Ali Mahmoodi
Neuroscientist in Oxford, interested in learning and decision making.
Former engineer, reader, patzer.
- Reposted by Ali Mahmoodi🧵 New paper in @NatureComms Feedback-induced attitudinal changes in risk preferences Nasioulas, Potier, Cerrotti, Lebreton & me (2026) Does feedback really improve risky decision-making? Short answer: no! it changes attitudes, not learning. 👇 rdcu.be/e0VcO
- Reposted by Ali MahmoodiWanna compare dynamics across neural data, RNNs, or dynamical systems? We got a fast and furious method🏎️ The 1st preprint of my PhD 🥳 fast dynamical similarity analysis (fastDSA): 📜: arxiv.org/abs/2511.22828 💻: github.com/CMC-lab/fast... I’ll be @cosynemeeting.bsky.social - happy to chat 😉
- Better artificial intelligence does not mean better models of biology. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- Reposted by Ali Mahmoodi🚨new work with the dream team @danakarca.bsky.social @loopyluppi.bsky.social @fatemehhadaeghi.bsky.social @stuartoldham.bsky.social @duncanastle.bsky.social We use game theory and show the brain is not optimally wired for communication and there’s more to its story: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- Building compositional tasks with shared neural subspaces www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Exciting research position in Germany (Freiburg) with Carsten Mehring uni-freiburg.de/en/job/00004.... Carsten was my PhD supervisor. He is of the best scientists I have seen.
- Reposted by Ali Mahmoodi🚨Friends, we’re happy to share that our book is available for pre-order! 🎉 We aimed to cover all the foundations of the topic in an accessible manner for a large audience. It could help set up a bachelor-level curriculum on the topic. Pre-orders are very key for the fate of books: shorturl.at/Dxbif
- Reposted by Ali MahmoodiHappy to share my new paper published in @nathumbehav.nature.com: A critical look at statistical power in computational modeling studies, particularly those based on model selection. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Ali MahmoodiCome find out all about cognitive maps in the PFC!!
- Come join us at #SfN25 for the minisymposium "Cognitive Maps in the Prefrontal Cortex"! Saturday, Nov 15, 2:00-4:30pm, Room SDCC 6CF www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/21171... We will explore how the PFC represents structured relationships across species and how this supports flexible behavior.
- Reposted by Ali MahmoodiHow do we decide to reach out and make friends? My PhD work on this question is out today in @pnas.org 🎉 Study done in collaboration with the incredible @mirunarascu.bsky.social, @sorcha-hamilton.bsky.social, Ingrid Yu, and my two amazing supervisors, Matthew Rushworth and @mkflugge.bsky.social👇
- Brain-wide representations of prior information in mouse decision-making www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Ali MahmoodiNew paper our in @pnas.org, lead by @isabellehoxha.bsky.social with Léo Sperber. We use evolutionary simulation to assess and compare the adaptive value of positivity bias and gradual perseveration in reinforcement learning. Follow the thread below (and Isabelle!) for more details!
- Ever wondered why you keep going to that restaurant with stale fries? Is it because you went often in the past (perseveration) or because you remember past good experiences better (positivity bias)? Our study out in PNAS investigates the normative basis for these biases www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
- I’m glad to have played a small part in this project, where the brilliant Deng Pan combined modelling, fMRI and ultrasound stimulation to demonstrate the causal role of the hippocampus in learning based on inference. See Deng's thread below
- Reposted by Ali MahmoodiWe are super excited about the first human transcranial ultrasound study from our lab which is now on BiorXiv, showing the amygdala‘s role in processing ambiguous emotions and showing TUS changed resting-state connectivity and metabolite concentrations (GABA) in the amygdala - a huge team effort! 🥳🙏🏼
- Very happy to share my first preprint from @oxexppsy.bsky.social @oxneuro.bsky.social ! We (me + co-first authors @lilweb.bsky.social @mirunarascu.bsky.social + PI @mkflugge.bsky.social + many others) used transcranial focused ultrasound stimulation (TUS/tFUS/LIFU) of the human amygdala ... (1/15)
- Reposted by Ali MahmoodiNew paper with @nathanieldaw.bsky.social in Nature Communications: an RL model that builds a successor map compositionally. The new model plans as well as the best models, and it links components of the map used for planning to neural codes in the medial entorhinal cortex. rdcu.be/eAofi
- Reposted by Ali Mahmoodi📢 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/...
- Individual differences in decision-making shape how mesolimbic dopamine regulates choice confidence and change-of-mind www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- This is cool!
- Thrilled that our paper on the mechanisms underlying social learning strategies is out! First big paper from my @erc.europa.eu & @kawresearch.bsky.social funded group. More to come! I'm currently looking to recruit two post docs, get in touch if you find this line of research interesting.
