Maciek Szul
@maciekszul.bsky.social
📍 Tübingen, DE ∆ DevComPsy Lab ∆🔬👨💻 🧪∆ decisions, motor control, (laminar) MEG, MRI ∆ not interested in oscillations ∆🤘🤡🚴🏔️ ∆ he/him ∆
Pinned
Maciek Szul
@maciekszul.bsky.social
· Jun 23
Laminar MEG is possible across all cortical depths. Our comprehensive simulations outline SNR, head movement, and micro/macro anatomical limitations to source reconstruction precision. Not perfect by any chance, lots of confirmatory work ahead, but it's promising.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Not only Large Language Models are not the same as intelligence, they are also not fully language either. Some aspects of LLMs are impressive but the cost to benefit (to humanity) ratio is too high.
I’ve been running around asking tech execs and academics if language was the same as intelligence for over a year now - and, well, it isn’t. @benjaminjriley.bsky.social explains how the bubble is built on ignoring cutting-edge research into the science of thought www.theverge.com/ai-artificia...
November 25, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Not only Large Language Models are not the same as intelligence, they are also not fully language either. Some aspects of LLMs are impressive but the cost to benefit (to humanity) ratio is too high.
Reposted by Maciek Szul
“Our findings challenge the conventional focus on low-dimensional coding subspaces as a sufficient framework for understanding neural computations, demonstrating that dimensions previously considered task-irrelevant and accounting for little variance can have a critical role in driving behavior.”
Neural dynamics outside task-coding dimensions drive decision trajectories through transient amplification
Most behaviors involve neural dynamics in high-dimensional activity spaces. A common approach is to extract dimensions that capture task-related variability, such as those separating stimuli or choice...
www.biorxiv.org
November 23, 2025 at 1:38 PM
“Our findings challenge the conventional focus on low-dimensional coding subspaces as a sufficient framework for understanding neural computations, demonstrating that dimensions previously considered task-irrelevant and accounting for little variance can have a critical role in driving behavior.”
Reposted by Maciek Szul
New paper: Transcranial Focused Ultrasound for Identifying the Neural Substrate of Conscious Perception. With Dan Freeman, @brianodegaard.bsky.social, and Seung-Schik Yoo. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Transcranial Focused Ultrasound for Identifying the Neural Substrate of Conscious Perception
Identifying what aspects of brain activity are responsible for conscious perception remains one of the most challenging problems in science. While pro…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:03 PM
New paper: Transcranial Focused Ultrasound for Identifying the Neural Substrate of Conscious Perception. With Dan Freeman, @brianodegaard.bsky.social, and Seung-Schik Yoo. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
When you are a massive nerd, you get excited by flashing lights. This LIDAR will be used for silly stuff.
November 23, 2025 at 12:58 PM
When you are a massive nerd, you get excited by flashing lights. This LIDAR will be used for silly stuff.
Reposted by Maciek Szul
"It may be uncomfortable to conclude that a widely used study design has been producing spurious results. But the evidence is in, and telling uncomfortable truths is a part of doing science."
Problems with twin studies.
theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/the-missin...
Problems with twin studies.
theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/the-missin...
The missing heritability question is now (mostly) answered
Not with a bang but with a whimper
theinfinitesimal.substack.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:03 PM
"It may be uncomfortable to conclude that a widely used study design has been producing spurious results. But the evidence is in, and telling uncomfortable truths is a part of doing science."
Problems with twin studies.
theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/the-missin...
Problems with twin studies.
theinfinitesimal.substack.com/p/the-missin...
Reposted by Maciek Szul
Getting journal rejections like
November 21, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Getting journal rejections like
Reposted by Maciek Szul
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...
Screw resuscitation to the rhythm of "Stayin' Alive". I'm not coming back until someone uses the James Jamerson bassline from "What's Going On".
November 18, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Screw resuscitation to the rhythm of "Stayin' Alive". I'm not coming back until someone uses the James Jamerson bassline from "What's Going On".
Look what I found today. On one hand a capsule capturing mad 90's downhill suspension geometries and on the other, the fact that someone should really get a bigger bike. Not making fun of it, because fork tube extensions are death.
November 18, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Look what I found today. On one hand a capsule capturing mad 90's downhill suspension geometries and on the other, the fact that someone should really get a bigger bike. Not making fun of it, because fork tube extensions are death.
It's out out. Saying that your favourite signal is an oscillation is not enough, it would be good to quantify to what extent.
