Dave O'Connor
@daveocskys.bsky.social
Bumbling engineer/neuroscientist. Postdoc @ MSSM. Opinions are my own.
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Stephen M. Smith Imaging Neuroscience: The First Three Years—Editorial doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
Imaging Neuroscience: The First Three Years—Editorial
Abstract. In April 2023, the editors of NeuroImage and NeuroImage:Reports resigned, and a month later launched Imaging Neuroscience. NeuroImage had been the leading journal in our field, but its publi...
doi.org
we have a policy for the use of genAI at the @aial.ie. we reflect on values key to scientific integrity, such as replicability, and err on the side of not using it blogpost: aial.ie/blog/gen-ai-... pdf: zenodo.org/records/2322...
AI Accountability Lab @aial.ie · 3w agoAt the @aial.ie, we collectively reflected and deliberated on the merits of the use of generative AI in research. Our collective statement and Lab Policy can be read here: aial.ie/blog/gen-ai-... zenodo.org/records/2322...
Very excited to share this one 🧠✨ Our work on longitudinal multimodal imaging in awake mice is officially out! We combined wide-field calcium imaging and fMRI to investigate brain-wide function across brain states and aging. A milestone long in the making. ~See related emojis 🐭🔬☕️🧲🧠
Imaging Neuroscience@imagingneurosci.bsky.social · last mo.New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Francesca Mandino, Evelyn M.R. Lake, et al: Biphasic acclimation for simultaneous wide-field fluorescent Ca2+ imaging and fMRI of awake mice doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Francesca Mandino, Evelyn M.R. Lake, et al: Biphasic acclimation for simultaneous wide-field fluorescent Ca2+ imaging and fMRI of awake mice doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
Substantial improvements in research interpretability & reproducibility are often hard. Sometimes the improvements are easy. (The underlying idea is older & easy, but convincing people is sometimes the hard part) I'm happy to have contributed to this easy and now widely accessible improvement.
Paul Taylor@afni-pt.bsky.social · 2mo agoHave you ever felt like something was missing from your #fmri results? Have you been worried about potential reproducibility issues? Well, this new @natmethods.nature.com article with 40+ coauthors shows how the simple change to transparent thresholding helps both. Go Figure! rdcu.be/B4tikBETdQZa
Just to have something to do on my blog, I wrote out some advice that I find myself often giving to junior scholars and PhD standings re how to think about journals' prestige and reputation when deciding how to place one's publications. sootyempiric.blogspot.com/2026/08/jour...
Journal Prestige Advice for Graduate Students
I don't have time to blog much nowadays, but I want to keep this place active. One recurring use for the site is to outline to things th...
sootyempiric.blogspot.com
Looking for a postdoc in addiction and neuroimaging!! Check out medicine.yale.edu/biomedical-i... Message me directly if you are interested in hearing about opportunities to apply to work with the YIP lab :)
now that we know how the new season of Reacher is (excellent), a thread about why you should watch What If A Man Was Large, The Show, in the form of a Q&A
Is the whole more than the sum of its parts? Considering global and local features of the connectome improves prediction of individuals and phenotypes direct.mit.edu/imag/article...
Is the whole more than the sum of its parts? Considering global and local features of the connectome improves prediction of individuals and phenotypes
Abstract. Popular methods for analyzing the brain’s functional connectome examine statistical associations between pairs of atlas-defined brain regions, viewing the strength of these links as independ...
direct.mit.edu
Pumped to share our latest work! Here, we peeked under the hood of fMRI-based predictive models to ask whether models of sustained attention and autism symptoms rely on overlapping functional connections. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/2
Feature overlap in transdiagnostic connectome-based models of sustained attention and autism symptoms
Sustained attention is an important neurobiological process. Difficulties with attention play a key role in neurodevelopmental disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and au...
medrxiv.org
External validation is a great way to improve rigor in neuroimaging. Although a simple idea is simple—test a predictive model on another dataset—the practice is not. In our Perspective in @natmethods.nature.com, we discuss practical issues and solutions; www.nature.com/articles/s41...
External validation improves generalizability, replicability and reproducibility in predictive models for neuroimaging - Nature Methods
This Perspective promotes the use of external validation using independent datasets for human neuroimaging studies.
nature.com
So glad to finally share work years in the making! What started with fMRI effect size benchmarks ended up showing that conventional study planning detects ~half of expected brain effects, suggesting more distributed processes than the lit shows (+ new methods for mass univ effect/power estimation)
Thrilled to share our latest paper, out recently in Nature Mental Health. "Optimizing functional connectivity scanning conditions for predicting autistic traits" www.nature.com/articles/s44... 1/n
Optimizing functional connectivity scanning conditions for predicting autistic traits - Nature Mental Health
This research investigates optimal brain states for predicting autistic traits using connectome-based predictive modeling across four datasets. Findings indicate that a sustained attention task enhanc...
nature.com
Corey Horien@coreyhorien.bsky.social · 2y agoTake a look at some of our latest results, diving into task-fMRI data, autism, and predictive modelling: "What is the best brain state to predict autistic traits?" www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/2
Excited to share our latest paper in which we discuss merging theory-and data- driven computational psychiatry in a large transdiagnostic cohort study (N=2400) www.biologicalpsychiatrycnni.org/article/S245... Christopher Pittenger, Godfrey Pearlson @annierhcheng.bsky.social @sobp-org.bsky.social
Threading the needle: Practical considerations for merging theory-driven computational psychiatry with data-driven analytics to enhance precision health at scale
The rapidly evolving field of computational psychiatry enables quantification of specific cognitive processes, and their underlying mechanisms, in a translational and potentially scalable manner, usin...
biologicalpsychiatrycnni.org
I wrote an perspectives piece relevant to the structural atlasing endeavors. Structural atlases are not the end of the story. This perspective calls for models that take into account the flexible functional organization within this fixed architecture. www.frontiersin.org/journals/neu...
