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Eric Garr

@garrface.bsky.social

750 followers 430 following 84 posts

Postdoc @ Johns Hopkins. Behavior, brains, biking, bagels. ericgarr.com

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Eric Garr @garrface.bsky.social · Aug 5

I’m excited to share my latest paper, in which we used latent state modeling to reveal how fentanyl shapes decision-making dynamics in rats.

Here’s a summary of what we found (thread).

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Modeling hidden cognitive states reveals acute and chronic effects of fentanyl on decision-making

The cognitive mechanisms underlying behavior are often dynamic, shifting gradually or abruptly over time scales spanning years, to weeks, to minutes. Whether drug-induced changes in learning and decis...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Eric Garr

Drew Schreiner @schreinerdrew.bsky.social · 21h

Nice preprint from Veronica Alvarez's group on cortically-evoked DA mediated by ACh! I We observed something quite similar in birds, and interesting to see the sensory/prefrontal distinction

Cholinergic-dependent dopamine signals in mouse dorsal striatum are regulated by frontal but not sensory cortices

Everyday decisions depend on linking sensory stimuli with actions and outcomes. The striatum supports these sensorimotor associations through dopamine-dependent plasticity. Thus, the timing and magnit...

www.biorxiv.org

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Eric Garr @garrface.bsky.social · 4d

Wow, I had no idea. My maternal grandmother died from scleroderma, and her only brother had schizophrenia. Now I wonder whether that was more than a coincidence.

Eric Garr @garrface.bsky.social · 5d

Suppose the Gallistel-Gibbon rule requires attention for events to be stored in memory, and when attention suffers, such as when one stimulus bleeds into another during extremely short ISI’s, rates can’t be computed accurately.

Eric Garr @garrface.bsky.social · 5d

Wouldn’t this just mean that extremely short CS-US intervals can’t support learning due to an attentional mechanism?

Reposted by Eric Garr

Sean Ostlund @ostlundlab.bsky.social · 11d

We have an open NIH-funded postdoc position in the lab to study circuit and neurochemical mechanisms of cognitive and motivational deficits in opioid withdrawal. Apply here: recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09885 or message/email for more information.

Postdoctoral Scholars - Ostlund Laboratory - Anesthesiology & Perioperative Care

University of California, Irvine is hiring. Apply now!

recruit.ap.uci.edu

Reposted by Eric Garr

Mark Laubach @marklaubach.bsky.social · 12d

I'm recruiting a PhD student to study how enkephalins affect cognitive processing in the rodent frontal cortex. The project uses pharmacology, multi-electrode recordings, and fiber photometry, and is funded by NIDA. Please share with trainees applying this cycle. Thanks!

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Reposted by Eric Garr

Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 19d

This may be the most important paper ever published about NIH funded research.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

What if NIH had been 40% smaller?

Replaying history with less NIH funding shows widespread impacts on drug-linked research

www.science.org

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Reposted by Eric Garr

bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 21d

A mechanistic theory of planning in prefrontal cortex https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.23.677709v1

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Reposted by Eric Garr

Ali Mohebi @mohebial.bsky.social · 23d

Today 1-2 pm CST bit.ly/3VOJrcy
Join us!

Ali Mohebi @mohebial.bsky.social · 26d

Our next speaker is my friend @garrface.bsky.social , who will discuss my favorite topic: Mesolimbic DA --> Causal Learning!

Tune in on Monday 9/22 from 1-2pm CST bit.ly/3VOJrcy

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Eric Garr @garrface.bsky.social · 26d

Striatal patches often look like eyes to me.

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Reposted by Eric Garr

Malcolm Campbell @malcolmgcampbell.bsky.social · 26d

🚨Our preprint is online!🚨

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

How do #dopamine neurons perform the key calculations in reinforcement #learning?

Read on to find out more! 🧵

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Reposted by Eric Garr

Serge Ahmed @sergeahmed.bsky.social · 27d

This article is truly impressive, both for the significance of its findings and the enormous amount of work it represents!

Briefly, it demonstrates that the gut-brain vagal axis exerts a considerable influence on dopamine-dependent reward-related processes...

1/n

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Reposted by Eric Garr

Thomas Luo @thomas-zhihao-luo.bsky.social · 27d

How does the brain decide? 🧠

Our new @nature.com paper shows that neural activity switches from an 'evidence gathering' to a 'commitment' state at a precise moment we call nTc.

