Wako Yoshida is Professor of Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Oxford's Nuffield Department of Clinical Neuroscience, leading research at the intersection of computational neuroscience, decision theory, and social cognition. Her work focuses on neural mechanisms of belief construction during partially observable decision-making and social interactions, with particular emphasis on prefrontal cortex function. Her research interests include: Computational modeling of uncertainty resolution in cognitive decision-making Neural basis of Theory of Mind during cooperative social interactions Pain neuroscience and aversive learning mechanisms Application of hyper-scanning fMRI for group decision-making studies Brain-machine interfaces for pain control through co-adaptive learning Analysis of her 15 most recent publications (2016-2024) reveals three dominant trends: (1) Neural mechanisms of hierarchical belief inference in spatial navigation and social contexts, (2) Uncertainty processing in pain modulation involving prefrontal-periaqueductal circuits, and (3) Development of computational frameworks for brain-machine interfaces targeting chronic pain management. Her work consistently bridges machine learning concepts with human neuroimaging. Scientific awards: No awards mentioned in source material. Advising and grants: Source text provides no details about students, advisees, or grant funding. Yoshida directs the Pain and Aversive Learning research group at Oxford, collaborating with Ben Seymour and others to investigate computational and neural mechanisms underlying pain, aversion, and decision-making using fMRI, hyper-scanning, and computational modeling approaches.
