Sven Wientjes
@svenwientjes.bsky.social
Cognitive scientist working on hierarchical reinforcement learning, cognitive control, and episodic memory. PhD @ Ghent LCClab. users.ugent.be/~swientje
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
Neural dynamics outside task-coding dimensions drive decision trajectories through transient amplification https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.20.689599v1
November 22, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Neural dynamics outside task-coding dimensions drive decision trajectories through transient amplification https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.20.689599v1
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
How do changes in context influence how we organize our memories in time?
Faster contextual changes are associated with faster drift in hippocampal activity and reduced temporal clustering in recalled memories.
Elegant work led by @lindsayrait.bsky.social!
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/4...
Faster contextual changes are associated with faster drift in hippocampal activity and reduced temporal clustering in recalled memories.
Elegant work led by @lindsayrait.bsky.social!
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/4...
Hippocampal Drift Rate Reflects the Temporal Organization of Memories
When freely recalling past events, individuals tend to successively remember stimuli that were studied close together in time—a phenomenon known as temporal clustering. Temporal clustering is thought ...
www.jneurosci.org
November 20, 2025 at 2:37 PM
How do changes in context influence how we organize our memories in time?
Faster contextual changes are associated with faster drift in hippocampal activity and reduced temporal clustering in recalled memories.
Elegant work led by @lindsayrait.bsky.social!
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/4...
Faster contextual changes are associated with faster drift in hippocampal activity and reduced temporal clustering in recalled memories.
Elegant work led by @lindsayrait.bsky.social!
www.jneurosci.org/content/45/4...
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
Really delighted to share our new article in Current Biology showing that the cingulate-to-dorsolateral prefrontal pathway is not involved in trial-to-trial short-term adaptation but rather in sustained motivational control.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
Redirecting
doi.org
November 2, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Really delighted to share our new article in Current Biology showing that the cingulate-to-dorsolateral prefrontal pathway is not involved in trial-to-trial short-term adaptation but rather in sustained motivational control.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
I’m excited to share my recent preprint on a neural network model of free recall that learns multiple memory strategies including the memory palace!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 21, 2025 at 3:36 AM
I’m excited to share my recent preprint on a neural network model of free recall that learns multiple memory strategies including the memory palace!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
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 Sven Wientjes
I was mesmerized by the idea that something static can convey not only motion but also temporality, and I decided to test it empirically. It wasn’t an easy task, as the way our data was organized didn’t make it straightforward. But now, here is our paper!
♥️ www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
♥️ www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
September 19, 2025 at 1:49 PM
I was mesmerized by the idea that something static can convey not only motion but also temporality, and I decided to test it empirically. It wasn’t an easy task, as the way our data was organized didn’t make it straightforward. But now, here is our paper!
♥️ www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
♥️ www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
New paper alert! Work by @cogirmak.bsky.social explores the motion events in 300+ comics from around the world, revealing subtle underlying features of different types of motion cues: "Whoosh! visual depictions of direction, speed, and temporality" www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
September 19, 2025 at 1:34 PM
New paper alert! Work by @cogirmak.bsky.social explores the motion events in 300+ comics from around the world, revealing subtle underlying features of different types of motion cues: "Whoosh! visual depictions of direction, speed, and temporality" www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
Thrilled to announce our new paper in JEP: General!
psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
We show how proactive control declines while reactive control remains robust across the lifespan, using multiple measures of both in a novel Stroop paradigm. A very rich, open dataset for future modeling projects!
psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
We show how proactive control declines while reactive control remains robust across the lifespan, using multiple measures of both in a novel Stroop paradigm. A very rich, open dataset for future modeling projects!
APA PsycNet
psycnet.apa.org
September 3, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Thrilled to announce our new paper in JEP: General!
psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
We show how proactive control declines while reactive control remains robust across the lifespan, using multiple measures of both in a novel Stroop paradigm. A very rich, open dataset for future modeling projects!
psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
We show how proactive control declines while reactive control remains robust across the lifespan, using multiple measures of both in a novel Stroop paradigm. A very rich, open dataset for future modeling projects!