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Siqi Zhang, James J. Bonaiuto, et al:
Multi-scale parameterization of neural rhythmicity with lagged Hilbert autocoherence
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
Multi-scale parameterization of neural rhythmicity with lagged Hilbert autocoherence
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
November 18, 2025 at 12:44 PM
It's out out. Saying that your favourite signal is an oscillation is not enough, it would be good to quantify to what extent.
Reposted by Maciek Szul
New perspective paper out now in @plosbiology.org with a few thoughts on #interoception: What it is (or rather is not), how it can inform therapeutic interventions, and where (we think) the field of brain-body #neuroskyence has yet to find more solid ground to build on.
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
Beyond the buzz: Grounding interoceptive interventions in mechanisms of brain–body coupling
The field of interoception research is growing at a rapid pace. This Perspective highlights why establishing both mechanistic insight and construct validity will be critical prerequisites for developi...
doi.org
November 14, 2025 at 7:39 AM
New perspective paper out now in @plosbiology.org with a few thoughts on #interoception: What it is (or rather is not), how it can inform therapeutic interventions, and where (we think) the field of brain-body #neuroskyence has yet to find more solid ground to build on.
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
Reposted by Maciek Szul
Our article on lagged Hilbert autocoherence is out: direct.mit.edu/imag/article... Just because you do a TF transformation on your signal doesn't mean that it's an oscillation. Siqi Zhang @maciekszul.bsky.social Sotirios Papadopoulos, @alimassera.bsky.social, @hollyrayson.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
#neuroskyence
November 13, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Our article on lagged Hilbert autocoherence is out: direct.mit.edu/imag/article... Just because you do a TF transformation on your signal doesn't mean that it's an oscillation. Siqi Zhang @maciekszul.bsky.social Sotirios Papadopoulos, @alimassera.bsky.social, @hollyrayson.bsky.social
#neuroskyence
#neuroskyence
Reposted by Maciek Szul
Exciting news from the chairs of Biomag 2026, Prof. Jiahong Gao and Prof. Huan Luo — the conference website is now live: biomag2026.scimeeting.cn The meetings take place in Beijing, 23–25 August 2026. Save the date and start thinking about ideas for posters and symposia! Please share with colleagues
BIOMAG 2025，在线会议，会议直播平台，网络会议直播，美迪康会务通，学术会议管理系统，会议活动管理，注册签到管理，会场幻灯片传输转播，PPT传输，会议网络直播，电子壁报管理系统，医学会，会员管理系统
biomag2026.scimeeting.cn
November 11, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Exciting news from the chairs of Biomag 2026, Prof. Jiahong Gao and Prof. Huan Luo — the conference website is now live: biomag2026.scimeeting.cn The meetings take place in Beijing, 23–25 August 2026. Save the date and start thinking about ideas for posters and symposia! Please share with colleagues
Reposted by Maciek Szul
Very pleased to share our new review in @natrevpsychol.nature.com on integrating cognitive neuroscience and clinical perspectives of metacognition in mental health! With @tobiasuhauser.bsky.social, Lena Jelinek, and Steffen Moritz. (1/3)
Web: www.nature.com/articles/s44...
PDF: rdcu.be/ePxUG
Web: www.nature.com/articles/s44...
PDF: rdcu.be/ePxUG
Integrating cognitive neuroscience and clinical perspectives on metacognitive mechanisms in psychopathology - Nature Reviews Psychology
Cognitive neuroscience and clinical psychology have made substantial advances in knowledge about metacognitive processes, but these fields have progressed in parallel. In this Review, Seow et al. inte...
eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Very pleased to share our new review in @natrevpsychol.nature.com on integrating cognitive neuroscience and clinical perspectives of metacognition in mental health! With @tobiasuhauser.bsky.social, Lena Jelinek, and Steffen Moritz. (1/3)
Web: www.nature.com/articles/s44...
PDF: rdcu.be/ePxUG
Web: www.nature.com/articles/s44...
PDF: rdcu.be/ePxUG
Reposted by Maciek Szul
November 12, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Is meditation analysis just sitting and thinking the results into existence?
November 11, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Is meditation analysis just sitting and thinking the results into existence?
Reposted by Maciek Szul
Idiom Origin
“pull yourself up by your bootstraps”
This was originally *sarcasm* & meant to convey that the act was impossible.
A boot strap is a loop used to help put your boot on.
This 1921 cartoon from the “Nonpartisan Leader” showcases that you can’t pull upward on your boots to levitate.
“pull yourself up by your bootstraps”
This was originally *sarcasm* & meant to convey that the act was impossible.
A boot strap is a loop used to help put your boot on.
