Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 28/08/2026Compute = Consume Transition out of fossil fuel but not into feedforward energivores We need to cool the climate Let's freeze data centers construction! 020
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 13/08/2026Thank you Pat ♡ it releaves some pressure :) 000
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Kudos to Lucy Fisher, @danielepollicino.bsky.social @brainapps.bsky.social everyone at the @msnlab.bsky.social at @thechbh.bsky.social for helping us in this journey spanning @ox.ac.uk @unibirmingham.bsky.social and @plymuni.bsky.social where many at @bricplymouth.bsky.social might be interested 000
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 10/08/2026So next time you feel under pressure for a deadline, think about your neural network transforming that pressure into motivation, thank evolution for creating it and.... well, all of us really hope you'll make it on time! 100
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Overall, we show why deadlines are exceptionally strong at motivating people to work. They transform us from effort avoiding to effort seeking, taking advantage of our sophisticated neural system to keep track of pressure&progress, being sensitive to unexpected progress to modulate our motivation. 100
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 10/08/2026So our fMRI results in the putamen suggest it is involved in integrating multiple features that guide decision-making (subjective value, effort cost, effort benefit, pressure and pressure prediction errors) through communication with the anatomically connected MCC and ACC. 100
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Not only that, Putamen appeared to also encode effort both when under pressure or without. In the frontal cortex however, effort was encoded in different areas when a pure cost, without pressure, or when valuable because it made progress. 100
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 10/08/2026ACC is instead correlated with the sensitivity to pressure, a parameter through which we characterised how much people were motivated by goal pressure. Interestingly the Putamen also represents pressure prediction errors & is functionally connected with MCC when choosing and assessing pressure. 200
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Using 7t fMRI we also found that goal pressure at time of choice is encoded in the Mid Cingulate Cortex, which also encodes unexpected variations in pressure due to mismatch between effort and progress (which we controlled without telling participants). 100
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 10/08/2026How do we make sense of this? We found that the best way is to model choices as if pressure on a given trial increases the value of a choice proportionally to the effort. In other words pressure acts as a scaling factor that modulates how valuable effort is when useful to progress towards goals 100
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Under pressure to progress, people do choose effort. Indeed, under pressure, we exert effort early on, and pressure is the best predictor of high effort choices, above and beyond effort and reward. Under pressure, people become effort seeking and effort stop discounting rewards 100
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 10/08/2026In our task, participants were asked to progress towards a goal by making physical effort. They had 8 trials where they could choose between working harder for less reward, or working less for more reward. An easy choice most days. But not if you need to progress... 100
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 10/08/2026What we found in 3 experiments is that deadline pressure, measured as the ratio between what's left to do and how much time is left, is the best predictor of choices to exert high effort. The higher the pressure, the higher the likelihood people will choose to exert effort. 100
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Which kind of pressure are we talking about? The one that comes from deadlines, points in time before which stuff needs doing. Sounds familiar? Have you ever tried achieving a goal without a deadline? An important, longish term one? Did you reach it? We are interested to hear because... 100
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Under pressure? It may not be bad. We think of pressure when there is too much of it, but in the right doses it is what makes us reach our goals on time. That's the idea @brainapps.bsky.social & I developed in this paper finally in press at @natcomms.nature.com nature.com/articles/s41467-026-75987-6nature.comNeural and computational mechanisms of effort under the pressure of a deadline - Nature CommunicationsPeople are effort-averse in most situations but can exert effort for little reward when progressing towards goals. Here, the authors show that under deadline pressure people become effort-seeking whil... 262
Reposted by Andrea PisauroDan Feuerriegel @danfeuerriegel.bsky.social · 27/07/2026Interested in the neuroscience of dietary decisions? Check out our lab's latest preprint led by Violet Chae @violetchae.bsky.social ! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... w/ @tgro.bsky.social, @laurencf.bsky.social, Stefan Bode, @paulmgarrett.bsky.social Explainer thread below 1/nbiorxiv.orgThe Centroparietal Positivity Traces the Path of Evidence Accumulation During Dietary DecisionsEach day we make dozens of decisions about food. These choices are informed not only by information that we receive from our senses, but also by our memories, values, cultural norms, and goals. Eviden... 1147
