Russell Epstein
Cognitive neuroscientist at UPenn. Interested in scenes, memory, space. Occasionally thinks about other things.
- Our new paper in @sfnjournals.bsky.social shows different neural systems for integrating views into places--PPA integrates views *of* a location (e.g., views of a landmark), while RSC integrates views *from* a location (e.g., views of a panorama). Work by the bluesky-less Linfeng Tony Han.
- #JNeurosci: Using fMRI, Han and Epstein explored how people integrate different kinds of views to form mental maps of places, revealing two sets of brain regions involved in integrating views of landmarks into existing mental maps of a virtual city. doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0…
- Our results build on previous cool work by @carolinerobertson.bsky.social @nancykanwisher.bsky.social @annamynick.bsky.social @samberens.bsky.social @aidanhorner.bsky.social @neurosteel.bsky.social, among others.
- Some nice publicity on our recent "Neural compass" paper, from @sfnjournals.bsky.social.
- #JNeurosci: Lu et al. show that two brain regions—retrosplenial complex and superior parietal lobe—represent facing direction when people perform a naturalistic navigation task in a virtual-reality city. @russellepstein.bsky.social @gkaguirre.com @zhenganglu.bsky.social vist.ly/4chuk
- This is a great Postdoc opportunity at UPenn, for recent Ph.D.s who want to collaborate with CogSci (psych, neuro, ling, philo, cs, etc.) faculty and have their own research direction.
- Seeking applications from recent PhDs in neuro, psych, ling, philo, comp sci, or other cog sci discipline, for our MindCORE Fellowship. MindCORE is an interdisciplinary effort at Penn to understand human intelligence and behavior. Apply by Dec 1: mindcore.sas.upenn.edu/post-doctora...
- Penn declines! www.thedp.com/article/2025...
- Penn faculty senate passes resolution urging the Penn admin to reject the compact, as MIT and Brown have already done.
- Proud of the Penn faculty!!! www.inquirer.com/education/up...
- It's really not clear to me how U.S. democracy gets out of this one alive. Dems would need +6 on the popular vote to have a 50/50 chance of controlling the House. That's a recipe for a one-party state. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/u...
- The administrations "invitation" to 9 universities is in fact just their latest attempt at extortion. I urge my @upenn.edu colleagues to sign the petition below. actionnetwork.org/petitions/ju...
- Interested in navigation, VR, fMRI, aging? Here's a great postdoc opportunity in @stevenmweisberg.bsky.social's new lab at U Texas Arlington.
- Our new paper Cognitive maps for hierarchical spaces in the human brain is out in Cerebral Cortex! Work by first-author Michael Peer. academic-oup-com.proxy.library.upenn.edu/cercor/artic...
- Our new paper, “A neural compass in the human brain during naturalistic human navigation” is out in @sfnjournals.bsky.social! First-author @zhenganglu.bsky.social led the charge, with Josh Julian and collaborator @gkaguirre.com. www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
- How do we keep track of our sense of direction during navigation? Head direction cells in rodents are well-studied, but what about humans? To answer this question, we used an encoding model to analyze fMRI responses while participants performed a “taxi-cab” task in a VR city.
- We found heading-related response in retrosplenial complex (RSC) and superior parietal lobe (SPL). This is nicely consistent with previous studies that observed heading codes in these regions using trial-based designs.
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View full threadThis work builds on an extensive line of previous fMRI studies on heading codes (by @wolberslab.bsky.social, @doellerlab.bsky.social, @matthiasnau.bsky.social, @hugospiers.bsky.social, Baumann & Mattingley, Kim & Maguire + others). It was a LONG time in the making so we are thrilled to see it out!!!
- This is some very cool work that @ainsleybonin.bsky.social did at Colby College, working with Derek Huffman. If you are fortunate enough to be at CogSci, give it a look.
- If you’re heading to SF for #CogSci2025 this week and are interested in mobile EEG or spatial memory, come check out my talk on Thursday! (Talks 11: EEG, 2:15pm, Salon 5).
- Reposted by Russell EpsteinThe mass starvation & killing of Palestinians in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli gov’t is a chillul hashem, a desecration of God. Jewish leaders who criticized Zohran Mamdani for three words he doesn’t use should raise their voices loudly here as well. forward.com/opinion/7575...
- Supposedly AI is going to take over the world, but I just spent 30 minutes unsuccessfully trying to get ChatGPT to change the axis labels of a chart. Which it kept failing to do, each time saying "now I've done what you asked!" without changing a thing. So I am skeptical.
- This little document is immensely helpful.
- Just sent this as an email to my department but figured I'd share more broadly in case it is useful. This describes the procedure happening now for science funding in Congress (@davidimiller.bsky.social can correct me if I got this wrong). Importantly, there are still actions that can be taken.
