Clare Press

It’s out!

Very happy to see "Pretending not to know reveals a capacity for model-based self-simulation", a collaboration with @chazfirestone.bsky.social and @ianbphillips.bsky.social, out in Psych. Science!

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177...

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📢 Workshop announcement.

We are super excited to announce the workshop Perceptual Inferences, from philosophy to neuroscience, organized by Alexander Schütz and Daniel Kaiser.

📍 Rauischholzhausen Castle, near Marburg, Germany
🗓️ June 8 to 10, 2026.
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Very proud that this is finally out!

Come for the new auditory illusion, stay for the brain imaging and speech analysis…..

The Self-Evidencing Agent What is it to be a human individual, an agent? According to Jakob Hohwy, it is to “self-evidence,” to actively seek out sensory evidence for one&...

"The Self-Evidencing Agent" - my new book - is out now with @mitpress.bsky.social

Can be purchased, or just download the whole thing for free, via the 'Open Access' option.

I'm grateful to @anilseth.bsky.social and Karl Friston for the generous endorsements.

mitpress.mit.edu/978026255389...

UCL launches landmark European collaboration on perception science UCL is working with top French partners CNRS and ENS – PSL on a major European research initiative to advance understanding of human perception and consciousness.

The CNRS (@cnrs.fr) and the Ecole Normale Supérieure/PSL University (@normalesup.bsky.social) is launching a 5-year International Research Project (IRP) with University College London (@ucl.ac.uk) on human perception and consciousness.

www.ucl.ac.uk/global/news/...

Ever wondered how the Dalmatian Dog effect works?

The human brain can quickly learn from a single experience and generalize it to related experiences — an impressive feat so far not matched by AI.

Our new paper in @natcomms.nature.com reveals how this works.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Forward and backward prediction in learning and perception Predictive processing frameworks have emphasized the role of forward prediction as a critical ingredient for learning and perceptual inference. We ant…

"Forward and backward prediction in learning and perception"

@predictivebrain.bsky.social @clarepress.bsky.social

nice to see our work situated within a broader research program on differences between learning & perceptual predictions

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Are episodic and semantic memory really that different? Using closely matched tasks, we found no substantial neural differences between recalling personal experiences and general knowledge: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-025-02390-4

a husky puppy is laying on the floor with its tongue out and wearing a blue collar . ALT: a husky puppy is laying on the floor with its tongue out and wearing a blue collar .

Here’s a thought that might make you tilt your head in curiosity: With every movement of your eyes, head, or body, the visual input to your eyes shifts! Nevertheless, it doesn't feel like the world does suddenly tilts sideways whenever you tilt your head. How can this be? TWEEPRINT ALERT! 🚨🧵 1/n

Biomedical and life science articles by female researchers spend longer under review Women are underrepresented in academia, especially in STEMM fields, at top institutions, and in senior positions. This study analyzes millions of biomedical and life science articles, revealing that f...

Cost of being female lead/corresponding author in biomedical sciences: "[T]he median amount of time spent under review is 7.4%–14.6% longer for female-authored articles than for male-authored articles" even in disciplines where women well-represented. #AcademicSky

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

#BrainMeeting 🧠 Alert! 🎺

This Friday, January 16th, the Brain Meeting speaker will be Janneke Jehee giving a talk entitled "Uncertainty in perceptual decision-making"

In person or online. For more information:
www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/event

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.

How do priors influence speech processing? Do they enhance expected signals or highlight the unexpected (prediction errors)? @fabianschneider.bsky.social' s work shows: It depends!

Many congrats Tobias, sounds very interesting!

Brilliant news Ryszard, excited to see what you find!

Brilliant news Alex, very well deserved!

Congrats again Peter - very well deserved!

tags: @uclpals.bsky.social @imagingneuroucl.bsky.social @ucl.ac.uk

#BrainMeeting 🧠 Alert! 🎺

This Friday, November 7th, the Brain Meeting speaker will be Simon Van Gaal giving a talk entitled "Linking global state fluctuations and recurrent processing to conscious perception in humans"

In person or online. For more information:
www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/event

YouTube video by UCL PALS McGettigan and Press Inaugural Professorial Lectures 2025

I finally gave my Professorial Inaugural Lecture. A great night with friends, family, & colleagues, & sharing the stage with a good friend @cmcgettigan.bsky.social🥂

Watch: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsTG... Bookmarks flag both my lecture and
@celiaheyes.bsky.social’s (far more entertaining!) intro

@uclpals.bsky.social @imagingneuroucl.bsky.social

Sensory expectations shape neural population dynamics in motor circuits Nature - Experiments with human volunteers and macaques show that expectations produced by probabilistic cueing of future sensory inputs shape motor circuit dynamics in order to increase the...

Thrilled that our paper is out today in Nature!
www.nature.com/articles/s4...

Contents of visual predictions oscillate at alpha frequencies Predictions of future events have a major impact on how we process sensory signals. However, it remains unclear how the brain keeps predictions online in anticipation of future inputs. Here, we combin...

@dotproduct.bsky.social's first first author paper is finally out in @sfnjournals.bsky.social! Her findings show that content-specific predictions fluctuate with alpha frequencies, suggesting a more specific role for alpha oscillations than we may have thought. With @jhaarsma.bsky.social. 🧠🟦 🧠🤖

Very excited to have you join us Megan 🎉

📣 BIG NEWS EVERYONE. I am so excited to announce…

🎉 I’m moving to University College London @ucl.ac.uk to join the Experimental Psychology department in @uclpals.bsky.social! 🎉

The big move happens in spring/summer. So I’m already exploring recruiting staff & students at UCL for fall 2026!

New position, new social media account. After 5 fantastic years in Tuebingen, I moved to @yale.edu and the @wutsaiyale.bsky.social this summer - which means that I’ll be recruiting PhD students and postdocs. Please help me to spread the word and see current opportunities below 👇

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).

Post doc job alert 📢! Announcing a v exciting job on a Wellcome-funded project in my group at UCL, looking at auditory hallucinations... Advert here 👀: rb.gy/230w8l - deadline is end of Oct. Please apply! 1/5

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).

New #job alert! Clinical research fellow / postdoc in #computationalpsychiatry at the @mpc-comppsych.bsky.social / @uclqsion.bsky.social and UCL psychiatry. We will aim to understand the computations engaged by serotonin in the treatment of depression. Please re-sky. www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

Next up in our Psychological Sciences Seminar Series:
🎤 Prof. Clare Press
🗓 Wed 8 Oct, 12:30–1:30 pm (note the earlier time)
📍 Room 612, Malet Street, + online via Teams
@clarepress.bsky.social @birkbeckpsychology.bsky.social