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Atesh Koul

@ateshkoul.bsky.social
80 followers 86 following 15 posts

Post-doc researcher @ University of Ferrara. Studying how we understand others.

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Reposted by Atesh Koul
Roberta Bianco @robertabianco.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Our new opinion piece with R. Zatorre and @giacomonovembre.bsky.social is out. We discuss four key steps toward understanding the evolutionary origins of human musicality ..🎶
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Reposted by Atesh Koul
SINe Lab @sinelabdtu.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Super excited to share new preprint from our amazing PhD student @ale-dabr.bsky.social, showing that people’s social network properties are embodied in low-level social interaction dynamics, modulating who leads, who follows, & who encodes another’s movements more! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Personal network features are embodied in real-time social interaction dynamics
People navigate dozens of social interactions daily. Through these, they construct and maintain diverse social networks. While personal dispositions drive how people interact and connect others, the r...
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Atesh Koul @ateshkoul.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Thanks for the interest. There are already some similar studies showing a reduction in exhange of social cues and synchrony during video conferencing like setups vs face to face interactions e.g., Streuber et al., 2026 sci rep, Diana et al., 2023 phil trans, Tremmel et al., 2025 sensors,
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Atesh Koul @ateshkoul.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Thanks @sarahgarf.bsky.social!
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Atesh Koul @ateshkoul.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Might be interesting for @sinelabdtu.bsky.social @antoniahamilton.bsky.social @leoschilbach.bsky.social @introspection.bsky.social @sarahgarf.bsky.social @ruudhortensius.bsky.social @shiratzil.bsky.social
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Atesh Koul @ateshkoul.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Ultimately, our results highlight the importance of non-verbal social cues and how deeply intertwined our bodies are during interactions, even without speaking. It reinforces the call for studying human physiology in its natural social context.
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Atesh Koul @ateshkoul.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Our findings provide proof-of-concept evidence that physiological synchrony can be studied under natural and unconstrained conditions. It is a robust, self-organizing phenomenon—suggesting we might not need formal, structured tasks to study physiological synchrony. 5/6
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Atesh Koul @ateshkoul.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
But how does this happen without speaking or coverbal gestures? Examining the link between IPS and non-verbal social cues revealed clear patterns: synchronized heart rates co-occurred with synchronized body movements, while synchronized pupil diameters co-occurred with synchronized smiling. 4/6
Relationship between physiological and behavioral synchrony. Posterior distributions of correlation coefficients are shown for each behavioral–physiological synchrony pair. Heart rate synchrony was positively associated with body movement synchrony, and pupil diameter synchrony with smiling synchrony. Respiration synchrony was negatively related to smiling synchrony. The black vertical dashed line indicates zero; dark horizontal bars denote the 94% highest density interval (HDI). Error bars represent standard errors
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Atesh Koul @ateshkoul.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
The bodily signals of the two individuals synchronized spontaneously just through visual contact! Notably, heart rate and pupil diameter synchrony were particularly vision-dependent—this #spontaneous synchrony significantly dropped when visual contact was prevented. 3/6
Effect of visual contact on intra and interpersonal measures. Top: Intrapersonal measures. Violin plots display averages (each dot represents the average of two participants forming a dyad), separately for Vision (blue) and No Vision (orange) conditions. Physiological measures such as heart rate, skin conductance, and pupil diameter (but not respiration rate) were significantly lower when the participants could see each other compared to when they could not. Bottom: Interpersonal measures. Raincloud plots display indices of interpersonal synchrony (Pearson's correlation coefficients, each dot represents a dyad). The dashed vertical lines index chance correlation coefficients obtained following a randomization of dyad composition analysis, separately for Vision (blue dashed line) and No Vision (orange dashed line) conditions. Synchrony across all measures exceeded chance levels only in the Vision condition. Moreover, heart rate and pupil diameter synchrony were significantly higher in the Vision than in the No Vision condition
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Atesh Koul @ateshkoul.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
We tested whether and how IPS might emerge from spontaneous dyadic behavior. We recorded 4 physiological signals (heart rate, skin conductance, respiration, and pupil diameter) in familiar dyads who were simply asked to face each other without speaking or making coverbal gestures. 2/6
Dependent measures and experimental paradigm. (A) Dependent measures. We simultaneously measured participants’ autonomic physiological signals: heart rate, skin conductance, respiration, and pupil diameter. We also used video recordings and eye tracking to estimate the time course of spontaneous social behaviors: body movement, eye gaze, and smiling. (B) Experimental paradigm. Thirty-eight dyads of healthy participants were seated facing each other, while their physiological signals and social behaviors were recorded over the course of 2-min trials. Participants were only asked to look toward their partner, to behave spontaneously, and were not permitted to speak or to make coverbal gestures. Visual contact between partners was experimentally manipulated under two conditions: Vision and No Vision. In the No Vision condition, a screen was placed between the participants to prevent visual contact.