After nTc, new evidence is ignored, revealing a neural marker for the instant when the mind is made up.

rdcu.be/eGUrv

Transitions in dynamical regime and neural mode during perceptual decisions - Nature

Simultaneous recordings were made of hundreds of neurons in the rat frontal cortex and striatum, showing that decision commitment involves a rapid, coordinated transition in dynamical regime and neura...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Eric Garr

Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · Sep 13

Though it’s traumatic for me to bring this up, I was targeted by a group allied with Turning Point USA in 2018, with the help of Tucker Carlson on Fox. My home address circulated online and I got death threats. 1/

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Reposted by Eric Garr

Ian L Morgan @ianlmorgan.bsky.social · Sep 9

Director Bhattacharya says there are no banned words at the NIH. The data suggest otherwise.

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Sep 9

Here is a word cloud of the words that were missing from the noncompetitive renewal awards but had been present in the parent award.

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A word cloud with dominant words "equity", "disparity", "diverse", and similar words.

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Eric Garr @garrface.bsky.social · Sep 6

I see. Looking forward to reading!

Eric Garr @garrface.bsky.social · Sep 6

Very interesting work. Can you say more about what is contradictory about this result?

Eric Garr @garrface.bsky.social · Sep 5

I've been thinking how lucky Pinker was to have published this when he did.

Reposted by Eric Garr

Ali Mohebi @mohebial.bsky.social · Sep 5

I am beyond excited to host a stellar group of scientists for the first installation of our series: Brain Talks on The Isthmus. Thank you to everyone who contributed by spreading the news, submitting abstracts, reviewing the submissions, and offering kind words of support. I am grateful and smiling

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Reposted by Eric Garr

Kishore Kuchibhotla @kishoreneuro.bsky.social · Sep 4

🚨 We’re hiring a postdoc! 🚨

Excited for our new NiCE grant with @lauerlab.bsky.social @batwoman123.bsky.social 🎉We use a comparative approach, two-photon imaging & optogenetics to identify why bats🦇 and deer mice resist noise but lab mice don't.

If you're interested, please DM or e-mail me!

The Kavli Foundation @kavlifoundation.org · Sep 2

The Kavli Foundation & #NSF announce four new NiCE grants to study how brains adapt to a changing world - linking genes, cells, behavior, and ecosystems.

From bees to bats to jellyfish, check out the 2025 awardees. Learn more here: http://bit.ly/4fYz8vK

#KavliNeuro #Neuroscience

Kavli and NSF Announce New Grant Awards to Advance Neurobiology in…

An initiative to explore how nervous systems function and evolve in dynamic natural environments

bit.ly

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Reposted by Eric Garr

Siri Leknes @sirileknes.bsky.social · Aug 29

What can *genetic insensitivity to opioids* teach us about endogenous opioid function in humans?

Fully funded position in Oslo (PhD student or postdoc)

Interested in pain, mu/kappa opioids, behavioural genetics, RCTs, or related? Apply here:
2411.webcruiter.no/Main2/Recrui...

Please RT for reach

Phd candidate or postdoc– Genetic determinants of opioid responsiveness

The Department of Research and Development at the Division of Emergencies and Critical Care, Oslo University Hospital in collaboration with Leknes Affective Brain lab (www.affectivebrains.com) and the...

2411.webcruiter.no

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Eric Garr @garrface.bsky.social · Aug 25

The placement of the uniform makes it look like his ghost is undergoing psychoanalysis, all the more so because it's in Vienna.

Freud: "What are your triggers?"
Ghost: "Literally triggers"

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Reposted by Eric Garr

Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · Aug 21

TL;DR: 5 justices say Trump doesn't have to immediately restore the funding, but 5 *also* signal that the underlying directives are unlawful.

That sends a fairly strong (if mixed) message that Trump will lose these cases *eventually,* but only once they're brought in the Court of Federal Claims.

Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · Aug 21

Splitting 5-4 (with Chief Justice Roberts joining the three Democratic appointees in dissent), #SCOTUS grants *partial* stay to Trump administration in NIH funding case; holds that challenges to grant terminations (but *not* the underlying guidance) need to be filed in the Court of Federal Claims:

www.supremecourt.gov

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Eric Garr @garrface.bsky.social · Aug 21

a man singing into a microphone with the words are you ready

ALT: a man singing into a microphone with the words are you ready

media.tenor.com

Eric Garr @garrface.bsky.social · Aug 19

A fireside chat with Jay Bhattacharya

a blue dumpster is on fire and smoke is coming out of it with a sign on the side that says " no smoking "

ALT: a blue dumpster is on fire and smoke is coming out of it with a sign on the side that says " no smoking "

media.tenor.com

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