Josephine Flockton
@jflockton.bsky.social
Cog Neuro PhD @york.ac.uk 🧠 Using MEG/OPM & EEG - interested in Predictive Coding, AI/ML, Sensory Integration, Consciousness, & ASMR
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
Distinct Roles of Deep and Superficial Cortical Layers in Tone Prediction, Comparison, and Adaptation in Human Auditory Cortex https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.24.687809v1
November 25, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Distinct Roles of Deep and Superficial Cortical Layers in Tone Prediction, Comparison, and Adaptation in Human Auditory Cortex https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.24.687809v1
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
Excited to share that the main work of my PhD has been published!
We found that having control over pain makes expectations more precise, and changes pain perception. This is accompanied by activation changes in the PAG, SMA and ACC.
You can read the full version of the paper here: rdcu.be/eQy6X
We found that having control over pain makes expectations more precise, and changes pain perception. This is accompanied by activation changes in the PAG, SMA and ACC.
You can read the full version of the paper here: rdcu.be/eQy6X
Controllability changes pain perception by increasing the precision of expectations
Nature Communications - Control over pain changes how intense it is perceived. Here, the authors show that this effect results from increased expectation precision with control, which changes...
rdcu.be
November 22, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Excited to share that the main work of my PhD has been published!
We found that having control over pain makes expectations more precise, and changes pain perception. This is accompanied by activation changes in the PAG, SMA and ACC.
You can read the full version of the paper here: rdcu.be/eQy6X
We found that having control over pain makes expectations more precise, and changes pain perception. This is accompanied by activation changes in the PAG, SMA and ACC.
You can read the full version of the paper here: rdcu.be/eQy6X
Anyone else going to #MEGNord at Aarhus next week? 🇩🇰 Interested in predictive coding of touch from sound, beta & gamma dynamics, or somatosensory echoes? 🧠 Boy do I have the poster for you! Come say hi 😊
November 22, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Anyone else going to #MEGNord at Aarhus next week? 🇩🇰 Interested in predictive coding of touch from sound, beta & gamma dynamics, or somatosensory echoes? 🧠 Boy do I have the poster for you! Come say hi 😊
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
What happens if you hook up an energy-efficiency optimising RNN on active vision input?
It learns predictive remapping and path integration into allocentric scene coordinates.
Now out in patterns: www.cell.com/patterns/ful...
It learns predictive remapping and path integration into allocentric scene coordinates.
Now out in patterns: www.cell.com/patterns/ful...
November 21, 2025 at 8:01 AM
What happens if you hook up an energy-efficiency optimising RNN on active vision input?
It learns predictive remapping and path integration into allocentric scene coordinates.
Now out in patterns: www.cell.com/patterns/ful...
It learns predictive remapping and path integration into allocentric scene coordinates.
Now out in patterns: www.cell.com/patterns/ful...
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
More exciting psychophysics suggesting that imagery instantiates sensory representations through suppression, not activation: psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-....
This paper demonstrated similar effects: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37782827/
Could this explain decreased activation and increased decoding?
This paper demonstrated similar effects: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37782827/
Could this explain decreased activation and increased decoding?
APA PsycNet
psycnet.apa.org
November 14, 2025 at 5:27 PM
More exciting psychophysics suggesting that imagery instantiates sensory representations through suppression, not activation: psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-....
This paper demonstrated similar effects: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37782827/
Could this explain decreased activation and increased decoding?
This paper demonstrated similar effects: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37782827/
Could this explain decreased activation and increased decoding?
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
How to Improve the Reliability of Aperiodic Parameter Estimates in M/EEG: A Method Comparison and Recommendations for Best Practices https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.10.687541v1
November 11, 2025 at 11:17 PM
How to Improve the Reliability of Aperiodic Parameter Estimates in M/EEG: A Method Comparison and Recommendations for Best Practices https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.10.687541v1
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
🚨 New preprint!
One idea, many ways to say it – but does your brain track those options while you speak?
Using LLMs, we put this to the test.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We show for the 1st time that the brain represents multiple alternatives simultaneously in both listening and speaking.
