Yuhua Yu
@yuhuay.bsky.social
Postdoc at U. of Arizona. Creative Cognition, Spontaneous Thoughts, Dynamic Modelling, EEG & fMRI
New paper alert! We developed a theoretically grounded, scalable metric of Divergent thinking, #perplexity, applicable to a range of human verbal production. Limited time open access here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Tracking Divergent Thinking: Perplexity as a Unified Metric of Surprise
Divergent thinking (DT) is central to human innovation and creativity, yet its assessment remains largely constrained by lab-based tasks and a focus o…
sciencedirect.com
One more CNS presentation done, #CNS2026, utterly enjoying the conversation with people from different fields, and bullish on the applications of LLM at the frontier of cognitive neuroscience.
I’m presenting at #CNS2026 in Vancouver! 🧠 Poster session D (Monday morning): A pleasant surprise: perplexity from large language models assesses divergent thinking [D128] Can't wait for another year of brain extravaganza! Who want's to catch up? #Neuroscience #AcademicChatter #CNS2026
🚨 New article in #NCONSC Creative problem-solving after experimentally provoking dreams of unsolved puzzles during REM sleep academic.oup.com/nc/article/2... @paller.bsky.social #consciousness 🧠🧪
Creative problem-solving after experimentally provoking dreams of unsolved puzzles during REM sleep
Abstract. Dreams have arguably been a source of creative insight for millennia. The specific assertion that dreams during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep pr
academic.oup.com
Excited to share the official version of my brain state paper on the dynamics of spontaneous thought using fMRI under the think-aloud paradigm. Mapping content and dynamics in the stream of consciousness through latent brain state analysis: iScience www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
Mapping content and dynamics in the stream of consciousness through latent brain state analysis
Neuroscience; Cognitive neuroscience
cell.com
Preprint alert: an out-of-the-box LLM metric for assessing Divergent Thinking, linking process-centered theory of creativity, spontaneous cognition and entropy. #perplexity www.researchgate.net/publication/...
Wow! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Large-scale cortical functional networks are organized in structured cycles - Nature Neuroscience
The human brain cycles through a repertoire of brain networks on a 1-second timescale during rest and tasks. This cycling appears to allow periodic engagement of essential cognitive functions, with th...
nature.com
@sciam.bsky.social has a new special edition entitled The Conscious Brain (www.scientificamerican.com/issue/specia...). It contains our feature article "The Brain Science of Elusive 'Aha moments'" from the March 2025 issue which you can read here: www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...
Scientific American Volume 34, Issue 3s
"The Brain Science of Elusive ‘Aha! Moments’", "The Quest to Build a Truly Intelligent Machine Helps Us Learn about Our Own Intelligence", "Lifting the Veil on Near-Death Experiences" and more
scientificamerican.com
Excited to share our new preprint on the brain-wide organization of intrinsic timescales at single neuron resolution. Work w/ @roxana-zeraati.bsky.social, @intlbrainlab.bsky.social, Anna Levina, @engeltatiana.bsky.social : www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
My first, first author paper, comparing the properties of memory-augmented large language models and human episodic memory, out in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social! authors.elsevier.com/a/1lV174sIRv... Here’s a quick 🧵(1/n)
authors.elsevier.com
When you walk into the ER, you could get a doc: 1. Fresh from a week of not working 2. Tired from working too many shifts @oziadias.bsky.social has been both and thinks that they're different! But can you tell from their notes? Yes we can! Paper @natcomms.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
"Eureka! The brain science behind lightbulb moments" - Excellent coverage in Nature of research on the neuroscience of Aha moments, including our research on this phenomenon. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Eureka! The brain science behind lightbulb moments
Experiences of insight come with a burst of brain activity — and a memory boost.
nature.com
I helped explain to the Chicago Tribune the enourmous and irrational damage the NIH funding freeze is causing at Northwestern. “You’re at risk of losing an entire next generation of scientists" "it’s terrifying; it’s completely senseless." www.chicagotribune.com/2025/06/07/w...
