🎉 This is finally out on @natcomms.nature.com @natureportfolio.nature.com! Ever wondered what happens to your #brain when you become an expert at something? 🧠 If the answer is “yes” (+bonus points if you like #chess), check out our latest #fMRI work below! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Andrea Costantino@costantinoai.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Super excited to share a new preprint! We asked a simple-but-big question: What changes in the brain when someone becomes an expert? Using chess ♟️ + fMRI 🧠 + representational geometry & dimensionality 📈, we ask: 1️⃣ WHAT information is encoded? 2️⃣ HOW is it structured? 3️⃣ WHERE is it expressed? 1/n

This @cp-neuron.bsky.social neuroview paper of the brilliant @ji-joan-lin.bsky.social on the neural basis of aesthetics provides a conceptual cornerstone for an ongoing series of impressive empirical studies in which we unveil the multidimensional nature of aesthetic experience.

yi-joan-lin.bsky.social@yi-joan-lin.bsky.social · 4mo ago

🚨 Very happy to share our *Neuron* paper: Rethinking neuroaesthetics authors.elsevier.com/a/1miuj3BtfH... With @hansopdebeeck.bsky.social & Johan Wagemans, we argue that neuroaesthetics should move beyond a focus on beauty alone and embrace the multidimensional nature of aesthetic experience.

Out now another piece of my PhD. In short, we show that learning a new script, with or without line junctions (├ v. ⠗), mostly relies on the linguistic mapping of one script to a pre-existing orthography, with limited contribution of the script's visual features doi.org/10.3758/s13423-025-02788-1

Connecting the dots: Similar visual orthographic acquisition for Braille or line junctions - Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

Most written systems share basic shape features with natural objects such as line junctions, a commonality thought to be at the basis of fluent reading. Studies that compared reading acquisition for d...

link.springer.com

🔥 We have a new preprint! 🔥 It's really nice, I recommend reading it Here's a summary question: Can FFA activation predict RT to faces? ⏬ Check out the answer below ⏬ @hansopdebeeck.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

In terms of what cures are being lost: - Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis - herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis - shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease

After a rather long delay, I've finally got a new Science of #Chess post up on lichess! This time I'm looking at a very neat #neuroscience paper (co-authored by @hansopdebeeck.bsky.social) using chess as a model for studying expertise. Enjoy! #cogneuro #PsychSciSky

Networks for expertise in the chess players' brain

Chess can be an important way of investigating how learning and expertise are manifest in the nervous system

lichess.org

Super excited to share a new preprint! We asked a simple-but-big question: What changes in the brain when someone becomes an expert? Using chess ♟️ + fMRI 🧠 + representational geometry & dimensionality 📈, we ask: 1️⃣ WHAT information is encoded? 2️⃣ HOW is it structured? 3️⃣ WHERE is it expressed? 1/n

New paper (and thread) on the representational dynamics of the main dimensions of object space: jov.arvojournals.org/article.aspx... 1/n

It's finally out! Our work with @hansopdebeeck.bsky.social & @costantinoai.bsky.social is published. We went looking for dissociations between types of recurrence in DNNs, but we found something quite different.. hopefully that can tell us somehting about our models! rdcu.be/eLwBA

Excited to share a new article from @icevislab.bsky.social! In a sample of over 60 people, we found distinct neural differences underlying object and face recognition in dyslexia. These findings highlight crucial domain-general visual processes that may contribute to word reading challenges.

Distinct neural processing underlying visual face and object perception in dyslexia

Developmental dyslexia is a disorder marked by difficulties in reading, spelling, and connecting sounds to written language. The high-level visual dys…

sciencedirect.com

New preprint out! We propose that action is a key dimension shaping the topographic organization of object categories in lateral occipitotemporal cortex (LOTC)—and test whether standard and topographic neural networks capture this pattern. A thread: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵 1/n

Investigating action topography in visual cortex and deep artificial neural networks

High-level visual cortex contains category-selective areas embedded within larger-scale topographic maps like animacy and real-world size. Here, we propose action as a key organizing factor shaping vi...

biorxiv.org

“Waar zijn de personages die kinderen leren dat ze niet hoeven te wachten tot iemand anders de wereld redt, maar dat ze zelf het verschil kunnen maken?”

De Tijd@tijd.be · last yr.

[OPINIE] Wiskundeprofessor Ann Dooms | Van plankton tot primetime

We ran a randomized controlled trial to see how much AI coding tools speed up experienced open-source developers. The results surprised us: Developers thought they were 20% faster with AI tools, but they were actually 19% slower when they had access to AI than when they didn't.