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
Decoding the dynamics of cognitive control: Insights from reach movements and electroencephalography https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.29.673147v1
September 3, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Decoding the dynamics of cognitive control: Insights from reach movements and electroencephalography https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.29.673147v1
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
Need to control visual similarity in your experiments? A new open database by Robbins and colleagues @michaelhout.bsky.social @haywardgodwin.bsky.social, published in #psynomBRM, maps similarity among 1,200 objects in 20 categories using MDS—validated & ready to use.
Resources for Research
This section provides brief summaries of selected resources for research that have been published in journals of the Psychonomic Society, typically Behavior Research Methods. These resources consis…
wp.me
August 28, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Need to control visual similarity in your experiments? A new open database by Robbins and colleagues @michaelhout.bsky.social @haywardgodwin.bsky.social, published in #psynomBRM, maps similarity among 1,200 objects in 20 categories using MDS—validated & ready to use.
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
Adaptive behavior is guided by integrated representations of controlled and non-controlled information https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.07.669231v1
August 11, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Adaptive behavior is guided by integrated representations of controlled and non-controlled information https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.07.669231v1
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
My first, first author paper, comparing the properties of memory-augmented large language models and human episodic memory, out in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social!
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lV174sIRv...
Here’s a quick 🧵(1/n)
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lV174sIRv...
Here’s a quick 🧵(1/n)
authors.elsevier.com
July 26, 2025 at 3:05 PM
My first, first author paper, comparing the properties of memory-augmented large language models and human episodic memory, out in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social!
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lV174sIRv...
Here’s a quick 🧵(1/n)
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lV174sIRv...
Here’s a quick 🧵(1/n)
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
New review paper with Maverick Smith on improving memory for stuff people actually want to remember:
doi.org/10.1177/0963...
doi.org/10.1177/0963...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
doi.org
July 25, 2025 at 7:05 PM
New review paper with Maverick Smith on improving memory for stuff people actually want to remember:
doi.org/10.1177/0963...
doi.org/10.1177/0963...
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
My latest: a short review on latent variable models to help uncover trial-to-trial structure in perceptual decision-making strategies
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lMiv4sIRv...
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lMiv4sIRv...
July 4, 2025 at 2:08 PM
My latest: a short review on latent variable models to help uncover trial-to-trial structure in perceptual decision-making strategies
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lMiv4sIRv...
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lMiv4sIRv...
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
Origin and Control of Persistent Mental Content: https://osf.io/dghnf
July 3, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Origin and Control of Persistent Mental Content: https://osf.io/dghnf
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
In this new preprint, in review @elife.bsky.social, we show what processing steps make up the reaction time using single trial #EEG modelling in a contrast #decision task.
In this 🧵 I'm telling the story behind it as I think it is quite interesting and I can't write it like this in the paper...
In this 🧵 I'm telling the story behind it as I think it is quite interesting and I can't write it like this in the paper...
Decision-making components and times revealed by the single-trial electro-encephalogram https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.25.661505v1
June 26, 2025 at 7:36 AM
In this new preprint, in review @elife.bsky.social, we show what processing steps make up the reaction time using single trial #EEG modelling in a contrast #decision task.
In this 🧵 I'm telling the story behind it as I think it is quite interesting and I can't write it like this in the paper...
In this 🧵 I'm telling the story behind it as I think it is quite interesting and I can't write it like this in the paper...
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
Subgoals in Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning: https://osf.io/vnte2
June 13, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Subgoals in Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning: https://osf.io/vnte2
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
Two time scales of adaptation in human learning rates https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.05.658048v1
June 6, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Two time scales of adaptation in human learning rates https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.05.658048v1
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
New modeling paper, spearheaded by Raphael Geddert and Seth Madlon-Kay, now out in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review: "Modeling of control over task switching and cross-task interference supports a two-dimensional model of cognitive stability and flexibility".
Free read link: rdcu.be/epatc
Free read link: rdcu.be/epatc
June 3, 2025 at 2:51 PM
New modeling paper, spearheaded by Raphael Geddert and Seth Madlon-Kay, now out in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review: "Modeling of control over task switching and cross-task interference supports a two-dimensional model of cognitive stability and flexibility".
