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Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar

@drswijeakumar.bsky.social
270 followers 380 following 30 posts

Associate Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at University of Nottingham| Neurocognition in early years | Caregiver-child interactions | Contextual influences| Long-term outcomes. #ADHD and #Brown in #STEM

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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Erica Busch @elbusch.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Our new paper is out this week in Nature Neuroscience! www.nature.com/articles/s41... We built a BCI that works with the brain's natural geometry — and we found that people could learn to play a video game with their brains in <1 hr of training. This efficiency is groundbreaking & here's why:
nature.com
Human learning of noninvasive brain–computer interfaces via manifold geometry - Nature Neuroscience
Busch et al. use nonlinear neural manifolds to help humans gain rapid control over a noninvasive brain–computer interface, allowing them to learn how to play a video game with real-time fMRI neurofeed...
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Bo Yao @bo-yao.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Recruiting a fully funded PhD student at Lancaster: decoding spontaneous inner speech with wearable EEG + ultrasound tongue imaging. UK home applicants only, Oct 2026 start. Application Deadline 17 July 2026. Details: www.lancaster.ac.uk/psychology/s...
lancaster.ac.uk
PhD - Lancaster University
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Earl K. Miller @earlkmiller.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Visual attention relies on coordinated activity across brain areas. Computational neural dynamics of goal-directed visual attention in macaques doi.org/10.1126/scia... #neuroscience
doi.org
Computational neural dynamics of goal-directed visual attention in macaques
Large-scale brain activity patterns coordinate goals, perception, and memory to guide efficient visual search.
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Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar @drswijeakumar.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Congratulations to Dubheasa, PhD student (second from left) for best oral presentation at the Nott PGR conference. She presented our work on interpersonal synchrony and executive functions. We are lucky to be her supervisors!
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Melissa Kibbe @levelsof.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
New work from my lab! Young children find it easier to represent mutually-exclusive possible identities of an object than possible locations of an object - an early object-rep-architecture limitation on possibility reasoning! Work led by @esranur.bsky.social recently accepted in Open Mind ✨
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Durham Psychology @durhampsych.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Research led by Dr Sam Forbes and Prof John Spencer shows that young children who experience richer, face to face interaction develop stronger neural pathways for language processing than those primarily exposed to screens www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... @samhforbes.bsky.social
bbc.co.uk
The parents using play to stop children getting 'trapped' by screens
Researchers say more speech and interaction around children can aid the development of young brains.
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Mark H Johnson @markhjoh.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Our review of 103 studies of the neonatal brain at rest shows group-level developmental changes in functional connectivity, but also evidence for significant inter-individual variability. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
The neonatal brain at rest: A systematic review of task-free functional connectivity in the first 100 days
Over the first 100 days post-partum human brain functions may undergo rapid changes, with plasticity peaking. Studies of task-free functional connecti…
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Sheina Lew-Levy @sheinalew.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
My friend @samhforbes.bsky.social doing the most incredible research www.instagram.com/reel/DXT1kiu...
instagram.com
Instagram
Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Jiajie Zou @jiajiezou.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
New paper 🌟out now in Nat. Neurosci.: www.nature.com/articles/s41.... With advisors @davidpoeppel.bsky.social and @Nai! We show that, while LLMs are optimized to predict the next word, the human brain modulates prediction efficiency by strategically grouping words into constituents. 1/n More 👇
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Agnès Landemard @agnesland.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
How does blood flow relate to brain activity? We discovered that it reflects two neural populations affected oppositely by arousal. Together, they explain neurovascular coupling in all brain regions and brain states! Out today in Nature: rdcu.be/fdC2A @uclbrainscience.bsky.social
The supply of blood to brain tissue is thought to depend on the overall neural activity in that tissue, and this dependence is thought to differ across brain regions and across brain states. However, studies supporting these views have measured neural activity as a bulk quantity and related it to blood supply following disparate events in different regions. Here we measure fluctuations in neuronal activity and blood volume across the mouse brain, and find that their relationship is consistent across brain states and brain regions but differs in two opposing brainwide neural populations. Functional ultrasound imaging (fUSI) revealed that whisking, a marker of arousal, is associated with brainwide fluctuations in blood volume. Simultaneous fUSI and Neuropixels recordings showed that neurons that increase activity with whisking have distinct haemodynamic response functions compared with those that decrease activity. Their summed contributions predicted blood volume across states.Brainwide Neuropixels recordings revealed that these opposing populations coexist in the entire brain. Their differing contributions to blood volume largely explain the apparent differences in blood volume fluctuations across regions. The mouse brain thus contains two neural populations with opposite relations to brain state and distinct relationships to blood supply, which together account for brainwide fluctuations in blood volume.
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Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar @drswijeakumar.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Congratulations Lindsey! Wonderful news!
