We are pleased to support the Placebo, Hypnosis, and Functional Disorders Conference, taking place in Nancy, France, on 14–16 October 2026. PHFD 2026 will explore how expectations, learning, culture, and therapeutic contexts shape bodily experience and clinical outcomes.

Speciesism and the psychology of animal exploitation Review by Kristof Dhont & Gordon Hodson go.nature.com/4b2gmSW #psychscisky

Speciesism and the psychology of animal exploitation - Nature Reviews Psychology

People care deeply about some animals (such as pets) but engage in practices that harm other animals (such as eating meat). In this Review, Dhont and Hodson outline how people evaluate different anima...

go.nature.com

A bee analogue of Kohler's insight learning experiments

Science Magazine@science.org · 2mo ago

A new Science study shows that bumble bees can position a ball underneath a fake “flower” to reach a reward, suggesting they can exhibit spontaneous problem-solving and challenging the notion that such advanced cognitive abilities are exclusive to large-brained vertebrates. https://scim.ag/4vs08dC

📢 Looking for GP participants for 30 min survey! 📢 We're evaluating the 'Heart Health Yarning Tool', which aims to support health professionals to engage in shared decision making with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people about Heart Health. Link: sydney.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Join us this Thursday at 1pm CEST for an online CELL group talk by @madelinestein.bsky.social: "Tripping on Context: Characteristics and Predictors of Placebo and Nocebo Psychedelic Effects" Interested in attending? Send a DM and we'll send you the link :)

Applications Open! We are looking for a motivated summer intern to support a podcast in development in collaboration with the Plasticity Lab, exploring what restorative, assistive, and augmentative neurotechnology reveals about hidden human capacity 🦾 Full details here: forms.office.com/e/PDjanEYkSE

Don't miss this exceptional annual conference exploring the role of music in pain management and Alzheimer’s disease. Registration is still open—reserve your spot today! calendar.umaryland.edu?month=6&day=...

New preprint is up! In this preregistered experiment, we tested the causal role of set and setting and examined whether individual differences could reliably predict these #placebo and #nocebo #psychedelic effects. Check out the full paper! tinyurl.com/2v98ueh8

Tripping on context: Characteristics and predictors of placebo and nocebo psychedelic effects

Psychedelic drugs are emerging as potentially efficacious tools for treating psychiatric conditions and probing the neural basis of consciousness. Although drug administration context is widely believ...

tinyurl.com

Some exciting updates for #SIPS2027: 🟢 Keynote speakers: David Beard, Kate Faasse, and Omer Van den Bergh 🟢 ECR Summer School will be held on 8 Feb 2027, with travel grants available, supported by @sfb-trr-289.bsky.social 🟢 Reminder that abstract submissions close 1 June 2026 sips2027.com

An exciting opportunity to work closely with our lab - a fully funded PhD scholarship is available at the University of Sydney on the psychological mechanisms underlying the nocebo effect. Open to domestic + international applicants: - $42,754 p.a. for up to 3.5 years - Applications close 9 June

Sharks are vital to ocean health, yet millions are killed for soup. Let's protect them and preserve our ecosystems for future generations.

Neuroscientists interested in rigor, methodology, and open practices, check out this job opportunity to work on a COS-MIT collaboration to improve the research culture in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences program at MIT. careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/cl...

Neuroscience Research Methodologist

MIT - Neuroscience Research Methodologist - Cambridge MA 02139

careers.peopleclick.com

📢 Survey for all members of the general public We would really appreciate your help in improving how information about heart attacks is communicated. 🫀 Complete the 5-min survey: ucc.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... #HeartAttack #HealthHealth #HealthLiteracy #HealthCommunication #AcademicSky 🛟

Mt Baker (Koma Kulshan) and the Space Needle at sunset, as seen from W Seattle, Washington 📸Jack Darling

My final publication of 2025 🎉 New review out with @nihr-hprfa-orb.bsky.social TL;DR: Future outbreaks (e.g., mpox) will keep requiring HCWs to self-isolate after exposure—but we still lack evidence-based interventions to protect their wellbeing. Time to fix that. tinyurl.com/3ywf4334

The impact of COVID-19 self-isolation on healthcare workers’ psychological wellbeing: a systematic review

AbstractBackground. Self-isolation is a key public health strategy for infectious disease control. Globally implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, self-

academic.oup.com

New paper on heterogeneity among highly suggestible individuals in Int Rev Neurobiol. They're assumed to be a uniform group but the evidence goes against this assumption. I describe the central methodological issues, different models of heterogeneity, lines of evidence and implications t.ly/LbX3t

