Nidhi Seethapathi
assistant professor at MIT building computational models to understand human movement
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiI hope this new-ish paper will challenge people to think about the interpretations of our models STRIATUM SUPPORTS REINFORCEMENT AND NOT ACTION SELECTION (!!!) tinyurl.com/HodgeAndYttri @cmuscience.bsky.social @cmu-neuroscience.bsky.social #neuroskyence
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiYang ICoN researchers are revealing the shared rules of balance across species. 🧠🚶♀️🐭🪰 Humans, mice, and flies all use the same error-correction strategy to stay upright, thanks to new work led by ICoN Center’s @nidhise.bsky.social & ICoN Fellow @antoinecomite.bsky.social.
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiNew preprint; Shared feedback control principles across standing and walking. With Yang Geng and @jvandieen.bsky.social. Feedback welcome! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiLet's compare our world models. I find that different people seem to have rather distinct internal world models. E.g. I personally have neither visual imagination nor an inner voice, found it weird others do. Here is a quick google forms to check idea: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
- The best place in the world to be at the cutting edge of muscle models!
- The Nishikawa lab at Northern Arizona University and the NSF-funded Integrative Movement Sciences Institute are hiring a postdoc to help develop multiscale muscle models - please apply and share widely! careers.nau.edu/cw/en-us/job...
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiI think almost all scientific projects should be planned carefully. And I think an app can dramatically improve that. So I wrote an app for that (free for now, if you can fund this let me know). I tested it quite a bit (>8000 users in beta so far). try it: planyourscience.com
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiMy research group has an open position for a postdoc! Interested in investigating the postural transition towards mammalian gait using movement simulations? We might have the right position for you! More details and application info here: www.asm.tf.fau.de/en/2025/11/1...
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiOn a similar note, I feel like we ought to stop writing papers as flowing text and instead just have the bullet points you would have used as a prompt. I'm actually not joking.
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiMLMC2025 is tomorrow! For those joining remotely, here is the link for the meeting: harvard.zoom.us/j/9544921964... Reminder, the conference will start promptly at 9am PST. Please visit the website for additional information, schedule, registration, etc! motor-conference.org/openconf.php
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiCome to my poster at SfN on Wednesday morning! I'll present my work on how the cerebellum uses internal models to control neocortical dynamics in a non-motor learning task. I'm biased, but I think it's pretty exciting! www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/21171...
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiIndia won the Women’s Cricket World Cup for the first time with a 52-run victory over South Africa on Sunday.
- Reposted by Nidhi Seethapathi1/N How do neural dynamics in motor cortex interact with those in subcortical networks to flexibly control movement? I’m beyond thrilled to share our work on this problem, led by Eric Kirk @eric-kirk.bsky.social with help from Kangjia Cai! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiWe are excited to share our new paper that dives into how ongoing decision deliberation reflects ongoing movements: (jneurosci.org/content/45/3... A tour-de-force by the incredible Jan Calalo.
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiThe cerebellum isn’t just about coordinating movement. It’s implicated in nearly every domain of cognition—from language to social behavior. But how exactly does the cerebellum contribute to action and cognition? 🧵 Check out our new paper w/ Rich Ivry. arxiv.org/abs/2509.09818
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiStoked to see our study out in final form! Big kudos to @jonathanamichaels.bsky.social for driving this along for the past 5 years.
- Thrilled that our paper is out today in Nature! www.nature.com/articles/s4...
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiNew Pre-Print: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... We’re all familiar with having to practice a new skill to get better at it, but what really happens during practice? The answer, I propose, is reinforcement learning - specifically policy-gradient reinforcement learning. Overview 🧵 below...
- Our 2024 paper showed that policy gradient RL (with performance-based memory updates) predicts long-horizon motor learning. Now, @adrianhaith.bsky.social shows that policy-gradient RL also explains learning in other shorter horizon tasks. Exciting! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- link to our paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiImportant work by @nidhise.bsky.social discovering signatures of control for stable locomotion across species. Excited to see the models applied to diverse species as part of IMSI @movementscience.bsky.social
- Excited that this work discovering cross-species signatures of stabilizing foot placement control is now out in PNAS! pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @antoinecomite.bsky.social
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiCheck out this #incredible work on #stability and #control during movement across #humans, #mice, and #flies. Congratulations @nidhise.bsky.social and @antoinecomite.bsky.social 👏🏽⭐
- Excited that this work discovering cross-species signatures of stabilizing foot placement control is now out in PNAS! pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @antoinecomite.bsky.social
- Excited that this work discovering cross-species signatures of stabilizing foot placement control is now out in PNAS! pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @antoinecomite.bsky.social
- How do animals walk stably in the presence of intrinsic noise or external perturbations? biorxiv.org/content/10.1... We lack a unified answer to this question across species. In this preprint, we find that legged species use a shared strategy for stable locomotion: foot placement control! (1/6)
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiUnderstanding behavior requires datasets that capture humans while carrying out complex tasks. The kitchen is an excellent environment for assessing human motor and cognitive function, as many complex actions are naturally exhibited in kitchens from chopping to 🧽! arxiv.org/abs/2506.01608
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiLast week, I had the incredible privilege of talking with the @mit.edu first-generation, low income graduating class of 2025 as the event's keynote speaker. (1/n)
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiThe NSF Integrative Movement Sciences Institute (IMSI) is a major biology research center spanning over 20 US institutions. The Mission: To understand why we move like we do--from molecules to muscles to our environment. At our Summer Institute, we train new students in our labs--like Hannah Chow:
- In Nov last year, we published a predictive theory of locomotor adaptation to novel environments, capturing learning and generalization phenomena in over ten experiments: www.nature.com/articles/s41... I'm honored to be featured on the 2025 Innovators Under 35 list for this work. ter.li/7c0jek
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiWe test this by considering a cross-linguistic dataset of locomotion naming 🏃♀️💃🚶 We find that even in this challenging dynamical multi-modal domain, systems of semantic categories across languages are significantly efficient 7/n
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiCogsci and AI: two different approaches as articulated by Josh Tenenbaum #cogsci2025
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiThis is what the science machine does. No massive breakthrough. No single cure. Just lots and lots of cumulative knowledge that makes things better… www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiUgh… there’s also what I call messianic AI, the fantasy that AI will “solve” science. Treating science like a vending machine for solitons/profit & scientists as human cogs replaceable by machinery. But Science is a living culture of critical discussion, mentorship, shared community values &methods.
