Xiaosi Gu
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Biography
Dr. Xiaosi Gu is Professor of Psychiatry and Biomedical Informatics & Data Science, and Director of the Computational Psychiatry Unit at Yale School of Medicine. She received her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, followed by postdoctoral training at Virginia Tech and the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London. A recipient of the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), Dr. Gu is internationally recognized for her research in the field of computational psychiatry, which seeks to understand how humans form beliefs and make decisions and how these processes break down in psychiatric disorders such as addiction, depression, autism, amongst others. Continuously funded by NIH and private foundations, her work integrates computational modeling, cognitive neuroscience, neuroimaging, and human intracranial recording methods. Dr. Gu has published widely in leading scientific journals such as Nature Mental Health, Nature Human Behavior, JAMA Psychiatry, PNAS, amongst many others. She is a Co-Director for the Society for Computational Psychiatry, Editor-in-Chief of the journal Computational Psychiatry, and a Reviewing Editor at eLife. Dr. Gu was the organizer for the London Computational Psychiatry Course, which was a precursor to the Computational Psychiatry Conference, where she is currently a Steering Committee Member. Dr. Gu has also served as a member of the NIMH Board of Scientific Counselors, a Scientific Advisor to the Wellcome Trust and Simon’s Foundation, Co-President of the Society for Computational Psychiatry, and a grant reviewer for numerous organizations such as the NIH, NSF, the Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council (UK), and DFG (Germany). Outside the lab, Dr. Gu is a dedicated advocate for mental health awareness, regularly speaking at public forums including a TEDx talk in 2018.
Departments & Organizations
Education & Training
- PhD
- Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Neuroscience (2011)
Research
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Overview
Dr. Gu’s research combines computational modeling, cognitive neuroscience, neuroimaging, and intracranial recording to address fundamental questions about the human mind. Her early contributions established the framework of interoceptive inference, showing that the insular cortex integrates bodily and emotional signals in a Bayesian fashion to generate subjective feelings. She later extended this approach to addiction, proposing a computational model of drug craving as aberrant interoceptive inference—a framework that has reshaped how researchers conceptualize craving and its neural underpinnings.
A second focus of the Gu lab is computational social neuroscience. This line of research has revealed the neural computations that support empathy, norm adaptation, and social controllability, and has more recently demonstrated distinct roles for dopamine and serotonin in social decision-making. These discoveries highlight the intricate ways in which brain circuits and neuromodulators shape social behavior, with direct implications for conditions such as depression, substance use disorder, and autism.
Medical Research Interests
Public Health Interests
ORCID
0000-0002-9373-987X- View Lab Website
Computational Psychiatry Unit
Research at a Glance
Yale Co-Authors
Publications Timeline
Research Interests
Kaustubh R. Kulkarni, MD, PhD
Jennifer Foss-Feig, PhD
Eamon McCrory, PhD, BA
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Publications
2025
Neural tracking of social navigation in autism spectrum disorder
Banker S, Schafer M, Barkley S, Trayvick J, Chen A, Peters A, Thinakaran A, Gu X, Foss-Feig J, Schiller D. Neural tracking of social navigation in autism spectrum disorder. Biological Psychiatry 2025 PMID: 40930374, DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2025.08.018.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricConceptsAutism spectrum disorderPosterior cingulate cortexParahippocampal place areaNeural trackingTypical developmentTemporal poleSpectrum disorderAutism spectrum disorder groupSocial decisionsSocial avoidance symptomsNon-clinical sampleSocial interaction taskConsistent with prior findingsSocial cognitive mapClinically diverse sampleAvoidance symptomsNeural differencesBrain systemsCingulate cortexExternalizing symptomsPlace areaSocial navigationAutistic adultsNeural activityDiverse sampleOne Small Step Towards Fixing a Broken System
Gu X, Adams R. One Small Step Towards Fixing a Broken System. Computational Psychiatry 2025, 9: 122-123. PMID: 40384939, PMCID: PMC12082440, DOI: 10.5334/cpsy.148.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchUnderstanding depression in autism: the role of subjective perception and anterior cingulate cortex volume
Hao Y, Banker S, Trayvick J, Barkley S, Peters A, Thinakaran A, McLaughlin C, Gu X, Schiller D, Foss-Feig J. Understanding depression in autism: the role of subjective perception and anterior cingulate cortex volume. Molecular Autism 2025, 16: 9. PMID: 39930465, PMCID: PMC11812218, DOI: 10.1186/s13229-025-00638-4.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsAnterior cingulate cortexAutism spectrum disorderSelf-reported depressionAnterior cingulate cortex volumeCo-occurring depressionAmygdala volumeAutism symptomsSocial functioningCingulate cortex volumeSocial interaction taskSocial interactionSocial interaction behaviorClinically diagnosed depressionHeterogeneity of autism spectrum disorderSubjective perceptionHeightened self-awarenessAutistic young adultsASD adultsDepressive phenotypeSocial deficitsCingulate cortexCross-sectional natureSocial impairmentPrevalence of depressionASD individualsPhenotypic divergence between individuals with self-reported autistic traits and clinically ascertained autism
