Andrew Westbrook
@awestbrook.bsky.social
Asst. Prof.
Brain Modulation & Control Lab (https://bmclab.org)
Center for Advanced Human Brain Imaging Research
Rutgers University
Interested in:
Cognitive control / working memory
Motivation
Neuromodulation
Brain criticality
Brain Modulation & Control Lab (https://bmclab.org)
Center for Advanced Human Brain Imaging Research
Rutgers University
Interested in:
Cognitive control / working memory
Motivation
Neuromodulation
Brain criticality
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
Another nail in the coffin for PCA?
- doesn’t linearize, distorting similarity metrics
- is biased by temporal jitter across epochs
- may miss important dimensions for transient amplification
If you think there is a state space, use a state space model!
- doesn’t linearize, distorting similarity metrics
- is biased by temporal jitter across epochs
- may miss important dimensions for transient amplification
If you think there is a state space, use a state space model!
“Our findings challenge the conventional focus on low-dimensional coding subspaces as a sufficient framework for understanding neural computations, demonstrating that dimensions previously considered task-irrelevant and accounting for little variance can have a critical role in driving behavior.”
Neural dynamics outside task-coding dimensions drive decision trajectories through transient amplification
Most behaviors involve neural dynamics in high-dimensional activity spaces. A common approach is to extract dimensions that capture task-related variability, such as those separating stimuli or choice...
www.biorxiv.org
November 23, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Another nail in the coffin for PCA?
- doesn’t linearize, distorting similarity metrics
- is biased by temporal jitter across epochs
- may miss important dimensions for transient amplification
If you think there is a state space, use a state space model!
- doesn’t linearize, distorting similarity metrics
- is biased by temporal jitter across epochs
- may miss important dimensions for transient amplification
If you think there is a state space, use a state space model!
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
Day Zero arrives for Tehran, a city of TEN million people.
Amid a deepening ecological crisis and acute water shortage, Tehran can no longer remain the capital of Iran, the country’s president has said. www.scientificamerican.com/article/iran...
Iran’s Capital Is Moving. The Reason Is an Ecological Catastrophe
The decision to move Iran’s capital is partly driven by climate change, but experts say decades of human error and action are also to blame
www.scientificamerican.com
November 23, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Day Zero arrives for Tehran, a city of TEN million people.
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
New pontification piece with @awestbrook.bsky.social and Jean Daunizeau, just out in TICS:
Why is cognitive effort experienced as costly?
(or why does it hurt to think)
never written a review paper before in my life, that was a new and unusual experience
Why is cognitive effort experienced as costly?
(or why does it hurt to think)
never written a review paper before in my life, that was a new and unusual experience
Why is cognitive effort experienced as costly?
A widespread observation is that people avoid mentally effortful courses of action,
and much recent work examining cognitive effort has explained subjective effort evaluation
– and, consequently, pref...
www.cell.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:48 PM
New pontification piece with @awestbrook.bsky.social and Jean Daunizeau, just out in TICS:
Why is cognitive effort experienced as costly?
(or why does it hurt to think)
never written a review paper before in my life, that was a new and unusual experience
Why is cognitive effort experienced as costly?
(or why does it hurt to think)
never written a review paper before in my life, that was a new and unusual experience
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
My paper is out!
Computational modeling of error patterns during reward-based learning show evidence that habit learning (value free!) supplements working memory in 7 human data sets.
rdcu.be/eQjLN
Computational modeling of error patterns during reward-based learning show evidence that habit learning (value free!) supplements working memory in 7 human data sets.
rdcu.be/eQjLN
A habit and working memory model as an alternative account of human reward-based learning
Nature Human Behaviour - In this study, Collins proposes an alternative dual-process (working memory and habit) model of reinforcement learning in humans.
rdcu.be
November 17, 2025 at 5:18 PM
My paper is out!