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Fergus Murray @oolong.co.uk · 23/03/2026
One thing that's been frustrating me INTENSELY this last few years is a pattern of brilliant Autistic autism researchers, doing important & fascinating work, struggling to get jobs in academia, or being pushed out of jobs they had before. Most universities seem unable to see how valuable they are.
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Dana Miller-Cotto @damcotto.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
New paper from our lab, led by postdoc @jmedrano.bsky.social, on executive functions, spatial/relational reasoning and prior knowledge relate to children’s fraction understanding. Proud of Josh for leading this work! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Executive functions and spatial/relational reasoning relate to individual differences in fraction understanding
Studies have shown the importance of executive functions (EFs) and spatial and relational reasoning for fraction understanding; however, few studies h…
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Caroline Rowland @carorowland.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Currrently reading "Where learning paths meet..." in my decades long search for the actual mechanisms behind child language acquisition. Surprisingly elusive in our literature, which has (almost certainly) spent too much time focussing on what is/isn't innate. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Where learning paths meet: Convergence and divergence of statistical and reinforcement learning
Learning enables organisms to adapt to a dynamic world by forming and updating internal representations of their environment. Statistical Learning (SL…
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Uta Frith @utafrith.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Very cool paper relevant to social imitation www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
Avalanches of choice: How stranger-to-stranger interactions shape crowd dynamics | PNAS
Pedestrian routing choices play a crucial role in shaping collective crowd dynamics, yet the influence of interactions among unfamiliar individuals...
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Zsuzsa Kaldy @zsuzsakaldy.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
The Developmental and Brain Sciences program at UMass Boston is looking for a half-time Program Coordinator. This colleague will be working directly with me (the Director of the program). Feel free to DM me with any questions! employmentopportunities.umb.edu/boston/en-us...
employmentopportunities.umb.edu
Page Up - UMass Boston
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Brad Postle @bradpostle.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
It’s out!
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Mark Haselgrove @markhaselgrove.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
2 x full-time teaching associate roles in psychology at the University of Nottingham. One role is for a fixed-term contract for 18 months from 1 April 2026 and the second role is for a fixed-term contract ending on 31st July 2027. jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...
jobs.nottingham.ac.uk
Job Vacancy at the University of Nottingham: Teaching Associate (Fixed term, Multiple posts)
We are looking for two Teaching Associate in the School of Psychology to deliver high quality teaching in one or more of the core areas of Psychology.We believe that diverse teams deliver the highest quality teaching, research and student experience...
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Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar @drswijeakumar.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
The deadline for this fully-funded PhD studentship with me and @alexhendry.bsky.social is tomorrow (18th Feb). Apply if you are interested in improving executive functions in children from neurotypical and neurodiverse families.
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Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar @drswijeakumar.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Sharing a fantastic paper using Miro-E I was lucky to be involved in. Led by the amazing Nikhil Deshpande, Aly Magassouba and others at @uoncompsci.bsky.social @notts-psych.bsky.social. A Multimodal Adaptive Framework for Social Interaction with the MiRo-E Robot mdpi.com/3727124 #mdpisensors
mdpi.com
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Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar @drswijeakumar.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Only one week left to apply for this ESRC PhD studentship with me and @alexhendry.bsky.social. If you are interested in how to improve executive functions through caregiver-child play interactions in neurotypical and neurodiverse families, consider applying!
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Alex Hendry @alexhendry.bsky.social · 31/05/2024
START – a new programme supporting toddlers at elevated likelihood of autism or ADHD – shows promising findings tinyurl.com/5n92yuzy   #DevPsyc #devsky #devsci #AutRes
tinyurl.com
Feasibility and acceptability of a parent‐toddler programme to support the development of executive functions in children at elevated likelihood of autism or ADHD: Pilot findings
This study reports feasibility, fidelity and acceptability of a pilot of START; a 12-week parent-toddler, group-based, neurodiversity-affirming programme aiming to support executive function developm...
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Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar @drswijeakumar.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Two weeks till the deadline for this fully funded ESRC DTP studentship with me and @alexhendry.bsky.social looking at play interactions and executive functions in neurotypical and neurodiverse families. Please share!
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Congratulations to @lillianbehm.bsky.social, Nick Turk-Browne, and a huge team for putting together this paper (out today) on lessons from a decade of attempts to study awake infants with fMRI: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Awake Infants: Insights From More Than 750 Scanning Sessions
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in awake infants has the potential to reveal how the early developing brain gives rise to cognition and behavior. However, awake infant fMRI poses signifi...
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
School of Psychology, University of Nottingham @notts-psych.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Apply now for a PhD in our school with @drswijeakumar.bsky.social and @alexhendry.bsky.social 👇
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Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar @drswijeakumar.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Three weeks until the deadline for the fully funded ESRC DTP position with me @notts-psych.bsky.social and @alexhendry.bsky.social. Please share with colleagues and interested students.
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Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar @drswijeakumar.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
@notts-psych.bsky.social
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Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar @drswijeakumar.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
@mgsesrcdtp.bsky.social, can you please share widely?
