Eelke Spaak
@eelkespaak.bsky.social
PI of Brain & Experience Lab at Donders Institute, The Netherlands. | Director of Cognitive Neuroscience MSc programme
The brain continuously optimizing its predictions. Local "leaky" circuits correct errors, while hierarchies link these computations using nonlinearities shaped by prior expectations. Predictive Coding with Bayesian Priors via Proximal Gradients arxiv.org/abs/2606.08374 #neuroscience
Predictive Coding with Bayesian Priors via Proximal Gradients
We recast predictive coding as continuous-time proximal gradient descent applied to a regularized maximum-a-posteriori (MAP) objective. We study first a single-level problem and then a multi-level hie...
arxiv.org
New paper out in JEP:HPP! psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/... Can we learn from things we're not paying attention to? We used a contextual cueing paradigm to pit selective attention against spatial prediction during visual search in 2 high-powered (N=104) experiments — and found they actively compete.
APA PsycNet
psycnet.apa.org
“The penalty is a 1-year ban from arXiv followed by the requirement that subsequent arXiv submissions must first be accepted at a reputable peer-reviewed venue.“ It’s more intense than a one-year ban. You still can’t post preprints after one year, only papers accepted for publication.
404 Media@404media.co · 5mo agoNEW: ArXiv, the open-access repository of preprint academic research, will ban authors of papers for a year if they submit obviously AI-generated work. www.404media.co/new-arxiv-ru...
Categorization is ‘baked’ into the brain — a Perspective by Lisa Feldman Barrett & Earl K. Miller @lisafeldmanbarrett.com @earlkmiller.bsky.social #neuroscience #neuroskyence www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Categorization is ‘baked’ into the brain - Nature Reviews Neuroscience
Categorization, the grouping of objects, living organisms, actions or events into equivalence clusters, is fundamental to adaptive behaviour. In this Perspective, Barrett and Miller discuss evidence t...
nature.com
It really is quite grimly hilarious how the drive for "Open Access" in academic publication was almost immediately captured by publishers who declared that, if readers weren't going to pay, then authors and their employers would have to. And we bought it, schmucks.
Dr Vanessa@hpsvanessa.bsky.social · 7mo agoMy extra radical far loony left position is that no one should ever be allowed to make a profit from academic publishing. It is a public good. See also: education, healthcare (on a good day, public transport…)
A new preprint, co-authored with @johnwkrakauer.bsky.social: The Deliberation Taboo Cognitive science is, nominally, the science of thinking. We argue that the field has no theory of what thinking is and, even worse, that the topic has largely dropped out of focus. 1/ osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
#hiring Come work with us to better understand the neuronal mechanism underlying perceptual consciousness! 18 months postdoctoral position at INSERM in Grenoble, France. ⌛Application deadline 10 March 2026. euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/408445
Postdoctoral researcher on single neuron recordings for consciousness
Contract period: 18 monthsExpected date of employment: June 2026Proportion of work: Full timeSalary: according to INSERM scales (~2900 – 3300 € gross / month based on experience)Desired level of educa...
euraxess.ec.europa.eu
I just did the dumbest thing of my entire career to prove a much more serious point. I tricked ChatGPT and Google, and made them tell other users I’m a competitive hot-dog-eating world champion People are using this trick on a massive scale to make AI tell you lies. I’ll explain how I did it
its amazing how chatgpt knows everything about subjects I know nothing about, but is wrong like 40% of the time in things im an expert on. not going to think about this any further
the cutoff scores for #MSCA postdoc fellowships are very high this year. has the score distribution shifted compared to previous years? I made a plot with scores from past years. if scores are at ceiling level, the process becomes essentially a lottery, because minor issues can lead to deductions.
𝗧𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 "Cortical traveling waves in time and space: Physics, physiology, and psychology" is going to the top of the list! doi.org/10.1016/j.ne... #neuroskyence
Chatbots offer a magnificent bribe - a fast, frictionless route to information that bypasses the discomfort of learning. In this op-ed, we describe this as a Faustian bargain, in which we trade away what it means to be human & universities trade away their value www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
Learning is complex, messy, emotional: AI can’t replicate that
ChatGPT and other AI tools may seem irresistible. But educators should beware, as they could end up trading away the thing that gives them value — the rich experience of slow learning
irishexaminer.com
Over een 'open-alles-tentamen' en massaal gebruik van ChatGPT. 'Een dappere vriendin kan nu op maximaal een vier rekenen. Ik haal met gedachteloos gestrest overschrijven waarschijnlijk een acht binnen. Het had omgekeerd moeten zijn.'
Cum prompt
Jenna Zaagsma (23) is masterstudent biomedische technologie en educatie in de bètawetenschappen. In haar vrije tijd is ze te vinden bij studentenscouting Radix en vechtsportvereniging Arashi. Ze schri...
utoday.nl
"Daarom verzoek ik u mijn medestudenten en mij te beschermen tegen toekomstige varianten van deze zinloosheid. Kijk alstublieft samen met opleidingen waar dit soort ‘toetsing’ plaatsvindt en grijp in. Inflatie voel ik al. Dat hoeft niet door te dringen in de waarde van mijn diploma."