- Reposted by Ali Mahmoodi🚨 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 have a Research Assistant position available in Rushworth Lab to help us with projects involving fMRI, TMS, and TUS. Find out more here my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
- Reposted by Ali Mahmoodinew paper from a collaborative endeavor! (@co0p3r.bsky.social) we find & replicate food-reward biases in a reinforcement learning task (where food stim are incidental) people with eating disorder symptoms show a low-calorie food bias while those without show a high-calorie food bias... (1/3)
- Reposted by Ali MahmoodiCompleting the mouse, ANN, human trilogy of projects, here are two openings to study cognitive map deficits in human psychosis patients with the inimitable @mattnour.bsky.social Using functional neuroimaging and planning tasks. If you’re keen to join us then apply!
- 🚨 Job adverts LIVE! 🚨 We want to understand how the brain supports abstract cognition in psychosis, using cutting-edge neuroscience. Non-Clinical RA: lnkd.in/eva-Zzfj Clinical RA: lnkd.in/eSgdad_F Postdoc: lnkd.in/eid8gtbR Oxford University Due June 23
- Reposted by Ali MahmoodiNew in Nature MentalHealth! with Vrizzi, Najar, Lemogne, and @mael-lebreton.bsky.social We tested whether behavioural and RL-based model parameters are test-retest reliable and predict mental health traits. The result? Not really. A cautionary tale for comp. psychiatry doi.org/10.1038/s442...
- Reposted by Ali Mahmoodi🚨 New preprint alert! 🚨 Thrilled to share new research on teaching! Work supervised by @cocoscilab.bsky.social, @yaelniv.bsky.social, and @markkho.bsky.social. This project asks: When do people teach by mentalizing vs with heuristics? 1/3 osf.io/preprints/os...
- Humans learn generalizable representations through efficient coding www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Hippocampal output suppresses orbitofrontal cortex schema cell formation www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Ali Mahmoodi🚨 New study alert! 🚨 Ever wondered if rats and humans learn in the same way? 🐭🧑🔬 We tested this — and the answer is yes, at least when it comes to how we value rewards in context. (with @shaunaparkes.bsky.social Lachlan Ferguson, Magdalena Soukupova) 🧵Thread 👇 1/ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Ali Mahmoodijoin us at @oxexppsy.bsky.social | @ox.ac.uk!
- We're excited to share that our lab is hiring for the position of Lab Manager/Research Assistant. A great opportunity to join our lab! You can find full details and apply via the link below: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMN515/r... Please feel free to share this with anyone who might be interested!
- Blimey! Machine-unique chess knowledge from an AI system (AlphaZero) can be transferred to four current or former world chess champions. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
- Reposted by Ali MahmoodiOur new paper with Max Taylor-Davies introduces a resource-rational model of Theory of Mind. The model can explain many of the successes and failures of mindreading in human adults and children, and non-human primates. 🧵
- Reposted by Ali Mahmoodigetting this paper published was a bit painful but I am proud of it: www.nature.com/articles/s41.... We use deep RL to find mechanisms that help (real) people sustain the commons. Well done to Raphael Koster and Miruna Pislar (not on BlueSky). non-paywalled version on arxiv.
- Reposted by Ali MahmoodiRe-posting is appreciated: We have a fully funded PhD position in CMC lab @cmc-lab.bsky.social (at @tudresden_de). You can use forms.gle/qiAv5NZ871kv... to send your application and find more information. Deadline is April 30. Find more about CMC lab: cmclab.org and email me if you have questions.
- Reposted by Ali Mahmoodi🚨 New paper 🚨 Out in @commspsychol.bsky.social: "Manipulating attention facilitates cooperation" with Claire Lugrin and @ccruff.bsky.social We use gaze data and display manipulations in one-shot Prisoner's Dilemma games and find that these manipulations can drive choices through attention 👇
- In a one-shot prisoner’s dilemma game, manipulating the location of payout information on computer screens changed participants’ gaze pattern sequences and resulted in greater cooperation when more focus was given to others’ outcomes. www.nature.com/articles/s44...
- Reposted by Ali MahmoodiNew 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...
- Chris Summerfield's previous book (Natural General Intelligence) was a spectacular read! Looking forward to reading his new book: These Strange New Minds.
- Reposted by Ali MahmoodiOur new paper on anterior prefrontal role of 'social metacognition' (projection of one's own introspection to imagine others' thought) is just out at Nature Communications rdcu.be/d6Tcg
- Schemas, reinforcement learning and the medial prefrontal cortex www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Context-dependent decision-making in the primate hippocampal–prefrontal circuit www.nature.com/articles/s41...
