Emma Dennin
@edennin.bsky.social
B.S. in Psychology
Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience PhD student
Computational modeling, reinforcement learning, and decision-making | Worthy Lab | Texas A&M University
Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience PhD student
Computational modeling, reinforcement learning, and decision-making | Worthy Lab | Texas A&M University
Reposted by Emma Dennin
Scientists demonstrate superior cognitive benefits of outdoor vs indoor physical activity
Scientists demonstrate superior cognitive benefits of outdoor vs indoor physical activity
A new study suggests that where kids exercise matters: children who played basketball outside showed sharper thinking and faster reaction times than when playing indoors, hinting at a powerful brain-boosting synergy between physical activity and nature.
www.psypost.org
June 18, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Scientists demonstrate superior cognitive benefits of outdoor vs indoor physical activity
Reposted by Emma Dennin
Excited to share this project specifying a research direction I think will be particularly fruitful for theory-driven cognitive science that aims to explain natural behavior!
We're calling this direction "Naturalistic Computational Cognitive Science"
We're calling this direction "Naturalistic Computational Cognitive Science"
June 16, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Excited to share this project specifying a research direction I think will be particularly fruitful for theory-driven cognitive science that aims to explain natural behavior!
We're calling this direction "Naturalistic Computational Cognitive Science"
We're calling this direction "Naturalistic Computational Cognitive Science"
Reposted by Emma Dennin
New results!
Different anesthetics, same result: unconsciousness by shifting brainwave phase
MIT study finds that an easily measurable brain wave shift may be a universal marker of unconsciousness under anesthesia
picower.mit.edu/news/differe...
#neuroscience
Different anesthetics, same result: unconsciousness by shifting brainwave phase
MIT study finds that an easily measurable brain wave shift may be a universal marker of unconsciousness under anesthesia
picower.mit.edu/news/differe...
#neuroscience
Different anesthetics, same result: unconsciousness by shifting brainwave phase
MIT study finds that an easily measurable brain wave shift may be a universal marker of unconsciousness under anesthesia
picower.mit.edu
May 12, 2025 at 6:29 PM
New results!
Different anesthetics, same result: unconsciousness by shifting brainwave phase
MIT study finds that an easily measurable brain wave shift may be a universal marker of unconsciousness under anesthesia
picower.mit.edu/news/differe...
#neuroscience
Different anesthetics, same result: unconsciousness by shifting brainwave phase
MIT study finds that an easily measurable brain wave shift may be a universal marker of unconsciousness under anesthesia
picower.mit.edu/news/differe...
#neuroscience
Reposted by Emma Dennin
Communications Biology
Neural models for detection and classification of brain states and transitions
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Neural models for detection and classification of brain states and transitions
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Neural models for detection and classification of brain states and transitions - Communications Biology
A deep learning self-supervised hybrid CNN-autoencoder model is used to detect brain states and transitions, like wakefulness, slow oscillations and microarousals, during the emergence from anesthesia...
www.nature.com
April 20, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Communications Biology
Neural models for detection and classification of brain states and transitions
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Neural models for detection and classification of brain states and transitions
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Reposted by Emma Dennin
Proud to announce our primer on "Ten principles for reliable, efficient, and adaptable coding in psychology and cognitive neuroscience"
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
This primer is for beginners to get started, advanced programmers to improve, and PIs.
#psychology #psychsci #cogsci #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
This primer is for beginners to get started, advanced programmers to improve, and PIs.
#psychology #psychsci #cogsci #neuroskyence
Ten principles for reliable, efficient, and adaptable coding in psychology and cognitive neuroscience - Communications Psychology
Programming is essential for modern research in neuroscience and psychology, but it can quickly become a source of frustration and error. This Primer introduces ten practical principles guiding resear...
www.nature.com
April 15, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Proud to announce our primer on "Ten principles for reliable, efficient, and adaptable coding in psychology and cognitive neuroscience"
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
This primer is for beginners to get started, advanced programmers to improve, and PIs.
#psychology #psychsci #cogsci #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
This primer is for beginners to get started, advanced programmers to improve, and PIs.
#psychology #psychsci #cogsci #neuroskyence
Reposted by Emma Dennin
Distinct Top-down and Bottom-up Brain Connectivity During Visual Perception and Imagery
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
Distinct Top-down and Bottom-up Brain Connectivity During Visual Perception and Imagery - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Distinct Top-down and Bottom-up Brain Connectivity During Visual Perception and Imagery
www.nature.com
April 14, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Distinct Top-down and Bottom-up Brain Connectivity During Visual Perception and Imagery
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience
Reposted by Emma Dennin
Bridging computation and representation in associative learning:
gershmanlab.com/pubs/Gershma...
gershmanlab.com/pubs/Gershma...
gershmanlab.com
April 4, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Bridging computation and representation in associative learning:
gershmanlab.com/pubs/Gershma...
gershmanlab.com/pubs/Gershma...
Reposted by Emma Dennin
Excited to see this now out in the world!
