Andrew Corcoran
@corcorana.bsky.social
vagally-interested postdoc @ nexs.ku.dk | bunny herder | caffeine abuser | open science enthusiast | thoughts almost certainly not his own
Pinned
Integrated information and predictive processing theories of consciousness: An adversarial collaborative review
As neuroscientific theories of consciousness continue to proliferate, the need to assess their similarities and differences -- as well as their predictive and explanatory power -- becomes ever more pr...
arxiv.org
The first major output of the @templetonworld.bsky.social @arc-intrepid.bsky.social adversarial collaboration testing IIT & predictive processing theories of consciousness is out now
arxiv.org/abs/2509.00555
arxiv.org/abs/2509.00555
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
Out now in @commsbio.nature.com!
We studied brain-heart interactions during mind wandering and mind blanking.
Mind blanking is associated with a greater heart/brain decoupling, complicating the idea of an attentional switch between external & internal environments!
🧠🔄🫀🧪
We studied brain-heart interactions during mind wandering and mind blanking.
Mind blanking is associated with a greater heart/brain decoupling, complicating the idea of an attentional switch between external & internal environments!
🧠🔄🫀🧪
Multimodal analysis of spontaneous attentional state dynamics during sustained task performance reveals distinctive profiles of brain-heart interaction in mind-wandering and mind-blanking.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
When your heart isn’t in it anymore: cardiac correlates of task disengagement - Communications Biology
Multimodal analysis of spontaneous attentional state dynamics during sustained task performance reveals distinctive profiles of brain–heart interaction in mind-wandering and mind-blanking.
www.nature.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Out now in @commsbio.nature.com!
We studied brain-heart interactions during mind wandering and mind blanking.
Mind blanking is associated with a greater heart/brain decoupling, complicating the idea of an attentional switch between external & internal environments!
🧠🔄🫀🧪
We studied brain-heart interactions during mind wandering and mind blanking.
Mind blanking is associated with a greater heart/brain decoupling, complicating the idea of an attentional switch between external & internal environments!
🧠🔄🫀🧪
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
Multimodal analysis of spontaneous attentional state dynamics during sustained task performance reveals distinctive profiles of brain-heart interaction in mind-wandering and mind-blanking.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
When your heart isn’t in it anymore: cardiac correlates of task disengagement - Communications Biology
Multimodal analysis of spontaneous attentional state dynamics during sustained task performance reveals distinctive profiles of brain–heart interaction in mind-wandering and mind-blanking.
www.nature.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Multimodal analysis of spontaneous attentional state dynamics during sustained task performance reveals distinctive profiles of brain-heart interaction in mind-wandering and mind-blanking.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
This is really great work. Perception of the Ebbinghaus Illusion INCREASES under psilocybin, due to changes in divisive normalization. Seems to challenge REBUS - since the belief that underwrites the illusion is stronger, not relaxed?
Our new paper is out in Nature Communications! nature.com/articles/s41...
We combined psychophysics, 7T fMRI, and computational modeling of vision with placebo, 5mg, and 10mg psilocybin, in the same group of participants, to clarify the computational mechanisms of psychedelics. 🧵
We combined psychophysics, 7T fMRI, and computational modeling of vision with placebo, 5mg, and 10mg psilocybin, in the same group of participants, to clarify the computational mechanisms of psychedelics. 🧵
November 24, 2025 at 2:59 PM
This is really great work. Perception of the Ebbinghaus Illusion INCREASES under psilocybin, due to changes in divisive normalization. Seems to challenge REBUS - since the belief that underwrites the illusion is stronger, not relaxed?
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
George Deane and Daphne Demekas win the € 20.000,- Computational Phenomenology of Pure Awareness Prize
mpe-project.info/wp-content/u...
for 2025 with this contribution:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
mpe-project.info/wp-content/u...
for 2025 with this contribution:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
November 19, 2025 at 9:05 AM
George Deane and Daphne Demekas win the € 20.000,- Computational Phenomenology of Pure Awareness Prize
mpe-project.info/wp-content/u...
for 2025 with this contribution:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
mpe-project.info/wp-content/u...
for 2025 with this contribution:
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
Out now in Communications Biology 🧠 🫀We show that cardiac oscillations associated with vagal tone influence the strength of the heartbeat as sensed at brain level. We hypothesize that the heart may send information to the brain, encoded by the heartbeat strength doi.org/10.1038/s420...
Cardiac-vagal rhythm echoes on the heartbeat’s mechanosensory imprint in the brain - Communications Biology
Vagal-driven heart rhythm fluctuations modulate the heartbeat strength sensed in the head, linking cardiac rhythms to brain mechanosensation. These findings highlight vagal tone’s role in shaping brai...
doi.org
November 17, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Out now in Communications Biology 🧠 🫀We show that cardiac oscillations associated with vagal tone influence the strength of the heartbeat as sensed at brain level. We hypothesize that the heart may send information to the brain, encoded by the heartbeat strength doi.org/10.1038/s420...
