Rob Mok
@robmok.bsky.social
Computational Cognitive Neuroscientist at CiNet & Osaka University. Category learning to concepts & everything between (semantic/episodic memory). Cognitive aging/damage in models & brains. To understand the brain & AI.
Reposted by Rob Mok
The Sensorimotor Superlab with @gribblelab.org and @andpru.bsky.social is a unique place to work and learn. We are now accepting MSc and PhD applications for Fall 2026. Join our awesome team at Western University... For application instructions see diedrichsenlab.org and gribblelab.org/join.html!
Diedrichsenlab
diedrichsenlab.org
November 24, 2025 at 10:50 PM
The Sensorimotor Superlab with @gribblelab.org and @andpru.bsky.social is a unique place to work and learn. We are now accepting MSc and PhD applications for Fall 2026. Join our awesome team at Western University... For application instructions see diedrichsenlab.org and gribblelab.org/join.html!
Reposted by Rob Mok
It feels like the converastion about manifold dimensionality is back, so I thought I'd share a paper that explains nicely why measuring the "embedding dimensionality" of a manifold (e.g., counting PCs) can be very different from its actual "intrinsic dimensionality (DoFs)
doi.org/10.1016/j.co...
doi.org/10.1016/j.co...
Redirecting
doi.org
November 24, 2025 at 2:29 AM
It feels like the converastion about manifold dimensionality is back, so I thought I'd share a paper that explains nicely why measuring the "embedding dimensionality" of a manifold (e.g., counting PCs) can be very different from its actual "intrinsic dimensionality (DoFs)
doi.org/10.1016/j.co...
doi.org/10.1016/j.co...
Reposted by Rob Mok
It is our great honour to announce the APCV Keynote at #epc-apcv-2026: Prof. Hakwan Lau from the Institute for Basic Science in Korea!
The call for member-initiated symposia & abstracts is now open: visualneuroscience.auckland.ac.nz/epc-apcv-2026
#psychscisky #visionscience #neuroskyence
The call for member-initiated symposia & abstracts is now open: visualneuroscience.auckland.ac.nz/epc-apcv-2026
#psychscisky #visionscience #neuroskyence
November 23, 2025 at 9:11 PM
It is our great honour to announce the APCV Keynote at #epc-apcv-2026: Prof. Hakwan Lau from the Institute for Basic Science in Korea!
The call for member-initiated symposia & abstracts is now open: visualneuroscience.auckland.ac.nz/epc-apcv-2026
#psychscisky #visionscience #neuroskyence
The call for member-initiated symposia & abstracts is now open: visualneuroscience.auckland.ac.nz/epc-apcv-2026
#psychscisky #visionscience #neuroskyence
Reposted by Rob Mok
As it's hiring season again I'm resharing the NeuroJobs feed. Add #NeuroJobs to your post if you're recruiting or looking for an RA, PhD, Postdoc, or faculty position in Neuro or an adjacent field.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
bsky.app/profile/did:...
September 3, 2025 at 3:25 PM
As it's hiring season again I'm resharing the NeuroJobs feed. Add #NeuroJobs to your post if you're recruiting or looking for an RA, PhD, Postdoc, or faculty position in Neuro or an adjacent field.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
bsky.app/profile/did:...
Osaka University is beautiful in Autumn!
November 17, 2025 at 4:54 AM
Osaka University is beautiful in Autumn!
Reposted by Rob Mok
Jonny Smallwood @themindwanders.bsky.social was a beloved friend and mentor. He was taken from us too soon. His was a beautiful mind who understood the beauty of minds. As ever before, his kind voice guides me and his work will continue. We miss you Jonny. www.cbs.mpg.de/news/obituar...
Obituary – Jonathan Smallwood
www.cbs.mpg.de
November 13, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Jonny Smallwood @themindwanders.bsky.social was a beloved friend and mentor. He was taken from us too soon. His was a beautiful mind who understood the beauty of minds. As ever before, his kind voice guides me and his work will continue. We miss you Jonny. www.cbs.mpg.de/news/obituar...
Reposted by Rob Mok
I'm leading a session with PhD students on developing elevator pitches for research. Does anyone have suggested readings, websites, or just general advice on the topic?
No one ever taught me how to do this and honestly I struggle with this skill. All suggestions welcome!
No one ever taught me how to do this and honestly I struggle with this skill. All suggestions welcome!
November 11, 2025 at 10:13 PM
I'm leading a session with PhD students on developing elevator pitches for research. Does anyone have suggested readings, websites, or just general advice on the topic?
No one ever taught me how to do this and honestly I struggle with this skill. All suggestions welcome!
No one ever taught me how to do this and honestly I struggle with this skill. All suggestions welcome!