🧵
One idea, many ways to say it – but does your brain track those options while you speak?
Using LLMs, we put this to the test.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We show for the 1st time that the brain represents multiple alternatives simultaneously in both listening and speaking.
🧵
November 11, 2025 at 8:41 AM
🚨 New preprint!
One idea, many ways to say it – but does your brain track those options while you speak?
Using LLMs, we put this to the test.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We show for the 1st time that the brain represents multiple alternatives simultaneously in both listening and speaking.
🧵
One idea, many ways to say it – but does your brain track those options while you speak?
Using LLMs, we put this to the test.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We show for the 1st time that the brain represents multiple alternatives simultaneously in both listening and speaking.
🧵
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
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]
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
Delighted to share our new preprint!
We show that rhythmic light stimulation produces multiplexed oscillatory responses at fundamental and harmonic frequencies that are spatially, temporally, and functionally distinct.
Read on for the details [1/6]
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
We show that rhythmic light stimulation produces multiplexed oscillatory responses at fundamental and harmonic frequencies that are spatially, temporally, and functionally distinct.
Read on for the details [1/6]
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
Rhythmic light stimulation elicits multiple concurrent neural responses that separably shape human perception
Rhythmic light stimulation offers solutions to innumerable cognitive and neurological disorders. However, like any neuromodulatory technique, responses to rhythmic light stimulation are highly variabl...
www.biorxiv.org
November 7, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Delighted to share our new preprint!
We show that rhythmic light stimulation produces multiplexed oscillatory responses at fundamental and harmonic frequencies that are spatially, temporally, and functionally distinct.
Read on for the details [1/6]
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
We show that rhythmic light stimulation produces multiplexed oscillatory responses at fundamental and harmonic frequencies that are spatially, temporally, and functionally distinct.
Read on for the details [1/6]
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#neuroskyence
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
New preprint with amazing work from @nchalas.bsky.social:
How does respiration influence (un-)predictable near-threshold perception? MEG, arousal modulation, excitability states, respiration phase-resolved connectivity changes - it's all there :)
#neuroskyence
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
How does respiration influence (un-)predictable near-threshold perception? MEG, arousal modulation, excitability states, respiration phase-resolved connectivity changes - it's all there :)
#neuroskyence
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Respiration as a dynamic modulator of sensory sampling
Respiration dynamically modulates sensory perception by orchestrating transient states of the brain and the body. Using simultaneous recordings of high-density magneto-encephalography (MEG), respirati...
www.biorxiv.org
June 30, 2025 at 12:20 PM
New preprint with amazing work from @nchalas.bsky.social:
How does respiration influence (un-)predictable near-threshold perception? MEG, arousal modulation, excitability states, respiration phase-resolved connectivity changes - it's all there :)
#neuroskyence
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
How does respiration influence (un-)predictable near-threshold perception? MEG, arousal modulation, excitability states, respiration phase-resolved connectivity changes - it's all there :)
#neuroskyence
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
Accessing Meaning During Encoding Shapes Subsequent Memory Reactivation in the Brain https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.02.686134v1
November 4, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Accessing Meaning During Encoding Shapes Subsequent Memory Reactivation in the Brain https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.02.686134v1
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
Introducing CorText: a framework that fuses brain data directly into a large language model, allowing for interactive neural readout using natural language.
tl;dr: you can now chat with a brain scan 🧠💬
1/n
tl;dr: you can now chat with a brain scan 🧠💬
1/n
November 3, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Introducing CorText: a framework that fuses brain data directly into a large language model, allowing for interactive neural readout using natural language.
