Elliot Smith

Always fun hangs in SD too!

That’s a wrap on #SfN25 with two terrific talks and two pretty packed posters from the immediate lab.

Welcome to Utah!

I’m excited about all those things!

Thanks, Adrian! I’m excited to be starting a lab at the University of Utah (theluolab.org)!

We’re recruiting at all levels.

If you’re excited about neural computation, large-scale multi-region recordings, and machine learning, let’s talk!

And yes, the mountains are as incredible as they say!

Traveling waves across scales: Different mechanisms but same canonical computation? The review proposes a novel mechanistic distinction between first- and second-order traveling waves that subserves a same canonical computation by ordering neuronal processing to impose a computationa...

🚨New publication!
I am extremely happy to share this new review article in elife on #Traveling_Waves!

@erc.europa.eu
@upcite.bsky.social

elifesciences.org/articles/106...

This is figure 1, which shows shared acoustic–phonetic processing in STG across native and foreign speech.

The human brain responds to the sounds of both familiar and unfamiliar languages in a similar way, according to research in Nature. The findings might guide future approaches to language learning and rehabilitation. go.nature.com/4ppvsHb #Neuroskyence 🧪

your brain on tik tok

Really great talk at HSN! Looking forward to digging into all those refs!

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.

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

Collapse of interictal suppressive networks permits seizure spread The interictal suppression hypothesis posits that brain networks respond to epilepsy by inhibiting seizure onset zones. By analysing network transitions in

More correlational support for the inward connectivity and propagation that Cathy Schevon first discovered over a decade ago.

Collapse of interictal suppressive networks permits seizure spread url: academic.oup.com/brain/articl...

Thanks! Hope you’re great as well! See you at HSN?

Very cool! Congrats, Joel!

Brain-wide single-neuron bases of working memory for sounds in humans In order to understand the constantly changing acoustic world our brains must maintain elements of auditory scenes in memory. The neural mechanisms for this fundamental process remain unclear. Here, w...

I rarely come on here or any social media, but wanted to share our latest preprint of large-scale human single neuron recordings during an auditory working memory task: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
I'm very grateful to our patients, my co-authors and the funders. And to anyone who reads it :-) 🧠📈🧵👇(1/5)

The Latest Defense Against ICE: 3D-Printed Whistles Chicagoans are making, sharing, and printing designs for whistles that can warn people when ICE is in the area. The goal is to “prevent as many people from being kidnapped as possible.”

Chicagoans are making, sharing, and printing designs for whistles that can warn people when ICE is in the area. The goal is to “prevent as many people from being kidnapped as possible.”

Screenshot of at least 20 slides on Climate Change: Key facts from Climate Central.

📣 We just released a new free resource at @climatecentral.org - a 72-slide deck introducing key facts about climate change, including its causes, impacts, and solutions. It also comes with speaker notes and links for local storytelling.

➡️ www.climatecentral.org/climate-matt... (English & Spanish)

Quick thread on the BBC and the political and societal significance of recent developments:

One of the main reasons the UK has historically been so much less polarised than the US, is that Britain has a shared source of information, consumed and trusted by most people regardless of their politics.

We are in the midst of an all-out attempt to exclude the global majority from science. Watson was clear about where he fell on that. I would trade every single dinner, meeting, seminar, fancy campus, and prestigious donor for my incredible friends to be safer. Their science is worth far more.

