Gaia Molinaro 🦋 gaiamolinaro.bsky.social
@gaia_molinaro
How do we learn to achieve our goals? 🧠 Computational Cognitive Neuroscience PhD student @UCBerkeley @ccnlab 🎓 Previously @UCL @KingsCollegeLon & @ucdavis 🌿
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 authors.elsevier.com/a/1hjzw4sIRvPN…
Generative AI is a cultural transmission technology: it plays a growing role in generation, selection and transmission of ideas/opinions in human society 🧠🔄🌐 And yet we understand very little of this dynamics at this point 🤔❓ A step forward is our #ICLR2025 paper !👇
What happens when LLMs play the Telephone game? ☎️ In this new preprint, we analyse the evolution of texts as they are transmitted between LLM agents 🤖💬🤖💬🤖💬 Do text properties converge to attractors? 🧲 How is this influenced by the task📝 and model⚙️? 1/13🧵
Sarah Oh and I have a new preprint! Developing a new experimental protocol to reveal habit formation separately from cognitive control, in a 1h lab experiment. Naturally disengaging control to reveal habits osf.io/preprints/psya… via @OSFramework
📣 Heads-up that our amazing dept (Berkeley Psych) is anticipating hiring *two* TT Asst Profs this Fall, under the themes of (1) Social & Personality Psychology, (2) Biological Basis of Behavior. Official job ads coming soon... Send qs for 1 to I Mauss/S Chen, 2 to L Wilbrecht
As a psych undergrad in St. Petersburg 6 years ago, I never imagined I’d be starting my own cognitive science lab at one of the world’s best research environments, to pursue the questions I find most important and meaningful. I’m beyond excited to share that I’ll be starting a…
Check out this work today at 10 am @iclr_conf! Learn what's wrong with evaluating #LLMs after a single interaction, and how cultural attraction theory can help us do better. Poster #288 @Jeremy__Perez @pyoudeyer @MaximeDerex @KovacGrgur @cedcolas @corentinlger @ClemMoulinFrier
What happens when LLMs play the Telephone game? ☎️ In this new preprint, we analyse the evolution of texts as they are transmitted between LLM agents 🤖💬🤖💬🤖💬 Do text properties converge to attractors? 🧲 How is this influenced by the task📝 and model⚙️? 1/13🧵
1/ If you want to know how to generate diverse and challenging Programming Puzzles stop by our @NeurIPSConf poster #3010 (East Exhibit Hall A-C, 4:30-7:30 pm) @cedcolas @gaia_molinaro @pyoudeyer @lae_teo
Stop by @NeurIPSConf poster #3909 11 am - 2 pm today if you want to wish me a happy birthday, hear about goal selection in RL, or both! @cedcolas @Anne_On_Tw @pyoudeyer @ccnlab @FlowersINRIA
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. osf.io/preprints/psya… @Anne_On_Tw @pyoudeyer @cedcolas @ccnlab @FlowersINRIA 🧵
I'm excited to announce that this work has been accepted at @NeurIPSConf 🥳 We hope to spark cross-disciplinary conversations on goal selection in biological and artificial agents. Check it out at openreview.net/forum?id=GbqzN… @cedcolas @pyoudeyer @Anne_On_Tw @FlowersINRIA @ccnlab
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. osf.io/preprints/psya… @Anne_On_Tw @pyoudeyer @cedcolas @ccnlab @FlowersINRIA 🧵
Great advice on how to understand what PhD programs want and demonstrate your qualifications - I just added it to the "Resources" section on my website. If anyone is aware of other useful guides I should list, let me know! gaiamolinaro.github.io/resources/#:~:…
As we're heading into PhD application season, I wrote a post with advice for applying to grad school, drawing from my experience on admissions committees. Please share with any aspiring PhD students that you know! brains-explained.com/advice-for-app…
It's so nice to converge on ideas w other scientists you admire. My recent preprint on a planning framework for anxiety relates to two of my favorites: (1) @gaia_molinaro's work on goal selection & (2) @aronowitzzz conceptual analysis of value IN state spaces. Here's why👇 In…
⏳One week left to submit your IMOL Workshop papers! Will you be writing a 1-page or 4-page submission? #neurips2024 #callforpapers openreview.net/group?id=NeurI…
Oh, hello there! You are looking for a postdoc position and you are curious about neural and computational mechanisms of flexible goal-directed decision-making? What a coincidence! We might be looking for you!
Join us!!! The ACC B Lab is looking for a postdoc to work with us on the neural and computational mechanisms of flexible decision-making, collaborating with @ShenhavLab and @GenPsychLab . Learn more and apply here: edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candidat…