New paper from my PhD out in @elife.bsky.social! 🎉 We asked: when the state of the world is changing, how does the brain adjust how much incoming evidence is accumulated? Turns out there isn't one answer—there are (at least) two. 🧵
Jake Parker
@jacob-a-parker.bsky.social
PhD Candidate @ UPenn | I study how people reduce the complexity of inference and the implications of these simplifications for behavior and the brain | https://jacobaparker.github.io/
(New results!) Human inference behavior varies widely across individuals and tasks. Using the information bottleneck framework, we show that two distinct axes capture a substantial amount of individual variability across two classic inference tasks. Thread below 1/
An information-bottleneck theory of suboptimal human inference
Human inference is often suboptimal in ways that vary across individuals and tasks. We propose that this variability reflects information processing limits and develop a task-general application of th...
biorxiv.org
New preprint! Statistical structure skews object memory toward predictable successors. Model simulations show how this bias can arise from the backward expansion of hippocampal representations. w/co-first @codydong.bsky.social , @marlietandoc.bsky.social & @annaschapiro.bsky.social osf.io/yuxb6_v1
OSF
osf.io
excited to (finally!) share :) www.jneurosci.org/content/45/6...
Lesions to Different Regions of the Frontal Cortex Have Dissociable Effects on Voluntary Persistence in Humans
Deciding how long to keep waiting for uncertain future rewards is a complex problem. Previous research has shown that choosing to stop waiting results from an evaluative process that weighs the subjec...
jneurosci.org
Despite centuries of scientific advancements, the inner workings of much of the brain remained a complete mystery. Learn about a groundbreaking set of experiments that changed this in this week's piece by Jake Parker. pennneuroknow.com/2024/05/07/t... #neuroskyence #PsychSciSky #SciComm 🧪
The experiments that opened the brain’s black box
Despite centuries of scientific advancements, the inner workings of much of the brain remained a complete mystery. A groundbreaking set of experiments changed this.
pennneuroknow.com
Our first post of 2024 might make you feel a little better next time you forget something. Read "Why forgetting might actually be good thing," by Jake Parker for an illuminating look at why we forget. pennneuroknow.com/2024/01/09/w... #neuroskyence #PsychSciSky #SciComm 🧪
Why forgetting might actually be a good thing
Our tendency to forget names, passwords, and skills is a source of endless frustration. However, this forgetfulness might actually be crucial for optimal brain function.
pennneuroknow.com
New preprint! We use real-time TMR to show that sleep reactivation transforms object memories, enhancing certain features at the expense of others. W/ Sindhuja Uppuluri, Jianing Mu, @marlietandoc.bsky.social @jameswardantony.bsky.social @annaschapiro.bsky.social doi.org/10.1101/2023.12.14.571683
Memory reactivation during sleep does not act holistically on object memory
bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution
doi.org
If you’d like to learn how suboptimal decision-making, choice variability, and individual differences can all reflect information-efficient inference, come to my poster at UU22 tomorrow, Monday morning from 8 am - 12 noon! #SfN23