Worried Northwestern lab directors describe ‘bleak’ atmosphere in wake of Trump research funding freeze
The Trump administration’s freezing of $790 million in federal research funding for Northwestern University has left concerned lab directors without key grants and forced the university to spend mi…
chicagotribune.com
Neuroscientists discover how “aha” moments rewire the brain to enhance memory
Neuroscientists discover how “aha” moments rewire the brain to enhance memory
A study using brain scans shows that flashes of insight reorganize neural patterns in the visual cortex and engage memory and emotion regions, helping embed the solution more deeply in long-term memory.
psypost.org
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Insight predicts subsequent memory via cortical representational change and hippocampal activity - Nature Communications
Insight, involving representational change, can boost long-term memory. Here, in an fMRI study, the authors show that insight triggers stronger conceptual shifts in solution relevant brain regions and...
nature.com
SfNC 2025 is NEXT WEEK in Paris! 🧠 Check our FAQ for full schedule, maps, poster printing info & more: www.tsfnc.org/sfnc2025-faq. Register by Thursday 5/15 to join our biggest and best meeting yet (and 10th anniversary péniche party)!
Northwestern has a great new website explaining why the federally-funded research we do benefits everybody: www.northwestern.edu/research-nu/...
Research Impact : Northwestern University
northwestern.edu
Enhancing creativity through neurofeedback: Check out our recent paper where we use covert neurofeedback to entrain default-executive coupling during creative thinking! Xinbing (Jack) Zhang, Jack White, Michael Luehrs, Michal Ramot, & @roger-beaty.bsky.social t.co/glnpPNmJ6R
Such an honor to be part of this symposium with @neuroperson.bsky.social , Julia Kam, Kalina Christoff Hadjiilieva, Matthias Mittner
Kun Dong@kundong.bsky.social · last yr.#CNS2025 | Happening now Talk 4 by Yuhua Yu @yuhuay.bsky.social They use a think-aloud paradigm and a hidden-Markov model to investigate the temporal dynamics of spontaneous thoughts to address the challenges of integrating content and dynamics across time✨
#CNS2025 Symposium Session 9 | Happening now Hosted by Aaron Kucyi kicking-off immerging cool research area in “Decoding spontaneous thought from neural activity.”
The mood was defiant at many of the rallies, where chants of “Scientists will not be silenced”, “Facts over fear” and “What do we want? Peer review! When do we want it? Now!” were heard. https://go.nature.com/3F8T6FX
‘Scientists will not be silenced’: thousands protest Trump research cuts
Researchers at Stand Up for Science rallies voice defiance against the policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration.
go.nature.com
Registration is OPEN for SfNC 2025 in Paris on our member site! tsfnc.org/sfnc2025-creativity-changing-brains Please note the following additions to our program when you register: 📅 May 21 | AI, Creativity & a Changing World symposium 🎉 May 23 | 10th Anniversary Soirée on the Seine (ticketed)
8/11 are completed and the last 3 (DMB, Response, Visual), will be completed soon, and compiled into a free book "Cognitive Modes Detectable by fMRI", complete with anatomical doodles, ***and a way to determine function using task-induced BOLD changes for evidence*** jocnf.pubpub.org/pub/wck63qhg...
Don’t hide the good stuff: Scientific advancement in task-based fMRI is slowed by not showing event-related BOLD (erBOLD) changes alongside anatomical patterns
jocnf.pubpub.org
We get a WHOLE EXTRA DAY OF SFNC THIS YEAR
Society for the Neuroscience of Creativity@tsfnc.bsky.social · last yr.The schedule is out for our biggest meeting yet as we celebrate 10 years! 🥳 We’ve added a Day Zero symposium on May 21 focused on Creativity & AI, so mark your calendars.📆 Keynotes from Anna Abraham & Andreas Fink and much more - registration opens next week with more info to come! #SfNC2025
Join us on May 21 for AI, Creativity & a Changing World, a special symposium on the latest in Creativity & AI research: 🔹 AI & Human Co-Creativity 🔹 Advances in Automated Creativity Scoring 🔹 Expert panel on future trends led by @roger-beaty.bsky.social Registration opens next week! #SfNC2025
Intriguing findings!
Doby Rahnev@dobyrahnev.bsky.social · last yr.New paper alert! Have you ever looked at single-trial fMRI activation maps? If so, you know that they are super variable. Here we show that the variability is not just noise. In fact, the same task can consistently elicit different activation patterns. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
My favorite midwest event + my favorite oscillationist 😍
Joel Voss@vosstacular.bsky.social · last yr.Announcing - the 3rd annual Midway Meeting of the Memory Minds (Mmmm)! Chicago-area memory neuroscientists, please join us for a day of talks, discussions, and a keynote by none other than @earlkmiller.bsky.social ! Registration is free, but space is limited. forms.office.com/r/rMxqDQ4sZF
