Giulia Cabbai
@giuliacabbai.bsky.social
Postdoctoral Research Fellow | @imagingneuroucl.bsky.social, previously @sussex.ac.uk | Mental imagery, spontaneous thoughts, multisensory perception
I’m very proud that our symposium on #Aphantasia and Consciousness at #ASSC29 was a big success! Aphantasia research has undergone a decade of scientific study. This symposium aimed to address a key question: what does aphantasia reveal about unique aspects of human consciousness?
It was really great to present my work on aphantasia at the #ASSC29! Thank you again @jianghaoliu.bsky.social for organising the symposium 😊
I'm so sad to miss ASSC this year! If you're there, please go check out @giuliacabbai.bsky.social's talk presenting our new work on the role of volitional control in perceptual reality monitoring on Friday at 5pm at session 22! And also...
Keisuke Suzuki@ksks.bsky.social · last mo.@nadinedijkstra.bsky.social Congrats!
*CALL FOR ABSTRACTS - MIABRIDGE workshop* We are now accepting abstract submissions for poster presentations, and you can submit your abstract here: sites.google.com/view/miabrid... Deadline for abstract submission: 31/05/2026 (23:59, CEST) Looking forward to hopefully seeing some of you in Paris!
I am beyond excited to share our new preprint ‘Building world models by learning to distinguish imagination from reality: why childhood imagination feels so real’ with Nora Petrova, @tessamdekker.bsky.social and @nadinedijkstra.bsky.social. osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
Our symposium, #“Aphantasia_and_Consciousness,” has been accepted for the upcoming @assc2026.bsky.social! Speakers include @matthiasmichel.bsky.social, @giuliacabbai.bsky.social, Lu Teng, and myself (Chair). Looking forward to great discussions — come join us if you’ll be there! theassc.org/assc-29/
Think about your breakfast this morning. Can you imagine the pattern on your coffee mug? The sheen of the jam on your half-eaten toast? go.nature.com/3ZiHLtN
Many people have no mental imagery. What’s going on in their brains?
People with aphantasia are offering a window into consciousness.
go.nature.com
So excited to see this lovely paper with @benjyb.bsky.social, @matanmazor.bsky.social and @giuliacabbai.bsky.social published in @nconsc.bsky.social! academic.oup.com/nc/article/2...
Vivid imagery is reported faster than weak imagery
Abstract. Visual imagery and external perception rely on similar representations. However, whether the same processes underpin the subjective appraisal of
academic.oup.com
Benjy Barnett@benjyb.bsky.social · last yr.🚨New preprint🚨 out with the dream team @matanmazor.bsky.social @giuliacabbai.bsky.social and @nadinedijkstra.bsky.social! We report a novel and robust effect across five different datasets: vivid imagery is reported faster than weak imagery. 📝: osf.io/preprints/ps...
I am very excited to share our new preprint, spearheaded by the brilliant @lunahuestegge.bsky.social, w/ @peterkok.bsky.social and others: ‘An attempt to push mental imagery over the reality threshold using non-invasive brain stimulation’ doi.org/10.31234/osf...
OSF
doi.org
We built the openESM database: ▶️60 openly available experience sampling datasets (16K+ participants, 740K+ obs.) in one place ▶️Harmonized (meta-)data, fully open-source software ▶️Filter & search all data, simply download via R/Python Find out more: 🌐 openesmdata.org 📝 doi.org/10.31234/osf...
@dotproduct.bsky.social's first first author paper is finally out in @sfnjournals.bsky.social! Her findings show that content-specific predictions fluctuate with alpha frequencies, suggesting a more specific role for alpha oscillations than we may have thought. With @jhaarsma.bsky.social. 🧠🟦 🧠🤖
Contents of visual predictions oscillate at alpha frequencies
Predictions of future events have a major impact on how we process sensory signals. However, it remains unclear how the brain keeps predictions online in anticipation of future inputs. Here, we combin...
jneurosci.org
Why do we remember emotional events so vividly? Our new paper @nathumbehav.nature.com suggests that emotional arousal enhances memory by strengthening integration across large-scale brain networks! Led by the amazing @jadynpark.bsky.social & @ycleong.bsky.social! doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Jadyn Park@jadynpark.bsky.social · 10mo agoOut now in @nathumbehav.nature.com! We applied graph theoretic analyses to fMRI data of participants watching movies/listening to stories. Integration across large-scale functional networks mediates arousal-dependent enhancement of narrative memories. Open access link: rdcu.be/eKKAw
Ahem. Mental imagery (& imagery-critical) researchers should read this: www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Self-reports are better measurement instruments than implicit measures - Nature Reviews Psychology
Implicit measures are widely used because they are assumed to be superior to self-reports. In this Perspective, Corneille and Gawronski challenge this view and argue that claims about disadvantages of...
nature.com
A transformation from vision to imagery in the human brain. Intriguing new preprint by Roy & Naselaris et al for anyone interested in mental imagery! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A transformation from vision to imagery in the human brain
Extensive work has shown that the visual cortex is reactivated during mental imagery, and that models trained on visual data can predict imagery activity and decode imagined stimuli. These findings ma...
biorxiv.org
the tldr of my thread is that, interoceptive sensing at rest has no relationship to mental health symptoms, and we think this is likely because we need to measure interoception during and after arousal, close in time to symptoms, with ecological measures.
