Collins Lab

The Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at UC Berkeley, led by Dr. Anne Collins @Anne_on_Tw.

[Gaia Molinaro 🦋 gaiamolinaro.bsky.social @gaia_molinaro]

📢 New preprint!
How do humans learn from arbitrary, abstract goals? We show that, when goal spaces can be compressed, costly working-memory processes give way to internalized reward functions, enabling efficient goal-dependent RL. @Anne_On_Tw @ccnlab https://t.co/6jexorFyF1

[RLDM @RLDMDublin2025]

Exciting news - early bird registration is now open for #RLDM2025!

Register now: https://t.co/rY2nzdHi0t

Register now to save €100 on your ticket. Early bird prices are only available until 1st April.

[RLDM @RLDMDublin2025]

And, a reminder: the deadline to submit an extended abstract to RLDM is this coming Wednesday (Jan. 15)!

Details at https://t.co/olYFxDKqqw

[RLDM @RLDMDublin2025]

The RLDM workshop list is now up! Have a look: https://t.co/ym44t0nGsa

More workshop details coming soon :)

There were so many wonderful submissions---this was really tough for the committee. Huge thanks to all involved, and looking forward to seeing folks in Dublin

[RLDM @RLDMDublin2025]

*Call for Abstracts*

Submit your abstracts on "learning and decision-making over time to achieve a goal" to #RLDM2025

Successful applications will be selected for poster or oral presentation to an interdisciplinary audience. Deadline: Jan 15

Learn more: https://t.co/olYFxDKqqw

[Collins Lab @ccnlab]

📷 Calling all experts! 📷
We're seeking tutorial proposals for topics on "learning and decision-making over time to achieve a goal"
Help foster cross-disciplinary exchange at RLDM 2025!
📷 Deadline: December 20th
📷 Learn more & apply: https://t.co/g9xYl2ZoKW

[Collins Lab @ccnlab]

Have ideas for an interdisciplinary workshop? Get involved at RLDM to tackle key challenges, open problems, or controversial topics!

📷 Formats: Talks, hackathons, debates—your choice!

📷 All career stages welcome to lead.

📷️ Apply by 10th Dec: https://t.co/VwZtDyxHGe

[Anne Collins @Anne_On_Tw]

I finally finished writing my fun RL project during sabbatical in France. I first presented on this a year ago, but I'm still puzzled by the results, and what they mean for human reinforcement learning! Feedback welcome!
https://t.co/DdOKAkDl8i

[Gaia Molinaro 🦋 gaiamolinaro.bsky.social @gaia_molinaro]

How do we decide which goals to pursue? Here, we introduce the notion of *latent learning progress* to explain human goal selection and inspire advances in the development of autotelic machines.
https://t.co/P7Bjy2EeQ9
@Anne_On_Tw @pyoudeyer @cedcolas @ccnlab @FlowersINRIA 🧵

[Milena Rmus @milenamr7]

The last paper of my time in @ccnlab is now out, with @Anne_On_Tw, @xia_jimmy and Ti-Fen Pan!

https://t.co/OSaBpjw28l

[Collins Lab @ccnlab]

We are hiring a full-time lab manager for @ccnlab to start this summer! Check out our website for information about how to apply: https://t.co/djpBDPCIL7

[Jing-Jing Li @drjingjing2026]

New paper with @Anne_On_Tw introducing a modeling framework for noise fluctuations in decision-making. It can be applied to identify lapses of attention, limit the impact of noisy trials on model fit, and avoid excluding some “noisy” subjects. (1/4)

https://t.co/wJPHqNHwGE

[Gaia Molinaro 🦋 gaiamolinaro.bsky.social @gaia_molinaro]

The notion that goals are central to human cognition is intuitive, yet learning and decision-making researchers have often overlooked the topic. In this @TrendsCognSci article, @Anne_On_Tw and I propose it’s time to start studying goals in their own right https://t.co/6S5VyaaJ1d

[Collins Lab @ccnlab]

We have an opening postdoc position with a strong fMRI background at @ccnlab where we study flexible decision-making and learning in humans using behavioral paradigms and computational approaches. Get in touch if this sounds interesting!

More info at https://t.co/iAQjGvSGTA

[Anne Collins @Anne_On_Tw]

I am looking to hire a postdoc with strong fMRI expertise for an NIH funded project at @ccnlab. More info here: https://t.co/sWBiyycbbL
Please RT and pass along to potential applicants.

[Anne Collins @Anne_On_Tw]

I am looking to hire a postdoc with strong fMRI expertise for an NIH funded project at @ccnlab. More info here: https://t.co/sWBiyycbbL
Please RT and pass along to potential applicants.

[Gaia Molinaro 🦋 gaiamolinaro.bsky.social @gaia_molinaro]

The value we place on an option depends on the context and available alternatives. But why does getting $1 when the possibilities were 0 or 1 feel much better than when the possibilities were 1 or 10? 🧵👇 1/7

[Anne Collins @Anne_On_Tw]

If you're doing hierarchical bayesian modeling for cognitive models, @bbbbaribault Beth's new paper is a must read! Highlighting all the most recent best practices, includes a new @matlab toolbox for visualization
https://t.co/lnzBFHDy8L

[Anne Collins @Anne_On_Tw]

I am looking to recruit a postdoc for my lab @ccnlab at UC Berkeley https://t.co/aehNFf8vao. This is an NIH funded position, for a methods oriented project - we are looking for applicants with strong quantitative skills. Please forward to potential applicants!

[Anne Collins @Anne_On_Tw]

We will be hiring a new lab manager for @ccnlab to start this summer! Interested candidates should email [email protected] with their CV and a short cover letter, and we will follow up with additional information when available. More here: https://t.co/XQYh2pHijZ

[Collins Lab @ccnlab]

Our new paper is out! @milenamr7, with @ar__zou and @Anne_On_Tw, explores how choice type impacts human reinforcement learning: https://t.co/5J6TC6E06p