Kubler-Ross ofrenda in Morelia, Michoacán. #diadelosmiertos 🏵️🧠

Screenshot with text: The Computational Mechanisms of Psychopathology Lab (COMPLab; PI: Vanessa Brown, PhD) is recruiting for a postdoctoral fellow to join the lab. Research in the lab uses behavioral tasks (administered in-lab and remotely), functional and structural imaging, computational modeling, and mechanistic interventions (brief psychotherapy, neuromodulation) to investigate learning alterations in anxiety and related disorders. In particular, this position will support research funded by a new NIH R01 using predictive and generative modeling of threat imminence to understand and manipulate avoidance in anxiety. This position is ideal for someone with a background in some combination of behavior/learning theory approaches to anxiety, computational modeling of behavior, and fMRI analysis; and who wishes to gain or deepen expertise in these areas. The postdoctoral fellow will be expected to design experiments, analyze data, present and publish findings, apply for external funding, and assist with training other lab members and with lab management. Dr. Brown and the COMP Lab are strongly committed to mentorship, and support will be provided to assist the postdoctoral fellow to prepare for an independent research career.

I am recruiting a postdoc for a new NIMH-funded R01 using neural and behavioral models to understand anxious avoidance. Please share with anyone who may be interested!

Link: faculty-emory.icims.com/jobs/155929/...

I am recruiting a postdoc at UC Santa Barbara for an NIH-funded project on the organization of lateral PFC function--across emotion and cognition--using representational fMRI & TMS. I’d love to find someone w/ a background in cognitive control & computational modeling to complement our team! 🏝️ 🧠 🧲

Falling asleep follows a predictable bifurcation dynamic - Nature Neuroscience Li et al. propose a conceptual framework to study the phenomenon of falling asleep based on electroencephalogram data. They show that a tipping point marks the brain’s nonlinear wake-to-sleep transiti...

My co-authors have yet to move to Bluesky, so I'm pleased to announce our latest work has just been published in @nature.com Neuroscience. Amazing work led by Junheng Li, revealing that falling asleep follows a predictable bifurcation pattern #neuroskyence #sleep
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🚨 We are seeking a Digital Presence Coordinator!

Open to psych/neuro grad students, postdocs & faculty who are passionate about improving fairness in peer review.

Job details:

💻 Managing website, socials, newsletters

🕒 4–8 hrs/month | 💵 $500 honorarium | 📅 1-year term

Apply 👉 go.iu.edu/8vxh

The market for epilepsy neuromod is way bigger, but not as sexy as BCI

On the left, yellow-toned photos of mice, macaques, and humans. On the right, a quote from a 2025 paper in Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics by Faravelli I, Antón-Bolaños N, Brown JR, and Arlotta P titled, “Brain Organoids: Tools for Understanding the Uniqueness and Individual Variability of the Human Brain.” The quote reads: ““It is infeasible to engineer animal models that adequately replicate the breadth of human genetic variation to study its contribution to individual responses to disease triggers or therapeutics; thus, the field requires the ability to experimentally probe cells of the brains of different human individuals.” DOI: 10.1146/annurev-genom-111522-014009.

In this nice review, @irenefaravelli.bsky.social, @bolanosanton.bsky.social, Juliana R. Brown, & Paola Arlotta detail the many specificities of the human brain & compare the major differences in structure, connectivity, & function with those of even our closest primate relatives.

#neuroskyence 🧪

Are you accepting neuro program students? I know a couple who might be down to rotate!

One last reminder that I’m recruiting a graduate student through the Cognition & Neural Science area @utah.edu this Fall! The lab uses MRI to study healthy cognitive aging across the adult lifespan and will start assessing factors that moderate cognitive aging (air pollution, cardiovascular health).

Want the freedom of a fancy fellowship, but not the year-long wait or arduous application?

Come join my lab! Work on neuroscience and AI, explore your creativity, be independent or work closely with me, collaborate widely, and have a lot of fun!

my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

Neurocomputational basis of learning when choices simultaneously affect both oneself and others Nature Communications - When learning to make choices that simultaneously affect the self and others, asymmetric encoding of information guides future social behaviors across mutually beneficial,...

📢 Thrilled to share our paper is out now in @natcomms.nature.com

Shared computations underlie how we acquire actions that are mutually beneficial, instrumentally harmful (benefits self at the expense of others), altruistic (benefit others at the expense of self), or mutually costly

🧵 rdcu.be/eL8mZ