Frontiers | Structure–function relationships across scales: implications for atlases
Neuroscience aims to understand how the structural and functional organization of the brain relates to behavior. Structural studies at the cellular level est...
frontiersin.org
Looking for a postdoc in #computationalpsychiatry? Apply here to join an interdisciplinary team and work with a large longitudinal transdiagnostic dataset postdocs.yale.edu/posts/2026-0... @RobbRutledge @xiaosigu @DrChrisPitt @PearlsonGodfrey @ACNPorg @YaleMed
Computational Psychiatry Postdoctoral Associate Opening at Yale School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry
postdocs.yale.edu
This paper had a pretty shocking headline result (40% of voxels!), so I dug into it, and I think it is wrong. Essentially: they compare two noisy measures and find that about 40% of voxels have different sign between the two. I think this is just noise!
Eiko Fried@eikofried.bsky.social · 10mo agoWould love to hear expert views on this paper. It appears to show that the operationalization of brain activity the field has relied on for 3 decades—the BOLD response—is not actually a sensible measure of brain activity. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
It’s officially out! Check out the manuscript for more on the effect size web app, led by the truly indefatigable @halleeshearer.bsky.social and featuring so many contributions from this team, esp MINDS Lab via @dscheinost.bsky.social
Hallee Shearer@halleeshearer.bsky.social · 12mo agoExcited to share our manuscript about BrainEffeX, a tool for exploring fMRI effect sizes. Includes why we made it, how to use it + contribute, and how we made it. @sneuroble.bsky.social @psychonetrics.bsky.social @alexkfischbach.bsky.social @nichols.bsky.social @dscheinost.bsky.social & MINDS Lab
Take a look at our paper! Led by @francimandi.bsky.social in the Lake lab: "Longitudinal, simultaneous wide-field fluorescent Ca2+ imaging and fMRI in awake mice" !!!! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Francesca Mandino@francimandi.bsky.social · 12mo agoTalking about spooky stuff…try to do awake mouse fMRI. Oh, you want it spookier? Try to add simultaneous Ca2+ imaging. Now, do it all again, longitudinally…. So proud to finally have this out!!! 🐭 🧠 🧲 Go read…if you dare!! 👻 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Talking about spooky stuff…try to do awake mouse fMRI. Oh, you want it spookier? Try to add simultaneous Ca2+ imaging. Now, do it all again, longitudinally…. So proud to finally have this out!!! 🐭 🧠 🧲 Go read…if you dare!! 👻 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Longitudinal, simultaneous wide-field fluorescent Ca2+ imaging and fMRI in awake mice
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can be applied in mice and humans making it a key technology in translational neuroimaging research. Yet, most neuroimaging studies in rodents use anesthes...
biorxiv.org
MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’ Awarded To Inventor Of Eatin’ Shirt https://theonion.com/macarthur-genius-grant-awarded-to-inventor-of-eatin-shirt/
Really proud to share this w/ @francimandi.bsky.social from the Lake lab: we applied fingerprinting in a simultaneous wide-field fluorescence Ca2+ imaging and BOLD-fMRI dataset in mice! w/ @toddc.bsky.social @mallarchak.bsky.social @richardfbetzel.bsky.social et al. www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Multimodal identification of the mouse brain using simultaneous Ca2+ imaging and fMRI - Communications Biology
Using simultaneously acquired wide-field fluorescence calcium imaging and BOLD-fMRI, subject-specific signatures are observable in the mouse connectome, with stronger individual specific patterns evident in the calcium data.
nature.com
Launched in 2023, Imaging Neuroscience is now firmly established, with full indexing (PubMed, etc.) and 700 papers to date. We're very happy to announce that we are able to reduce the APC to $1400. Huge thanks to all authors, reviewers, editorial team+board, and MIT Press.
Are interoception and mental health linked? Many assume so, with interoception even described as a psychiatric “p-factor.” But in our latest preprint, we were surprised to find little evidence for such a connection. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵 Thread with our reflections on the matter 👇
Interoceptive Ability is Unrelated to Mental Health Symptoms: Evidence From a Large Scale Multi-Domain Psychophysical Investigation
Interoception-the sensing and perception of the internal viscera-is widely cast as a transdiagnostic mechanism linking brain-body interaction to mental illness. Prevailing models propose that altered ...
medrxiv.org
This feels like a spot of good news www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...
Scientists found the missing nutrients bees need — Colonies grew 15-fold
Scientists have developed a breakthrough food supplement that could help save honeybees from devastating declines. By engineering yeast to produce six essential sterols found in pollen, researchers pr...
sciencedaily.com
Check out the latest from @daveocskys.bsky.social ! Cool work looking at functional connectivity dynamics and predictive-modeling of brain-behavior relationships!! 🔥 🔥 W/ @toddc.bsky.social @francimandi.bsky.social
Dave O'Connor@daveocskys.bsky.social · 2y agoRecently had the last piece of work from my PhD published, only took 2.5 years or so. Check it out here! Thanks to @coreyhorien.bsky.social @francimandi.bsky.social @toddc.bsky.social
What happens in the brain when we breathe? 🧠 🔄 🫁 🧠 The functional state of the brain fluctuates across the respiratory cycle 🫁 Brain activity can be volitionally influenced by varying the rate, depth, and pattern of breathing Read more ➡️ doi.org/10.1016/j.bi... @uniofjyvaskyla.bsky.social