Reposted by Rob Mok
Do you like RSA analysis, M/EEG and Bayes? Then you'll love Variational RSA for M/EEG, by recently completed PhD student @alexlepauvre.bsky.social from Lucia Melloni's group. It's a method and SPM toolbox for multivariate analysis of M/EEG data. arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01784 . 🧵 [1/4]
November 6, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Do you like RSA analysis, M/EEG and Bayes? Then you'll love Variational RSA for M/EEG, by recently completed PhD student @alexlepauvre.bsky.social from Lucia Melloni's group. It's a method and SPM toolbox for multivariate analysis of M/EEG data. arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01784 . 🧵 [1/4]
Reposted by Rob Mok
The Computational and Cognitive Neural Sciences lab (ballardlab.org) 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!
drive.google.com/file/d/19m8i...
drive.google.com/file/d/19m8i...
November 5, 2025 at 9:29 PM
The Computational and Cognitive Neural Sciences lab (ballardlab.org) 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!
drive.google.com/file/d/19m8i...
drive.google.com/file/d/19m8i...
Reposted by Rob Mok
I am accepting graduate students for the UCI Cognitive Sciences PhD program for Fall 2026. Check out my lab website - www.relcoglab.org for our recent themes. Our funded work focuses on combinatorial reasoning, moral decision-making, and conceptual cognition in humans and large language models.
Relational Cognition Lab
www.relcoglab.org
November 5, 2025 at 8:09 AM
I am accepting graduate students for the UCI Cognitive Sciences PhD program for Fall 2026. Check out my lab website - www.relcoglab.org for our recent themes. Our funded work focuses on combinatorial reasoning, moral decision-making, and conceptual cognition in humans and large language models.
Reposted by Rob Mok
How does the brain handle semantic composition?
Our new Cerebral Cortex paper shows the left inferior frontal gyrus (BA45) does it automatically, even when task-irrelevant. We used fMRI + computational models.
Congrats Marco Ciapparelli, Marco Marelli & team!
doi.org/10.1093/cerc...
Our new Cerebral Cortex paper shows the left inferior frontal gyrus (BA45) does it automatically, even when task-irrelevant. We used fMRI + computational models.
Congrats Marco Ciapparelli, Marco Marelli & team!
doi.org/10.1093/cerc...
Compositionality in the semantic network: a model-driven representational similarity analysis
Abstract. Semantic composition allows us to construct complex meanings (e.g., “dog house”, “house dog”) from simpler constituents (“dog”, “house”). Neuroim
academic.oup.com
October 31, 2025 at 6:19 AM
How does the brain handle semantic composition?
Our new Cerebral Cortex paper shows the left inferior frontal gyrus (BA45) does it automatically, even when task-irrelevant. We used fMRI + computational models.
Congrats Marco Ciapparelli, Marco Marelli & team!
doi.org/10.1093/cerc...
Our new Cerebral Cortex paper shows the left inferior frontal gyrus (BA45) does it automatically, even when task-irrelevant. We used fMRI + computational models.
Congrats Marco Ciapparelli, Marco Marelli & team!
doi.org/10.1093/cerc...
Reposted by Rob Mok
How do humans keep inventing tools and technologies that no single person could create alone?
Our new preprint, led by
@anilyaman.bsky.social & @ts-brain.bsky.social
shows that semantic knowledge guides innovation and drives cultural evolution. 🧠📘 arxiv.org/abs/2510.12837
Our new preprint, led by
@anilyaman.bsky.social & @ts-brain.bsky.social
shows that semantic knowledge guides innovation and drives cultural evolution. 🧠📘 arxiv.org/abs/2510.12837
October 16, 2025 at 1:49 PM
How do humans keep inventing tools and technologies that no single person could create alone?
Our new preprint, led by
@anilyaman.bsky.social & @ts-brain.bsky.social
shows that semantic knowledge guides innovation and drives cultural evolution. 🧠📘 arxiv.org/abs/2510.12837
Our new preprint, led by
@anilyaman.bsky.social & @ts-brain.bsky.social
shows that semantic knowledge guides innovation and drives cultural evolution. 🧠📘 arxiv.org/abs/2510.12837
Reposted by Rob Mok
Picked this one up for reading over the holidays.
“The thesis of this book is that the dominant ideas that have shaped #neuroscience are best understood as attempts to simplify the brain.” 🧠
…which is itself a simplification 😂
“The thesis of this book is that the dominant ideas that have shaped #neuroscience are best understood as attempts to simplify the brain.” 🧠
…which is itself a simplification 😂
December 21, 2024 at 5:09 PM
Picked this one up for reading over the holidays.
