Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Michael Gaebler @michaelgaebler.com · 17h

Nice things for the

**13th #MindBrainBody Symposium 2026**

happening under the hood 😊

Save the date: 📆 March 9-11, 2026 (Berlin and virtual)

Stay tuned for the call and announcement!

(For info about the last 12 MBBSymposia: mindbrainbody.de)

#interoception #neuroskyence

1 8 24

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Micah G. Allen @micahgallen.com · 22h

TIL that Dale invented the heartbeat counting task, not Schandry, and that it was known from the very first study that people underestimated their heart rate. It was orginally called a heart rate estimation task! journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2...

1 4 11

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Marta Gerosa @martager.bsky.social · 1d

Happy also to chat about our Brain-Body Analysis Special Interest Group (BBSIG) pipelines for preprocessing and analysing ECG, PPG and respiration (soon), openly available and ready-to-use with BIDS data as Jupyter Notebooks 🫀🫁

Work of +20 wonderful collaborators! ✨

📑 Documentation: www.bbsig.de

1 6 14

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Tahnée Engelen @tahnee-engelen.bsky.social · 4d

Neural sensitivity to the heartbeat is modulated by fluctuations in affective arousal during spontaneous thought

Spontaneous thoughts, occupying much of one’s awake time in daily life, are often colored by emotional qualities. While spontaneous thoughts have been associated with various neural correlates, the re...

www.jneurosci.org

7 22

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Michael Gaebler @michaelgaebler.com · 22d

In some way, it's trivial:

The #brain & the rest of the #body (e.g. the #heart) are coupled.

Yet, we spelled it out
w/ A. Villringer & V. Nikulin for current scientists (below)
w/ @martager.bsky.social @agatapatyczek.bsky.social @el-rei.bsky.social for future scientists bsky.app/profile/mart...

Trends in Neurosciences @cp-trendsneuro.bsky.social · 24d

'Brain–body states as a link between cardiovascular and mental health'

by Arno Villringer, Vadim Nikulin & Michael Gaebler @mbe-lab.bsky.social @michaelgaebler.com @mpicbs.bsky.social sky.social

www.cell.com/trends/neuro...

Villringer et al. Figure 1. Conceptual framework for brain–body states

Villringer et al. Figure 2 Brain–body micro-, meso-, and macro-states can be distinguished on the basis of their duration and reversibility

20 49

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Marta Gerosa @martager.bsky.social · 22d

Interested in brain-body interactions but unsure where to start?

🎮 Choose your character

👩🏻‍🔬👨🏽‍🔬 Current scientists: a new review by @michaelgaebler.com A. Villringer & V. Nikulin

🧒🏼👧🏾 Future scientists (and people of all ages): our scicomm article with @agatapatyczek.bsky.social & @el-rei.bsky.social

Michael Gaebler @michaelgaebler.com · 22d

In some way, it's trivial:

The #brain & the rest of the #body (e.g. the #heart) are coupled.

Yet, we spelled it out
w/ A. Villringer & V. Nikulin for current scientists (below)
w/ @martager.bsky.social @agatapatyczek.bsky.social @el-rei.bsky.social for future scientists bsky.app/profile/mart...

Trends in Neurosciences @cp-trendsneuro.bsky.social · 24d

'Brain–body states as a link between cardiovascular and mental health'

by Arno Villringer, Vadim Nikulin & Michael Gaebler @mbe-lab.bsky.social @michaelgaebler.com @mpicbs.bsky.social sky.social

www.cell.com/trends/neuro...

1 7 19

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Agata Patyczek 🏳️‍🌈 @agatapatyczek.bsky.social · 23d

Bidirectional or integrated state?

Some food for thought about brain-body interaction in this concept paper by my supervisors Arno Villringer @michaelgaebler.com and Vadim Nikulin.

Trends in Neurosciences @cp-trendsneuro.bsky.social · 24d

'Brain–body states as a link between cardiovascular and mental health'

by Arno Villringer, Vadim Nikulin & Michael Gaebler @mbe-lab.bsky.social @michaelgaebler.com @mpicbs.bsky.social sky.social

www.cell.com/trends/neuro...

1 2

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Mariam Aly @mariamaly.bsky.social · Sep 16

How do we update our predictions when our environment changes?

The hippocampus rapidly integrates previously distinct sequences to support updated predictions.

Proud of this work with Hannah Tarder-Stoll & @chrisbaldassano.bsky.social!

