The Cole Neurocognition Lab at Rutgers

04/10/2026

Today I am relaunching my blog as Neural Flows, a newsletter inspired by my forthcoming book Brain Flows. Check out the introductory post to the new newsletter through the link below

A newsletter inspired by the book Brain Flows

04/03/2026

Inspired by Edinburgh’s legacy of big ideas (e.g., Hume), on a train leaving the city, I crafted a proposal for a book about big ideas in network neuroscience—how brain activity flows generate representations that together compose our minds. The rest is history, and this new book:

How Network Dynamics Compose the Human Mind

11/07/2024

Lab’s latest out at PLOS Comp Biol (led by
Carrisa Cocuzza)!

“Distributed network flows generate localized category selectivity in human visual cortex”

This one changed how I think the brain works! Even "localized" functions are likely generated by distributed processes

https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012507

06/17/2024

Lab’s latest: “Cognitive flexibility as the shifting of brain network flows by flexible neural representations”, a solo paper by yours truly, making the case that brain activity flow shifts are essential to mental flexibility (and quite interesting too!) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2024.101384

07/17/2023

Lab's latest: "Neural representation dynamics reveal computational principles of cognitive task learning", wherein we tracked dynamic changes in cortical-subcortical cognitive representations over practice, revealing computational principles underlying task learning: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.06.27.546751

04/28/2023

My latest article is up on Practically Scientific, about the importance of art that celebrates the (if we’re honest, very surprising!) reality science has revealed

I go into what makes something art, why using empirical truth in art is a wonderful yet dangerous game, and how Leonardo da Vinci used science to enhance art and art to enhance science

From Feynman to da Vinci and back

03/21/2023

As part of Rutgers Giving Day 2023, we opened up an official "give a gift" fund, The Cole Neurocognition Laboratory Research Fund

Please support our neuroscience research if you are able! https://give.rutgers.edu/ColeNeurocognitionLabFund

Our ultimate goal is to utilize brain connectivity research to advance fundamental understanding of the human brain, driving applications that enhance the human condition – especially via novel treatments for brain diseases such as major depression, Alzheimer's disease, and schizophrenia

Donate online to the Rutgers University Foundation and support students, faculty, and the university. Your online gift to support education can help fund scholarships, research initiatives, athletics, and the arts.

12/27/2022

My latest post to Practically Scientific

What made the move easy for me, and why I prefer Mastodon to Twitter

12/12/2022

My latest post to Practically Scientific, "Debiasing Science: Toward the creation of an Evidence Quality Index (EQI)"

In brief: Scientists are biased by imperfect metrics of success, such as the number of citations their publications receive. I propose creation of a science quality metric – the Evidence Quality Index (EQI) – that aspires to quantify the things that scientists should be biased toward. These are things like the robustness of reported findings (e.g., due to replication) and the conclusiveness of those findings. Presenting an EQI value with each study would have many benefits. Readers would rapidly get an estimate of a study’s quality prior to reading it, while scientists would get quantifiable credit for the quality of their work. Here I make an initial attempt at creating an EQI.

A metric with the potential to reduce bias in science and (through better science communication) society

11/28/2022

Latest post from Practically Scientific, "Advanced Yet Primitive: A game of scientific and social progress"

We believe our modern society is advanced, yet it seems to me that we live in the awkward middle ground between a truly advanced society and a primitive before-life-was-good era.

I arrived here by considering how far humanity has come in the last 10,000+ years and how far we have to go to achieve our shared ideals. We need a new way to find our place in history.

I propose a game – Advanced Yet Primitive – to better perceive the triumphs along with the need for more progress hiding in plain sight all around us...

We believe our modern society is advanced, yet it seems to me that we live in the awkward middle ground between a truly advanced society and a primitive before-life-was-good era