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Atesh Koul @ateshkoul.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Very excited for my paper with @giacomonovembre.bsky.social on spontaneous emergence of #Interpersonal #Physiological #Synchrony (IPS). We show that, even without a structured task, your autonomic bodily signals synchronize with another person just by looking at them! doi.org/10.1111/nyas... 🧵 1/6
doi.org
NYAS Publications
Dyads merely looking at each other synchronize autonomic physiology, including heart rate, pupil diameter, breathing rate, and skin conductance. Synchrony in some of these measures co-occurs with syn...
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Reposted by Atesh Koul
SINe Lab @sinelabdtu.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
🫁❤️New preprint out: The social, decoupled self We show effects of interpersonal synchronization of physiological rhythms on intrapersonal cardiorespiratory coupling: when we sync our breathing, our breathing–heart rhythms decouple, with a perturbed phase-relationship www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
The social, decoupled self: interpersonal synchronization of breathing alters intrapersonal cardiorespiratory coupling
People synchronize their periodic behavioural and physiological rhythms with each other during social interaction. While this interpersonal synchronization has largely been associated with positive ef...
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Reposted by Atesh Koul
Francesco Papaleo Lab @labpapaleo.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
HIRING a Post Doctoral Fellow to work with us! In collaboration with Andrea Escelsior. Required skills: - Systems neuroscience, translational psychiatry - In vivo calcium imaging (e.g., fiber photometry, miniscope) - Optogenetics and/or circuit manipulation Contract length: 2-4 years
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Reposted by Atesh Koul
Félix Bigand @felixbigand.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Our lab is looking for a postdoc! Multi-Brain Stimulation, Social Interaction, and a lot of other cool stuff! :) Please share!
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Reposted by Atesh Koul
Giacomo Novembre @giacomonovembre.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
I’m looking for a postdoc to join my lab and work on Multi-Brain Stimulation (MBS). Learn more about the project and how to apply below 👇 This position is funded by the @erc.europa.eu Reposts are very welcome 🙏 #Postdoc #Neuroscience #BrainStimulation #EEG #SocialNeuroscience
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Reposted by Atesh Koul
Roberta Bianco @robertabianco.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Here it is our new preprint on neural encoding of musical expectations in newborns! in collaboration with B. Toth & I. Winkler's hungrain team and @giacomonovembre.bsky.social 's NPAlab check it out 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #musicscience #Neuroscience #MusicCognition #Neurodevelopment
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Reposted by Atesh Koul
Trinh Nguyen @trinhnguyen.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Check out our new preprint on how infants respond to music over the first year of life! 👶🧠💃🎶 While neural responses are pretty much ready to go in the youngest, moving to music takes a bit longer, becoming more complex and potentially more dance-like by 12 months. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Development of Auditory and Spontaneous Movement Responses to Music over the First Year of Life
Humans across cultures not only share the ability to recognise music but also respond to it through movement. While the sensory encoding of music is well-studied, when and how infants naturally start ...
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Atesh Koul @ateshkoul.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Thanks @sciencebanshee.bsky.social it was amazing to have you here! Hope to see you soon.
