Josephine Flockton
@jflockton.bsky.social
Cog Neuro Postdoc @Tübingen 🇩🇪 Using fetal MEG & OPM on brains in utero 🧠 into Predictive Coding, AI/ML, Sensory Integration, & Consciousness⚡
Summer Preprint Alert 🔥🚨 Breathing isn't just for oxygen; it’s a rhythmic pacemaker for the sleeping brain. Our new preprint shows that the respiratory cycle actually gates memory reactivation during NREM sleep! 🧠😴💨 👇🧵(1/8)
bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 2d agoThe breathing cycle gates memory reactivation during human NREM sleep https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.29.741474v1
check out @xannnimal.bsky.social 's powerful new signal extraction method "Foster's Inverse" for removing noise artifacts in MEG and OPM-MEG!! 🧠 preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... code: github.com/xannnimal/fo...
After a long break, I’m back to long-form blogging! The first population atlas of the human vagus gives us an extraordinary wiring map. But what do the wires actually do? I connect it to new mouse psychophysics, organ-targeted ultrasound and our human findings. www.the-ecg.org/2026/07/29/v...
The vagus has a map. Interoception still needs a model.
The first population-level atlas of the human vagus nerve has arrived. But a map of the wiring does not tell you what the wires are saying -- on va...
the-ecg.org
Into heartbeat-evoked responses? What if we could look for them from the mother AND the fetus inside the maternal brain, via a simultaneous head & bump OPM sensor paradigm? ❤️ 🧠 Swing by poster 653, session 7, next Friday at #FENS2026 if your interest is R peaked... 🌊
Cortical gamma oscillations riding on top hippocampal ripples help “tune” how the cortex responds later. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #neuroscience
Human hippocampal ripples tune cortical responses based on predicted uncertainty - Nature Neuroscience
Using direct recordings from the human brain, Frank et al. show that hippocampal ripples increase ahead of unpredictable events and tune the visual cortex to respond faster and more strongly to surpri...
nature.com
Our new paper is out this week in Nature Neuroscience! www.nature.com/articles/s41... We built a BCI that works with the brain's natural geometry — and we found that people could learn to play a video game with their brains in <1 hr of training. This efficiency is groundbreaking & here's why:
Human learning of noninvasive brain–computer interfaces via manifold geometry - Nature Neuroscience
Busch et al. use nonlinear neural manifolds to help humans gain rapid control over a noninvasive brain–computer interface, allowing them to learn how to play a video game with real-time fMRI neurofeed...
nature.com
New preprint w/ @akalt.bsky.social, Juliane Schubert, Nathan Weisz, & @clarepress.bsky.social 🎉 Predictive-brain accounts treat "prediction error" as one signal. We find it's two jobs, in two dissociable systems. And one of them you can watch in the pupil, as people listen to a story. 🧵 (1/9)
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Audrey Morrow, Jason Samaha, et al: Individual alpha frequency predicts the sensitivity of time perception doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
Beta rhythms sending top-down feedback to refine perception. Olfactory bulb-cortex oscillations encode perceived odor intensity rather than concentration journals.plos.org/plosbiology/... #neuroscience
Olfactory bulb-cortex oscillations encode perceived odor intensity rather than concentration
Some smells can seem stronger than others despite equivalent odor concentrations, but how does this occur? This study shows that coordinated neural activity between the human olfactory bulb and pirifo...
journals.plos.org
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Camilla Mannino, Marie-Constance Corsi, et al: Neuronal avalanches as a predictive biomarker for guiding tailored BCI training programs doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
Now out in Nature Neuroscience: "Fixation duration on natural scenes is explained by memory encoding not processing demand". www.nature.com/articles/s41... Our eyes don't linger because recognition is hard; they linger to remember. Let me take you on a quick tour. 🧵
Fixation duration on natural scenes is explained by memory encoding not processing demand - Nature Neuroscience
By combining magnetoencephalography and eye tracking, this study sheds light on why people fixate on some parts of natural scenes longer than others. Rather than visual complexity, fixation durations ...
nature.com
New paper with @paulm-k.bsky.social and Mark Stokes on how we switch internal attention between working memory contents. Beta-band oscillations tracked the magnitude and success of these switches. www.jneurosci.org/content/46/1... #neuroskyence
Human Beta Oscillations Reflect Magnitude and Fidelity of Priority Shifts in Working Memory
Flexible prioritization in working memory (WM) is supported by neural oscillations in frontal and sensory brain areas, but the roles of different oscillations remain poorly understood. Recordings in h...
jneurosci.org
This is one of the most exciting pieces of science I have had the privilege to be involved in, led by @rui-xu.bsky.social, Bob Desimone, and Mark Richardson: the discovery of actual long-range monosynaptic connections in the human brain! For example the FFA connects to the rTPJ, how cool is that?
