Topic: Behavioral research

NIH PA-25-304 supports exploratory biomedical, behavioral and clinical research at an early conceptual stage, including risky approaches, new methods and models. Clinical trials are not permitted. Projects must fit a participating NIH institute or center. The next new-application deadline is October 16, 2026 at 5 p.m. in the applicant organization’s local time; the next resubmission deadline is November 16. Direct costs are limited to USD 275,000 over two years and USD 200,000 in any one year. Apply through ASSIST, Grants.gov Workspace or an institutional system; organizational registrations a

RFA-RM-27-001, posted June 29, 2026 and currently open. The Pioneer Award supports individual scientists proposing pioneering, high-impact approaches to major challenges in biomedical or behavioral research; 8 awards expected from $8,000,000 in program funding.

The NIH Common Fund supports individuals or teams pursuing exceptionally innovative, unconventional research with the potential to create or overturn major paradigms across biomedical and behavioral science.

In this talk I will present our recent behavioural and neuroscience research on how the brain motivates itself to form particular beliefs and why it does so. I will propose that the utility of a belief is derived from the potential outcomes associated with holding it. Outcomes can be internal (e.g., positive/negative feelings) or external (e.g., material gain/loss), and only some are dependent on belief accuracy. We show that belief change occurs when the potential outcomes of holding it alters, for example when moving from a safe environment to a threatening environment. Our findings yield pr

Our senses are constantly bombarded with a myriad of diverse signals. Transforming this sensory cacophony into a coherent percept of our environment relies on solving two computational challenges: First, we need to solve the causal inference problem - deciding whether signals come from a common cause and thus should be integrated, or come from different sources and be treated independently. Second, when there is a common cause, we should integrate signals across the senses weighted in proportion to their sensory reliabilities. I discuss recent research at the behavioural, computational and neu