I am a PhD candidate in Computational Cognitive Neuroscience in VCCN Lab at Justus Liebig University Giessen.

My research lies at the intersection of visual cognition and computational neuroscience, where I investigate the representational structure of artificial and biological vision systems. During my PhD, I formulate and pursue theory-driven research questions about how internal representations in deep neural networks align with human visual behavior, and under what conditions they diverge.

To address these questions, I develop, train, and systematically probe computational models of vision (e.g., convolutional neural networks), alongside designing and conducting controlled behavioral experiments with human participants. By integrating behavioral data, neuroimaging findings, and computational analyses, I examine how visual biases and perceptual phenomena emerge across different model architectures and training regimes.

My earlier work combines empirical and theoretical approaches to understanding brain function. In my MSc research, I investigated the functional heterogeneity of face-selective regions in the human ventral visual pathway using connectivity fingerprint and representational analyses of fMRI data. In parallel, I explored biologically grounded dynamical systems models of cortical circuits, implementing neural population models to study oscillatory activity and working memory dynamics in the higher-level cortex.

Looking ahead, I am particularly interested in:

  • Representational alignment between vision models and human
  • Mechanistic interpretability and circuit-level analysis of vision and multimodal models
  • Leveraging principles of biological vision to build more robust, fair, and interpretable AI systems

Publications

Distinct Computational Mechanisms Underlie Holistic Processing of Faces and Non-Face Line Patterns CCN 2025
face perception, deep convolutional neural networks, holistic processing
Diverse Visual Experience Promotes Integrated Representations and Mitigates Bias in Deep Neural Networks for Face Perception biorxiv
face perception, perceptual biases, other-race effect, deep convolutional neural networks
Active vision is tuned to representational distinctiveness in the individual brain
individual differences, representational distinctiveness, fMRI
Functional parcellation of the human face-selective areas: a resting-state connectivity homogeneity analysis
face perception, brain connectivity, resting-state fMRI

Ongoing Projects

From Network Representations to Human Perception: Deriving Novel Holistic Stimulus Categories from CNN Representations
Biologically Plausible Developmental Learning Enhances Human-Like Holistic Processing in Shallow Convolutional Neural Networks

Education

Ph.D. in Computational Cognitive Neuroscience,
Erasmus+ Exchange (Computational Neuroscience)
M.Sc. in Cognitive Neuroscience
B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering
Polytechnic of Tehran· 2008–2014

Teaching and Advanced Training

Teaching

Large Language Models in Brain Research
Co-organizer · Justus Liebig University of Giessen · 2025
Deep Learning in Psychology Workshop
Teaching Assistant · TeaP Conference, Goethe University Frankfurt · 2025
Computational Neuroscience Course
Teaching Assistant · Neuromatch Academy · 2021

Advanced Training

Group for Neural Theory
Internship supervised by Boris Gutkin . École Normale Supérieure· 2022
Analytical Connectionism
Participant · University College London · 2025 · Group Project Summary
Deep Learning Course
Participant · Neuromatch Academy · 2022 · Group Project Summary
Bayesian Modeling Workshop
Participant · Justus Liebig University of Giessen · 2024
Barcelona Summer School for Advanced Modeling of Behavior
Participant · 2023
Machine Learning Crash Course Workshop
Participant · University of Genova · 2022
Computational Neuroscience Course
Participant · Neuromatch Academy · 2020