Multiple Ways of Understanding Evidence Accumulation Models: A Comment - Computational Brain & Behavior Computational Brain & Behavior - Shiffrin et al. (2026) explore “illusions of understanding” in science, primarily focusing on linear regression. This comment extends their ideas to...

Link to the comment: doi.org/10.1007/s421...

Despite imperfections, EAMs remain vital. They serve as a "common language" bridging behavioral and neural analysis levels, offering insights without being completely agnostic about the nature of the process generating the data. (6/6)

4. Another recent approach uses EAMs as choice rules within broader frameworks. Applied in reinforcement learning or models of attention in value-based decision-making, they replace softmax-rule and allow researchers to utilize both RT and choice data. (5/6)

3. Given these limits, researchers can treat EAMs purely as statistical models. They can act as powerful descriptive tools to fit 'law-like' data patterns (e.g., right skewness of RT distribution), staying agnostic about how choices are actually generated. (4/6)

2. To bypass this unobservability, scientists use neuroimaging to view EAMs as neural mechanisms. While some data aligns, recent research shows key EEG signals might reflect valuation instead, questioning EAMs' biological plausibility. (3/6)

1. EAMs are mostly treated as cognitive process models, like the Diffusion Decision Model. They break down choices and response times into latent processes (drift rate, non-decision time), though these cannot be directly observed. (2/6)

My recent comment extends Shiffrin et al.'s (2026) essay on "Illusions of understanding". While they focused on multiple ways of understanding linear regression, I extend these ideas to a complex model class in cognitive science: Evidence Accumulation Models (EAMs). (1/6)👇

It would be interesting to see a similar chart for this year (New York instead of Amsterdam) and for larger conferences like @ohbmofficial.bsky.social . Also it might be useful when you look for positions! (6/6)

China was a bit of a surprise. From Switzerland, it’s mostly our @zne-uzh.bsky.social and a lot of people from EPFL. (5/n)

And here it is! The U.S. is way ahead. Next come Germany and the UK, along with the Netherlands—and based on my impression after reviewing all the data, there often seemed to be some collaboration between them. (4/n)

It brought together experts from neuroscience, AI, and cognitive science. After scraping the CCN website and manually reviewing all 550 posters, I created a chart using Flourish online tool. (3/n)

To answer this question, I decided to examine a similar distribution of first-author affiliations for posters at one of the major conferences in this field - Cognitive Computational Neuroscience 2025, held in Amsterdam. @cogcompneuro.bsky.social (2/n)

Many of you have probably seen this chart, which illustrates the distribution of first authors’ affiliations at NeurIPS, one of the most prestigious international conferences in the field of machine learning. But what is the situation in cognitive neuroscience? (1/n)

And here it is! The U.S. is way ahead. Next come Germany and the UK, along with the Netherlands—and based on my impression after reviewing all the data, there often seemed to be some collaboration between them. (4/n)
@cogcompneuro.bsky.social

It brought together experts from neuroscience, AI, and cognitive science. After scraping the CCN website and manually reviewing all 550 posters, I created a chart using Flourish online tool. (3/n)

To answer this question, I decided to examine a similar distribution of first-author affiliations for posters at one of the major conferences in this field - Cognitive Computational Neuroscience 2025, held in Amsterdam. (2/n)

I have a joke about a grant but you probably won’t get it

Decomposing Economic Choices with Drift-Diffusion Models Many decisions arise from a dynamic process of information accumulation and comparison. Thus, to fully understand decision-making, we must decompose the choice process into its parts. Here, we review ...

Chapter 📖 "Decomposing Economic Choices with Drift-Diffusion Models" with @krajbichlab.bsky.social and Xiaozhi (Taro) Yang is out in, "Neuroeconomics: Core Topics and Current Directions" edited by @dvsmith.bsky.social, @thepsychologist.bsky.social, @dfareri.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/yey56tup

With some trepidation, I'm putting this out into the world:
gershmanlab.com/textbook.html
It's a textbook called Computational Foundations of Cognitive Neuroscience, which I wrote for my class.

My hope is that this will be a living document, continuously improved as I get feedback.

This interdisciplinary program focuses on understanding learning and decision making at all levels. Applicants with backgrounds in biology, cognitive science, computer science, economics, engineering, mathematics, neuroscience, physics, psychology or any related discipline are encouraged to apply!

No effect of preliminarily simulated cathodal HD-tDCS on the frontopolar cortex in the exploration-exploitation task - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - No effect of preliminarily simulated cathodal HD-tDCS on the frontopolar cortex in the exploration-exploitation task

For my Master thesis two years ago we've ambitiously tried to stimulate frontopolar cortex with unconventional but preliminarily simulated HD-tDCS protocol to manipulate the way people resolve exploration-exploitation dilemma (spoiler - it didn't work):

doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Amazing work by amazing @saurabhbedi.bsky.social

“The political environment in Russia made it hard to do science because everything was unpredictable. […] That type of uncertainty is incompatible with science, which requires the ability to plan what type of experiments and research you will do a year into the future.”

Dual process theory in action

Ernest Hemingway, "The Undefeated" (1927)

Reference Point-Dependent Reinforcement Learning in Humans and Rats Previous studies indicate that rewards and punishments in reinforcement learning are encoded in a relative manner. Reference point-dependence, a valuation bias shared by eminent adaptation level and p...

🚨 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...

You can also add some lemon when serving soljanka, many people find it even better like this :)

I asked DeepSeek to develop a scale to measure addiction to addiction scale development and of course it delivered.

William James's take on psychophysics is *incredible*. Worth reading the whole quote. #psychSciSky #philsky #VisionScience

"But psychology is passing into a less simple phase. Within a few years what one may call a microscopic psychology has arisen in Germany, carried on by experimental methods,

Why academia is sleepwalking into self-destruction. My editorial @brain1878.bsky.social If you agree with the sentiments please repost. It's important for all our sakes to stop the madness
academic.oup.com/brain/articl...

Scholarship Under Autocracy We Have Been Here Before

Reflections on science under autocracy, from one who remembers what it was like working in the former East Germany and Soviet Union substack.com/home/post/p-... by @vkempe.bsky.social