Hi, I'm Max Shen.

I am a cognitive science researcher interested in the theory and practice of pain resolution. I’m currently mentored by Professor Wang at the MIT McGovern Institute, and in the past have worked with both the Moral Psychology Research Lab at Harvard, and the Computational Cognitive Science Lab at MIT. 

Pain can be understood as a predictive signal, like hunger or fear. I am interested in using tools from active inference, phenomenology, and Bayesian statistics to characterize pain as a predictive signal. I also draw inspiration from Pain Reprocessing Therapy (which I have been certified in), and Moshe Feldenkrais’ philosophy of the body for crafting practice techniques that can change the nature of the predictive signal. 

My deep wish is to better understand and spread the knowledge and skills needed for resolving persistent pain. My research aims to concrete help everyday people (not just academics). To do this, I'm open sourcing the theoretical and practical knowledge of pain science at debugyourpain.org.

I write regularly on Substack, but you can also find me on X/Twitter. You can also email mxslk[at]mit.edu

Ongoing:

• Debugyourpain.org

• Carpal tunnel or tendonitis? An active inference perspective on wrist syndromes

Past

• Challenges facing the objective measurement of pain.

• Debugging RSI: Beyond the Wrist

Works that have inspired me

• Stilwell, Peter, and Katherine Harman. "An enactive approach to pain: beyond the biopsychosocial model." Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 18.4 (2019): 637-665.

• Sterling, Peter. What is health?: Allostasis and the evolution of human design. mit Press, 2020. and Sterling, Peter, and Simon Laughlin. Principles of neural design. MIT press, 2015.

• Ashar, Yoni K., et al. "Effect of pain reprocessing therapy vs placebo and usual care for patients with chronic back pain: a randomized clinical trial." JAMA psychiatry 79.1 (2022): 13-23.