Computational modeling of error patterns during reward-based learning show evidence that habit learning (value free!) supplements working memory in 7 human data sets.
rdcu.be/eQjLN
Computational modeling of error patterns during reward-based learning show evidence that habit learning (value free!) supplements working memory in 7 human data sets.
rdcu.be/eQjLN
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
🚨Please join us today (Monday 11/17) at 4pm in Room 4 to #AskAnything to Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Neuroscience @sfnjournals.bsky.social Dr. Sabine Kastner about scientific publishing and our board! Early career researchers are especially welcome! @sfn.org
#Sfn2025 #SfN25
#Sfn2025 #SfN25
November 17, 2025 at 6:22 PM
🚨Please join us today (Monday 11/17) at 4pm in Room 4 to #AskAnything to Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Neuroscience @sfnjournals.bsky.social Dr. Sabine Kastner about scientific publishing and our board! Early career researchers are especially welcome! @sfn.org
#Sfn2025 #SfN25
#Sfn2025 #SfN25
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
🎉 Dr. Linden Parkes, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at @rwjms.bsky.social and Core Faculty Member of the Rutgers Brain Health Institute, has been named one of The Transmitter’s Rising Stars of Neuroscience 2025! @thetransmitter.bsky.social
www.thetransmitter.org/early-career...
www.thetransmitter.org/early-career...
November 17, 2025 at 2:01 PM
🎉 Dr. Linden Parkes, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at @rwjms.bsky.social and Core Faculty Member of the Rutgers Brain Health Institute, has been named one of The Transmitter’s Rising Stars of Neuroscience 2025! @thetransmitter.bsky.social
www.thetransmitter.org/early-career...
www.thetransmitter.org/early-career...
What does brain criticality have to do with cognitive effort and cognitive flexibility? Come check out work by Dr. Li Xin Lim - postdoc in the lab - on Monday from 8 to 12 at (Board OO6) to find out. Here we come #SfN2025!
November 15, 2025 at 3:56 PM
What does brain criticality have to do with cognitive effort and cognitive flexibility? Come check out work by Dr. Li Xin Lim - postdoc in the lab - on Monday from 8 to 12 at (Board OO6) to find out. Here we come #SfN2025!
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
Another new policy from the geniuses in NIH leadership.
Apparently, ~70% of grant applications for most mechanisms will not be "triaged", i.e. not discussed at study section.
This is an increase from the ~50% level that has been in place for many years.
I don't know the rationale for this
1/13
Apparently, ~70% of grant applications for most mechanisms will not be "triaged", i.e. not discussed at study section.
This is an increase from the ~50% level that has been in place for many years.
I don't know the rationale for this
1/13
a man with a beard is looking at the camera with the words priorities written on the bottom
ALT: a man with a beard is looking at the camera with the words priorities written on the bottom
media.tenor.com
November 14, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Another new policy from the geniuses in NIH leadership.
Apparently, ~70% of grant applications for most mechanisms will not be "triaged", i.e. not discussed at study section.
This is an increase from the ~50% level that has been in place for many years.
I don't know the rationale for this
1/13
Apparently, ~70% of grant applications for most mechanisms will not be "triaged", i.e. not discussed at study section.
This is an increase from the ~50% level that has been in place for many years.
I don't know the rationale for this
1/13
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
Come check out my SFN nano talk @ 4:15 on Sunday, especially if you’re interested in:
- spicy debates in task switching
- using control theory to compare latent dynamical systems fit to RNNs and EEG
eppro02.ativ.me/appinfo.php?...
Stay for the whole ‘Adaptive Choice’ symposium!
- spicy debates in task switching
- using control theory to compare latent dynamical systems fit to RNNs and EEG
eppro02.ativ.me/appinfo.php?...
Stay for the whole ‘Adaptive Choice’ symposium!
Neuroscience 2025
eppro02.ativ.me
November 13, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Come check out my SFN nano talk @ 4:15 on Sunday, especially if you’re interested in:
- spicy debates in task switching
- using control theory to compare latent dynamical systems fit to RNNs and EEG
eppro02.ativ.me/appinfo.php?...
Stay for the whole ‘Adaptive Choice’ symposium!
- spicy debates in task switching
- using control theory to compare latent dynamical systems fit to RNNs and EEG
eppro02.ativ.me/appinfo.php?...
Stay for the whole ‘Adaptive Choice’ symposium!
