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Marcus Stephenson-Jones

@mstephensonjones.bsky.social

278 followers 483 following 3 posts

UCL neuroscientist investigating the neural basis of reinforcement learning, decision making and dreams. Views are my own. Senior group leader @SWC lab website: www.stephensonjones-lab.com

Posts Replies Media

Reposted by Marcus Stephenson-Jones

Sainsbury Wellcome Centre @sainsburywellcome.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Applications are now open for the SWC Systems Neuroscience PhD Programme. Join us in London! 🎓 World-class neuroscience training 💰 Fully funded 4-year programme 🖥️Close links to @gatsbyucl.bsky.social Apply by 9 Nov: www.sainsburywellcome.org/web/content/...

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Reposted by Marcus Stephenson-Jones

Neil Burgess @neilburgess10.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Ever wondered how the hippocampal cognitive map is read-out? @changmin-yu.bsky.social @zilong-ji.bsky.social with Jake & John, show that, during navigation, theta sweeps indicate remembered goal-directions (cf. current/next movements or perceptual targets) 1/2 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Decoded locations from place cell firing sweep towards a remembered goal location during each theta cycle irrespective of the current movement or head direction

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Marcus Stephenson-Jones @mstephensonjones.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

New paper from Thomas Akam's lab: mice use position and distance-to-goal codes in frontal cortex to plan routes to goals. Elegant evidence for a neural substrate of prospective navigation. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Marcus Stephenson-Jones

Matteo Carandini @carandinilab.net · 01/06/2026

Neuropixels + Optogenetics = Neuropixels Opto Combining high-resolution electrophysiology and optogenetics. 960 sites, 28 emitters, 2 colors. Today in @natmethods.nature.com doi.org/10.1038/s415... Thanks to @wellcometrust.bsky.social, @alleninstitute.org, @hhmijanelia.bsky.social & team.

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Marcus Stephenson-Jones @mstephensonjones.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Great new paper from @dudman.bsky.social and @fluketc.bsky.social. It’s going to immediately change how we train our animals and make us think hard 🤔https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aeb0813

science.org

Reward magnitude determines reinforcement learning efficiency

Standard animal learning studies minimize individual reward magnitudes to maximize the repetitions of reinforced behaviors. We investigated how reward magnitude influences initial learning across five...

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