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
Excellent theme issue - a much needed spotlight on the functions of consciousness!
New theme issue of #PhilTransB on the evolutionary functions of #consciousness. Read: buff.ly/blMm4eR
November 17, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Excellent theme issue - a much needed spotlight on the functions of consciousness!
wonder if he's ever heard of Wolfgang Klimesch
Time, space, memory and brain–body rhythms — a Perspective by György Buzsáki
#neuroscience #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroscience #neuroskyence
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Time, space, memory and brain–body rhythms - Nature Reviews Neuroscience
Understanding how the brain represents experienced time and how representations of space and time are integrated to form episodic memories has been a goal of much neuroscientific research. In this Per...
www.nature.com
November 13, 2025 at 5:09 PM
wonder if he's ever heard of Wolfgang Klimesch
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
1/Paper out today in Phil Trans B @royalsocietypublishing.org alsocietypublishing.org in a Special Issue «Evolutionary functions of consciousness», by @axc.bsky.social, Catherine Tallon-Baudry, @krysdolega.bsky.social and myself.
👉Open-access at this link: doi.org/10.1098/rstb...
⬇️ Summary below:
👉Open-access at this link: doi.org/10.1098/rstb...
⬇️ Summary below:
The value of consciousness: experiences worth having | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
DC. Dennett (2020,personal communication) asked: ‘How do we go from doing things for
reasons to having reasons for doing things?’. This question targets a fundamental
shift in nature: while all organi...
doi.org
November 13, 2025 at 2:25 PM
1/Paper out today in Phil Trans B @royalsocietypublishing.org alsocietypublishing.org in a Special Issue «Evolutionary functions of consciousness», by @axc.bsky.social, Catherine Tallon-Baudry, @krysdolega.bsky.social and myself.
👉Open-access at this link: doi.org/10.1098/rstb...
⬇️ Summary below:
👉Open-access at this link: doi.org/10.1098/rstb...
⬇️ Summary below:
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
How do internal bodily rhythms influence #brain activity & motor function? @tahnee-engelen.bsky.social &co show that #cardiac, #respiratory & #gastric rhythms independently modulate motor excitability, revealing distinct #interoceptive profiles across individuals @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4nMtpLT
November 13, 2025 at 10:17 AM
How do internal bodily rhythms influence #brain activity & motor function? @tahnee-engelen.bsky.social &co show that #cardiac, #respiratory & #gastric rhythms independently modulate motor excitability, revealing distinct #interoceptive profiles across individuals @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4nMtpLT
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
Do you like RSA analysis, M/EEG and Bayes? Then you'll love Variational RSA for M/EEG, by recently completed PhD student @alexlepauvre.bsky.social from Lucia Melloni's group. It's a method and SPM toolbox for multivariate analysis of M/EEG data. arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01784 . 🧵 [1/4]
November 6, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Do you like RSA analysis, M/EEG and Bayes? Then you'll love Variational RSA for M/EEG, by recently completed PhD student @alexlepauvre.bsky.social from Lucia Melloni's group. It's a method and SPM toolbox for multivariate analysis of M/EEG data. arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01784 . 🧵 [1/4]
Would You Agree If N Is Three? On Statistical Inference for Small N -- Psarou et al JoCN 2025
direct.mit.edu/jocn/article...
direct.mit.edu/jocn/article...
Would You Agree If N Is Three? On Statistical Inference for Small N
Abstract. Nonhuman primate studies traditionally use two or three animals. We previously used standard statistics to argue for using either one animal, for an inference about that sample, or five or m...
direct.mit.edu
November 6, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Would You Agree If N Is Three? On Statistical Inference for Small N -- Psarou et al JoCN 2025
direct.mit.edu/jocn/article...
direct.mit.edu/jocn/article...
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
New primer in Cell from Patrick Haggard & @mattlongo.bsky.social
Somatosensation and the sense of self: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
#interoception #exteroception #affect #neuroskyence
Somatosensation and the sense of self: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
#interoception #exteroception #affect #neuroskyence
Somatosensation and the sense of self
In this primer, Patrick Haggard and Matthew Longo consider how sensory signals from
receptors throughout the body are integrated to produce the sense of a coherent, continuous,
sentient body that form...
www.cell.com
October 30, 2025 at 7:57 PM
New primer in Cell from Patrick Haggard & @mattlongo.bsky.social
Somatosensation and the sense of self: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
#interoception #exteroception #affect #neuroskyence
Somatosensation and the sense of self: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
#interoception #exteroception #affect #neuroskyence
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
"... a sense that the field has reached an uneasy stasis."
