Marco K Wittmann
@mkwittmann.bsky.social
740 followers 340 following 46 posts
Associate Professor @ UCL. Experimental Psychologist. Interested in neural computations underlying social cognition. https://www.wittmann-lab.com
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mkwittmann.bsky.social
New paper from our lab now in @nature.com . We show that our brains use basis functions or "building blocks" to navigate social interactions. Rather than tracking every individual separately, social information is compressed into patterns that can be flexibly combined. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Basis functions for complex social decisions in dorsomedial frontal cortex - Nature
A study combining group decision-making tasks with fMRI shows that the brain’s dorsomedial prefrontal cortex uses basis functions, similar to those in the visual, motor and spatial domains, to re...
www.nature.com
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
helencbarron.bsky.social
** We have up to TWO funded PhD positions available in our lab!! Apply below to find new ways to enhance memory👇 Pls retweet **

Deadline: 2nd December

1. Cross-species closed-loopTMR: tinyurl.com/bddu4tp6

2. TUS and TMR in humans:
tinyurl.com/jjws5ctj

Happy to chat to interested applicants.
Enhancing memory using cross-species closed-loop Targeted Memory Reactivation | mrcbndu
tinyurl.com
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
anrei.bsky.social
job alert 🚨 come join us in beautiful Würzburg 🏰🌳🍷🫧this 3yrs Postdoc position is for German speakers interested in child&adolescent clinical psych. Although initially limited to 3 years, this position offers a possibility of tenure! happy to answer any question in advance-shoot me an📨&pls share🙃
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
ljdm.bsky.social
Hello everyone! Along with our first post here on Bluesky, we look forward to the new academic year, hosting our first #LJDM2025 session next week with Dr Simon Ciranka @simyciri.bsky.social. For more info and to keep updated, check our website!
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
scanunit.bsky.social
Check out our new publication led by former member @clamassaccesi.bsky.social showing that individuals are equally motivated to incur effort costs to reduce pain to themselves and others 🤝
clamassaccesi.bsky.social
New paper out in NYAS!
nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
We show that protecting others' from pain promotes effortful prosocial behavior 💪🧑‍🤝‍🧑🤝
w/ @clauslamm.bsky.social @silanilab.bsky.social @lei-zhang.bsky.social
(thread below)
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
stepalminteri.bsky.social
This book by @anilananth.bsky.social is great — perfect for those, like me, who have an intuitive and geometric grasp of math but unfortunately no formal training. Highly recommended!
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
sansmeeting.bsky.social
We're excited to announce that the #SANS2026 Presidential Keynote Speaker will be Dr. Steve Chang of Yale! (medicine.yale.edu/profile/stev...). He will deliver an address titled "Diverse Social Strategies and Neural Mechanisms underlying Mutual Cooperation"
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
hadeelhajali.bsky.social
First PhD paper! 🎉

Ever wondered why people gradually take bigger risks over time?
Using VR we discovered that It's not how anxious you are at the start, but how quickly your emotions subside that predicts risk escalation
Full paper: www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
lhuntneuro.bsky.social
Looking for a PhD next year? Want to come and work on the next generation of OPM-MEG/EEG biomarkers in computational psychiatry?

Apply for our MRC iCase studentship with @mkflugge.bsky.social, collabs with @lilweb.bsky.social + industrial placement at P1Vital:
www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/study/gradua...
Development of robust, single-subject markers of predictive inference for computational psychiatry
www.medsci.ox.ac.uk
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
clarepress.bsky.social
Please come to see our lab presentations at #ICON2025, by the brilliant Kirsten Rittershofer and Quirin Gehmacher. Sorry I can't be there myself, it looks a brilliant meeting 🎉
mkwittmann.bsky.social
Deadline for the 2 postdoc jobs with us at @ucl.ac.uk in one week, 17th Sep. On the roles of goals in organising social representations in prefrontal cortex (modelling, neuroimaging, transcranial ultrasound).
mkwittmann.bsky.social
📢 Job announcement: Two (!) 3-year postdoc jobs in our lab at UCL 📢

🧠💫🔊 We are looking for postdocs interested in the abstract mechanisms underlying social cognition. Modelling, fMRI and non-invasive ultrasound, a new deep-brain stimulation method.

Please RT

www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
www.ucl.ac.uk
mkwittmann.bsky.social
Very much looking forward to starting this project!
summerfieldlab.bsky.social
great opportunity to work with Marco using exciting new methods!
mkwittmann.bsky.social
📢 Job announcement: Two (!) 3-year postdoc jobs in our lab at UCL 📢

🧠💫🔊 We are looking for postdocs interested in the abstract mechanisms underlying social cognition. Modelling, fMRI and non-invasive ultrasound, a new deep-brain stimulation method.