For everyone out there working at the intersection of vision and language. We are currently accepting submissions for a Journal of Vision Special Issue on the vision-language interface Submission deadline: Dec 31st jov.arvojournals.org/ss/visionlan... #neuroskyence #VisionScience #PsychSciSky

NEUROCOG 2025 is taking place in Brussels Nov 17–18! The theme: AI and the Human Brain 🤖 🧠 We’re thrilled to welcome 6 amazing invited speakers: @evfedorenko.bsky.social, @nicoschuck.bsky.social, @summerfieldlab.bsky.social, @jeffreybowers.bsky.social, @irisgroen.bsky.social & @mtoneva.bsky.social

Trump’s new ‘gold standard’ rule will destroy American science as we know it" by Colette Delawalla (@cdelawalla.bsky.social), Victor Ambros, Carl Bergstrom, Carol Greider, Michael Mann and Brian Nosek for @theguardian.com: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Trump’s new ‘gold standard’ rule will destroy American science as we know it | Colette Delawalla

The new executive order allows political appointees to undermine research they oppose, paving the way to state-controlled science

theguardian.com

There are 2 PhD positions in my lab in Amsterdam (collaboration with Sander Bohte, @tessamdekker.bsky.social and Ingmar Visser) on NeuroAI of developmental vision. academicpositions.nl/ad/centrum-w...

2 PHD-STUDENTS IN NEUROAI OF DEVELOPMENTAL VISION (M/F/X) - Academic Positions

Join an interdisciplinary team to research developmental vision in NeuroAI. Requires a strong computational background, deep learning skills, and a Master's ...

academicpositions.nl

As a prior J1 visa holder (postdoc at MIT), I express my support for all those affected by this decision. The possibility of such a sudden and politically motivated stop of enrollment of international students and scholars will have a chilling effect on the prestige of all US institutes. 1/3

NPR@npr.org · last yr.

JUST IN: International students make up more than a quarter of Harvard University's student body. Harvard says the government's actions, which could cut off a major revenue stream, are "unlawful."

Tomorrow tuesday afternoon at @vssmtg.bsky.social , our poster about what it takes for the brain and AI models to process the valence of complex and ambiguous social scenes

Elahe' Yargholi@elaheyargholi.bsky.social · last yr.

Are Visual areas representing the emotional valence? What about AI models, visual or multi-modal? Find the solutions in our new preprint www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... @hansopdebeeck.bsky.social

The cuts to NIH and NSF will cost 100s of billions in the short term and will reduce GPT by ~7% over the next 25-30 years

Can confirm that my NSF grant "How False Beliefs Form & How to Correct Them" was cancelled today because it is "not in alignment with current NSF priorities" Shocking that understanding how people are misled by false information is now a forbidden topic. Our work will continue but at a smaller scale

Rebekah Tromble@rebekahtromble.bsky.social · last yr.

NSF has posted an “update on priorities.” They’re canceling all “DEI and misinformation/disinformation” grants. And the guidance on how to fulfill the longstanding, legally mandated Broadening Participation requirement is utterly incoherent. www.nsf.gov/updates-on-p...

A beautiful article about writing, which also advocates against the use of LLM when learning academic writing www.nature.com/articles/s41...

An open letter to graduate students and other procrastinators: it’s time to write - Nature Biotechnology

Nature Biotechnology - An open letter to graduate students and other procrastinators: it’s time to write

nature.com

Call for new research group leaders… literally 50 meters from NeuroSpin and its 6 MRI magnets and MEG! Come work with us !

Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience@neuropsi.bsky.social · last yr.

⚠️2025 NeuroPSI call for new group leaders ▶️ We are open to a wide range of research topics, from molecules to cognition and from embryo to adult. ▶️ We offer generous lab and office space. ▶️ Junior and mid-career scientists: apply before May the 30th! Learn more: neuropsi.cnrs.fr/ao2025/

We have an opening for a 12 month Research Assistant post, funded by an ERC grant. The postholder would help with several neuroimaging projects, including MEG and 7T fMRI. Please repost and share with anyone who may be interested. www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/... #neuroskyence #Neuroimaging

UCL – University College London

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

ucl.ac.uk

Hearing from a govt contractor that Dept of Education is terminating What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) contracts. WWC is a website that rigorously evaluates education policies, programs, and products to determine what's effective and not. It's an invaluable tool for school, district, state leaders

A PhD position is open in @peelen.bsky.social Lab at the Donders Institute - please spread the word and consider applying if you are interested about how imagery and perception relate to each other www.ru.nl/en/working-a... - plus we are fun people to work with ! :)

PhD Position: Neural Mechanisms of Imagery and Perception at the Donders Centre for Cognition | Radboud University

Do you want to work as a PhD Position: Neural Mechanisms of Imagery and Perception at the Donders Centre for Cognition at the Faculty of Social Sciences? Check our vacancy!

ru.nl

One does not expect a civilized country to disrupt science and silence its scientists in this way. All my support to the excellent scientists at NIH. Trump hits NIH with ‘devastating’ freezes on meetings, travel, communications, and hiring | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

Trump hits NIH with ‘devastating’ freezes on meetings, travel, communications, and hiring

Researchers facing

science.org

A thread motivated by a new paper on body representations in the human brain at a fine-grained (multi-unit) level, spearheaded by J Garcia Ramirez, T Theys, and P Janssen, where I was a small part of a bigger collaboration that also included S Bracci, R Murty and @nancykanwisher.bsky.social. 1/n