We identify a computational basis for how persistent underconfidence is maintained in the face of intact performance, finding that it is grounded in impaired updating of global self-beliefs from local metacognition
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/N
We identify a computational basis for how persistent underconfidence is maintained in the face of intact performance, finding that it is grounded in impaired updating of global self-beliefs from local metacognition
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/N
Distorted learning from local metacognition supports transdiagnostic underconfidence - Nature Communications
Individuals with symptoms of anxiety and depression exhibit persistent underconfidence. Here, the authors show that distortions in learning from local metacognition can explain how underconfidence is ...
www.nature.com
February 21, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Excited to see this now out in the world!
We identify a computational basis for how persistent underconfidence is maintained in the face of intact performance, finding that it is grounded in impaired updating of global self-beliefs from local metacognition
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/N
We identify a computational basis for how persistent underconfidence is maintained in the face of intact performance, finding that it is grounded in impaired updating of global self-beliefs from local metacognition
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/N
Reposted by Emma Dennin
Wrote a post explaining the logic of normative modeling - which is one of the reasons why I am trying to be precise about what is predicted by models from which assumptions. open.substack.com/pub/kording/...
The simple conceptual logic of Normative models of behavior
Bayes, Optimal Control, and Neural Networks
open.substack.com
March 17, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Wrote a post explaining the logic of normative modeling - which is one of the reasons why I am trying to be precise about what is predicted by models from which assumptions. open.substack.com/pub/kording/...
Reposted by Emma Dennin
In a one-shot prisoner’s dilemma game, manipulating the location of payout information on computer screens changed participants’ gaze pattern sequences and resulted in greater cooperation when more focus was given to others’ outcomes.
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Manipulating attention facilitates cooperation - Communications Psychology
In a one-shot prisoner’s dilemma game, manipulating the location of payout information on computer screens changed participants’ gaze pattern sequences and resulted in greater cooperation when more fo...
www.nature.com
March 17, 2025 at 10:26 AM
In a one-shot prisoner’s dilemma game, manipulating the location of payout information on computer screens changed participants’ gaze pattern sequences and resulted in greater cooperation when more focus was given to others’ outcomes.
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Reposted by Emma Dennin
Model Predictive Control and Reinforcement Learning: A Unified Framework Based on Dynamic Programming
arxiv.org/abs/2406.00592
arxiv.org/abs/2406.00592
Model Predictive Control and Reinforcement Learning: A Unified Framework Based on Dynamic Programming
In this paper we describe a new conceptual framework that connects approximate Dynamic Programming (DP), Model Predictive Control (MPC), and Reinforcement Learning (RL). This framework centers around ...
arxiv.org
March 11, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Model Predictive Control and Reinforcement Learning: A Unified Framework Based on Dynamic Programming
arxiv.org/abs/2406.00592
arxiv.org/abs/2406.00592
Reposted by Emma Dennin
Nature Neuroscience
Constructing future behavior in the hippocampal formation through composition and replay
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Constructing future behavior in the hippocampal formation through composition and replay
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Constructing future behavior in the hippocampal formation through composition and replay - Nature Neuroscience
A model of compositional state spaces in the hippocampus shows latent learning and rapid generalization. Bakermans et al. show that this model predicts the emergence of place responses in replay.
www.nature.com
March 11, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Nature Neuroscience
Constructing future behavior in the hippocampal formation through composition and replay
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Constructing future behavior in the hippocampal formation through composition and replay
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Emma Dennin
Amazing! 🙌
#ReinforcementLearning (Barto&Sutton) wins the Turing! Wonderful recognition for two personal heroes of mine as well as for the whole field!
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/t...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/t...
Turing Award Goes to A.I. Pioneers Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton
Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton developed reinforcement learning, a technique vital to chatbots like ChatGPT.
www.nytimes.com
March 5, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Amazing! 🙌
Reposted by Emma Dennin
Terrific how-to on communicating the value of basic research to the public in @thetransmitter.bsky.social by @tonyzador.bsky.social.
You may be curious. But when you are communicating the value of what you do, it’s not about you. Point to discoveries.
www.thetransmitter.org/outreach/how...
You may be curious. But when you are communicating the value of what you do, it’s not about you. Point to discoveries.
www.thetransmitter.org/outreach/how...
How to communicate the value of curiosity-driven research
The burden of proof is on us, as researchers, to explain why what we do is valuable to society.
www.thetransmitter.org
March 4, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Terrific how-to on communicating the value of basic research to the public in @thetransmitter.bsky.social by @tonyzador.bsky.social.
You may be curious. But when you are communicating the value of what you do, it’s not about you. Point to discoveries.
www.thetransmitter.org/outreach/how...
You may be curious. But when you are communicating the value of what you do, it’s not about you. Point to discoveries.
www.thetransmitter.org/outreach/how...