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 15/05/2026Maybe our capacity for attentions spans isn't changing but if our motivation to span attention is changing the problem is still there. Food overabundance brought us eating disorders. Information overabundance brought us dysfunctional attentional habits? www.nature.com/articles/d41...nature.comAre attention spans really shrinking? What the science saysDigital distractions are vying for people’s focus, but our underlying capacity to pay attention seems to be undiminished. 020
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 17/04/2026The fascinating mystery of the Arousal+ neurons. Who are they? What do they do? 020
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 17/04/2026Cool results and beautiful data Matteo! Congratulations @agnesland.bsky.social and the team. Do I get it right from fig.3e that Arousal+ neurons HRF have a shorter lag? 100
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 15/04/2026Actually being able to fully grasp what the whales are saying, or being able to converse with them, is still a longer-term proposition, Gruber said, but not an outlandish one. “It’s totally within our grasp,” he said. 😍 010
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 15/04/2026The latest discovery around sperm whale speech has inched forward the possibility of someday fully understanding the creatures and even communicating with them. 100
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 15/04/2026Fucking wow! www.theguardian.com/environment/...theguardian.comSperm whales’ communication closely parallels human language, study findsAnalysis shows whales’ coda vocalizations are ‘highly complex’ and remarkably similar to our own 100
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 06/04/2026www.socialeurope.eu/taking-the-b...socialeurope.euTaking the Battle for Human Attention SeriouslyThe battle for human attention has become the defining geopolitical and democratic contest of the digital age. 000
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 28/03/2026Yes but look at the difference between deepseek and grok? LLMs could very well diverge over time 020
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 27/03/2026www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Quite nice to read this paper after my last lecture on the psychology of AI discussing similar predictions about the detrimental role of AI sycophancy in social interactions. Important policy implications in terms of regulation recognising sycophancy as harmfulscience.orgSycophantic AI decreases prosocial intentions and promotes dependenceDespite rising concerns about sycophancy—excessive agreement or flattery from artificial intelligence (AI) systems—little is known about its prevalence or consequences. We show that sycophancy is wide... 000
Reposted by Andrea PisauroAnother Europe Is Possible @anothereurope.bsky.social · 18/01/202610 years on, still no justice for Giulio. Join us next Sunday to demand answers and mourn a defender of human rights and a seeker of truth. Giulio disappeared while researching independent trade unions in Egypt in 2016. His body was later found, but the world has had no answers. 072
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 11/12/2025Social media use predicted later inattentiveness among 8324 US children in the later 2010s. Looking forward to see replications across social media types, usage (scrolling I suspect much more important than interacting with comments) and cultures. theconversation.com/social-media...theconversation.comSocial media, not gaming, tied to rising attention problems in teens, new study findsA study of 8,000 children suggests social media, not screens in general, may be fuelling a rise in inattention. 052
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 21/11/2025The world is watching @cop30brazil.bsky.social. Show leadership and add the fossil fuel phase-out roadmap to the #COP30 agreement. Listen to @lulaoficialbluesky.bsky.social and follow the 80+ countries that want justice! Make fossil history! 000
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 21/11/2025History will remember what you decide today. Show courage, and add the roadmap to phase out coal, oil and gas – over 80 countries back it! #COP30 000
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 12/11/2025The debate on evidence accumulation in decisions continues, well done to @laurencf.bsky.social and @danfeuerriegel.bsky.social for this inspiring preprint validating our earlier work on neural correlates of evidence accumulation in value-based decisions. 063
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 03/11/2025A recent report of a brain injury during a clinical trial using transcranial ultrasound (TUS) has prompted the case reviewers Kim Butts Pauly and @efouragnan.bsky.social to make their concerns public. If you are interested in TUS read their letter here: www.elsa-fouragnan.com/blog shorturl.at/SUmixsciencedirect.comBrain Injury During Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation for Substance Use Disorder 043
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 09/10/2025Very nice new framework for social games flexibly combining continuous social interactions with their sensorimotor implementation. A wonderful work of @violapriesemann.bsky.social and colleagues. elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...elifesciences.orgDyadic Interaction Platform: A novel tool to study transparent social interactions 074
