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Manasi Malik

@manasimalik.bsky.social

86 followers 117 following 7 posts

Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Grad at @JHUCogSci 🧠🧐💻 @IIITDelhi alum (she/her) manasimalik.com

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Reposted by Manasi Malik

Simon Schug @smonsays.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Human thought is thought to be systematic: Do reasoning models have systematicity of thought? With @brendenlake.bsky.social we study this question in our new preprint arxiv.org/abs/2609.13948 Thread 🧵

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Reposted by Manasi Malik

Leyla Isik @lisik.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Heading to #vss2026? Check out the presentations from our lab @vssmtg.bsky.social

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Manasi Malik @manasimalik.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

This challenges a strict division-of-labor story for the social brain. Both "social perception" and "mentalizing" regions carry out a combination of relational bottom-up and higher-order inferential computations!

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Manasi Malik @manasimalik.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

We compared both models to fMRI responses while participants watched animated social interactions Surprising result: BOTH models explained neural responses in BOTH pSTS and TPJ, even after controlling for the variance explained by the other model. ⇒Computations not strictly segregated by region.

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Manasi Malik @manasimalik.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Previous work suggests a *functional hierarchy*: pSTS extracts coarse interaction structure, TPJ performs higher-order mental state inferences. This suggests a computational-neural mapping: pSTS ➡ 🔵 bottom-up relational computations TPJ ➡ 🔴 inverse-planning computations

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Manasi Malik @manasimalik.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Behavioral work showed both models uniquely explain human social judgments - suggesting people use both strategies. But how are these computations organized in the brain?

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Manasi Malik @manasimalik.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

To study this, we recently developed two computational models: 🔵 A bottom-up GNN that makes social inferences by relationally structuring visual input 🔴 A generative inverse-planning model that infers agents' goals, beliefs, and relationships by simulating what rational agents would do

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Manasi Malik @manasimalik.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

In everyday life, we can effortlessly tell if people are interacting - and whether they're being friendly or fighting. We know “social perception” and “mentalizing” regions are involved (like pSTS and TPJ respectively), but what computations are they actually performing?

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Manasi Malik @manasimalik.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Excited to share new work on how the brain makes social inferences from visual input! 🧠👯‍♂️ (With @lisik.bsky.social , @shariliu.bsky.social, @tianminshu.bsky.social , and Minjae Kim!) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Reposted by Manasi Malik

JHU Cognitive Science @jhucogsci.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

The department of Cognitive Science @jhu.edu is seeking motivated students interested in joining our interdisciplinary PhD program! Applications due 1 Dec Our PhD students also run an application mentoring program for prospective students. Mentoring requests due November 15. tinyurl.com/2nrn4jf9

Call for applications to cognitive science PhD program with QR code to the link above

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Reposted by Manasi Malik

Leyla Isik @lisik.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Excited to be in Amsterdam for #CCN2025! If you're here, check out the presentations from our lab 👇@qinwenshuo.bsky.social @ziruichen.bsky.social @manasimalik.bsky.social @cogcompneuro.bsky.social

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