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Michael Mack

@drmack.bsky.social
231 followers 40 following 0 posts

Brains, models, cognition Associate Professor of Psychology at University of Toronto macklab.utoronto.ca

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Reposted by Michael Mack
Yongzhen Xie @doryyongzhenxie.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
My fMRI study from the Mack Lab (@drmack.bsky.social) is now published on JNeuro! Here, we look into how hippocampal subfields flexibly update category knowledge representations in the face of novel exceptions. Check out the article here: doi.org/10.1523/JNEU....
doi.org
Distinct Hippocampal Subfield Representational Shifts Underlie Category Exception Learning
When we encounter an exception to our prior category knowledge, such as a leaf-like butterfly that perceptually diverges from the butterflies we commonly see, we must update our knowledge to reconcile...
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Reposted by Michael Mack
Gaeun Son @songaeun.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
I'm pleased to share our new paper, "Attention to complex scene features", now published in Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics! We investigated how well traditional attention theories generalize to complex scene features, using AI-generated stimuli. Check out the paper here: rdcu.be/elLFK
rdcu.be
Attention to complex scene features
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Reposted by Michael Mack
Dirk Bernhardt-Walther @dirkbwalther.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
What features guide visual search for complex scenes? In her new APP paper, @songaeun.bsky.social uses scenes generated with a GAN to isolate features that guide search: layout, material properties, and lighting. rdcu.be/elPgO @drmack.bsky.social @macklab.bsky.social @uoftpsychology.bsky.social
Target–distractor (T-D) Configurations and example search displays.  A Target–distractor configurations. The black cell indicates targets,  while the grey cells indicate the distractors in each condition. The areas in light grey indicate possible jitter zones for individual distractors. The exact position of the distractors can vary in different directions while maintaining the Euclidean distances from the target and configuration rule. B Example displays of search arrays. All three displays are the examples of target-present trials.
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Reposted by Michael Mack
Mateja Perović @matejaperovic.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
New open access paper with @drmack.bsky.social! 🎉 The menstrual cycle has non-linear effects on pattern separation as measured by the mnemonic similarity task (MST). Perceived stress facilitates pattern separation performance independent of the menstrual cycle. t.ly/k6Pul
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Reposted by Michael Mack
Yongzhen Xie @doryyongzhenxie.bsky.social · 16/05/2024
Looking forward to presenting my work on exception learning at #VSS2024! Come see my poster in the morning of May 18 to discuss how prefrontal, hippocampal, and visual areas can distinctively support the learning of complex visual categories with exceptional items!
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Reposted by Michael Mack
Yongzhen Xie @doryyongzhenxie.bsky.social · 19/04/2024
🎉 My first first-author paper is now published in PBR! @drmack.bsky.social and l used novel computational modeling & behavioral approaches to show how selective pattern differentiation and integration support learning and generalization of category exceptions! link.springer.com/article/10.3...
link.springer.com
Reconciling category exceptions through representational shifts - Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
Real-world categories often contain exceptions that disobey the perceptual regularities followed by other members. Prominent psychological and neurobiological theories indicate that exception learning...
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Reposted by Michael Mack
Bradley Love @profdata.bsky.social · 07/03/2024
"Large language models surpass human experts in predicting neuroscience results" w @ken-lxl.bsky.social and braingpt.org. LLMs integrate a noisy yet interrelated scientific literature to forecast outcomes. arxiv.org/abs/2403.03230 1/6
arxiv.org
Large language models surpass human experts in predicting...
Scientific discoveries often hinge on synthesizing decades of research, a task that potentially outstrips human information processing capacities. Large language models (LLMs) offer a solution....
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Reposted by Michael Mack
Gaeun Son @songaeun.bsky.social · 07/03/2024
Brief category learning distorts the perceptual space of complex scenes! Our new paper is now in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review: link.springer.com/article/10.3....  @drmack.bsky.social @dirkbwalther.bsky.social
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