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Andrew MacAskill

@macaskillaf.bsky.social
2.3K followers 2K following 166 posts

UCL neuroscientist investigating the neural basis of contextual decision making. Views are my own. Prof @uclnpp lab website: www.macaskilllab.com UCL profile: profiles.ucl.ac.uk/5194 also @macaskillaf@fediscience.org

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Andrew MacAskill @macaskillaf.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
We use a tweaked version of the mouse attentional set-shifting task that highlights dimension learning and generalisation. Mice learn which abstract stimulus dimension (odours/textures) predicts reward across multiple exemplars, and we probe this by asking how they adapt when the dimension changes.
cartoon of a mouse choosing different options
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Andrew MacAskill @macaskillaf.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
The poster builds on the temporal community structure paradigm originally introduced by @annaschapiro.bsky.social We adapted it to a 15-odour odour graph to ask whether mice learn the latent community structure, and how hippocampal activity reflects that organisation.
community graph structure
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Andrew MacAskill @macaskillaf.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
apply! its a fantastic, collaborative and energetic department investigating physiology and neuroscience across scales - based in beautiful UCL in London
a picture of UCL in the sunshine (which is always as it never rains in London)
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Andrew MacAskill @macaskillaf.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
🥺
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Andrew MacAskill @macaskillaf.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
We are excited about this is bc. patients with mental illness such as schizophrenia or depression are often impaired in problems that require this type of decision making, and have alterations in their hippocampus. We link these - we show that you need the hippocampus for solving these problems! 6/7
increased prevalence of mental health conditions in England in students - https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8593/
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Andrew MacAskill @macaskillaf.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
She also found that the way the hippocampus supports hidden state inference is similar to how it supports spatial navigation and memory – which means we can use decades of beautiful work studying spatial navigation (inc. Nobel prize work from UCL!) to help us better understand this process 5/7
navigating through a maze
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Andrew MacAskill @macaskillaf.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
@karyna-mi.bsky.social found that the hippocampus is key for this process - mice without a functioning hippocampus couldn’t use hidden state inference anymore! 4/7
a confused cartoon mouse
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Andrew MacAskill @macaskillaf.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
However, we often notice things: how quickly they respond, short messages, if they’re using emojis. We use these clues to make an educated guess about how our friend is feeling. e.g. if they reply with quick, one-word answers we will infer they’re feeling sad – this is hidden state inference! 3/7
example text message conversation with one word answers
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Andrew MacAskill @macaskillaf.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
But what is hidden state inference? Imagine you’re texting with a friend. Because you can’t see them in person, you can’t directly tell if they’re happy, sad, or stressed. This is because their emotional state is hidden - you can’t observe happiness or sadness directly through text messages. 2/7
someone texting while happy and someone texting while sad
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