Reposted by Emma Dennin
New episode of 𝐔𝐧𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫 is live!🎙️
In this episode, I'm joined by @simyciri.bsky.social as we dive into why teens engage in risky behaviors—not out of recklessness, but due to a complex mix of developmental, social, and environmental factors.
tinyurl.com/bdcn2b4r
In this episode, I'm joined by @simyciri.bsky.social as we dive into why teens engage in risky behaviors—not out of recklessness, but due to a complex mix of developmental, social, and environmental factors.
tinyurl.com/bdcn2b4r
How Brains, Peers, and Environments Fuel Risky Behaviors in Teens
tinyurl.com
March 4, 2025 at 12:37 PM
New episode of 𝐔𝐧𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫 is live!🎙️
In this episode, I'm joined by @simyciri.bsky.social as we dive into why teens engage in risky behaviors—not out of recklessness, but due to a complex mix of developmental, social, and environmental factors.
tinyurl.com/bdcn2b4r
In this episode, I'm joined by @simyciri.bsky.social as we dive into why teens engage in risky behaviors—not out of recklessness, but due to a complex mix of developmental, social, and environmental factors.
tinyurl.com/bdcn2b4r
Reposted by Emma Dennin
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Predictive coding: a more cognitive process than we thought?
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Predictive coding: a more cognitive process than we thought?
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Predictive coding: a more cognitive process than we thought?
In predictive coding (PC), higher-order brain areas generate predictions that are sent to lower-order sensory areas. Top-down predictions are compared…
www.sciencedirect.com
March 2, 2025 at 4:25 AM
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Predictive coding: a more cognitive process than we thought?
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Predictive coding: a more cognitive process than we thought?
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Emma Dennin
Check out what's new in #rstats tidymodels in our Q1 digest post!
If you use parallel processing a lot with tidymodels, please give this a look.
www.tidyverse.org/blog/2025/02...
If you use parallel processing a lot with tidymodels, please give this a look.
www.tidyverse.org/blog/2025/02...
Q1 2025 tidymodels digest
A summary of the goings on for the tidymodels group in later 2024 and early 2025.
www.tidyverse.org
February 27, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Check out what's new in #rstats tidymodels in our Q1 digest post!
If you use parallel processing a lot with tidymodels, please give this a look.
www.tidyverse.org/blog/2025/02...
If you use parallel processing a lot with tidymodels, please give this a look.
www.tidyverse.org/blog/2025/02...
I’ve heard many conversations on data-driven vs theory-driven papers in computational modeling.
A thought provoking piece!
A thought provoking piece!
Many neuroscience students are steeped in an experiment-first style of thinking that leads to “random walk science.” Let’s not forget how theory can guide experiments towards deeper insights, writes @gershbrain.bsky.social.
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/theoretical-...
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/theoretical-...
Breaking the barrier between theorists and experimentalists
Many neuroscience students are steeped in an experiment-first style of thinking. Let’s not forget how theory can guide experiments.
www.thetransmitter.org
February 25, 2025 at 3:16 AM
I’ve heard many conversations on data-driven vs theory-driven papers in computational modeling.
A thought provoking piece!
A thought provoking piece!
Reposted by Emma Dennin
The likelihood to recall a dream in the morning and the ability to remember its content are modulated by a combination of stable individual traits and dynamic night-by-night and seasonal change, according to a study in Communications Psychology. https://go.nature.com/3EKJaCd 🧪
February 21, 2025 at 11:27 PM
The likelihood to recall a dream in the morning and the ability to remember its content are modulated by a combination of stable individual traits and dynamic night-by-night and seasonal change, according to a study in Communications Psychology. https://go.nature.com/3EKJaCd 🧪
Reposted by Emma Dennin
Averaging brain responses is not a great idea...
#neuroscience #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
February 23, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Averaging brain responses is not a great idea...
#neuroscience #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Emma Dennin
In a dynamic reinforcement learning task, human players adaptively employ a mix of decision strategies, including model-based learning but also the successor representation.
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Humans rationally balance detailed and temporally abstract world models - Communications Psychology
In a dynamic reinforcement learning task, human players adaptively employ a mix of decision strategies, including model-based learning but also the successor representation.
www.nature.com
January 9, 2025 at 11:02 AM
In a dynamic reinforcement learning task, human players adaptively employ a mix of decision strategies, including model-based learning but also the successor representation.
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Reposted by Emma Dennin
Every scientist, long before they were a scientist, was a little kid who stood in front of a fish tank or stared up at the stars or turned over a rock to look at the bugs underneath and said “wow”. On the best days, working in science still feels like that.
February 19, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Every scientist, long before they were a scientist, was a little kid who stood in front of a fish tank or stared up at the stars or turned over a rock to look at the bugs underneath and said “wow”. On the best days, working in science still feels like that.
Reposted by Emma Dennin
A Visual Introduction to Hierarchical Models
A visual explanation of multi-level modeling
mfviz.com
February 18, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Reposted by Emma Dennin
Just finished a draft of my Models of Memory (grad) course that I'm teaching this spring! Please share/borrow/re-use/follow along as desired, and if you have feedback or suggestions I'd really love to hear (especially while I can still change it)!
All materials are here: github.com/ContextLab/m...
All materials are here: github.com/ContextLab/m...
February 13, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Just finished a draft of my Models of Memory (grad) course that I'm teaching this spring! Please share/borrow/re-use/follow along as desired, and if you have feedback or suggestions I'd really love to hear (especially while I can still change it)!
All materials are here: github.com/ContextLab/m...
All materials are here: github.com/ContextLab/m...