Postdoctoral Associate; Ma Lab

New York University: NYU - NY:
Arts and Science (A&S):
Center for Neural Science Location

New York, NY

Mar 19, 2026

This position is based in New York and the selected candidate will be expected to work onsite as of their effective start date.

The laboratory of Weiji Ma at New York University ( http://(Use the "Apply for this Job" box below). ) is looking for a postdoc to study the cognitive and neural mechanisms of multi-step planning across species. Previous work in the lab has developed game-based experimental paradigms for studying multi-step planning and has laid the foundation for the cognitive modeling of human decisions, response times, and eye movements in a variety of planning tasks.

The postdoc will build on this work and a) design and run human behavioral experiments on adaptive multi-step planning; b) develop theoretical frameworks for understanding human choices, response times, and eye movements in lab experiments, and human choices and response times in large online data sets; b) perform data analysis and computational modeling for a collaboration with a non-human primate lab that studies the neural basis of planning using a task developed in our lab.

The postdoc will be involved in project development, experimental design and data collection (for human experiments only), data analysis, computational modeling, manuscript writing, and dissemination of results. There will likely be opportunities to mentor a Ph.D. student. The postdoc will be part of the lab community and will have access to the broader cognitive science, neuroscience, and data science communities  lab cares deeply about mentorship quality, work-life balance, a nurturing culture, a sense of belonging, and being active in the community.

In compliance with NYC’s Pay Transparency Act, the annual base salary range for this position is $65,000 - $70,000. New York University considers factors such as (but not limited to) the specific grant funding and the terms of the research grant when extending an offer
.

Ph.D. is required for this position. We are looking for someone with a proven interest in the cognitive mechanisms of human decision-making and deep expertise in the computational modeling of behavioral and/or neural data. Experience in developing experimental paradigms based on games is a plus.

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