Rui Xu@rui-xu.bsky.social · 3mo agoNew preprint as my first post! "Monosynaptic connections link functionally similar regions in human cortex." We use electrical stimulation + fMRI in epilepsy patients to map whole-brain monosynaptic connectivity at 42 cortical sites. doi.org/10.64898/202... 1/n
Layer-specific cortical processing dissociates sensory and cognitive influences on pain https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.12.724526v1
New paper from the lab! "Plasticity and language in the anaesthetized human hippocampus" www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Plasticity and language in the anaesthetized human hippocampus - Nature
In the hippocampus, complex processing of sensory stimuli occurs even in the unconscious state.
nature.com
Resilience to persistent pain is characterized by stable periodic and increased aperiodic cortical activity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.28.721303v1
New paper out in J. Neuro! We used MEG and pattern classifiers to ask: if a memory is reactivated in the brain, does that mean you'll recall it? Short answer: no. www.jneurosci.org/content/46/1... Read on for the details! [1/7] #neuroscience #memory
Alpha Oscillations Track the Projection of Reactivated Memories into Conscious Awareness
By definition, episodic memory is a conscious phenomenon. Memory traces reactivated by the hippocampus and reinstated in the sensory cortices need to enter conscious awareness for them to be re-experi...
jneurosci.org
Our Trends in Cognitive Sciences article (with Alan Baddeley and Graham Hitch), is now online & open access. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... We set out a new version of the multicomponent working memory model, with the concept of the episodic buffer updated as the 'awareness buffer'.
Awareness as the heart of working memory
The assumption that attention and short-term memory combine to play a crucial role in cognition continues to influence cognitive modeling. We trace th…
sciencedirect.com
What can disrupted timing in brain signals tell us about it's cognitive control systems and #ADHD? New research has found that polygenic scores for ADHD can predict irregularities from the frontal areas of the brain. Click the link to learn more👇 #IoPPNNews bit.ly/48eDfRT
Genetic signature of ADHD linked to the brain's timing signals | King's College London
Genetic variation linked to ADHD manifests directly through disrupted timing in the brain’s cognitive control systems.
bit.ly
Increasing IAF via NF enhances attention & speeds up alpha-ERD onset www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Cool convergence in recent alpha work; frequency setting the timing of cortical engagement in attention, and power relating to how well info is represented + whether it's accessed in memory 🌊
Successful closed-loop neurofeedback alpha frequency modulation enhances the temporal dynamics of attention
Efficient attention depends on the temporal alignment between ongoing neural activity and task-relevant sensory events. Alpha-band dynamics, and parti…
sciencedirect.com
How does blood flow relate to brain activity? We discovered that it reflects two neural populations affected oppositely by arousal. Together, they explain neurovascular coupling in all brain regions and brain states! Out today in Nature: rdcu.be/fdC2A @uclbrainscience.bsky.social
Excited to share our new preprint: "Do Machines Fail Like Humans? A Human-Centered Out-of-Distribution Spectrum for Mapping Error Alignment" led by @binxia.bsky.social w @ken-lxl.bsky.social & co-senior author Luke Dickens (UCL) 🤖🧵👇 Link: arxiv.org/abs/2603.07462 🧠📈#PsychSciSky #compneuro #mlsky /1
Do Machines Fail Like Humans? A Human-Centred Out-of-Distribution Spectrum for Mapping Error Alignment
Determining whether AI systems process information similarly to humans is central to cognitive science and trustworthy AI. While modern AI models can match human accuracy on standard tasks, such parit...
arxiv.org
Evidence for predictive computations in a brain hierarchy during a visual search task https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.09.717389v1
Out now in @natcomms.nature.com, our latest from @bodybrainbehaviour.bsky.social: Visual perception, oscillatory excitability markers, and network connectivity are modulated by the breathing rhythm - depending on how much you know about the stimulus. #brainbody #neuroskyence
Respiration as a dynamic modulator of sensory sampling
Nature Communications - Breathing shapes perception: Inspiration upregulates arousal and excitability, sharpening sensitivity to visual signals. By aligning respiration with task timing, people...
rdcu.be
🚨New preprint🚨 Very excited about the last work led by Dugué Lab PhD student Yue Kong on TMS-induced #traveling_waves. @erc.europa.eu @upcite.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
My first first-author paper has just been published @JCgntn: doi.org/10.5334/joc.... - check it out below if you’re interested in prediction and/or word-meaning priming! ⬇️ Big thanks to my amazing co-authors/supervisors @mggaskell.bsky.social, @sacairney.bsky.social, @matthewmakpsy.bsky.social
No Effects of Predictability on Word-Meaning Priming and Incidental Memory | Journal of Cognition
doi.org
Is there a single "interoceptive sense"? Our new study in @commspsychol.nature.com says: probably not. In 241 participants, cardiac and respiratory interoception were completely uncorrelated — only subjective confidence was shared across domains. www.nature.com/articles/s44... #psychscisky 🧪
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by George M. Opie, Ulf Ziemann, et al: Diazepam alters the shape of alpha oscillations recorded from human cortex using EEG doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
It's been interesting to think about this very cool paper in the context of @darya-frank.bsky.social's work on how sensitivity to novelty & expectation violations relates to strengthening of episodic memories in superagers - after hearing her awesome talk this week @yorkpsychology.bsky.social 🧠
Sam Gershman@gershbrain.bsky.social · 5mo agoReally neat work by Fountas and colleagues at UCL: arxiv.org/abs/2603.04688 They propose that consolidation reflects a form of "predictive forgetting" that aids generalization.