Our lab has been lucky to know and work with Kirsty Mason for many years - she’s an incredible woman whose strength and openness have taught us so much about recovery and resilience 💛 If you can, please check out her GoFundMe and show some support! gofund.me/0283e864d

Donate to From Trauma to Triumph: My 18-Year Life Day Journey, organized by Kirsty Mason

❤️‍ When Everything Changed As I type this, on the 7th November 2… Kirsty Mason needs your support for From Trauma to Triumph: My 18-Year Life Day Journey

gofund.me

⭐ Today we have something from our #scicomm (SC) project! ⭐ This new book is aimed at healthcare professionals and shows how the #placeboeffect and #treatmentexpectation can be used positively when dealing with patients. 👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️ Read it here (physical copy/ebook) ➡️ link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

we are still recruiting! healthy uk adults based in #london, come get your #eeg measured while inhaling #nitrousoxide or medical air

@devinterhune.bsky.social and I have a new invited paper out in the #IJCEH. if you're interested in #psychedelics, #hypnosis, #suggestion, #placebo or #nocebo effects—this is worth a read 🤓 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Suggestion Effects in Psychedelics: Confounds and Opportunities

The resurgence of interest in psychedelics has led to their widespread, and often uncritical, promotion within both popular media and scientific communities. This heightened enthusiasm complicates ...

tandfonline.com

Had a great time at @sipsplacebo.bsky.social 2025 w/ my supervisor @devinterhune.bsky.social 🥳 i presented two meta-analyses on responsiveness to verbal suggestions (REVS) in #placebo and #nocebo responding & one experiment looking at suggestion effects & REVS in placebo #psychedelic responding.

Applications are open for the Plasticity Lab summer internship at the University of Cambridge @mrccbu.bsky.social 🦾 Work with an interdisciplinary team on motor augmentation and wearable tech, exploring enhancement of movement capabilities 🧠 Apply by April 15th: plasticity-lab.com/internship

Five years since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic - & we’re still learning from its legacy. This review was led by @alexfmartin.bsky.social & synthesised evidence from 36 studies examining how #selfisolation impacted #wellbing in adults. Very important work! journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

The impact of self-isolation on psychological wellbeing in adults and how to reduce it: A systematic review

Objective To synthesise evidence on the impact of self-isolation at home on the psychological and emotional wellbeing of adults in the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods This s...

journals.plos.org

we have another new #meta-analysis out now in Personality & Individual Differences. 🎉 Hopefully this work will put to rest ongoing debates about the nature of #hypnotic vs non-hypnotic #suggestibility. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Revisiting the domain of suggestion: A meta-analysis of suggestibility across different contexts

Trait responsiveness to verbal suggestions (suggestibility) is relevant to a diverse array of clinical and experimental psychological phenomena. An un…

sciencedirect.com

I'm giving a talk on #suggestion and #suggestibility next week at the University of Ljubljana as part of a series on #DemandCharacteristics. Should be really fun and is being hosted by the Laboratory of Empirical Phenomenology. 😊 If you're based in #Ljubljana feel free to stop by!!

🧠 Help Us Understand Pain Perception in FND! 🧠 Looking for volunteers with & without #FND for a study in London @kingsioppn.bsky.social. Single lab visit testing pain perception with electrical stimulation. Interested? Please message me: Livia.Asan@kcl.ac.uk ✉️ Thanks for sharing!

Why academia is sleepwalking into self-destruction. My editorial @brain1878.bsky.social If you agree with the sentiments please repost. It's important for all our sakes to stop the madness academic.oup.com/brain/articl...

We’re doing a lot of cool #nitrousoxide research #KCL to better understand the #neural basis of #perception! We started an instagram account, please give it a follow! We’ll follow back other studies 🤓 www.instagram.com/kcln2ostudy?...

Big news: we are setting up a new non-profit organization to run bioRxiv and medRxiv. It's called openRxiv [no it's not a new preprint server; it's dedicated organization to oversee the servers] openrxiv.org 1/n

Out today! We conducted a multi-level meta-analysis that included ~400 effect sizes, allowing us to make fine-grain distinctions between different nocebo induction methods. In particular, we were meticulous when defining different types and modes of suggestions. Hope you enjoy!! tinyurl.com/mwmeetuz

Moderators of nocebo effects in controlled experiments: A multi-level meta-analysis

Nocebo effects are a heterogenous phenomenon in which contextual cues trigger or exacerbate symptoms independently of active interventions. Suggestion…

sciencedirect.com