Going to SfN this year? Come share your science journey with
@investnscience.bsky.social — from the questions that drive your work to the breakthroughs that inspire you. We are a group of scientists highlighting how science benefits everyone.
DM me to sign up or with any questions!
@investnscience.bsky.social — from the questions that drive your work to the breakthroughs that inspire you. We are a group of scientists highlighting how science benefits everyone.
DM me to sign up or with any questions!
Going to SfN? We want to connect with you!
Meet up with us to collaborate and share your science journey: from the questions that drive your work to the breakthroughs that inspire you.
Sign up here:
calendly.com/investnscien...
And share with your science friends!
Meet up with us to collaborate and share your science journey: from the questions that drive your work to the breakthroughs that inspire you.
Sign up here:
calendly.com/investnscien...
And share with your science friends!
November 12, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Going to SfN this year? Come share your science journey with
@investnscience.bsky.social — from the questions that drive your work to the breakthroughs that inspire you. We are a group of scientists highlighting how science benefits everyone.
DM me to sign up or with any questions!
@investnscience.bsky.social — from the questions that drive your work to the breakthroughs that inspire you. We are a group of scientists highlighting how science benefits everyone.
DM me to sign up or with any questions!
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
Don’t you hate when you buy something from a vending machine and it gets stuck? Dopamine tells your brain that the outcome wasn’t what you expected. You've probably heard about dopamine as the "feel-good hormone", but it does so much more!
November 9, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Don’t you hate when you buy something from a vending machine and it gets stuck? Dopamine tells your brain that the outcome wasn’t what you expected. You've probably heard about dopamine as the "feel-good hormone", but it does so much more!
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
This piece is as good as people say it is. Read it to appreciate that writing isn't just about content, but style. AI can't do this.
Maybe Don’t Talk to the New York Times About Zohran Mamdani
It’s remarkable, the people you’ll hear from. Teach for even a little while at an expensive institution—the term they tend to prefer is “elite”—and odds are that eventually someone who was a studen…
lithub.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:10 AM
This piece is as good as people say it is. Read it to appreciate that writing isn't just about content, but style. AI can't do this.
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
How does drinking alcohol shape the aging brain? @neuronikki.bsky.social studies how heavy drinking impacts neurons as we age.
Research has shown that alcohol use disorder (AUD) in middle age increases the risk for developing Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia - but how?
Research has shown that alcohol use disorder (AUD) in middle age increases the risk for developing Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia - but how?
November 2, 2025 at 3:34 PM
How does drinking alcohol shape the aging brain? @neuronikki.bsky.social studies how heavy drinking impacts neurons as we age.
Research has shown that alcohol use disorder (AUD) in middle age increases the risk for developing Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia - but how?
Research has shown that alcohol use disorder (AUD) in middle age increases the risk for developing Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia - but how?
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
I am recruiting a postdoc for a new NIMH-funded R01 using neural and behavioral models to understand anxious avoidance. Please share with anyone who may be interested!
Link: faculty-emory.icims.com/jobs/155929/...
Link: faculty-emory.icims.com/jobs/155929/...
October 30, 2025 at 2:12 PM
I am recruiting a postdoc for a new NIMH-funded R01 using neural and behavioral models to understand anxious avoidance. Please share with anyone who may be interested!
Link: faculty-emory.icims.com/jobs/155929/...
Link: faculty-emory.icims.com/jobs/155929/...
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
An earlier piece by @teorth.bsky.social about the US scientific ecosystem.
I wrote an op-ed on the world-class STEM research ecosystem in the United States, and how this ecosystem is now under attack on multiple fronts by the current administration: newsletter.ofthebrave.org/p/im-an-awar...
I’m an award-winning mathematician. Trump just cut my funding.
The “Mozart of Math” tried to stay out of politics. Then it came for his research.
newsletter.ofthebrave.org
October 30, 2025 at 12:36 PM
An earlier piece by @teorth.bsky.social about the US scientific ecosystem.
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
Wow. This is the paper I have been waiting for. Mobile apps are brain rot, with meaningfully bad economic consequences for those who overuse them.