U-Today@utoday.bsky.social · 8mo agoOver een 'open-alles-tentamen' en massaal gebruik van ChatGPT. 'Een dappere vriendin kan nu op maximaal een vier rekenen. Ik haal met gedachteloos gestrest overschrijven waarschijnlijk een acht binnen. Het had omgekeerd moeten zijn.'
What is the brain for? Active inference is widely discussed as a unifying framework for understanding brain function, yet its empirical status remains debated. Our review identifies core predictions across the action-perception cycle and evaluates their empirical support: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Over 100 confirmed visitors to this conference, and there is still room to join for next week! Nijmegen, NL, 5-6 Feb
wimpouw@wimpouw.bsky.social · 11mo agoAcademic publishing is broken due to for-profit actors. Time to explore alternatives as researchers → A Diamond Open Access conference, Feb 5-6, 2026 in Nijmegen NL. Free registration (limited seats): horizondiamond.nl Let's build a sustainable publishing infrastructure together.
Do goal-directed actions minimize prediction error? Together with @haslagter.bsky.social and @fahrenfort.bsky.social I identified falsifiable predictions of active inference and reviewed the extent to which they are supported by empirical results. Read the preprint here: tinyurl.com/2by8k3h6
OSF
osf.io
OPINIE - Heino Falcke, hoogleraar astrofysica, stuitte bij het boeken van een eenvoudig treinticket op het ‘bureaucratisch monster’ van de universiteit. Waanzin, schrijft hij, die meer veroorzaakt dan persoonlijke frustratie. (1/2)
Wat een treinkaartje van 48 euro zegt over het zelfbeeld van de universiteit - Vox magazine
OPINIE - Heino Falcke, hoogleraar astrofysica, stuitte bij het boeken van een eenvoudig treinticket op het ‘bureaucratisch monster’ van de universiteit. Waanzin, schrijft hij, die meer veroorzaakt dan...
voxweb.nl
Does anyone know of any articles, etc that looks at how the various flavours of nonrepresentational cognitive science relate to one another? Shapiro wrote a useful book mapping out the flavours of embodiment, but thinking more mapping out eco psych, enactivism, dynamical systems...
University of Groningen: ⭐ no more big-tech by 2030 ⭐ Google Workplace 🚫 Windows 🚫 MS Office 🚫 ChatGPT 🚫 A huge challenge! Meeting culture won't get us there. Dedication and focus will. 💪🚀 Let's get to work. ukrant.nl/magazine/we-... @rug.nl @rug-gmw.bsky.social #science
We can do without them: how the UG is cutting ties with Big Tech
By 2030, the university aims to be digitally independent. And that’s not a pipe dream, say proponents of the plan.
ukrant.nl
Check out this short piece I wrote, based on my recent visit to the Critical AI Literacy symposium at Radboud University, organised by @irisvanrooij.bsky.social, @olivia.science and others: www.tue.nl/en/our-unive...
Are we critical enough of GenAI at TU/e?
Have you noticed the 'vibe shift'? When ChatGPT launched in 2022, there was amazement at its abilities, leading to a tech race, promises of an AI revolution, and hundreds of billions of dollars in inv...
tue.nl
This is a very good letter, and I especially endorse and appreciate this succinct specification of the goal of academic training.
Iris van Rooij 💭@irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 10mo ago“The goal of academic training is not to solve problems as efficiently and quickly as possible, but to develop skills for identifying and dealing with novel problems, which have never been solved before.” Open letter, consider signing 🖊️ if you haven’t yet 🙏 openletter.earth/open-letter-...
“The goal of academic training is not to solve problems as efficiently and quickly as possible, but to develop skills for identifying and dealing with novel problems, which have never been solved before.” Open letter, consider signing 🖊️ if you haven’t yet 🙏 openletter.earth/open-letter-...
Open Letter: Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI Technologies in Academia
openletter.earth
Fantastische column van hoogleraar natuurkunde Tjerk Oosterhuis over de staat van de universiteiten na decennia van onderfinanciering: www.mareonline.nl/opinie/ga-di...
‘Ga staken! En geef toe dat ons onderwijs achteruitholt’, betoogt natuurkundeprof Tjerk Oosterkamp
Hoe pijnlijk ook: we moeten toegeven dat universiteiten in tien jaar tijd flink zijn verslechterd, vindt Tjerk Oosterkamp. Harder werken helpt niet meer. En juist daarom moeten studenten en docenten d...
mareonline.nl
WOinActie! Gift link naar een opiniestuk van @rensbod.bsky.social @remcobreuker.bsky.social en @ingridrobeyns.bsky.social. @woinactie.bsky.social www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/...
Opinie | Hoe een mini-kabinet het hoger onderwijs sloopt
Dit demissionair kabinet voert ingrijpende onderwijsbezuinigingen door, zonder benodigd mandaat. Dat moet stoppen, zeggen Rens Bod, Remco Breuker en Ingrid Robeyns.
nrc.nl
« The real tragedy isn’t that students use ChatGPT to do their course work. It’s that universities are teaching everyone—students, faculty, administrators—to stop thinking. »
“Brain rot is not really rotting our brains,” says Earl Miller, a cognitive neuroscientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “It’s constantly creating an environment that our brains are not equipped to deal with. www.nationalgeographic.com/health/artic... #neuroscience
How Gen Z is fighting back against digital brain rot
From analog hobbies to tech curfews, these Gen Zers are experimenting with science-backed ways to help their brains feel a little less foggy.
nationalgeographic.com