Sucharit Katyal

Link to the original scientific article 👉 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Some people gain confidence from thinking things through, others lose it – new research Second-guessing yourself? Here’s how it can hurt (and at times help) your confidence.

A piece for The Conversation about our recent paper on two sources of confidence biases in people.
theconversation.com/some-people-...
In brief: Taking time to think about your decisions may either help or worsen underconfidence depending on whether it is related to gender or anxiety symptoms

With some trepidation, I'm putting this out into the world:
gershmanlab.com/textbook.html
It's a textbook called Computational Foundations of Cognitive Neuroscience, which I wrote for my class.

My hope is that this will be a living document, continuously improved as I get feedback.

We're running a 5th edition of the always-exciting UCL Summer School on Consciousness and Metacognition this year, 8th-10th July 2026 in London. Accommodation and travel expenses are covered.

For more information and how to apply, check out metacoglab.org/summer-schoo...

A nice write-up of our recent paper

Our computational model would also be useful to metacognition and computational psychiatry researchers 🤓. It simultaneously models dynamic metacognitive efficiency and 3 distinct sources of metacognitive bias, and has the potential to reveal the many different ways in which a person forms confidence

We hope this can aid future therapeutic interventions such that different people can adjust how they form confidence depending on the specific factors that distort their confidence ✨

We find that after making a decision, underconfidence in people with anxiety symptoms worsens with time, while it improves in women compared to men. Using a novel dynamic computational model of confidence, we show this is due to distinct computational sources of underconfidence!

Our new paper on different types of underconfidence in relation to anxiety symptoms and gender out now in Psychological Medicine 😊
doi.org/10.1017/S003...
with @smfleming.bsky.social

We find that after making a decision, underconfidence in people with anxiety symptoms worsens with time, while it improves in women compared to men. Using a novel dynamic computational model of confidence, we show this is due to distinct computational sources of underconfidence!

Our new study led by @renzolanfranco.bsky.social out in PNAS showing an indistinguishable association between performance and awareness judgements when it comes to bodily self-perception

Body ownership is not constructed unconsciously and then brought to awareness—it emerges directly in consciousness. A fundamental insight for understanding the bodily self, with clear implications for theories of consciousness. See PNAS article and thread below.

1/4 I’m super excited to share our latest PNAS paper: a 7T-fMRI study shows that functional connectivity between habenula and VTA in humans is associated with individual differences in negative learning bias, which further associates with higher anxiety and depression scores. doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

The respiratory cycle modulates distinct dynamics of affective and perceptual decision-making Author summary Breathing is more than just a vital process for survival — it influences how we perceive and interact with the world around us. Recent research suggests that the rhythm of breathing, fr...

🧠 New paper on breathing and the brain, out now
@plos.org Computational Biology! 🫁
"The respiratory cycle modulates distinct dynamics of affective and perceptual decision-making"
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
We show how respiratory 'tidal computations' alter our decisons!

Integrating cognitive neuroscience and clinical perspectives on metacognitive mechanisms in psychopathology - Nature Reviews Psychology Cognitive neuroscience and clinical psychology have made substantial advances in knowledge about metacognitive processes, but these fields have progressed in parallel. In this Review, Seow et al. inte...

Very pleased to share our new review in @natrevpsychol.nature.com on integrating cognitive neuroscience and clinical perspectives of metacognition in mental health! With @tobiasuhauser.bsky.social, Lena Jelinek, and Steffen Moritz. (1/3)

Web: www.nature.com/articles/s44...
PDF: rdcu.be/ePxUG

Brace yourself: neural and computational insights into
the experience of mental effort! Now out in @cerebralcortex.bsky.social Led by Gaia Corlazzoli.

Paper: desenderlab.com/wp-content/u.... Thread ↓↓↓

I’m excited to share our latest article “The Multifaceted Ganzfeld at the Crossroad Between Visual Perception and Consciousness: Behavioral, Neural and Qualitative Aspects”, published in Open Mind!

What a day. Our foundation model of cognitive science is out in Nature:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@marcelbinz.bsky.social's thread:
bsky.app/profile/marc...

Centaur is featured by the NYT:
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/s...

We got featured in a Nature views:
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Claire and team did a remarkable job here, and you should read their reply. An updated preprint from us will be out shortly, reflecting our revised understanding of these issues.

We @smfleming.bsky.social, Marion Rouault and @seowxft.bsky.social and I) have posted a reply osf.io/preprints/ps... to a preprint that recently raised concerns about the validity of associations between mental health and metacognition from online studies. I hope you can take the time to read it.

I am so excited to share that our paper 'A neural basis for distinguishing imagination from reality' is now published in @cp-neuron.bsky.social! 🧠✨ See thread below! doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...

Udbredt følelse kan stå i vejen for succes, siger forsker bag nyt studie. Men et bestemt værktøj kan være en løsning Læs mere her.

Also in Denmark's leading daily newspaper, Berlingske:
www.berlingske.dk/vores-liv/ud...

Study with @smfleming.bsky.social @docqhuys.bsky.social

You did well — so why do you feel like a fraud? The psychology of impostor syndrome Academics can feel like they’ve tricked their colleagues into overestimating them. This researcher knows how to fight it.

Some coverage in Danish newspapers (with a very broad interpretation) of our recent study ☺️
uniavisen.dk/en/you-did-w...

Also, recently in Denmark's leading daily www.berlingske.dk/kommentarer/...

Why an overreliance on AI-driven modelling is bad for science Without clear protocols to catch errors, artificial intelligence’s growing role in science could do more harm than good.

"In most scientific fields, AI is unlikely to be the solution to concerns about slowing progress." www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Aarhus University Student Survey This questionnaire will take approximately 15- 25 minutes to complete. Please answer in a safe environment and as truthfully as possible. As a neurodiverse research team, we prioritize the comfort an...

Do you have #ADHD or #autism? We're running a short, anonymous survey on interoception. It takes just 15–20 minutes, and your input would mean a lot.
👉 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Why do we doubt our own abilities when we are good at something? A new study from the University of Copenhagen and University College London has unraveled why some people feel insecure in their abilities – even when they are actually good at what they do.

Actually thanks to Simon from UCPH's press release team for thinking of this first:
news.ku.dk/all_news/202...

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 ...

Which is exactly what our study was designed to investigate: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Thank you popular science 💪🫡

In the 4 years of working on this study, this idea never crossed my mind. But it makes complete sense because Imposter Syndrome is defined as "self-doubt in one's abilities and accomplishments compared with others, despite evidence to suggest the contrary"