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

The Hippocampus Rapidly Integrates Sequence Representations During Novel Multistep Predictions

Memories for temporally extended sequences can be used adaptively to predict future events on multiple timescales, a function that relies on the hippocampus. For such predictions to be useful, they sh...

www.biorxiv.org

1 27 74

Sam Verschooren @samversc.bsky.social · Sep 15

Nice, congratulations🥳

1

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Marta Gerosa @martager.bsky.social · Sep 12

Check out our new article for young readers (ages 8-15) on heart-brain interactions and interoception! 🧠🫀

I had so much fun co-writing this with @agatapatyczek.bsky.social @el-rei.bsky.social with the support of @michaelgaebler.com ✍️

👉 Share it widely with curious young minds
Yay for #scicomm ✨

Mind-Body-Emotion Group @mbe-lab.bsky.social · Sep 12

🧠🫀 New from our lab on Frontiers for Young Minds:

Ever wondered how the heart and brain communicate? Think the heart as the drummer 🥁 & the brain as the singer 🎤 keeping the body's band in tune!

Read here (for ages 8–15): kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2025.1536787/full
[1/2]

The Body’s Band: How Heart and Brain Communicate

Illustration of a person with vitiligo practicing yoga, sitting cross-legged and stretching an arm over their head. In a thought bubble, a smiling brain sings into a microphone and a heart plays a dru...

www.frontiersin.org

1 11 32

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Micah G. Allen @micahgallen.com · Sep 2

New preprint! We are pleased to share our Hierarchical Bayesian framework for Interoceptive Psychophysics! Implemented in rstan, we provide a complete suite of tools spanning model comparison, parameter recovery, multifactor designs, power analysis, and more! 🎯 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

5 30 110

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Ladislas Nalborczyk @lnalborczyk.bsky.social · Sep 1

Happy to share a new preprint in which @paulbuerkner.com and I introduce a novel model-based approach for precisely estimating the onset and offset of M/EEG effects!

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

Precise temporal localisation of M/EEG effects with Bayesian generalised additive multilevel models

Time-resolved electrophysiological measurements such as those obtained through magneto- and electroencephalography (M/EEG) offer a unique window onto the neural activity underlying cognitive processes...

www.biorxiv.org

1 10 37

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Heleen Slagter @haslagter.bsky.social · Aug 30

The deadline for submissions for the 2025 Neuroscience of Pure Awareness Prize (€20k) is soon: Sept 30th. For the best contribution to neuroscience that substantially advances our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying the experience of pure awareness. For details, see screenshot!

1 10 12

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Micah G. Allen @micahgallen.com · Aug 28

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 · Aug 27

Are 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 👇

Interoceptive Ability is Unrelated to Mental Health Symptoms: Evidence From a Large Scale Multi-Domain Psychophysical Investigation

Interoception-the sensing and perception of the internal viscera-is widely cast as a transdiagnostic mechanism linking brain-body interaction to mental illness. Prevailing models propose that altered ...

www.medrxiv.org

1 5 25

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Mariam Aly @mariamaly.bsky.social · Aug 22

I can't quite believe it – I got a new NSF grant! 😲🤯

I'm incredibly grateful to the program officers & reviewers for their dedication and efforts to keep science going 🌟👏🏼

So, I'll be hiring! Looking for a postdoc to study competition in memory-guided attention. See flyer for details! 🎉

16 52 320

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Lea Bartsch @leabartsch.bsky.social · Aug 6

🚨 PostDoc Opening 🚨 The lab of Klaus Oberauer is looking for a new postdoc, starting end of this/beginning next year. Research focus is #cognition, #workingmemory, #methods and #computationalmodeling or anything in that direction. I cannot highlight ENOUGH how great it is to work in this lab 🥰🤓

Applications are invited for a
Postdoctoral Position (80%)
at the Cognitive Psychology Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich. The ideal
start date would be January 1st, 2026 but could be somewhat earlier or later. The position is for
initially 3 years, with possible renewal for another 1.5 years.
The successful applicant will work with the head of the Cognitive Psychology Unit, Prof. Dr. Klaus
Oberauer, and the Cognitive Psychology team. The post involves research and teaching (one course
per semester).
Research at the Zurich Cognitive Psychology Unit focuses on capacity limits of cognition, in particular
working memory, long-term memory, and attention, which we investigate with experimental,
individual-differences and aging studies and computational modeling. For further information see:
https://www.psychology.uzh.ch/en/areas/nec/allgpsy.html
We offer:
- An attractive research environment with close collaboration within the team
- Excellent lab infrastructure
- Salary according to Cantonal regulations
We expect:
- a PhD in psychology or a related discipline
- experience with experimental research
- excellent method knowledge and skills
- very good command of English
- interest in pursuing an academic career in cognitive psychology
In addition, it would be desirable if you had:
- experience with publishing in international journals
- programming skills
- experience with mathematical / computational modeling
Please send applications including your CV and motivation letter
no later than September 10, 2025
electronically as a single PDF to: Michaela Oestmann, michaela.oestmann@psychologie.uzh.ch
For questions about the position please contact Klaus Oberauer, k.oberauer@psychologie.uzh.ch

3 44 54

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Giosuè Baggio @giosuebaggio.bsky.social · Aug 5

Imagine this at scale, unchecked: how is this not a fundamental threat to science?

