Rob Hester
hesterr77.bsky.social
Rob Hester
@hesterr77.bsky.social
Academic in the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia.
Reposted by Rob Hester
Announcing the next AFNI Bootcamp: Sep 23-25, 2025.

Free, open & virtual.

This "Part 1" will focus on basic visualization and single subject FMRI processing, including discussions of alignment, templates, regression, ROIs and quality control.

Details & registration: afni.nimh.nih.gov/bootcamp
AFNI Bootcamp: Sep. 23-25, 2025 | afni.nimh.nih.gov
afni.nimh.nih.gov
September 2, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by Rob Hester
This is the definition of a failed social media platform.
August 20, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Reposted by Rob Hester
‘“in-class phone bans represent a low-cost, effective policy to modestly improve academic outcomes, especially for vulnerable student groups."
BREAKING: new study just dropped that shows compelling evidence that cell phone bans cause student grades to modestly increase.

Grade increases are largest among low performing students.
August 5, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Reposted by Rob Hester
Have you been using ABCD data? Are you measuring psychopathology with the CBCL? You will want to check out our latest preprint, led by @kanepav.bsky.social, which shows that the constructs measured by the tool fail to meet many basic validity tests. Peep the thread!
New pre-print from @alexfornito.bsky.social , Toby Constable, Jeggan Tiego, and myself, looking at the psychometric properties of the CBCL in the baseline ABCD cohort. We show that the commonly used CBCL structures fail to meet standards for validity and reliability
osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
July 16, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Reposted by Rob Hester
Summary Table of the massive defunding of biomedical research in the United States
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
July 6, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Rob Hester
Finishing your PhD or under 2 years out of your PhD? Apply to a Forrest PostDoc Fellowship in sunny Perth 🏖️

Very generous salary (~$108K/~£51K) + additional living expenses, research funding + travel allowance

DM me to chat about projects or process 🧠

forrestresearch.org.au/fellowships/
Fellowships - Forrest Research Foundation
forrestresearch.org.au
June 4, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Reposted by Rob Hester
Have recent changes led to uncertainty in your future scientific career?

Wonder it's like in Australia?

Good news!

Monash's is seeking to hire talented EMCRs from other countries.

Come join a wonderful community of brain mappers & modellers!

www.monash.edu/research/eme...
EMERGE
www.monash.edu
May 27, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Reposted by Rob Hester
Our brains occasionally mistake something harmless for a real threat. This is what scientists call a “proxy failure.”

Negative or dangerous proxies are a signal to draw our attention to something that might be important or dangerous, even if it’s not.
jayvanbavellab.substack.com/p/changing-t...
Changing the incentive structure of social media to reduce threat and negativity
Our evolutionary instincts are wired to detect threat and social media often exploits these instincts
jayvanbavellab.substack.com
May 11, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Reposted by Rob Hester
I wrote an article about the psychology by which disinformation campaigns work, with examples from anti-trans propaganda. It's not just about individual beliefs, but also the way our institutions and norms are manipulated.

Please read and share!

pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/Ant...?
Anti-trans attitudes have existed for years, but organised disinformation campaigns are increasingly driving them
Disinformation exists across all parts of the political spectrum, but it goes far beyond simple lying when it comes to the campaign against the transgender community, says a University of Melbourne ex...
pursuit.unimelb.edu.au
April 29, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Reposted by Rob Hester
The vaccine against Shingles helps protect against dementia, results of a natural experiment, adding to prior evidence
"implications are profound"
New @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com/articles/s41...
A natural experiment on the effect of herpes zoster vaccination on dementia - Nature
Using a natural experiment that avoids common bias concerns, this study finds that the live-attenuated shingles vaccine reduced the probability of a new dementia diagnosis within a follow-up period of...
nature.com
April 2, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Rob Hester
We're looking for submissions that advance the research on a range of topics related to behavioral "addictions" including classification and diagnosis, etiology, and heterogeneity! Please share.
I am thrilled to share this call for papers with you at the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science.

@cassie-boness.bsky.social and I, alongside @aidangcw.bsky.social, are looking for proposals on the science and practice of behavioral addictions research.

www.apa.org/pubs/journal...
www.apa.org
April 1, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Reposted by Rob Hester
Science is under threat in the US. @elife.bsky.social have commissioned a series of articles discussing the implications and what we can do. The first three articles are now live. More to follow:
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
Science Under Threat in the United States: How scientists and institutions should respond
Individual researchers and university leaders need to make the case for science to their elected representatives and to the public at large.
elifesciences.org
March 25, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Reposted by Rob Hester
Are you doing EMA research and wonder how to go about it? In recent work we've adressed some open questions and challenges, here is a brief summary of papers and materials.

🧵 #PsychSciSky 🧪 #StatsSky
March 12, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Reposted by Rob Hester
March 5, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Reposted by Rob Hester
Scientists and educators in Australia and NZ!

Have you been watching the state of the world and wondering what you can do?

We've created a crowdsourced document with resources and links with ideas. Pls check it out, do them, contribute your own, and share widely!

docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Ideas for how to be GOATS
Ideas for how to be GOATS Guardians Of (Australian) Academia, Teaching, and Science The title of this is jokey but the intent is absolutely not. It is intended as a compendium of resources for Austral...
docs.google.com
February 27, 2025 at 9:38 PM