Cognitive Neuroscientist
Lak Lab
Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics
University of Oxford
About me
I am a post-doctoral researcher in cognitive neuroscience. I study how our brains process visual information and how we make efficient and accurate decisions about what we see. For instance, I investigate how our brains exploit the temporal stability of the environment and use visual information of the recent past to optimize current perception and decisions. My research relies on a combination of techniques, including psychophysics, computational modelling, fiber photometry, electrophysiology, optogenetics and two-photon imaging. Over the course of my career, my research has been supported by fellowships from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) and the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP).
CV
Postdoctoral Fellow in Neuroscience
2021 - now
Lak Lab, Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford (UK)
Postdoctoral Researcher in Cognitive Neuroscience
2020 - 2021
Predictive Brain Lab, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour (Netherlands)
PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience
2016-2020
Predictive Brain Lab, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour (Netherlands)
MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience
2014 - 2016
Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour (Netherlands)
BSc in Cognitive Science
2010 - 2014
Osnabrück University (Germany)
Research
Publications
Preprints
Fritsche, M, Toschi, C, Shevchuk, Y, Didenko, O, Puliyadi, R, Majumdar, A, Bogacz, R, Lak, A (2026) Dorsal striatal dopamine integrates sensory and reward prediction errors to guide perceptual decisions. bioRxiv
Journal articles
Majumdar, A, Ashcroft, C, *Fritsche, M, Tan, S, Zatka-Haas, P, Folsz, O, Walker, N, Mistry, L, Rominto, AM, Tvrdic, M, Molnar, Z, Atilgan, H, Packer, AM, Butt, SJB, Lak, A (2025). Distinct representations of economic variables across regions and projections of the frontal cortex. Neuron [data & code] (*equal contributions)
Liebana, S, Laffere, A, Toschi, C, Schilling, L, Moretti, J, Podlaski, J, Fritsche, M, Zatka-Haas, P, Li, Y, Bogacz, R, Saxe, A, Lak, A (2025). Dopamine encodes deep network teaching signals for individual learning trajectories. Cell [data & code]
Liebana, S, Fritsche, M, Lak, A (2024). Dopaminergic computations for perceptual decisions. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences
Fritsche, M, Majumdar, A, Strickland, L, Liebana Garcia, S, Bogacz, R, Lak, A (2024). Temporal regularities shape perceptual decisions and striatal dopamine signals. Nature Communications [data & code]
del Rio, M, de Lange, FP, *Fritsche, M, & *Ward, J (2024) Perceptual confirmation bias and decision bias underlie adaptation to sequential regularities. Journal of Vision [data & code](*equal contribution)
Bosch, E, Fritsche, M, Utzerath, C, Buitelaar, JK, & de Lange, FP (2022). Adaptation and serial choice bias for low-level visual features are unaltered in autistic adolescents. Journal of Vision [data & code]
Fritsche, M, Solomon, SG, de Lange, FP (2022). Brief stimuli cast a persistent long-term trace in visual cortex. Journal of Neuroscience [code]
Fernández, G, & Healthy Brain Study consortium (2021). Protocol of the Healthy Brain Study: An accessible resource for understanding the human brain and how it dynamically and individually operates in its bio-social context. PLoS ONE
Bosch, E, Fritsche, M, Ehinger, BV, & de Lange FP (2020). Opposite effects of choice history and stimulus history resolve a paradox of sequential choice bias. Journal of Vision [data & code]
Fritsche, M, Spaak, E, & de Lange, FP (2020). A Bayesian and efficient observer model explains concurrent attractive and repulsive history biases in visual perception. eLife [data & code]
Fritsche, M, van der Wel, RPRD, Smit, R, Bloem, BR, Toni, I, & Helmich, RC (2020). Impaired motor recycling during action selection in Parkinson’s disease. eNeuro
Fritsche, M, Lawrence, SJD, & de Lange, FP (2020). Temporal tuning of repetition suppression across the visual cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology [data & code]
Fritsche, M, & de Lange, FP (2019). The role of feature-based attention in visual serial dependence. Journal of Vision [data & code]
Fritsche, M, & de Lange, FP (2019). Reference repulsion is not a perceptual illusion. Cognition [data & code]
He, T, Fritsche, M, & de Lange, FP (2018). Predictive remapping of visual features beyond saccadic targets. Journal of Vision [data & code]
Seeliger, K, Fritsche, M, Güçlü, U, Schoenmakers, S, Schoffelen, J-M, Bosch, SE, & van Gerven, MAJ (2018). Convolutional neural network-based encoding and decoding of visual object recognition in space and time. NeuroImage
de Lange, FP, & Fritsche, M (2017). Perceptual Decision-Making: Picking the Low-Hanging Fruit? Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Fritsche, M, Mostert, P, & de Lange, FP (2017). Opposite Effects of Recent History on Perception and Decision. Current Biology [data & code]
Thesis
Fritsche, M (2020). Temporal Context in Visual Perception [pdf]
Contact me
Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics
University of Oxford
Sherrington Building, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PT, UK.