"... most extant experimental research (...) is geared toward supporting them rather than attempting to falsify or compare them, reflecting a confirmatory posture that hinders progress. "
www.frontiersin.org/journals/sci...
"... most extant experimental research (...) is geared toward supporting them rather than attempting to falsify or compare them, reflecting a confirmatory posture that hinders progress. "
www.frontiersin.org/journals/sci...
Frontiers | Consciousness science: where are we, where are we going, and what if we get there?
Understanding the biophysical basis of consciousness remains a substantial challenge for 21st-century science. This endeavor is becoming even more pressing i...
www.frontiersin.org
October 30, 2025 at 1:52 PM
"... a sense that the field has reached an uneasy stasis."
"... most extant experimental research (...) is geared toward supporting them rather than attempting to falsify or compare them, reflecting a confirmatory posture that hinders progress. "
www.frontiersin.org/journals/sci...
"... most extant experimental research (...) is geared toward supporting them rather than attempting to falsify or compare them, reflecting a confirmatory posture that hinders progress. "
www.frontiersin.org/journals/sci...
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
The cerebellum isn’t just about coordinating movement. It’s implicated in nearly every domain of cognition—from language to social behavior.
But how exactly does the cerebellum contribute to action and cognition? 🧵
Check out our new paper w/ Rich Ivry.
arxiv.org/abs/2509.09818
But how exactly does the cerebellum contribute to action and cognition? 🧵
Check out our new paper w/ Rich Ivry.
arxiv.org/abs/2509.09818
Cerebellar Contributions to Action and Cognition: Prediction, Timescale, and Continuity
The cerebellum is implicated in nearly every domain of human cognition, yet our understanding of how this subcortical structure contributes to cognition remains elusive. Efforts on this front have ten...
arxiv.org
September 15, 2025 at 12:19 PM
The cerebellum isn’t just about coordinating movement. It’s implicated in nearly every domain of cognition—from language to social behavior.
But how exactly does the cerebellum contribute to action and cognition? 🧵
Check out our new paper w/ Rich Ivry.
arxiv.org/abs/2509.09818
But how exactly does the cerebellum contribute to action and cognition? 🧵
Check out our new paper w/ Rich Ivry.
arxiv.org/abs/2509.09818
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
@dotproduct.bsky.social's first first author paper is finally out in @sfnjournals.bsky.social! Her findings show that content-specific predictions fluctuate with alpha frequencies, suggesting a more specific role for alpha oscillations than we may have thought. With @jhaarsma.bsky.social. 🧠🟦 🧠🤖
Contents of visual predictions oscillate at alpha frequencies
Predictions of future events have a major impact on how we process sensory signals. However, it remains unclear how the brain keeps predictions online in anticipation of future inputs. Here, we combin...
www.jneurosci.org
October 21, 2025 at 11:05 AM
@dotproduct.bsky.social's first first author paper is finally out in @sfnjournals.bsky.social! Her findings show that content-specific predictions fluctuate with alpha frequencies, suggesting a more specific role for alpha oscillations than we may have thought. With @jhaarsma.bsky.social. 🧠🟦 🧠🤖
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
Thrilled that our paper is out today in Nature!
www.nature.com/articles/s4...
www.nature.com/articles/s4...
Sensory expectations shape neural population dynamics in motor circuits
Nature - Experiments with human volunteers and macaques show that expectations produced by probabilistic cueing of future sensory inputs shape motor circuit dynamics in order to increase the...
www.nature.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Thrilled that our paper is out today in Nature!
www.nature.com/articles/s4...
www.nature.com/articles/s4...
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
More than five years in the making, my paper about the metaphysics of pregnancy is out today, open-access in PPR 🧵1/7
doi.org/10.1111/phpr...
doi.org/10.1111/phpr...
Lady Parts and Baby Parts: What Is a Fetus?
A common-sense view of mammalian pregnancy treats the fetus as (a) an organism and (b) co-extensive with the approximately baby-shaped entity developing in the uterus. In this paper, I draw on metabo...
doi.org
October 30, 2025 at 12:30 PM
More than five years in the making, my paper about the metaphysics of pregnancy is out today, open-access in PPR 🧵1/7
doi.org/10.1111/phpr...
doi.org/10.1111/phpr...