“The thesis of this book is that the dominant ideas that have shaped #neuroscience are best understood as attempts to simplify the brain.” 🧠
…which is itself a simplification 😂
“The thesis of this book is that the dominant ideas that have shaped #neuroscience are best understood as attempts to simplify the brain.” 🧠
…which is itself a simplification 😂
Reposted by Rob Mok
Seeing lots of reactions to this compelling paper - showing VTA dopamine is linked to cue and outcome induced behavioral reactions: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
I have some thoughts…
I have some thoughts…
Dopamine dynamics during stimulus-reward learning in mice can be explained by performance rather than learning - Nature Communications
VTA dopamine activity control movement-related performance, not reward prediction errors. Here, authors show that behavioral changes during Pavlovian learning explain DA activity regardless of reward ...
www.nature.com
October 15, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Seeing lots of reactions to this compelling paper - showing VTA dopamine is linked to cue and outcome induced behavioral reactions: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
I have some thoughts…
I have some thoughts…
Reposted by Rob Mok
New paper out in cognition with @arikahn.bsky.social, @nathanieldaw.bsky.social, Cate Hartley, and @katenuss.bsky.social !!
We show that children 👶 use predictive representations (e.g. SR) to guide their choices, providing an account of how they can make flexible choices in a changing world
We show that children 👶 use predictive representations (e.g. SR) to guide their choices, providing an account of how they can make flexible choices in a changing world
Children leverage predictive representations for flexible, value-guided choice
By harnessing a mental model of how the world works, learners can make flexible choices in changing environments. However, while children and adolesce…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 15, 2025 at 10:52 AM
New paper out in cognition with @arikahn.bsky.social, @nathanieldaw.bsky.social, Cate Hartley, and @katenuss.bsky.social !!
We show that children 👶 use predictive representations (e.g. SR) to guide their choices, providing an account of how they can make flexible choices in a changing world
We show that children 👶 use predictive representations (e.g. SR) to guide their choices, providing an account of how they can make flexible choices in a changing world
Reposted by Rob Mok
“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster...For when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, influential German philosopher, born #OTD 1844.
Jenseits von Gut und Böse 1886 | Portrait by Edvard Munch 1906, Thielska Gallery
Friedrich Nietzsche, influential German philosopher, born #OTD 1844.
Jenseits von Gut und Böse 1886 | Portrait by Edvard Munch 1906, Thielska Gallery
October 15, 2025 at 5:00 AM
“Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster...For when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, influential German philosopher, born #OTD 1844.
Jenseits von Gut und Böse 1886 | Portrait by Edvard Munch 1906, Thielska Gallery
Friedrich Nietzsche, influential German philosopher, born #OTD 1844.
Jenseits von Gut und Böse 1886 | Portrait by Edvard Munch 1906, Thielska Gallery
Reposted by Rob Mok
Think of how much better off we'd be if every established researcher got in the habit of writing papers entitled "Second thoughts on [thing I'm famous for]"
October 11, 2025 at 3:49 AM
Think of how much better off we'd be if every established researcher got in the habit of writing papers entitled "Second thoughts on [thing I'm famous for]"
Reposted by Rob Mok
this paper takes me by surprise a bit. of coz, we all know Ned's been thinking along these lines for decades: philpapers.org/rec/BLOBVC
but is he really gonna seriously publish a new paper on this now, given all the AI hype & debates re: how unscientific some popular views on C are these days?
1/
but is he really gonna seriously publish a new paper on this now, given all the AI hype & debates re: how unscientific some popular views on C are these days?
1/
October 9, 2025 at 2:40 AM
this paper takes me by surprise a bit. of coz, we all know Ned's been thinking along these lines for decades: philpapers.org/rec/BLOBVC
but is he really gonna seriously publish a new paper on this now, given all the AI hype & debates re: how unscientific some popular views on C are these days?
1/
but is he really gonna seriously publish a new paper on this now, given all the AI hype & debates re: how unscientific some popular views on C are these days?
1/
Reposted by Rob Mok
🎇 Excited to finally share JL Romero Sosa’s publication! Results are from single-cell imaging in different subregions of rat frontal cortex during ✨de novo learning. Spoiler: everything is not everywhere all at once www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Neural coding of choice and outcome are modulated by uncertainty in orbitofrontal but not secondary motor cortex - Nature Communications
Neural mechanisms underlying flexible learning and decision-making are not fully understood. Using single-cell calcium imaging, authors here found that neurons in orbitofrontal and secondary motor cortex exhibit complementary roles in reward learning, with neurons in the former exerting a sustained role in conditions of uncertainty.
www.nature.com
October 8, 2025 at 12:33 PM
🎇 Excited to finally share JL Romero Sosa’s publication! Results are from single-cell imaging in different subregions of rat frontal cortex during ✨de novo learning. Spoiler: everything is not everywhere all at once www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Rob Mok
📣 New preprint from the Braga Lab! 📣
The ventral visual stream for reading converges on the transmodal language network
Congrats to Dr. Joe Salvo for this epic set of results
Big Q: What brain systems support the translation of writing to concepts and meaning?
