Deng Pan

🚨We believe this is a major step forward in how we study hippocampus function in healthy humans. Using novel behavioral tasks, fMRI, RL & RNN modeling, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), we demonstrate the causal role of hippocampus in relational structure learning.

New perspective paper from our lab: “The hippocampus as a generative model” out now !! royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/article... The traditional view of the hippocampus is that it creates a cognitive map. Here we extend this view to conceptualise the hippocampus as a “generative model”.

Ever wondered how the hippocampal cognitive map is read-out? @changmin-yu.bsky.social @zilong-ji.bsky.social with Jake & John, show that, during navigation, theta sweeps indicate remembered goal-directions (cf. current/next movements or perceptual targets) 1/2 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How do brains plan actions towards goals? To get at this question we studied mice navigating complex mazes as goals changed on every trial 🧵 Work with @thomasakam.bsky.social @behrenstimb.bsky.social @kristorpjensen.bsky.social now on BioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

My undergraduate thesis, "Distinct patterns of social contagion under risk and ambiguity", is now published online at @commspsychol.nature.com Deeply grateful for the guidance and constant support of Dr. Qingtian Mi, Prof. Jian Li, and Prof. Lusha Zhu.

My undergraduate thesis, "Distinct patterns of social contagion under risk and ambiguity", is now published online at @commspsychol.nature.com Deeply grateful for the guidance and constant support of Dr. Qingtian Mi, Prof. Jian Li, and Prof. Lusha Zhu.

Oops, wrong time in the original post! It will be 15:30 CET 😉

I’m super excited to finally put my recent work with @behrenstimb.bsky.social on bioRxiv, where we develop a new mechanistic theory of how PFC structures adaptive behaviour using attractor dynamics in space and time! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Might focused ultrasound one day replace DBS? UK Scientists built a 256-panel focused ultrasound helmet that can precisely target deep brain regions. Using theta-burst TUS, they stimulated the LGN and found visual cortex activity with effects lasting up to 40 minutes. #neuroskyence #ultrasound

📢 We are hiring! 📢 For our @wellcometrust.bsky.social grant on information gathering biases in #OCD and #Schizophrenia, we are looking for a Postdoc in Computational Modelling, supervised by Peter Dayan and myself. Interested? See all the details in the job advert here: devcompsy.org/wp-content/u...

📢 We're hiring a Research Assistant in cognitive neuroscience & computational psychiatry! 📢 Join us at UCL to conduct an MEG study of reward & memory, exploring how brain signals link to variability in apathy and anhedonia. 🔗 apply from next week: lmdlab.github.io 🚨closes September 12th!

Some scientists haven't yet internalized the "why" behind science writing for the public - not just as a service, but for themselves. (I didn't always get it). In this piece for @natrevneuro.nature.com, I draw on the neuroscience of curiosity & decision making to unpack its value. rdcu.be/eCGr7

Also check out the TUS study from @mkflugge.bsky.social lab! Hope TUS opens up a new avenue for exploring deep brain functions in healthy humans!

Causal necessity of human hippocampus for structure-based inference in learning https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.19.664920v1

📢 Job announcement: Two (!) 3-year postdoc jobs in our lab at UCL 📢 🧠💫🔊 We are looking for postdocs interested in the abstract mechanisms underlying social cognition. Modelling, fMRI and non-invasive ultrasound, a new deep-brain stimulation method. Please RT www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

Thrilled to see our TinyRNN paper in @nature! We show how tiny RNNs predict choices of individual subjects accurately while staying fully interpretable. This approach can transform how we model cognitive processes in both healthy and disordered decisions. doi.org/10.1038/s415...

🚨 We’re hiring! The Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at Virginia Tech is looking for a postdoc to join our team studying the neural + computational mechanisms of structure learning and flexible cognition: ccnvt.github.io#positions

We're excited to announce that WIN is now the Oxford University Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging: OxCIN! Our mission: developing and deploying neuroimaging and related technology to solve big challenges in basic neuroscience and brain health. oxcin.ox.ac.uk/about/vision

Our study using layer fMRI to study the direction of communication between the hippocampus and cortex during perceptual predictions is finally out in Science Advances! Predicted-but-omitted shapes are represented in CA2/3 and correlate specifically with deep layers of PHC, suggesting feedback. 🧠🟦

announcing this year's neuroeconomics summer school, this time outside paris. too many great lecturers to list, even too many great organizers (plassmann,glimcher,tymula,kable,me). & you wouldnt believe all the past students and where they are now. sign up: www.insead.edu/events/neuro...

🚨 SUMMER SCHOOL! Announcing the 2nd Birmingham-Leiden Summer School in Computational Social Cognition, Sep 2-5, 2025. Fantastic line-up of keynote: Matthew Rushworth, Diana Tamir @dianatamir.bsky.social, and David Amodio @davidamodio.bsky.social . 👇 Apply by 18 April (compsoccog.com) and RT!

Our human relationship project has been published in Nature Human Behavior nature.com/articles/s41.... Freely download rdcu.be/edpa2. We also wrote a behind-the-paper blog communities.springernature.com/posts/mappin.... Thanks to all co-authors & helpful editorial team @naturehumbehav.bsky.social

A model of compositional state spaces in the #hippocampus shows latent learning and rapid generalisation, and predicts the emergence of place responses in replay – which is discovered empirically in an existing dataset 🧪🧠 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Even while processing current experiences, people reactivate old ones and re-encode them (shown using intracranial EEG), turning thoughts into memories. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our January 2025 issue is now live! Check out the table of contents: https://www.nature.c...

👨‍🎤COSMOS strikes back🌠! This time in Tokyo 🇯🇵 with a fantastic new program designed to teach computational modeling of social phenomena. As always, it's free to attend & we will offer travel stipends to ensure diverse attendance. For details visit 👉 cosmossummerschool.github.io/application/ pls share🙏

New paper from our lab now in @nature.com . We show that our brains use basis functions or "building blocks" to navigate social interactions. Rather than tracking every individual separately, social information is compressed into patterns that can be flexibly combined. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Super excited for my first summer school as faculty with such an awesome group! I was a CCN student (2016) and TA (2019), and I highly recommend it. Apply by March 31, 2025 www.csh-asia.org?content/2621