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
On November 26 our @SpringerNature book in commemoration of Bud (A.D.) Craig's legacy is out. See TOC with 14 contributions on the insular cortex, bodily self, emotion, psychiatric disorders, epilepsy, pain, mindfulness, touch, music, and subjective time. link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
The Bodily Self, Emotion, and Subjective Time
This book provides a comprehensive exploration of the interplay between the bodily self, emotion, and subjective time perception and consciousness.
link.springer.com
October 28, 2025 at 7:42 AM
On November 26 our @SpringerNature book in commemoration of Bud (A.D.) Craig's legacy is out. See TOC with 14 contributions on the insular cortex, bodily self, emotion, psychiatric disorders, epilepsy, pain, mindfulness, touch, music, and subjective time. link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
Psychedelics alter neurovascular coupling, which means we need to critically re-evaluate fMRI findings of acute psychedelic effects
#neuroskyence
#PsychSciSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroskyence
#PsychSciSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Psychedelic 5-HT2A receptor agonism alters neurovascular coupling and differentially affects neuronal and hemodynamic measures of brain function - Nature Neuroscience
Padawer-Curry et al. show that the hallucinogenic 5-HT2A receptor agonist DOI alters neurovascular coupling in mice, with implications for the interpretation of human fMRI studies of psychedelics.
www.nature.com
October 27, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Psychedelics alter neurovascular coupling, which means we need to critically re-evaluate fMRI findings of acute psychedelic effects
#neuroskyence
#PsychSciSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#neuroskyence
#PsychSciSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
Fluctuations in #AlphaOscillations influence whether we perceive faint stimuli, but how? @joeyzhou.bsky.social @haegenslab.bsky.social &co show that alpha associated with the #visual system modulate sensitivity, while #sensorimotor alpha affects decision criteria @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4ho3ecR
October 27, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Fluctuations in #AlphaOscillations influence whether we perceive faint stimuli, but how? @joeyzhou.bsky.social @haegenslab.bsky.social &co show that alpha associated with the #visual system modulate sensitivity, while #sensorimotor alpha affects decision criteria @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4ho3ecR
completely agree; indeed our recent paper on mind-wandering & mind-blanking confirms task-disengagement / internally-oriented cognition does not simply correspond to increased interoceptive processing
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
October 26, 2025 at 10:10 AM
completely agree; indeed our recent paper on mind-wandering & mind-blanking confirms task-disengagement / internally-oriented cognition does not simply correspond to increased interoceptive processing
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
www.researchgate.net/publication/...
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
Delighted to share our new paper, now out in PNAS! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
"Hierarchical dynamic coding coordinates speech comprehension in the brain"
with dream team @alecmarantz.bsky.social, @davidpoeppel.bsky.social, @jeanremiking.bsky.social
Summary 👇
1/8
"Hierarchical dynamic coding coordinates speech comprehension in the brain"
with dream team @alecmarantz.bsky.social, @davidpoeppel.bsky.social, @jeanremiking.bsky.social
Summary 👇
1/8
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
October 22, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Delighted to share our new paper, now out in PNAS! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
"Hierarchical dynamic coding coordinates speech comprehension in the brain"
with dream team @alecmarantz.bsky.social, @davidpoeppel.bsky.social, @jeanremiking.bsky.social
Summary 👇
1/8
"Hierarchical dynamic coding coordinates speech comprehension in the brain"
with dream team @alecmarantz.bsky.social, @davidpoeppel.bsky.social, @jeanremiking.bsky.social
Summary 👇
1/8
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
Check out our new preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
And Paris' thread (@parboulakis.bsky.social):
bsky.app/profile/parb...
Where we explore the neural signature of mind blanking using EEG and fMRI combined!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
And Paris' thread (@parboulakis.bsky.social):
bsky.app/profile/parb...
Where we explore the neural signature of mind blanking using EEG and fMRI combined!
October 16, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Check out our new preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
And Paris' thread (@parboulakis.bsky.social):
bsky.app/profile/parb...
Where we explore the neural signature of mind blanking using EEG and fMRI combined!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
And Paris' thread (@parboulakis.bsky.social):
bsky.app/profile/parb...
Where we explore the neural signature of mind blanking using EEG and fMRI combined!
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
🚨Preprint alert 🚨. Our work “Distinct cortical profiles underlie the common reportability of thought-free experiences” is available at www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1.... 🧵A thread ...
Distinct cortical profiles underlie the common reportability of thought-free experiences
Mind blanking (MB) is a mental state of seemingly no reportable thought content. The question of how we can entertain no thoughts while awake is challenging for the study of spontaneous thinking. By c...
www.biorxiv.org
October 16, 2025 at 12:00 PM
🚨Preprint alert 🚨. Our work “Distinct cortical profiles underlie the common reportability of thought-free experiences” is available at www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1.... 🧵A thread ...
Reposted by Andrew Corcoran
Neural sensitivity to the heartbeat is modulated by fluctuations in affective arousal during spontaneous thought
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
October 13, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Neural sensitivity to the heartbeat is modulated by fluctuations in affective arousal during spontaneous thought