Micah G. Allen@micahgallen.com · 11mo agoAre 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 👇
🚨Paper now published! 🚨 The Effects of External Cue Overlap and Internal Goals on Selective Memory Retrieval. Grateful for thorough reviews that made it stronger. Out now in #EJN: doi.org/10.1111/ejn..... w @alexamorcom.bsky.social @MattPlummer @ivorsimpson.bsky.social. Updated summary🧵👇
The Effects of External Cue Overlap and Internal Goals on Selective Memory Retrieval as Revealed by Electroencephalographic (EEG) Neural Pattern Reinstatement
This EEG study used multivariate decoding in humans to investigate how memories are selected when retrieval goals vary. The results showed that EEG neural patterns reinstating studied information tra...
doi.org
Very proud to share this one🥹! We show that personalized signatures of brain activity are heritable and relate to the expression of specific genes. That means my brain-fingerprint is very similar to my twin brother's! #ResearchIsMeSearch🧠 🧬 ♊️
Genetic foundations of interindividual neurophysiological variability
Individual brain activity profiles are shaped by lifelong genetic influences.
science.org
Always late to the party, but really excited to share this new preprint led by @benjyb.bsky.social where we find an intriguing link between vividness ratings and reaction times!🧠💭
Benjy Barnett@benjyb.bsky.social · last yr.🚨New preprint🚨 out with the dream team @matanmazor.bsky.social @giuliacabbai.bsky.social and @nadinedijkstra.bsky.social! We report a novel and robust effect across five different datasets: vivid imagery is reported faster than weak imagery. 📝: osf.io/preprints/ps...
New MEG paper by @jhaarsma.bsky.social and @dotproduct.bsky.social! Same design and behavioural results as our 7T layer fMRI study (www.jneurosci.org/content/43/4...), but now shedding light on the temporal dynamics of the sensory signals underlying false percepts. #neuroskyence
Shared and diverging neural dynamics underlying false and veridical perception
We often mistake visual noise for meaningful images, which sometimes appear as convincing as veridical percepts. This suggests considerable overlap between the mechanisms that underlie false and verid...
jneurosci.org
I am so excited to share that our paper 'A neural basis for distinguishing imagination from reality' is now published in @cp-neuron.bsky.social! 🧠✨ See thread below! doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
Redirecting
doi.org
Nadine Dijkstra@nadinedijkstra.bsky.social · 2y agoI am beyond excited to share our new preprint ‘A neural basis for distinguishing between imagination and reality’ with Thomas von Rein, @peterkok.bsky.social and @smfleming.bsky.social! osf.io/preprints/ps... a thread 🧵
Looking forward to presenting my work at the Consciousness Club tomorrow! 😊
Steve Fleming@smfleming.bsky.social · last yr.Excited for Consciousness Club this week with Giulia Cabbai @giuliacabbai.bsky.social Investigating the neural basis of conscious imagery experience Wednesday 21st May 11am-1230pm UK time All welcome, for more details and how to join please see: metacoglab.org/consciousnes...
@pessoabrain.bsky.social drops knowledge on us. Neuron spiking is highly coordinated. Waves of electric field influences are a great way to do that. The brain is much less like a machine than it is like the murmurations of a flock of starlings aeon.co/essays/how-t... #neuroscience
How the human brain is like a murmuration of starlings | Aeon Essays
The brain is much less like a machine than it is like the murmurations of a flock of starlings or an orchestral symphony
aeon.co
Paper finally published in JEP General! Individual variability in mental imagery vividness does not predict perceptual interference with imagery: A replication study of Cui et al., 2007: osf.io/preprints/os... A study cited over 500 times couldn't be replicated, even in extreme imagery... a 🧵 1/8
OSF
osf.io
On 15 May, we're organizing a very special hybrid event at the FIL: a Symposium on Setbacks in Science! In a series of talks and discussions with a wonderful set of speakers, we will address the disappointments that are entirely common in research, but that we all hesitate to talk about. (1/3)
With nervous excitement, my most ambitious project yet: Dynamics of mental imagery. We got over 800 people to recreate the contents of their mental imagery with a focus on distinct phenomenological properties. Temporal grain, smoothness, stability. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... a 🧵1/n
Dynamics of mental imagery
Phenomenology of mental imagery can reveal the structure of underlying mental representations, yet progress has been limited because of its private na…
sciencedirect.com
🚨 Preprint alert 🚨 After 4 years of work, our new research on the Sense of Reality is finally out! Using Virtual Reality, we investigate our response to Virtual Hallucinations across different reality domains! Discover how our minds and bodies react when reality isn't quite what it seems...
Roy Salomon@royesal.bsky.social · last yr.🚨 New preprint! How do we know what is real? so... "Unreal? A Behavioral, Physiological & Computational Model of the Sense of Reality" is out! The result of 4 years of incredible teamwork👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Finally, if you are an academic and want to read the publication, "The impact of aphantasia on mental healthcare experiences" by Mawtus et al, 2024: online.ucpress.edu/collabra/art...
The Impact of Aphantasia on Mental Healthcare Experiences
Approximately 4% of the population has aphantasia, which is defined as impoverished, or absent, sensory mental imagery. Previous research suggests that people with aphantasia (aphants) may have a high...
online.ucpress.edu
The music is mysterious and important youtu.be/JRnDYB28bL8
Severance — Music To Refine To feat. ODESZA | Apple TV+
YouTube video by Apple TV
youtu.be
Yesterday I spent an hour trying to put files in OSF because you can't simply drag an entire folder. For anyone else struggling, there is an R package called osfr that you can use to copy your whole repo into your OSF 🙏🙏🙏
GitHub - ropensci/osfr: R interface to the Open Science Framework (OSF)
R interface to the Open Science Framework (OSF). Contribute to ropensci/osfr development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