Recently accepted by #QJE, “Digital Distractions with Peer Influence: The Impact of Mobile App Usage on Academic and Labor Market Outcomes,” by Barwick, Chen, Fu, and Li: doi.org/10.1093/qje/...
Digital Distractions with Peer Influence: The Impact of Mobile App Usage on Academic and Labor Market Outcomes*
Abstract. Concerns about excessive mobile phone use among youth are mounting. We present estimates of both behavioral and contextual peer effects, along wi
doi.org
October 17, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Wow. This is the paper I have been waiting for. Mobile apps are brain rot, with meaningfully bad economic consequences for those who overuse them.
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
Sometimes I think about how from 1935-1975ish, Bell Labs produced an insane amount of revolutionary science and technology, including 11 Nobel Prizes, the transistor, UNIX, C, the laser, the solar cell, information theory, etc. The secret? Provide scientists with ample, steady, no-strings funding.
sites.stat.columbia.edu
October 4, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Sometimes I think about how from 1935-1975ish, Bell Labs produced an insane amount of revolutionary science and technology, including 11 Nobel Prizes, the transistor, UNIX, C, the laser, the solar cell, information theory, etc. The secret? Provide scientists with ample, steady, no-strings funding.
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
Proud to talk about defending the Constitution in front of the Capitol this week.
We are seeing the greatest assault on our freedoms of our lifetimes. The shredding of the Constitution must stop. The lawlessness must stop.
And Congress can and must stop it.
We are seeing the greatest assault on our freedoms of our lifetimes. The shredding of the Constitution must stop. The lawlessness must stop.
And Congress can and must stop it.
Federal workers are speaking out on how the Trump regime is harming Americans:
"We stand here today at a moment of the greatest assault of our lifetimes on our freedoms. The US Constitution is being shredded... We are here to call on Congress to stand up and stop it."
youtu.be/uw1KwIBgrCw?...
"We stand here today at a moment of the greatest assault of our lifetimes on our freedoms. The US Constitution is being shredded... We are here to call on Congress to stand up and stop it."
youtu.be/uw1KwIBgrCw?...
Mark Histed, NIH Scientist *speaking in personal capacity
YouTube video by Civil Servants Coalition
youtu.be
October 3, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Proud to talk about defending the Constitution in front of the Capitol this week.
We are seeing the greatest assault on our freedoms of our lifetimes. The shredding of the Constitution must stop. The lawlessness must stop.
And Congress can and must stop it.
We are seeing the greatest assault on our freedoms of our lifetimes. The shredding of the Constitution must stop. The lawlessness must stop.
And Congress can and must stop it.
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
The fiscal year is over.
So how was the NIH appropriation committed?
A long thread with institute by institute results about where the money went.
So how was the NIH appropriation committed?
A long thread with institute by institute results about where the money went.
a white cat is sitting on a box with the words where written on it .
ALT: a white cat is sitting on a box with the words where written on it .
media.tenor.com
October 1, 2025 at 4:08 PM
The fiscal year is over.
So how was the NIH appropriation committed?
A long thread with institute by institute results about where the money went.
So how was the NIH appropriation committed?
A long thread with institute by institute results about where the money went.
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
September 30, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by Andrew Westbrook
📣📣📣 CALL TO ACTION - 🚨 🚨🚨
A thread on how you can join a growing chorus of federal workers and members of the public pressuring Congress to embrace its power and end the authoritarian takeover #FightingCR
A thread on how you can join a growing chorus of federal workers and members of the public pressuring Congress to embrace its power and end the authoritarian takeover #FightingCR
Congress is about to decide whether to stand up to Trump’s lawless power or hand him another blank check. And Trump and Senate Republicans are betting that Democrats will fold, just like they did in March. We can’t let that happen.
Here's the deal:
Here's the deal:
September 20, 2025 at 1:22 AM
📣📣📣 CALL TO ACTION - 🚨 🚨🚨
A thread on how you can join a growing chorus of federal workers and members of the public pressuring Congress to embrace its power and end the authoritarian takeover #FightingCR
A thread on how you can join a growing chorus of federal workers and members of the public pressuring Congress to embrace its power and end the authoritarian takeover #FightingCR