Education

• 2024 – 2026 (expected): Ph.D. Student, Cognition & Brain Science, Georgia Institute of Technology.
  • Advisor: Dr. Robert C. Wilson
• 2024.7: Analytical Connectionism 2024, New York.
• 2022 – 2024: Ph.D. Student, Cognitive and Neural System Program, University of Arizona.
  • Advisor: Dr. Robert C. Wilson
  • Ph.D. Minor in Computer Science
• 2021.7: Computational and Cognitive Neuroscience Summer School, Cold Spring Harbor Asia.

Publications

(* denotes co-first authors)

• bioRxiv: Hua-Dong Xiong*, Li Ji-An*, Marcelo Mattar, & Robert C. Wilson. 2025. Human Strategy Adaptation in Reinforcement Learning Resembles Policy Gradient Ascent.
• Nature: Marcel Binz, Elif Akata, Matthias Bethge, … Hua-Dong Xiong, Eric Schulz. 2025. A foundation model to predict and capture human cognition.
• bioRxiv: Hua-Dong Xiong*, Li Ji-An*, Marcelo Mattar, & Robert C. Wilson. 2025. Deep Learning Improves Parameter Estimation in Reinforcement Learning Models.
• NeurIPS 2025: Li Ji-An*, Hua-Dong Xiong*, Robert C. Wilson, Marcelo Mattar, & Marcus K. Benna. 2025. Language Models Are Capable of Metacognitive Monitoring and Control of Their Internal Activations.
• OSF: Xie Hanbo, Hua-Dong Xiong & Robert C. Wilson. 2025. Rethinking Think-Aloud in the Age of Language Models.
• CogSci 2025: Hua-Dong Xiong*, Li Ji-An*, Marcelo Mattar, & Robert C. Wilson. 2025. DynamicRL: Extending Reinforcement Learning Models to Capture Trial-by-Trial Parameter Changes. Oral (~14%)
• CogSci 2025: Hua-Dong Xiong*, Li Ji-An*, Marcelo Mattar, & Robert C. Wilson. 2025. Humans Learn to Weight Evidence Unevenly Over Time.
• COLM 2024: Hanbo Xie, Hua-Dong Xiong, & Robert C. Wilson. 2023. From Strategic Narratives to Code-Like Cognitive Models: An LLM-Based Approach in A Sorting Task. First Conference on Language Modeling.
• NeurIPS 2023 AI for Science: Hua-Dong Xiong*, Li Ji-An*, Marcelo Mattar, & Robert C. Wilson. 2023. Distilling human decision-making dynamics: A comparative analysis of low-dimensional architectures. NeurIPS 2023 AI for Science Workshop.
• NeurIPS 2023 AI for Science: Hanbo Xie*, Hua-Dong Xiong*, & Robert C. Wilson. 2023. Text2Decision: Decoding Latent Variables in Risky Decision Making from Think Aloud Text. NeurIPS 2023 AI for Science Workshop.

Conference abstract

(* denotes co-first authors)

• CogSci 2025: Hanbo Xie, Jian-Qiao Zhu, Hua-Dong Xiong, Robert C. Wilson, Thomas L. Griffiths. 2025. Reasoning Across Minds and Machines.
• CCN 2024: Hua-Dong Xiong*, Li Ji-An*, Marcelo Mattar and Robert Wilson. 2024. Characterizing attractor geometry in human decision making via low-dimensional RNNs. Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience 2024.
• CCN 2023: Hua-Dong Xiong*, Li Ji-An*, Marcelo Mattar and Robert Wilson. 2023. Neural network modeling reveals diverse human exploration behaviors via state space analysis. Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience 2023. Oral (~5%)
• CCN 2022: Hua-Dong Xiong and Xue-Xin Wei. 2022. Optimal encoding of prior information in noisy working memory systems. Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience 2022.

Skills

• Programming Languages: Python (Pytorch, mne, Gym), Shell, Julia, Stan, LaTeX, JavaScript (WebPPL, jsPsych), MATLAB, R.
• Deep Learning: Transformers, deep reinforcement learning, using Slurm and Kubernetes, and using large language models.
• Computational Modeling: Bayesian cognitive models, drift-diffusion models, reinforcement learning models, spiking neural network models, artificial neural network models.
• Neural Signal Processing: Multivariate pattern analysis, decoding model, and encoding model.

Grant

• 2024–2025: OpenAI Research Fund ($5,000 credit).
  • Project: Beyond Computational Behaviorism – Measuring and Modeling Human Think Aloud
• 2022–2023: Research and Project Grants ($1,500), University of Arizona.
  • Project: Identification of Cognitive Algorithms from Behavioral data through neural network modeling.
• 2018–2019: Laboratory Open Fund (¥2,000), Capital Normal University.
  • Project: How distractors influence working memory?
• 2014–2015: National College Students’ Innovation Training Program (¥10,000), Shanghai Normal University.
  • Project: Opinions’ polarization in condition of similar or different cultural value orientations.

Experience

• 2022 – Now: Research Assistant, Robert Wilson’s Lab, Georgia Institute of Technology (Previously at the University of Arizona).
  • Unifying cognitive computation through the lens of online gradient descent.
  • Using recurrent neural networks to understand the dynamics of decision-making.
• 2021 – 2022: Research Assistant, Xue-Xin Wei’s Lab, UT Austin.
  • How feedforward and recurrent connections contribute to encoding prior information in working memory.
• 2019 – 2020: Research Assistant, Da-Hui Wang’s Lab, Beijing Normal University.
  • Biophysical mechanism of feature binding for multiple 2D working memory items.

Teaching

• 2025 Fall: Teaching Assistant, Learning and Memory (PSYC 4025), Georgia Tech.
• 2025 Summer: Teaching Assistant, General Psychology (PSYC 1101), Georgia Tech.
• 2025 Spring: Teaching Assistant, Mindfulness: Science & Practice (PSYC 3005), Georgia Tech.
• 2024: Teaching Assistant, Neuroscience of Mental Health (PSYC 3803), University of Arizona.
• 2023: Teaching Assistant, Healthy Psychology, University of Arizona.
• 2022: Teaching Assistant, Healthy Psychology, University of Arizona.
• 2022: Project Teaching Assistant, Computational Neuroscience, Neuromatch Academy.
• 2021: Tutorial Teaching Assistant, Computational Neuroscience, Neuromatch Academy.
• 2021: Tutor, Workshop on MVPA in EEG, Capital Normal University.

Services

• Reviewer: 2025: NeurIPS 2025 conference
• Reviewer: 2025: CogSci 2025 conference
• Reviewer: 2024: CCN conference
• Reviewer: 2023: CCN conference
• Reviewer: 2022: CCN conference