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Reposted by Atesh Koul
wimpouw @wimpouw.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Update: Our biomechanics EMG/Posture study on voice and upper limb kinetics has been accepted at Proceedings B. We show that moving the arms (while manipulating mass) recruits (postural) muscles that interact with the voice through respiratory interactions. Postprint: wimpouw.com/files/Pouwet...
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Reposted by Atesh Koul
Giacomo Novembre @giacomonovembre.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
🚨 We’re hiring! 🚨 A postdoc position is available at my lab (npa.iit.it) in Rome! Join us to explore: 🎵 Neural bases of musicality (humans, infants, macaques) 💃🕺 Dance & joint music-making 🤝 Spontaneous social behavior ⬇️ Apply through the link below! ⬇️
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Atesh Koul @ateshkoul.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Thanks @avsp.bsky.social
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Reposted by Atesh Koul
Auditory-Visual Speech Association (AVISA) @avsp.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
How accurately can we estimate spontaneous body kinematics from video recordings? Effect of movement amplitude on OpenPose accuracy link.springer.com/article/10.3... OpenPose (OP) vs Vicon (ground truth). OP: overall moderate/varies substantially across participants & body parts > small motion = bad
link.springer.com
How accurately can we estimate spontaneous body kinematics from video recordings? Effect of movement amplitude on OpenPose accuracy - Behavior Research Methods
Estimating how the human body moves in space and time—body kinematics—has important applications for industry, healthcare, and several research fields. Gold-standard methodologies capturing body kinem...
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Atesh Koul @ateshkoul.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Our work can inform researchers on whether they can substitute traditional infrared-based approaches with video-based ones. It highlights the importance of considering factors such as movement amplitude when evaluating video-based methods, as well as the need for better algorithms and datasets.
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Atesh Koul @ateshkoul.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
OpenPose accuracy varied substantially, ranging from being inaccurate to perfect! Interestingly, this variability reflected the varying amplitude of movements performed - poor estimations for low-amplitude movements while, large-amplitude movements (>10 cm) yielded highly accurate estimates.
Relationship between OpenPose accuracy and movement amplitude. For each of the 12 body parts, plots represent both data density and relationship between OpenPose accuracy (coefficient, y-axis) and amplitude of movement (in cm, x-axis). Insets of each plot show the results of curve fitting (adjusted r-squared) for six different functions (best-fitting functions indicated by red arrows). Non-linear functions (power and exponential) typically showed higher r-squared values than a linear function (dark blue bars).Condition inference tree modelling the relationship between OpenPose accuracy and movement amplitude (all body parts combined). The tree predicts OpenPose accuracy using a set of conditional statements (if–then rules). The results from this analysis show that when movement amplitude is lower than e.g., 0.29 cm (node 3), OpenPose accuracy is very weak (mean coefficient = 0.12). Conversely, when movement amplitude is more than e.g., 10.15 cm (node 15), then OpenPose accuracy is strong (mean coefficient = 0.75).Impact of camera–body distance and movement amplitude on OpenPose accuracy. Violin plots indexing OpenPose accuracy as a function of camera–body distance and movement amplitude. OpenPose accuracy grew with movement amplitude. Additionally, with increasing distance, accuracy dropped only for large- and medium-amplitude movements.
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Atesh Koul @ateshkoul.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Video-based motion-tracking technologies are increasingly being used. But can we rely on such estimations? What factors might determine the accuracy? Using a large dataset of 550+ minutes from 46 subjects, we estimated the accuracy of OpenPose using a traditional infrared system as ground truth.
Estimation of body landmarks and accuracy of OpenPose.
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Atesh Koul @ateshkoul.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
How well can video-based methods estimate body kinematics? In my recent paper with @giacomonovembre.bsky.social, we show that accuracy of one such method (OpenPose) varied substantially across subjects & body parts. Interestingly, this accuracy strongly depended on the movement amplitude. t.ly/4Tlnc
t.ly
How accurately can we estimate spontaneous body kinematics from video recordings? Effect of movement amplitude on OpenPose accuracy - Behavior Research Methods
Estimating how the human body moves in space and time—body kinematics—has important applications for industry, healthcare, and several research fields. Gold-standard methodologies capturing body kinem...
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