Free read link: rdcu.be/epatc
Free read link: rdcu.be/epatc
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
Excited to announce that our paper (led by @hyejinjadelee.bsky.social & Derek Smith) is out in @nathumbehav.nature.com
go.illinois.edu/Lee2025_NHB
We use 36 days of testing in 4 inhibitory control tasks to examine the precision of inhibitory control measures in *individuals* and how they vary
🧵👇
go.illinois.edu/Lee2025_NHB
We use 36 days of testing in 4 inhibitory control tasks to examine the precision of inhibitory control measures in *individuals* and how they vary
🧵👇
Precise individual measures of inhibitory control
Nature Human Behaviour - Collecting an extensive publicly available dataset on four inhibitory control tasks, Gratton et al. show that more than 1,000 trials per participant are necessary to reduce...
go.illinois.edu
May 28, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Excited to announce that our paper (led by @hyejinjadelee.bsky.social & Derek Smith) is out in @nathumbehav.nature.com
go.illinois.edu/Lee2025_NHB
We use 36 days of testing in 4 inhibitory control tasks to examine the precision of inhibitory control measures in *individuals* and how they vary
🧵👇
go.illinois.edu/Lee2025_NHB
We use 36 days of testing in 4 inhibitory control tasks to examine the precision of inhibitory control measures in *individuals* and how they vary
🧵👇
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
What happens when we stretch RL over 24 days, with 1 or 2 iterations only per day? Check our preprint! A great collaboration with @benrottman.bsky.social and Yiwen Zhang. @collinsccnlab.bsky.social
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
May 27, 2025 at 4:26 PM
What happens when we stretch RL over 24 days, with 1 or 2 iterations only per day? Check our preprint! A great collaboration with @benrottman.bsky.social and Yiwen Zhang. @collinsccnlab.bsky.social
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
🚀 PhD Position in Psychological Methods at @unimarburg.bsky.social
📅 Start: 01.10.2025 | 💼 50% TV-H E13 | ⏳ 3 years
Focus on statistical modeling—Bayesian statistics, cognitive modeling, psychometrics.
🔗 Apply now: uni-marburg.de/r5dKTr
🔄 Thanks for sharing!
📅 Start: 01.10.2025 | 💼 50% TV-H E13 | ⏳ 3 years
Focus on statistical modeling—Bayesian statistics, cognitive modeling, psychometrics.
🔗 Apply now: uni-marburg.de/r5dKTr
🔄 Thanks for sharing!
May 15, 2025 at 1:31 PM
🚀 PhD Position in Psychological Methods at @unimarburg.bsky.social
📅 Start: 01.10.2025 | 💼 50% TV-H E13 | ⏳ 3 years
Focus on statistical modeling—Bayesian statistics, cognitive modeling, psychometrics.
🔗 Apply now: uni-marburg.de/r5dKTr
🔄 Thanks for sharing!
📅 Start: 01.10.2025 | 💼 50% TV-H E13 | ⏳ 3 years
Focus on statistical modeling—Bayesian statistics, cognitive modeling, psychometrics.
🔗 Apply now: uni-marburg.de/r5dKTr
🔄 Thanks for sharing!
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
The Role of Working Memory in Reward-based Learning over Long Timeframes: Opponent Bootstrapping and Interference E ects of Working Memory on Incremental Learning: https://osf.io/vb9u6
May 25, 2025 at 8:38 PM
The Role of Working Memory in Reward-based Learning over Long Timeframes: Opponent Bootstrapping and Interference E ects of Working Memory on Incremental Learning: https://osf.io/vb9u6
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
We're organizing a symposium in Ghent on "Flexible Definitions of Cognitive Flexibility" on Wednesday, September 10th, with six exciting speakers: shengjiexu.ugent.be/CoCoFlex_Sem.... Registration is free, but seats are limited. You can also submit poster or talk abstracts by July 31st!
shengjiexu.ugent.be
May 20, 2025 at 8:33 AM
We're organizing a symposium in Ghent on "Flexible Definitions of Cognitive Flexibility" on Wednesday, September 10th, with six exciting speakers: shengjiexu.ugent.be/CoCoFlex_Sem.... Registration is free, but seats are limited. You can also submit poster or talk abstracts by July 31st!
Reposted by Sven Wientjes
Complex Span and the N-Back Lack Convergent Validity as Measures of Working Memory: https://osf.io/2xnka
May 17, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Complex Span and the N-Back Lack Convergent Validity as Measures of Working Memory: https://osf.io/2xnka