tl;dr: you can now chat with a brain scan 🧠💬
1/n
tl;dr: you can now chat with a brain scan 🧠💬
1/n
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
A semantotopic map in human hippocampus https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.31.685959v1
November 2, 2025 at 8:15 AM
A semantotopic map in human hippocampus https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.31.685959v1
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
Diverse ways of holding verbal information in mind revealed with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: Individual differences in left anterior parietal cortex https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.30.685124v1
October 31, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Diverse ways of holding verbal information in mind revealed with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: Individual differences in left anterior parietal cortex https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.30.685124v1
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
New paper out in npj Digital Medicine! Fayed Rassoulou demonstrates how electrophysiology + machine learning can help identify the optimal contact for deep brain stimulation. rdcu.be/eNgG1
Electrophysiological signatures predict the therapeutic window of deep brain stimulation electrode contacts
npj Digital Medicine - Electrophysiological signatures predict the therapeutic window of deep brain stimulation electrode contacts
rdcu.be
October 30, 2025 at 4:11 PM
New paper out in npj Digital Medicine! Fayed Rassoulou demonstrates how electrophysiology + machine learning can help identify the optimal contact for deep brain stimulation. rdcu.be/eNgG1
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
Preparing a journal club reading about such a nice paper -> Entorhinal grid-like codes for visual space during memory formation
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Entorhinal grid-like codes for visual space during memory formation - Nature Communications
Eye movements during scene viewing are tied to grid-like codes in the entorhinal cortex. Grid signals are specific to later remembered scenes, covary with activity in visuo-oculomotor regions, and are...
www.nature.com
October 29, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Preparing a journal club reading about such a nice paper -> Entorhinal grid-like codes for visual space during memory formation
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
Diazepam alters the shape of alpha oscillations recorded from human cortex using EEG https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.24.684311v1
October 26, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Diazepam alters the shape of alpha oscillations recorded from human cortex using EEG https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.24.684311v1
My first first-author paper is out now in Frontiers in Behavioural Neuroscience!🎉 A model to explain ASMR's neural mechanism & clinical potential via predictive coding of CT-touch, linking LC-vagus dynamics & the PPS network... 1/5
w/ the brilliant @cejpreston.bsky.social & @cademccall.bsky.social
w/ the brilliant @cejpreston.bsky.social & @cademccall.bsky.social
Frontiers | The Proximity Prediction Hypothesis: How predictive coding of CT-touch explains Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response and its therapeutic applications
Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a pleasant tingling sensation felt across the scalp and neck, widely reported to reduce anxiety and improve sl...
www.frontiersin.org
October 24, 2025 at 1:56 PM
My first first-author paper is out now in Frontiers in Behavioural Neuroscience!🎉 A model to explain ASMR's neural mechanism & clinical potential via predictive coding of CT-touch, linking LC-vagus dynamics & the PPS network... 1/5
w/ the brilliant @cejpreston.bsky.social & @cademccall.bsky.social
w/ the brilliant @cejpreston.bsky.social & @cademccall.bsky.social
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
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 Josephine Flockton
Super happy to share my very first first-author paper out in
@sfnjournals.bsky.social! We show content-specific predictions are represented in an alpha rhythm. It’s been a beautiful, inspiring, yet challenging journey.
Huge thanks to everyone, especially @peterkok.bsky.social @jhaarsma.bsky.social
@sfnjournals.bsky.social! We show content-specific predictions are represented in an alpha rhythm. It’s been a beautiful, inspiring, yet challenging journey.
Huge thanks to everyone, especially @peterkok.bsky.social @jhaarsma.bsky.social
@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 3:57 PM
Super happy to share my very first first-author paper out in
@sfnjournals.bsky.social! We show content-specific predictions are represented in an alpha rhythm. It’s been a beautiful, inspiring, yet challenging journey.
Huge thanks to everyone, especially @peterkok.bsky.social @jhaarsma.bsky.social
@sfnjournals.bsky.social! We show content-specific predictions are represented in an alpha rhythm. It’s been a beautiful, inspiring, yet challenging journey.
Huge thanks to everyone, especially @peterkok.bsky.social @jhaarsma.bsky.social
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
New paper: Working memory readout varies with frontal theta rhythms. A theta traveling wave swept across the frontal cortex like radar, modulating performance of a working memory task. Because cognition is rhythmic.
www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...
#neuroscience @picowerinstitute.bsky.social
www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...