- Reposted by Russell EpsteinDemocracies do not use their military to try and intimidate their own citizens with “shows of presence”. This is fascism.
- Reposted by Russell EpsteinWe’ve bombed Iran. And dismantled our joint terrorism task force. And sent a third of the FBI to help ICE. And gutted the National Security Council. And a drunk guy is in charge at the pentagon. And our intelligence allies probably won’t share intel with us. Because people couldn’t vote for a woman.
- Best footnote ever.
- Justice Jackson taking on Gorsuch's "pure textualism" and arguing for a more holistic reading of Congress' handiwork—worth reading in full. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
- Democracy...use it or lose it. There are hundreds of events planned all across the country on June 14. Find one near you. Trump can't send the Marines to all of them. app.sosha.ai/s/lmwrRNh3
- I signed this letter and I urge all my colleagues to do the same. I am very impressed by the bravery of the NIH staff who put their names to this. We should stand behind them. It's the least we can do.
- (5/5) 🚨 It’s time to flood the zone. NIH scientists just took a huge risk speaking out. Now it’s our turn. 📜 Read the Bethesda Declaration ✍️ Sign the Public Letter of Support 👯♀️Follow NIHers doing the work: @nihvigils.bsky.social Read and sign here 👉 www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...
- Reposted by Russell EpsteinThe political theory behind IRA was roughly as follows: We have lost control of the information landscape and can no longer win rhetorical or purely political battles; however, if we make substantive policy progress that directly touches voters' lives, they will notice and reward us.
- This week, I had the pleasure of talking (virtually) to the BIU vision science seminar about our recent studies on cog maps and navigational strategies. Highlighting work by Michael Peer, @cgahnstrom.bsky.social, and Zhengang Lu. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAkC...
- Will Bunch: "The TV talking heads are clueless, because they are asking the president-who-would-be-king and his minions to do something that would cause the entire regime to unravel like a ball of thread: acknowledge that Abrego Garcia is a human being." www.inquirer.com/opinion/kilm...
- Reposted by Russell EpsteinWhew! Sen Chuck Grassley’s town hall should be a wake-up call for Trump & Republicans. Voters want Kilmar García brought home — and they’re pissed Trump’s thumbing his nose at a Supreme Court ruling. This isn’t “tough on crime,” it’s lawless, un-American trash — and folks know it. This is Iowa!
- Harvard does NOT accede: www.harvard.edu/research-fun...
- Reposted by Russell EpsteinThe Massachusetts governor, the city, and the university needs to drop everything to locate and free this girl and make sure this doesn't happen again. This is DEFCON-1. If they do this to someone who wrote an op-ed in a college newspaper, they will do this to anyone they don't like.
- Video of the international student at Tufts being arrested by "federal authorities" in Massachusetts has been released and it's terrifying. They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks. From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY
- A little bit of good news from Lancaster County PA. In a special election for a state senate seat, Dems flipped a Ruby Red district.
- My university @upenn.edu and others keeps saying "it's not really possible to spend the endowment" but this is a somewhat different perspective.
- I'm just a nobody. and I don't think that anybody listens to me. Nevertheless, I feel obligated to say: I think that at *this moment* anyone who will might stand up needs to stand up. At *this moment* anyone who doesn't want fascism needs to say that they don't want fascism.
- This is our country. This is America. I'm so proud of what we have been. Let's stand up for our country, and what we have stood for.
- What happened to Columbia (and Penn) is illegal and unconstitutional.
- Welp. Looks like the fascist wolf is at *my* door.
- It is absolutely infuriating to me that they cancelled the individual fellowships of grad students and postdocs. But, that's what fascists do...punch down on the weak, just to show that you can.
- 🚨This week, many Columbia scientists lost grants that funded over half their annual income. Others will no longer be able to do research that helps treat thousands of sick patients across the US. "It hurts," they told me. My story for @nature.com 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- I signed this letter and I urge my other Jewish colleagues to do the same. It infuriates me that this fascistic attack on the universities is--supposedly--being done to "protect" us. It is not. We should make this crystal clear.
- If, like me, you (a) oppose research funding cuts to US institutions and (b) are Jewish, please consider signing this open letter: forms.gle/prnRbq69a6YN...
- Turnout at the Philly @standupforscience.bsky.social march was incredible! I'm not great at measuring crowds, but this was easily >1k. Wish I could have gotten an elevated view.
- Reposted by Russell EpsteinFriday, March 7 Join us for a poster-making session ahead of the March in 111 Levin. Poster supplies provided. +Coffee and doughnuts 9:30 – Poster Making 10:30 – Walk together to City Hall This is science outreach. This is science advocacy. @standupforscience.bsky.social