Banker S, Harrington M, Schafer M, Na S, Heflin M, Barkley S, Trayvick J, Peters A, Thinakaran A, Schiller D, Foss-Feig J, Gu X. Phenotypic divergence between individuals with self-reported autistic traits and clinically ascertained autism. Nature Mental Health 2025, 3: 286-297. PMID: 40084231, PMCID: PMC11896879, DOI: 10.1038/s44220-025-00385-8.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricConceptsAutism spectrum disorderAutistic traitsHigh-trait groupDecision-making taskIn-person sampleSample of adultsAvoidance symptomsSocial anxietySelf-ratingsSpectrum disorderAutism researchNeuropsychiatric traitsSelf-ReportAutismIn-personTraitsSocial tendenciesSocial influenceLaboratory settingClinical characterizationParticipantsAdultsClinical validationPerceptions of opportunitiesAnxiety
2024
Motivational and behavioral mechanisms underlying generalized health risking behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic in smokers
Park J, Lee S, Gu X, Fiore V, Sul S, Chung D. Motivational and behavioral mechanisms underlying generalized health risking behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic in smokers. Scientific Reports 2024, 14: 30292. PMID: 39638843, PMCID: PMC11621408, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-81898-7.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsHealth risk behaviorsGeneral health risk behaviorsSample of participantsIndividual beliefsParticipants' responsesRisk behaviorsIndividual health risk behaviorsPsychological mechanismsSelf-ReportHealth domainsPublic health domainHealth risk beliefsBehavioral choicesPublic health issueBehavioral mechanismsPublic health behaviorsHealth issuesHealth behaviorsParticipantsCooperative participationCOVID-19 pandemicTranscendent domainPublic health challengeIndividualsBehaviorSocial conformity is a heuristic when individual risky decision-making is disrupted
Orloff M, Chung D, Gu X, Wang X, Gao Z, Song G, Tatineni C, Xu S, Casas B, Chiu P. Social conformity is a heuristic when individual risky decision-making is disrupted. PLOS Computational Biology 2024, 20: e1012602. PMID: 39621793, PMCID: PMC11651703, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012602.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsRisky decision-makingDorsal anterior cingulate cortexAnterior cingulate cortexGambling TaskSocial contextCingulate cortexRisky optionCognitive impairmentDisruptive useSocial conformitySocial informationLesion groupRisk processParticipantsDecision-makingIncreased conformityCortexGamblingImpairmentUtility-based computingPreferencesIndividual preferencesTaskSituation decisionSocialAdvancing computational psychiatry through a social lens
Rhoads S, Gu X, Barnby J. Advancing computational psychiatry through a social lens. Nature Mental Health 2024, 2: 1268-1270. DOI: 10.1038/s44220-024-00343-w.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricRevisiting the role of computational neuroimaging in the era of integrative neuroscience
Loosen A, Kato A, Gu X. Revisiting the role of computational neuroimaging in the era of integrative neuroscience. Neuropsychopharmacology 2024, 50: 103-113. PMID: 39242921, PMCID: PMC11525590, DOI: 10.1038/s41386-024-01946-8.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchCitationsAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsEcological validityComputational neuroimagingHuman neuroimaging researchHuman neuroscience researchNeuroimaging researchNeuroimaging studiesNeuroimaging techniquesIntegrative neuroscienceNeuroscientific methodsNeurobiological plausibilityHuman cognitionNeuroscience researchLevels of analysisNeuroimagingNaturalistic behaviorsNeural dynamicsStandard paradigmHigh-dimensional image datasetsComputational modelParadigmCognitionNeuroscienceImage datasetsBehaviorData modalitiesAberrant neural computation of social controllability in nicotine-dependent humans
McLaughlin C, Fu Q, Na S, Heflin M, Chung D, Fiore V, Gu X. Aberrant neural computation of social controllability in nicotine-dependent humans. Communications Biology 2024, 7: 988. PMID: 39143128, PMCID: PMC11324891, DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-06638-z.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchAltmetricMeSH Keywords and ConceptsConceptsValue-based decision-makingSocial prediction errorsVentromedial prefrontal cortexSocial cognitive deficitsSample of participantsFMRI taskInteroceptive statesNeurocomputational accountPrefrontal cortexFMRI studyMaladaptive behaviorsCognitive deficitsSimulated partnerSense of controlSocial interactionFMRIPersonal influenceSocial settingsOptimal decision-makingSocial environmentSocial controlSmokersAddictionDecision-makingCortexPositive affect modulates memory by regulating the influence of reward prediction errors
Qasim S, Deswal A, Saez I, Gu X. Positive affect modulates memory by regulating the influence of reward prediction errors. Communications Psychology 2024, 2: 52. PMID: 39242805, PMCID: PMC11332028, DOI: 10.1038/s44271-024-00106-4.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchAltmetricConceptsReward prediction errorMood disordersPositive affectInfluence of reward prediction errorsPositive reward prediction errorAccuracy of memoryDecision-making taskProbabilistic rewardsMemorized stimuliMemory searchBiased memoriesRecognition testCohort of human participantsPerceptual informationHuman participantsRewardMemoryMoodTemporal efficiencyAffectPrediction errorDisordersStimuliComputational mechanicsPerceptually
Academic Achievements & Community Involvement
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Featured
honor Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
01/14/2025National AwardThe White HouseDetailsUnited States
Honors
honor Neustein Mid-Career Women Faculty Award
10/05/2023Regional AwardIcahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaiDetailsUnited Stateshonor Editor's Choice Paper Award
11/01/2018International AwardNeuropsychopharmacology: The Official Journal of American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
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