Thread 🧵 ⬇️
The ventral visual stream for reading converges on the transmodal language network
Congrats to Dr. Joe Salvo for this epic set of results
Big Q: What brain systems support the translation of writing to concepts and meaning?
Thread 🧵 ⬇️
October 7, 2025 at 9:51 PM
📣 New preprint from the Braga Lab! 📣
The ventral visual stream for reading converges on the transmodal language network
Congrats to Dr. Joe Salvo for this epic set of results
Big Q: What brain systems support the translation of writing to concepts and meaning?
Thread 🧵 ⬇️
The ventral visual stream for reading converges on the transmodal language network
Congrats to Dr. Joe Salvo for this epic set of results
Big Q: What brain systems support the translation of writing to concepts and meaning?
Thread 🧵 ⬇️
Reposted by Rob Mok
🧠 New preprint: we show that model-guided microstimulation can steer monkey visual behavior.
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2510.03684
🧵
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2510.03684
🧵
October 7, 2025 at 3:22 PM
🧠 New preprint: we show that model-guided microstimulation can steer monkey visual behavior.
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2510.03684
🧵
Paper: arxiv.org/abs/2510.03684
🧵
Reposted by Rob Mok
We’re recruiting a postdoctoral fellow to join our team! 🎉
I’m happy to share that I’ve opened back up the search for this position (it was temporarily closed due to funding uncertainty).
See lab page and doc below for details!
I’m happy to share that I’ve opened back up the search for this position (it was temporarily closed due to funding uncertainty).
See lab page and doc below for details!
The Visual Learning Lab at UC San Diego is looking for a postdoctoral research fellow to join our lab!
Read more about our lab at www.vislearnlab.org
Read more about our lab at www.vislearnlab.org
Home | The Visual Learning Lab at UCSD
Lab webpage for the Visual Learning Lab at UCSD, lead by Dr. Bria Long, Ph.D. Launching in July 2024!
www.vislearnlab.org
October 7, 2025 at 2:39 AM
We’re recruiting a postdoctoral fellow to join our team! 🎉
I’m happy to share that I’ve opened back up the search for this position (it was temporarily closed due to funding uncertainty).
See lab page and doc below for details!
I’m happy to share that I’ve opened back up the search for this position (it was temporarily closed due to funding uncertainty).
See lab page and doc below for details!
Reposted by Rob Mok
postdoc, in an esoteric field, preparing for the job market
October 7, 2025 at 2:43 AM
postdoc, in an esoteric field, preparing for the job market
Reposted by Rob Mok
The current environment is making it near impossible to run clinical trials in the UK.
One key issue discussed in @brain1878.bsky.social
is the duplication - or worse - of regulatory oversight at NHS hospitals & universities.
My views on how to change the system
academic.oup.com/brain/articl...
One key issue discussed in @brain1878.bsky.social
is the duplication - or worse - of regulatory oversight at NHS hospitals & universities.
My views on how to change the system
academic.oup.com/brain/articl...
October 6, 2025 at 6:07 AM
The current environment is making it near impossible to run clinical trials in the UK.
One key issue discussed in @brain1878.bsky.social
is the duplication - or worse - of regulatory oversight at NHS hospitals & universities.
My views on how to change the system
academic.oup.com/brain/articl...
One key issue discussed in @brain1878.bsky.social
is the duplication - or worse - of regulatory oversight at NHS hospitals & universities.
My views on how to change the system
academic.oup.com/brain/articl...
Reposted by Rob Mok
CW: depression, ideation (& the brain)
Case study: stimulation of the sustantia nigra produces acute, intense depression that dissipates as soon as stimulation stops. Wow.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17561432/
(FYI: In follow-up, the individual had no mood issues 5 yrs out; whew!).
Case study: stimulation of the sustantia nigra produces acute, intense depression that dissipates as soon as stimulation stops. Wow.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17561432/
(FYI: In follow-up, the individual had no mood issues 5 yrs out; whew!).
October 2, 2025 at 7:55 PM
CW: depression, ideation (& the brain)
Case study: stimulation of the sustantia nigra produces acute, intense depression that dissipates as soon as stimulation stops. Wow.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17561432/
(FYI: In follow-up, the individual had no mood issues 5 yrs out; whew!).
Case study: stimulation of the sustantia nigra produces acute, intense depression that dissipates as soon as stimulation stops. Wow.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17561432/
(FYI: In follow-up, the individual had no mood issues 5 yrs out; whew!).