I use models to understand behaviors of both biological and artificial agents and explore how computation could be implemented in neural networks. Following the release of GPT-4, my research interest has partially shifted towards understanding the emergence of intelligence within large language models.

My current research interests include:

• Use recurrent neural network as cognitive model to identify the hidden variables in decision-making across species.
• Examine the ways prior information could be encoded in working memory system through optimization-based neural network models.
• Investigate how humans utilize language as a tool of control and agency through dialogue.

About me

I am a first year PhD student in the Cognition and Neural Systems Program at the University of Arizona. I work with Robert Wilson. Prior to my PhD, I worked with Xue-Xin Wei at UT Austin, and Da-Hui Wang at Beijing Normal University. Before that, I used EEG to study working memory. Before that, I studied counseling psychology with a focus on cognitive behavioral therapy.

The pronunciation of my name is “HWAH-doang SHAWNG”.

Some of my writing

I am addicted to explore complex ideas. I write some my controversial thoughts on how we understand the world around us. See Blog Posts. I hope you find these ideas interesting! Feel free to share your thoughts or comments with me via email—I’d love to hear your perspective.

Some interesting facts:

• I enjoyed reading when I was young. My favorite writers are James Joyce, Milan Kundera, Jorge Borges, Franz Kafka , Dostoyevsky and Edgar Allan Poe.
• This stupid username was set when I was a teenager, came from Saki and Márquez.
• Yet I didn’t read much after high school. Suddenly lose my patience with long books.
• I am addicted to computer games, but only when there is an exam approaching. Since there are few exams I should take, I seldom play them now.
• I enjoy skiing, sick jokes and embarrassing short videos.
• Using a second language is painful for me, mostly because I can’t help being sarcastic but I can’t do it well in English.
• I am bad at calculating. I often mess up with single digit calculations, even with a pen and paper. This always makes me doubt myself as a researcher in computational neuroscience. (But large language models also fail to do simple calculations, I am not alone)

This website will be slowly updating…