- Reposted by Nidhi Seethapathi
100%! Universities and scientists should not cave, THE PUBLIC IS WITH US! We much FIGHT BACK against efforts to demolish US universities and US science, two things that actually make America great. - Reposted by Nidhi Seethapathi📢📢 Abstract submission extended 📢📢 The new deadline for your abstract submission is the 30th of April ‼️ All you need to do is submit your 1-minute video on what you'd talk about using this link: forms.gle/rk9GGtwDCPtN... Dynamic Walking 2025 is in Aachen, Germany on the 14th - 17th of July. 🦿🦵
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiIt's what you've all been waiting and hoping for; the deets on Dynamic Walking 2025! 🚶🎉 The when: July 14th - 17th The Where: Aachen (Germany, but bordering the Netherlands) The submission process: dynamicwalking2025.org The deadline: April 25th 🚶♀️Hope to see you soon <3 🚶
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiOnly two weeks left to submit your video abstract for Dynamic Walking!🚶♀️🚶♂️ Are you planning something creative for your video? How likely do you think it is that someone will use the medium of interpretive dance? 💃🕺 Submission portal and details: dynamicwalking2025.org
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiCheck out the latest Superlab guest speaker. We were lucky to host @aniladmello.bsky.social who gave a fascinating presentation about the cerebellum and its relationship to autism. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzOe...
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiWe are recruiting trainees for the Integrative Movement Sciences Summer Institute. Students will gain research experience in dynamic muscular control of movement across organizational scales from molecular mechanisms to whole-body movement in complex environments. Learn more: tinyurl.com/5n7w6pey
- my inbox tryin' to balance the calm and the crazy
- Neuroethology ftw!
- New blog post: The principle of neuroscience. medium.com/@kording/the...
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiVery proud of MIT for waiving tuition for any student from a family making less than $200K. abcnews.go.com/US/massachus...
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiAnnouncing a new week-long program for young computational neuroscience/ behavior professors to talk about rigorous science, mentoring, lab management, and networking in a stunning retreat setting. Do great science as a community and have fun doing so.
- I've noticed that journals hold theory papers to experiment-centric standards, stifling idea generation. JEB has launched an article type for theory+modeling that will address this. A bold move and sign of thoughtful leadership -- will other journals follow? journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiHello to all the new Bluesky-ers! I’m a postdoc at Harvard working to improve neural interfaces using implantable devices and neurosurgical reconstruction. I wrapped up my PhD in Robotics earlier this year, where I worked on augmenting human locomotor balance using intelligent wearable robots.
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiI’m giving a career talk for SfN Online this afternoon at 1pm EST. Free for members or $15. neuronline.sfn.org/scientific-r...
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiPersian/islamic scientists & philosophers that I grew up reading about made their breakthroughs while searching in the space between math, alchemy, poetry, philosophy, medicine. Newton mostly worked on esoteric knowledge & collected crystals. To turn the ship around, we need paradigm shifts.
- Reposted by Nidhi SeethapathiSome thoughts on the value of exploratory studies in movement science. A thread. tl;dr Most studies in our field are exploratory, not confirmatory, and that’s okay. However, we could all benefit from rethinking how we do, report, and interpret this exploratory work.
- Reposted by Nidhi Seethapathi[This post could not be retrieved]
- How do animals walk stably in the presence of intrinsic noise or external perturbations? biorxiv.org/content/10.1... We lack a unified answer to this question across species. In this preprint, we find that legged species use a shared strategy for stable locomotion: foot placement control! (1/6)
- What is foot placement control? Simply put, it is the act of correcting recent errors by modifying how you step while in motion. This dynamic strategy has enjoyed real-world success in controlling legged robots e.g. in Boston Dynamics. Humans use it too! (2/6)
- But, do other animals use this control strategy? Finding shared control strategies across species could help transfer biological insights into stable walking from animals to humans + robots. We find that flies, mice, and humans all do foot placement control during walking (3/6)
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View full threadFirst author Antoine De Comite and I benefited greatly from open data for this cross-species investigation, and we hope this work inspires further integration between animal, human, and robot locomotor control 🙂