This 1921 cartoon from the “Nonpartisan Leader” showcases that you can’t pull upward on your boots to levitate.
January 20, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Idiom Origin
“pull yourself up by your bootstraps”
This was originally *sarcasm* & meant to convey that the act was impossible.
A boot strap is a loop used to help put your boot on.
This 1921 cartoon from the “Nonpartisan Leader” showcases that you can’t pull upward on your boots to levitate.
“pull yourself up by your bootstraps”
This was originally *sarcasm* & meant to convey that the act was impossible.
A boot strap is a loop used to help put your boot on.
This 1921 cartoon from the “Nonpartisan Leader” showcases that you can’t pull upward on your boots to levitate.
Reposted by Maciek Szul
Now out in #ScienceAdvances: @baiweiliu.bsky.social and I ask how internal (goal) and external (sensory) selection are coordinated during visual search. The key insight: internal and external selection are not inherently serial, but may develop in parallel in the human brain: doi.org/10.1126/scia...
Concurrent selection of internal goals and external sensations during visual search
Internal and external selection processes can codevelop in time to yield efficient search behavior.
doi.org
November 10, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Now out in #ScienceAdvances: @baiweiliu.bsky.social and I ask how internal (goal) and external (sensory) selection are coordinated during visual search. The key insight: internal and external selection are not inherently serial, but may develop in parallel in the human brain: doi.org/10.1126/scia...
Analogy for cognitive science would be labelling two ends of reaction time distribution:
less than 0 ms: precognition
positive infinity ms: death
Do they have an editor at FT?
less than 0 ms: precognition
positive infinity ms: death
Do they have an editor at FT?
November 10, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Analogy for cognitive science would be labelling two ends of reaction time distribution:
less than 0 ms: precognition
positive infinity ms: death
Do they have an editor at FT?
less than 0 ms: precognition
positive infinity ms: death
Do they have an editor at FT?
Watching the first episode of the 4th season of Witcher I had only one person in mind. I'm not happy to say the least.
November 10, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Watching the first episode of the 4th season of Witcher I had only one person in mind. I'm not happy to say the least.
Reposted by Maciek Szul
New review on neural manifold and population activity in the brain-
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A neural manifold view of the brain - Nature Neuroscience
Recent advances in neuroscience have revealed how neural population activity underlying behavior can be well described by topological objects called neural manifolds. Understanding how nature, nurture...
www.nature.com
July 29, 2025 at 8:11 AM
New review on neural manifold and population activity in the brain-
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Maciek Szul
"Reformation of science publishing: the Stockholm Declaration"
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
(i) Academia should resume control of publishing using non-profit publishing models (e.g. diamond open-access). 1/
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
(i) Academia should resume control of publishing using non-profit publishing models (e.g. diamond open-access). 1/
Reformation of science publishing: the Stockholm Declaration | Royal Society Open Science
Science relies on integrity and trustworthiness. But scientists under career pressure
are lured to purchase fake publications from ‘paper mills’ that use AI-generated data,
text and image fabrication....
royalsocietypublishing.org
November 7, 2025 at 3:07 AM
"Reformation of science publishing: the Stockholm Declaration"
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
(i) Academia should resume control of publishing using non-profit publishing models (e.g. diamond open-access). 1/
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
(i) Academia should resume control of publishing using non-profit publishing models (e.g. diamond open-access). 1/
Reposted by Maciek Szul
Interested in how we make preference-driven decisions, and how this is implemented in the brain?
We report that neural correlates of evidence accumulation (CPP, Mu/Beta) are also observed during value-based decisions.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Led by @laurencf.bsky.social (Lauren Fong)
1/n
We report that neural correlates of evidence accumulation (CPP, Mu/Beta) are also observed during value-based decisions.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Led by @laurencf.bsky.social (Lauren Fong)
1/n
Tracing the neural trajectories of evidence accumulation and motor preparation processes during voluntary decisions
Voluntary decisions have previously been described by where they arise in the brain and how actions corresponding to one's choice are prepared. However, the processes by which these internally guided ...
www.biorxiv.org
November 3, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Interested in how we make preference-driven decisions, and how this is implemented in the brain?
We report that neural correlates of evidence accumulation (CPP, Mu/Beta) are also observed during value-based decisions.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Led by @laurencf.bsky.social (Lauren Fong)
1/n
We report that neural correlates of evidence accumulation (CPP, Mu/Beta) are also observed during value-based decisions.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Led by @laurencf.bsky.social (Lauren Fong)
1/n
Reposted by Maciek Szul
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 Maciek Szul
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...