(Also, this is a perfect example of how irrational and ironic it is for large publishing companies to use “AI” to generate content that is of a much lower quality than the human-created content they already own.)

Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · Aug 4

Was looking into what Cognitive Scientists mean by ‘domain-general’ cognition, and then hit upon this. This is definitely NOT how we use that term.

Tip: read the last sentence to understand what went wrong here.

Sigh.

Domain-General Cognitive Ability
In subject area: Psychology
Domain-general cognitive abilities refer to cognitive skills that are not unique to humans but are present across various primate species and potentially other mammals and birds, indicating a general factor underlying cognitive performance that correlates with brain size and is associated with selective attention and working memory capacity.
AI generated definition based on: Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2012

21 38

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Eiko Fried @eikofried.bsky.social · Jul 24

1/2
Press release @unileiden.bsky.social about our upcoming JoPACS paper led by @bsiepe.bsky.social, showing that the overlap of similar constructs assessed via wearable vs EMA data is surprisingly low (n~850, 3 months).

www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2025...

Does your smartwatch say you’re stressed? It may often be wrong

Consumer grade smartwatches may not be as accurate as promised when measuring tiredness or stress. That conclusion is drawn by researchers Björn Siepe and Eiko Fried based on a comparison between smar...

www.universiteitleiden.nl

3 33 92

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Senne Braem @sebraem.bsky.social · Jul 17

We moved our symposium to a bigger room so we have a few more extra seats available now! Join us September 10th for our symosium on "Flexible Definitions of Cognitive Flexibility"
shengjiexu.ugent.be/CoCoFlex_Sem.... Poster or talk submission deadline is in two weeks: July 31st!

7 8

Sam Verschooren @samversc.bsky.social · Jul 17

Impressive review on the knowns and unknowns of how the brain switches between external and internal attention :) Many exciting questions left to answer!

Dani Gresch @danielagresch.bsky.social · Jul 16

Out in @cp-neuron.bsky.social now! Kia and I argue that attention research would benefit from a stronger focus on how the brain shifts between external and internal attention. We outline competing hypotheses, review existing behavioral and neural findings, and highlight open questions.

How the brain shifts between external and internal attention

Focusing on relevant contents to guide adaptive behavior is a core property of the brain. For decades, scientists have investigated mechanisms to anti…

www.sciencedirect.com

7

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

William Ngiam | 严祥全 @williamngiam.github.io · Jul 15

I'm preparing a public talk on the impact of digital technology on attention, and whether there is any evidence behind 'brain rot' (and help the public understand that researchers need public funds and support to work on this issue!). #cogsci, what message would you want the public to hear on this?

7 14 32

Sam Verschooren @samversc.bsky.social · Jul 10

The Healing Power of Gardens: Oliver Sacks on the Psychological and Physiological Consolations of Nature www.themarginalian.org/2019/05/27/o...

The Healing Power of Gardens: Oliver Sacks on the Psychological and Physiological Consolations of Nature

“In forty years of medical practice, I have found only two types of non-pharmaceutical ‘therapy’ to be vitally important for patients with chronic neurological diseases: music and…

www.themarginalian.org

2

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Kobe Desender @kobedesender.bsky.social · Jul 5

Impressive behavioral + modelling + eeg work, led by @lucvermeylen.bsky.social , relating time-on-task changes in comp parameters to changes in metacognitive reports!

Communications Psychology @commspsychol.nature.com · Jul 4

The study suggests a few metacognitive states correlate with rational behavioural adjustments; this might help steering behaviour towards optimality.
@lucvermeylen.bsky.social @sebraem.bsky.social @kobedesender.bsky.social @gonzalezgarcia.bsky.social @mruz.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

The temporal dynamics of metacognitive experiences track rational adaptations in task performance - Communications Psychology

Using computational modeling and EEG, the study suggests several metacognitive states correlate with rational adjustments in behavior; this might benefit steering behavior towards optimality

www.nature.com

3 12

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Mike Frank @mcxfrank.bsky.social · Jul 1

Experimentology is out today!!! A group of us wrote a free online textbook for experimental methods, available at experimentology.io - the idea was to integrate open science into all aspects of the experimental workflow from planning to design, analysis, and writing.

Experimentology cover: title and curves for distributions.

10 230 530

Reposted by Sam Verschooren

Agata Patyczek 🏳️‍🌈 @agatapatyczek.bsky.social · Jun 20

If you're in Leipzig tonight, come visit us at Long Night of Science!

Come try out a heart and breath monitor, make some music with your inner signals and play with a live harpist :) along the way learn about how your lungs and heart are connected and some tips on how to train your nervous system!

1 4 12