#neuroscience @picowerinstitute.bsky.social
Working memory readout varies with frontal theta rhythms
Han et al. show that frontal theta oscillations rhythmically control access to working
memory. The theta rhythm sweeps across the mental image, shaping behavior by coordinating
spikes and beta oscilla...
www.cell.com
October 20, 2025 at 3:06 PM
New paper: Working memory readout varies with frontal theta rhythms. A theta traveling wave swept across the frontal cortex like radar, modulating performance of a working memory task. Because cognition is rhythmic.
www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...
#neuroscience @picowerinstitute.bsky.social
www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...
#neuroscience @picowerinstitute.bsky.social
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
Decoding performance (MVPA) better for OPM-MEG than SQUID-MEG 😎. The improved spatial specificity of OPM-MEG due to the reduced brain-sensor distance is key. And more sensors (beyond 40) don't improve decoding.
Preprint from our recent @thechbh.bsky.social study: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Preprint from our recent @thechbh.bsky.social study: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Decoding with multivariate pattern analysis is superior for optically pumped magnetometer-based magnetoencephalography compared to superconducting quantum interference device-based systems
Background: Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) has become an increasingly important method for decoding distributed brain activity from neural electrophysiological recordings by leveraging both temp...
www.biorxiv.org
October 16, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Decoding performance (MVPA) better for OPM-MEG than SQUID-MEG 😎. The improved spatial specificity of OPM-MEG due to the reduced brain-sensor distance is key. And more sensors (beyond 40) don't improve decoding.
Preprint from our recent @thechbh.bsky.social study: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Preprint from our recent @thechbh.bsky.social study: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
In sum, the astrocyte ensemble provides a slow, multiday dimension to memory processing, complementing fast neuronal activity. They may ensure that only selected experiences become stable memories. 8/8
Read the full paper: nature.com/articles/s41... Tools: addgene.org/Jun_Nagai/
Read the full paper: nature.com/articles/s41... Tools: addgene.org/Jun_Nagai/
The astrocytic ensemble acts as a multiday trace to stabilize memory - Nature
Emotional experience evokes signalling in astrocytes, which form an ensemble that is reinforced by secondary astrocytic state changes resulting from repeated experience, leading to memory stabilizatio...
nature.com
October 15, 2025 at 4:16 PM
In sum, the astrocyte ensemble provides a slow, multiday dimension to memory processing, complementing fast neuronal activity. They may ensure that only selected experiences become stable memories. 8/8
Read the full paper: nature.com/articles/s41... Tools: addgene.org/Jun_Nagai/
Read the full paper: nature.com/articles/s41... Tools: addgene.org/Jun_Nagai/
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
Nature research paper: Arousal as a universal embedding for spatiotemporal brain dynamics
go.nature.com/4nMUgYz
go.nature.com/4nMUgYz
Arousal as a universal embedding for spatiotemporal brain dynamics - Nature
Reframing of arousal as a latent dynamical system can reconstruct multidimensional measurements of large-scale spatiotemporal brain dynamics on the timescale of seconds in mice.
go.nature.com
September 26, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Nature research paper: Arousal as a universal embedding for spatiotemporal brain dynamics
go.nature.com/4nMUgYz
go.nature.com/4nMUgYz
Reposted by Josephine Flockton
Ever slam on the brakes after seeing a speed trap? Or better yet, slow down ahead in anticipation?
In our new paper w/ @anask07.bsky.social in @cp-iscience.bsky.social, we use #iEEG to study the neural basis of reactive and proactive control in medial and lateral PFC.
tinyurl.com/4bbwbffv
In our new paper w/ @anask07.bsky.social in @cp-iscience.bsky.social, we use #iEEG to study the neural basis of reactive and proactive control in medial and lateral PFC.
tinyurl.com/4bbwbffv
October 8, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Ever slam on the brakes after seeing a speed trap? Or better yet, slow down ahead in anticipation?
In our new paper w/ @anask07.bsky.social in @cp-iscience.bsky.social, we use #iEEG to study the neural basis of reactive and proactive control in medial and lateral PFC.
tinyurl.com/4bbwbffv
In our new paper w/ @anask07.bsky.social in @cp-iscience.bsky.social, we use #iEEG to study the neural basis of reactive and proactive control in medial and lateral PFC.
tinyurl.com/4bbwbffv