Paul Sharp
@paulbsharp.bsky.social
Assistant professor of psychology, Bar-Ilan University | computational cognitive science & psychiatry
"Discovery happens less when you're trying to be the expert and more when you're trying to be the learner." - Itai Yanai
Website: sharplabbiu.github.io
"Discovery happens less when you're trying to be the expert and more when you're trying to be the learner." - Itai Yanai
Website: sharplabbiu.github.io
Thanks Toby - looks like it needs to be approved first, must be a new thing from my recollection I thought it went live immediately...
October 13, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Thanks Toby - looks like it needs to be approved first, must be a new thing from my recollection I thought it went live immediately...
This was my first mentoring journey with my super-talented BA student, Hadas Schiff (not on bsky; congrats Hadas!!!!).
And what a beuatiful day to share this, when the hostages are freed, and finally, there seems to be hope for peace. ☮️🕊️
#computationalpsychiatry
We look forward to feedback!
And what a beuatiful day to share this, when the hostages are freed, and finally, there seems to be hope for peace. ☮️🕊️
#computationalpsychiatry
We look forward to feedback!
October 13, 2025 at 6:30 AM
This was my first mentoring journey with my super-talented BA student, Hadas Schiff (not on bsky; congrats Hadas!!!!).
And what a beuatiful day to share this, when the hostages are freed, and finally, there seems to be hope for peace. ☮️🕊️
#computationalpsychiatry
We look forward to feedback!
And what a beuatiful day to share this, when the hostages are freed, and finally, there seems to be hope for peace. ☮️🕊️
#computationalpsychiatry
We look forward to feedback!
We plan on building a computational model, and larger-scale test, inspired by work by @thecharleywu.bsky.social , @markkho.bsky.social and others on how we build task representations under uncertainty.
This is small, preliminary but promising evidence requiring replication!
11/12
This is small, preliminary but promising evidence requiring replication!
11/12
October 13, 2025 at 6:30 AM
We plan on building a computational model, and larger-scale test, inspired by work by @thecharleywu.bsky.social , @markkho.bsky.social and others on how we build task representations under uncertainty.
This is small, preliminary but promising evidence requiring replication!
11/12
This is small, preliminary but promising evidence requiring replication!
11/12
This helps explain anxiety maintenance: By under-generalizing their behavioral repertoire in threat-related domains, anxious individuals restrict exploration, miss opportunities to disconfirm maladaptive beliefs, and perpetuate avoidance.
10/12
10/12
October 13, 2025 at 6:30 AM
This helps explain anxiety maintenance: By under-generalizing their behavioral repertoire in threat-related domains, anxious individuals restrict exploration, miss opportunities to disconfirm maladaptive beliefs, and perpetuate avoidance.
10/12
10/12
Implication: When an awkward social moment coincidentally co-occurs with your actions (like speaking up when a bell rings), anxious individuals may preclude that behavioral strategy from future task models.
"If I speak up → bad things happen" even when the relationship is spurious.
9/12
"If I speak up → bad things happen" even when the relationship is spurious.
9/12
October 13, 2025 at 6:30 AM
Implication: When an awkward social moment coincidentally co-occurs with your actions (like speaking up when a bell rings), anxious individuals may preclude that behavioral strategy from future task models.
"If I speak up → bad things happen" even when the relationship is spurious.
9/12
"If I speak up → bad things happen" even when the relationship is spurious.
9/12
This wasn't about reinforcement history.
Only 1 participant in Study 1 hit an obstacle in training. In Study 2, 5 participants hit obstacles (<1% of steps). Removing them preserved all effects.
The bias stems from how threat information distorts task representation, not reinforcement.
8/12
Only 1 participant in Study 1 hit an obstacle in training. In Study 2, 5 participants hit obstacles (<1% of steps). Removing them preserved all effects.
The bias stems from how threat information distorts task representation, not reinforcement.
8/12
October 13, 2025 at 6:30 AM
This wasn't about reinforcement history.
Only 1 participant in Study 1 hit an obstacle in training. In Study 2, 5 participants hit obstacles (<1% of steps). Removing them preserved all effects.
The bias stems from how threat information distorts task representation, not reinforcement.
8/12
Only 1 participant in Study 1 hit an obstacle in training. In Study 2, 5 participants hit obstacles (<1% of steps). Removing them preserved all effects.
The bias stems from how threat information distorts task representation, not reinforcement.
8/12
Why does this matter? The bias was differential: Under-generalization hurt performance when facing new instances of threat-related tasks (where that knowledge would be useful) but helped slightly with safe tasks.
Worry predicted worse generalization for threat vs. safe contexts (see Figure 4).
7/12
Worry predicted worse generalization for threat vs. safe contexts (see Figure 4).
7/12
October 13, 2025 at 6:30 AM
Why does this matter? The bias was differential: Under-generalization hurt performance when facing new instances of threat-related tasks (where that knowledge would be useful) but helped slightly with safe tasks.
Worry predicted worse generalization for threat vs. safe contexts (see Figure 4).
7/12
Worry predicted worse generalization for threat vs. safe contexts (see Figure 4).
7/12