Matt Nassar

About

Matt Nassar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Brown University. His research focuses on Behavioral Neuroscience/Comparative, Cognitive Neuroscience, Higher-Level Cognition, Neural/Computational Models of Mind Brain and Behavior, and Perception and Action. He is engaged in exploring the neural mechanisms underlying cognition and perception, utilizing computational models to understand the mind and brain functions. His work aims to advance knowledge in these areas through experimental and theoretical approaches, contributing to the broader understanding of cognitive and psychological sciences.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Mathematics
• Communication
• Medicine
• Gerontology
• Cognitive psychology
• Audiology

Selected publications

• All or nothing belief updating in patients with schizophrenia reduces precision and flexibility of beliefs

  Brain · 2020 · 73 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Schizophrenia is characterized by abnormal perceptions and beliefs, but the computational mechanisms through which these abnormalities emerge remain unclear. One prominent hypothesis asserts that such abnormalities result from overly precise representations of prior knowledge, which in turn lead beliefs to become insensitive to feedback. In contrast, another prominent hypothesis asserts that such abnormalities result from a tendency to interpret prediction errors as indicating meaningful change,…

  DOI

• Functional brain network reconfiguration during learning in a dynamic environment

  Nature Communications · 2020 · 62 citations

  When learning about dynamic and uncertain environments, people should update their beliefs most strongly when new evidence is most informative, such as when the environment undergoes a surprising change or existing beliefs are highly uncertain. Here we show that modulations of surprise and uncertainty are encoded in a particular, temporally dynamic pattern of whole-brain functional connectivity, and this encoding is enhanced in individuals that adapt their learning dynamics more appropriately in…

  DOI

• Prefrontal transthalamic uncertainty processing drives flexible switching

  Nature · 2024-11-13 · 31 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Toward a functional future for the cognitive neuroscience of human aging

  Neuron · 2025-01-01 · 25 citations

  reviewOpen access

  The cognitive neuroscience of human aging seeks to identify neural mechanisms behind the commonalities and individual differences in age-related behavioral changes. This goal has been pursued predominantly through structural or "task-free" resting-state functional neuroimaging. The former has elucidated the material foundations of behavioral decline, and the latter has provided key insight into how functional brain networks change with age. Crucially, however, neither is able to capture brain ac…

  PublisherDOI

• Understanding learning through uncertainty and bias

  Communications Psychology · 2025-02-13 · 16 citations

  reviewOpen accessSenior author

  Learning allows humans and other animals to make predictions about the environment that facilitate adaptive behavior. Casting learning as predictive inference can shed light on normative cognitive mechanisms that improve predictions under uncertainty. Drawing on normative learning models, we illustrate how learning should be adjusted to different sources of uncertainty, including perceptual uncertainty, risk, and uncertainty due to environmental changes. Such models explain many hallmarks of hum…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Cognitive and Molecular Challenges to Statistical Inference Across Healthy Aging.

  NIH · $223k · 2017–2019

• NIH Grant F31MH093099

  NIH · $78k · 2013

• Cognitive and Molecular Challenges to Statistical Inference Across Healthy Aging.

  NIH · $744k · 2019–2023

Frequent coauthors

• Michael J. Frank

  69 shared

• Rasmus Bruckner

  49 shared

• Oriel FeldmanHall

  Providence College

  44 shared

• Markus Ullsperger

  Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg

  30 shared

• Amitai Shenhav

  University of California System

  26 shared

• Romy Frömer

  Brown University

  24 shared

• Harrison Ritz

  24 shared

• Joseph W. Kable

  University of Pennsylvania

  22 shared

Similar researchers at Brown University

• Thomas Serreh-145
• Bertram F. Malleh-65