Please RT

www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
stepalminteri.bsky.social
New paper our in @pnas.org, lead by @isabellehoxha.bsky.social with Léo Sperber. We use evolutionary simulation to assess and compare the adaptive value of positivity bias and gradual perseveration in reinforcement learning. Follow the thread below (and Isabelle!) for more details!
isabellehoxha.bsky.social
Ever wondered why you keep going to that restaurant with stale fries? Is it because you went often in the past (perseveration) or because you remember past good experiences better (positivity bias)? Our study out in PNAS investigates the normative basis for these biases www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Evolving choice hysteresis in reinforcement learning: Comparing the adaptive value of positivity bias and gradual perseveration | PNAS
The tendency to repeat past choices more often than expected from the history of outcomes has been repeatedly empirically observed in reinforcement...
www.pnas.org
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
joebarnby.com
🧠 We're hiring a computational postdoc!

3+ years with me & @mitulamehta.bsky.social on @wellcometrust.bsky.social funded social cognition/paranoia research at the IoPPN.

Lead & develop computational work, collaborate with experimentalists on psychosis/THC data.

DM for details! lnkd.in/eCMy9Jf5
Computational postdoc ad for KCL funded by the Wellcome Trust on the NEPTUNE project
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
silviaseghezzi.bsky.social
Our 2025–2026 Seminar Series is ready to begin 🎓✨
We’re kicking off on 1 October with a fantastic line-up of speakers from across the UK and beyond.
Join us on Wednesdays from 1–2 PM at Birkbeck. Light refreshments provided ☕️🥐
Here’s the full programme 👇 @birkbeckpsychology.bsky.social
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
stevewcchang.bsky.social
Super excited to share this new collaborative work - marmosets use diverse and highly flexible strategies when they cooperate. These strategies are powerfully determined by both social factors (sex, dominance, familiarity) & individual partner identity.

www.cell.com/current-biol...
Diverse and flexible strategies enable successful cooperation in marmoset dyads
Meisner and Shi et al. show that common marmosets flexibly coordinate with partners using both gaze-dependent and rhythmic strategies. Cooperation depends on active social monitoring and is shaped by ...
www.cell.com
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social
Causal necessity of human hippocampus for structure-based inference in learning https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.19.664920v1
mkwittmann.bsky.social
Thanks Angelika! I hope all is well!
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
mkflugge.bsky.social
We are super excited about the first human transcranial ultrasound study from our lab which is now on BiorXiv, showing the amygdala‘s role in processing ambiguous emotions and showing TUS changed resting-state connectivity and metabolite concentrations (GABA) in the amygdala - a huge team effort! 🥳🙏🏼
johalgermissen.bsky.social
Very happy to share my first preprint from @oxexppsy.bsky.social @oxneuro.bsky.social ! We (me + co-first authors @lilweb.bsky.social @mirunarascu.bsky.social + PI @mkflugge.bsky.social + many others) used transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation (TUS/tFUS/LIFU) of the human amygdala ... (1/15)
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
elliottwimmer.bsky.social
📢 We're hiring a Research Assistant in cognitive neuroscience & computational psychiatry! 📢

Join us at UCL to conduct an MEG study of reward & memory, exploring how brain signals link to variability in apathy and anhedonia.

🔗 apply from next week: lmdlab.github.io

🚨closes September 12th!
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
nick-myers.bsky.social
New paper using M/EEG to look at attractive and repulsive serial dependence in working memory, led by the excellent Jiangang Shan, with Jasper Hajonides.
plosbiology.org
In #memories, when does bias towards or away from a stimulus arise? New research shows that attractive serial dependence emerges during #decision-making, while repulsive biases originate during early sensory encoding. 🧪
plos.io/3JSztEg
Attractive serial dependence arises during decision-making
Our memory of a stimulus can be biased toward or away from previous stimuli, but when this bias arises is unclear. This study shows that attractive serial dependence emerges during decision-making, su...
plos.io
Reposted by Marco K Wittmann
peterkok.bsky.social
In2research is a great programme enhancing access to research degrees and careers for people from low socioeconomic backgrounds and under-represented groups. If you're a researcher in the UK, consider volunteering as a mentor or placement host. in2scienceuk.org/our-programm...
In2research - In2scienceUK
Introducing In2research In2research is a one-year programme developed by In2scienceUK and UCL, designed to enhance access to postgraduate research degrees […]
in2scienceuk.org
mkwittmann.bsky.social
The projects include collaborations with Mohamady El-Gaby (@melgaby.bsky.social) and ‪‪Chris Summerfield (‪@summerfieldlab.bsky.social‬) from Oxford, which I am very excited about!