
Graduate Students (PhD program)
I will be accepting PhD students through the NYU psychology department for the current application cycle (for admission in Fall 2026). My lab is joint between the Co...
sites.google.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:18 AM
I'm recruiting a grad student! My lab at NYU (psych dept) studies the computational basis of moral cognition and aims to build AI systems that are aligned with human values. Now admitting a PhD student for Fall 2026. Apps due 12/1. sites.google.com/corp/site/sy...
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
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
So happy to see this manuscript on biorxiv after so many years in the making! Thank you Matthieu for all your hard work, and @sreejan.bsky.social for all of the novel contributions and for pushing it through the finish line! And looking forward to comments from the community!
I'm excited to share that my new postdoctoral position is going so well that I submitted a new paper at the end of my first week! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... A thread below
Sensory Compression as a Unifying Principle for Action Chunking and Time Coding in the Brain
The brain seamlessly transforms sensory information into precisely-timed movements, enabling us to type familiar words, play musical instruments, or perform complex motor routines with millisecond pre...
www.biorxiv.org
September 7, 2025 at 2:37 PM
So happy to see this manuscript on biorxiv after so many years in the making! Thank you Matthieu for all your hard work, and @sreejan.bsky.social for all of the novel contributions and for pushing it through the finish line! And looking forward to comments from the community!
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
🚀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 Marcelo Mattar
What are your pros/cons of using AI in science?
Feel free to respond wrt use or harm in the design of experiments, coding experiments, coding analysis, brain storming analysis, summarizing literature, synthesis of ideas, modeling, novel model development, mathematical proofs, writing, editing.
Feel free to respond wrt use or harm in the design of experiments, coding experiments, coding analysis, brain storming analysis, summarizing literature, synthesis of ideas, modeling, novel model development, mathematical proofs, writing, editing.
September 3, 2025 at 9:09 PM
What are your pros/cons of using AI in science?
Feel free to respond wrt use or harm in the design of experiments, coding experiments, coding analysis, brain storming analysis, summarizing literature, synthesis of ideas, modeling, novel model development, mathematical proofs, writing, editing.
Feel free to respond wrt use or harm in the design of experiments, coding experiments, coding analysis, brain storming analysis, summarizing literature, synthesis of ideas, modeling, novel model development, mathematical proofs, writing, editing.
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
🚨We believe this is a major step forward in how we study hippocampus function in healthy humans.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
August 28, 2025 at 2:00 PM
🚨We believe this is a major step forward in how we study hippocampus function in healthy humans.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.
I'm honored to serve as Expert Advisor for "The Alignment Project", an international initiative dedicated to ensuring AI systems are safe and beneficial. They are providing significant funding, compute, and collaboration opportunities for researchers---including those in cogsci/neuro. Please apply!
I am very excited that AISI is announcing over £15M in funding for AI alignment and control, in partnership with other governments, industry, VCs, and philanthropists!
Here is a 🧵 about why it is important to bring more independent ideas and expertise into this space.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
Here is a 🧵 about why it is important to bring more independent ideas and expertise into this space.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
The Alignment Project by AISI — The AI Security Institute
The Alignment Project funds groundbreaking AI alignment research to address one of AI’s most urgent challenges: ensuring advanced systems act predictably, safely, and for society’s benefit.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
August 20, 2025 at 5:54 PM
I'm honored to serve as Expert Advisor for "The Alignment Project", an international initiative dedicated to ensuring AI systems are safe and beneficial. They are providing significant funding, compute, and collaboration opportunities for researchers---including those in cogsci/neuro. Please apply!
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
I am very excited that AISI is announcing over £15M in funding for AI alignment and control, in partnership with other governments, industry, VCs, and philanthropists!
Here is a 🧵 about why it is important to bring more independent ideas and expertise into this space.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
Here is a 🧵 about why it is important to bring more independent ideas and expertise into this space.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
The Alignment Project by AISI — The AI Security Institute
The Alignment Project funds groundbreaking AI alignment research to address one of AI’s most urgent challenges: ensuring advanced systems act predictably, safely, and for society’s benefit.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
July 30, 2025 at 11:53 AM
I am very excited that AISI is announcing over £15M in funding for AI alignment and control, in partnership with other governments, industry, VCs, and philanthropists!
