Jim Cavanagh

Jim Cavanagh

@jimfcav.bsky.social

Professor @UNM. Here to contribute to EEG research and open data practices. https://www.crclunm.com/

241 followers160 following40 posts

Jim Cavanagh reposted

Jeremy Hogeveen
@jeremyhogeveen.bsky.social

We ( @vincentcostaphd.bsky.social and I ) wrote a "Hot Topics" piece for @npp-journal.bsky.social on the potential utility of frontopolar cortex TMS in precision psychiatry. Relevant now that this region has been accessed in some excellent recent NHP studies. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.comTranslating macaque frontopolar cortex discoveries into psychiatric treatments - NeuropsychopharmacologyNeuropsychopharmacology - Translating macaque frontopolar cortex discoveries into psychiatric treatments

Jim Cavanagh reposted

Vinny Costa
@vincentcostaphd.bsky.social

I’m biased, but I think Jeremy is unequivocally one of the best cognitive neuroscientists around and if your interests are aligned you should get in touch with him.

Jeremy Hogeveen@jeremyhogeveen.bsky.social

I'm thrilled to share I will be joining 🇨🇦Queen's University🇨🇦 as a Queen's National Scholar and Associate Prof of Psychology beginning July 2027! I'll remain at UNM this year to wrap projects. I am infinitely grateful to the colleagues, mentors, and students who have made my time here so fantastic!

queensu.caJeremy Hogeveen | Department of Psychology
Jim Cavanagh
@jimfcav.bsky.social

Yeah! Let's get this year started off right. A new theoretical model for everyone's favorite sensitive and specific neural marker. So why is it a marker of goals if it is called the Reward Positivity? 1/4

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Jim Cavanagh
@jimfcav.bsky.social

We discuss over this valence dissociation as an opponent process, detail the analogy of this goal +RPE update as a critic-like process, and debate the generative neural structures contributing to this goal update process. A huge thanks to Clay Holroyd whos precision balanced out my enthusiasm.

Jim Cavanagh
@jimfcav.bsky.social

Yeah! Let's get this year started off right. A new theoretical model for everyone's favorite sensitive and specific neural marker. So why is it a marker of goals if it is called the Reward Positivity? 1/4

Jim Cavanagh
@jimfcav.bsky.social

Well, its easy to confuse goals and rewards. But you can make anything your goal - even if it isn't hedonically 'rewarding'. See Figure 3 for an example of my kids playing Mario Kart. (OMG what happens next!)

Jim Cavanagh
@jimfcav.bsky.social

This goal-focus places the computation in the domain of frontal control-based processes. Oddly, RewP only responds to the degree of surprise during goal achievement (i.e. +RPE). Goal failures (-RPE) trigger the canonical N2 control-related system that we already know so much about (ahem theta etc).

Jim Cavanagh reposted

Trends in Cognitive Sciences
@cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social

Online Now: The Reward Positivity signals a goal prediction error

dlvr.itThe Reward Positivity signals a goal prediction errorThe Reward Positivity (RewP) is an electroencephalogram (EEG) feature that emerges following performance feedback and is commonly understood to index both positive and negative reward-prediction error (RPE+ and RPE−, respectively) signals. In contrast to this dominant perspective, we argue that the RewP is an independent EEG feature that selectively responds to positive RPE and is superimposed on a common background signal. We further propose that the RewP signals a goal prediction error: it is elicited by abstract signals instead of by hedonic 'rewards'. This goal prediction error appears to be produced by a critic-like architecture that is associated with the actor–critic framework in reinforcement learning. This perspective emphasizes the role of the RewP in goal attainment and cognitive control as opposed to being a simple indicator of reward receipt.

Jim Cavanagh reposted

Quentin Huys
@docqhuys.bsky.social

Postdoctoral research position in #ComputationalPsychiatry and #EEG as part of relmed.ac.uk trial testing reinforcement learning as biomarker for antidepressant treatment response. www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/... @uclbrainscience.bsky.social @mikebrowning.bsky.social @relmed.bsky.social

relmed.ac.ukrelmed.ac.ukAntidepressant treatment shouldn't be a guessing game. RELMED is working towards using advanced research to predict which medication is most likely to help each person along their individual path to recovery.
Jim Cavanagh
@jimfcav.bsky.social

ORDER NOW and get a super-neato commentary. www.biologicalpsychiatrycnni.org/article/S245...

biologicalpsychiatrycnni.orgGetting to the Bottom of Things: Magnetoencephalography Reveals Weak Ventral Frontal Reward Responses in Adults With Major Depressive DisorderThe past decade has seen a massive shift in neuroimaging toward analysis of resting-state data collected from very large samples. That approach has key strengths, but task-based neuroimaging in smalle...

Jim Cavanagh reposted

Nadja Ging Jehli
@nadjagingjehli.bsky.social

Excited to share our new paper: whether STN stimulation increases impulsivity depends on theta frequency. 🧠🤓 Grateful to have contributed alongside such a fantastic team! Rachel, Kumar, @jimfcav.bsky.social @janw.bsky.social and more! Link 👇: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.comTheta-frequency subthalamic nucleus stimulation increases decision thresholdExecutive functions are often impaired in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), and these deficits can be predicted by decreased frontal cortical 4-…
Jim Cavanagh
@jimfcav.bsky.social

1) We review its elicitation, quantification, generation & theoretical interpretation. 2) We challenge the assumption of a single bipolar signal (+RPE to -RPE) in the difference wave. 3) We propose a refined theoretical account: from reward receipt to a more nuanced signal of goal attainment.

Jim Cavanagh reposted

Lindsay S. Shaffer
@lindsayshaffer.bsky.social

Excited to share my first 1st & corresponding author preprint! Here, I examine an EEG component, the Reward Positivity (RewP), during inference-based decision-making w/Holly Crowder, Peter Kakalec, Lam Duong, Craig McDonald, & Jim Thompson. (1/15)

bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social

The Reward Positivity Does Not Encode Current Reward Value https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.27.645774v1

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