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 03/04/2025Great thank you! I will email you when I am back! 010
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 02/04/2025amazing work and quite impressive even for your standards :) @thepsychologist.bsky.social 010
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 02/04/2025thank you in Germany now at my wife's :) but working in Plymouth where, if you fancy a visit to the ocean, we would always love for you to give a talk about all this! 110
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 02/04/2025www.thetransmitter.org/human-neurot... fascinating readingthetransmitter.orgOrganoids and assembloids offer a new window into human brainThese sophisticated 3D cultures reveal previously inaccessible stages of human brain development and enable the systematic study of disease genes. 032
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 01/04/2025Congratulations @mkwittmann.bsky.social and all the authors, quite a brilliant paradigm and fascinating set of studies about how humans may simplify in their brain the complex world of social interactions 040
Reposted by Andrea PisauroMatthew Apps @brainapps.bsky.social · 20/02/20253.5 year PhD studentship in cognitive computational neuroscience open in my MSN lab, @thechbh.bsky.social, co-supervised with @selmalugtmeijer.bsky.social & @simonlittle.bsky.social. Deadline 23rd March. Only open to UK candidates. More details here: www.findaphd.com/phds/project... Pls repostfindaphd.com 11328
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 06/03/2025I did my phd with @andrea-benucci.bsky.social and I can only recommend working with him if you are interested in perception and want to gain experience with optogenetics and imaging methods. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...findaphd.comOptogenetic Control of Texture Perception in the Visual Cortex at Queen Mary University of London on FindAPhD.comPhD Project - Optogenetic Control of Texture Perception in the Visual Cortex at Queen Mary University of London, listed on FindAPhD.com 001
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 08/02/2025www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...thelancet.comAmerican chaos: standing up for health and medicineWithdrawal from WHO and the Paris Agreements. USAID shuttered and aid halted, ceasing health programmes globally. A freeze on US$3 trillion worth of federal grants and loans, jeopardising the function... 011
Reposted by Andrea PisauroValigia Blu @valigiablu.it · 25/01/2025🧵 Addio Facebook e Instagram: è ora di ricostruire le nostre case digitali | @ariannaciccone.bsky.social www.valigiablu.it/facebook-ins... via @valigiablu.itvaligiablu.itAddio Facebook e Instagram: è ora di ricostruire le nostre case digitali - Valigia BluLa radicalizzazione di Mark Zuckerberg, l'assalto all'informazione e alla democrazia della nuova oligarchia tech americana, addio a Facebook e Instagram: è ora di ri-costruire la nostra casa digitale. 24483198
Reposted by Andrea PisauroJan K. Woike @jan-k-woike.bsky.social · 16/01/2025"There is a sadness in this world, for we are ignorant of many things. Yes, we are ignorant of many beautiful things — things like the truth." - Log Lady www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ja...theguardian.comDavid Lynch, Twin Peaks and Muholland Drive director, dies aged 78Film-maker who specialised in surreal, noir style mysteries made a string of influential, critically acclaimed works including Wild at Heart and Eraserhead 052
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 09/01/2025www.science.org/content/arti... Boring is interesting (and so is boredom for that matter)science.orgAs academic Bluesky grows, researchers find strengths—and shortcomingsPlatform fosters collegial interactions among scientists, but potentially limits interactions beyond the academic community 133
Reposted by Andrea PisauroGiamBuono @giambuono.bsky.social · 14/12/2024@andreapisauro.bsky.social www.questionegiustizia.it/articolo/sul...questionegiustizia.itSul delitto Matteotti, e oltreSul delitto Matteotti, e oltre Rivista Questione Giustizia di Magistratura Democratica. 011
Reposted by Andrea PisauroAltmetric @altmetric.com · 03/12/2024BLUESKY MEGA-THREAD Altmetric is thrilled and also LITERALLY RELIEVED to officially announce: We are now tracking research attention as it happens on Bluesky! We have been picking up posts on the site since late Oct. Our team is on Bluesky all day answering questions. Let's get into it! 382324658
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 10/12/2024The fall of the Syrian regime might end a long civil war, but war continues in Gaza with fragile ceasefire in Lebanon. This open letter by more than 1000 psycho/neuroscientists calls for peace & pressure on Israel including stopping provision of arms. To read&sign: sites.google.com/view/psychne... 000
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 17/11/2024Trump is the agenda! He is already eyeing the third term. Constitution? "you are fired" 000
Andrea Pisauro @andreapisauro.bsky.social · 16/11/2024Might be relevant for people leaving #twitter/x one thing I did before closing my account was downloading its archive which is useful if you want to keep track of your former twitter life. And it may also be safer in your hard drive than on a public account! help.x.com/en/managing-...help.x.comHow to download your X archive and Posts | X HelpIt's easy to download your X archive from your first post to your last. Here's how. 024