Here is a 🧵 about why it is important to bring more independent ideas and expertise into this space.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
Here is a 🧵 about why it is important to bring more independent ideas and expertise into this space.
alignmentproject.aisi.gov.uk
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
Are similar representations in neural nets evidence of shared computation? In new theory work w/ Lukas Braun (lukasbraun.com) & @saxelab.bsky.social, we prove that representational comparisons are ill-posed in general, unless networks are efficient.
@icmlconf.bsky.social @cogcompneuro.bsky.social
@icmlconf.bsky.social @cogcompneuro.bsky.social
August 13, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Are similar representations in neural nets evidence of shared computation? In new theory work w/ Lukas Braun (lukasbraun.com) & @saxelab.bsky.social, we prove that representational comparisons are ill-posed in general, unless networks are efficient.
@icmlconf.bsky.social @cogcompneuro.bsky.social
@icmlconf.bsky.social @cogcompneuro.bsky.social
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
Our new paper is out! When navigating through an environment, how do we combine our general sense of direction with known landmark states? To explore this, @denislan.bsky.social used a task that allowed subjects (or neural networks) to choose either their next action or next state at each step.
How do humans navigate unfamiliar environments? @denislan.bsky.social @lhuntneuro.bsky.social @summerfieldlab.bsky.social show that humans & deep meta-learning networks combine ‘vector-based’ & ‘transition-based’ strategies for flexible navigation in similar ways @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/45uSwNm
August 2, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Our new paper is out! When navigating through an environment, how do we combine our general sense of direction with known landmark states? To explore this, @denislan.bsky.social used a task that allowed subjects (or neural networks) to choose either their next action or next state at each step.
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
Thinking of applying to US-based Ph.D. programs in neuroscience, psychology, or cognitive science? We’ve got your back! NYU’s Application Support Group is a student-led, free mentorship program offering 1-on-1 support and guidance. Apply now! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
NYU Application Support Group Matching Form
Dear Prospective Neuroscience & Psychology PhD Students,
We are a group of current NYU Neuroscience & Psychology PhD students who would like to help you with your PhD applications. We want to support...
docs.google.com
July 28, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Thinking of applying to US-based Ph.D. programs in neuroscience, psychology, or cognitive science? We’ve got your back! NYU’s Application Support Group is a student-led, free mentorship program offering 1-on-1 support and guidance. Apply now! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
🚨 Fully Funded PhD positions
Gonda Brain Institute, Sharp Lab
We will explore how people build and deploy world models efficiently for planning and decision making. We will also seek to characterize how world models construal and use is biased in anxiety.
Deadline: 1 Sept 2025. Please share!
Gonda Brain Institute, Sharp Lab
We will explore how people build and deploy world models efficiently for planning and decision making. We will also seek to characterize how world models construal and use is biased in anxiety.
Deadline: 1 Sept 2025. Please share!
July 22, 2025 at 8:48 AM
🚨 Fully Funded PhD positions
Gonda Brain Institute, Sharp Lab
We will explore how people build and deploy world models efficiently for planning and decision making. We will also seek to characterize how world models construal and use is biased in anxiety.
Deadline: 1 Sept 2025. Please share!
Gonda Brain Institute, Sharp Lab
We will explore how people build and deploy world models efficiently for planning and decision making. We will also seek to characterize how world models construal and use is biased in anxiety.
Deadline: 1 Sept 2025. Please share!
Reposted by Marcelo Mattar
📣 I'm looking for a postdoc to join my lab at NYU! Come work with me on a principled, theory-driven approach to studying language, learning, and reasoning, in humans and AI agents.
Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/170656
And come chat with me at #CogSci2025 if interested!
Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/170656
And come chat with me at #CogSci2025 if interested!
July 21, 2025 at 10:28 PM
📣 I'm looking for a postdoc to join my lab at NYU! Come work with me on a principled, theory-driven approach to studying language, learning, and reasoning, in humans and AI agents.
Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/170656
And come chat with me at #CogSci2025 if interested!
Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/170656
And come chat with me at #CogSci2025 if interested!