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Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar @drswijeakumar.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Funded ESRC DTP Strategic joint PhD studentship with me at @notts-psych.bsky.social and @alexhendry.bsky.social on play interactions to improve executive functions. Application details in the link. Deadline: 18th Feb. Please share widely with interested students! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQE738/e...
jobs.ac.uk
ESRC DTP Strategic Joint Studentship: Adopting a Research-Informed Approach to Develop Play Interactions to Improve Executive Functions in Neurotypical and Neurodiverse Families. at Midlands Graduate ...
Find a ESRC DTP Strategic Joint Studentship: Adopting a Research-Informed Approach to Develop Play Interactions to Improve Executive Functions in Neurotypical and Neurodiverse Families. on jobs.ac.uk,...
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Neuropsychopharmacology @npp-journal.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Thank you to Dr. Schwarzlose for contributing the fantastic review article "Infant sensory gating and a developmental cascade to autistic traits and anxiety" this year 🤩 #ACNP2026 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Nature Metabolism @natmetabolism.nature.com · 31/12/2025
#Throwback 🧪 REVIEW | Feeding gut microbes to nourish the brain: unravelling the diet–microbiota–gut–brain axis @elizschneider.bsky.social‬, ‪@jfcryan.bsky.social et al
nature.com
Feeding gut microbes to nourish the brain: unravelling the diet–microbiota–gut–brain axis - Nature Metabolism
This Review provides an overview of the interplay between host diet and the gut microbiota, and how this affects brain function.
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Przemek Tomalski @tomalski.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
Full ref: Duda-Goławska, J., Laudańska, Z., et al. Vocalisations are coupled with movement of all limbs throughout infancy. Sci Rep 15, 44899 (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s415...
doi.org
Vocalisations are coupled with movement of all limbs throughout infancy - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Vocalisations are coupled with movement of all limbs throughout infancy
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Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar @drswijeakumar.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
Very nice work!
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Przemek Tomalski @tomalski.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
New paper alert from BabylabPAN Spontaneous speech-like vocalisations of infants are coupled with increased arm and leg movements. Across most of the first year (4-12 mo) the onset of a vocalisation is coupled with a brief limb movements. A🧵below OA text: rdcu.be/eWOko Funding @ncn.gov.pl
rdcu.be
Vocalisations are coupled with movement of all limbs throughout infancy
Scientific Reports - Vocalisations are coupled with movement of all limbs throughout infancy
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Koraly @drkoraly.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
December: Early and later susceptibility to effects of parenting: Exploring Frankenhuis and Panchanathan’s (2011) evolutionary commitment hypothesis. doi.org/10.1037/dev0...
doi.org
APA PsycNet
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Earl K. Miller @earlkmiller.bsky.social · 26/12/2025
Alpha power indexes working memory load for durations www.cell.com/iscience/ful... #neuroscience
cell.com
Alpha power indexes working memory load for durations
Biological sciences; Neuroscience; Cognitive neuroscience
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Meriah DeJoseph @meriahdejoseph.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Just published! ✨ Across 15+ timepoints, we found that unpredictability in economic hardship – not only severity – shapes young children’s self-regulation. Understanding these dynamics can help us design supports that promote stability and adaptive development. 👉 bit.ly/4oIZO75
bit.ly
Hidden dynamics of economic hardship: Characterizing economic unpredictability and its role on self-regulation in early childhood | Development and Psychopathology | Cambridge Core
Hidden dynamics of economic hardship: Characterizing economic unpredictability and its role on self-regulation in early childhood
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Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar @drswijeakumar.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
‼️New paper‼️Alex Turner, Aly Magassouba and I applied a transformer-based ML network to capture caregiver-infant behaviors during play. Performance metrics differ based on data partition - with drop when tested on unseen dyads! @notts-psych.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Applying a Transformer-based machine-learning model to classify caregiver and infant behaviours during dyadic interactions
Multimodal caregiver-infant interactions have both concurrent and long-term impacts on child attention, cognitive and social skills. These behaviours …
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Sara De Felice @saradefelice.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
This is now out in Cerebral Cortex. Open Access: academic.oup.com/cercor/artic... @antoniahamilton.bsky.social @gabriellavigliocco.bsky.social Uzair Hakim @paola182.bsky.social Danny Thompkings @fdi55.bsky.social
academic.oup.com
Learning with others: teacher–learner brain synchrony depends on mutual gaze and joint attention
Abstract. Successful learning often emerges through social interaction: what are the neural and behavioral systems that support this process? This ecologic
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Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar @drswijeakumar.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
@aimeetheyer.bsky.social @davidsonchri.bsky.social @notts-psych.bsky.social
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Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar @drswijeakumar.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
New paper from our work on Project NeuroSync published in Infant and Behavior Development. The interaction between caregiver scaffolding and infant object engagement is associated with better visual working memory in 6-to-10-month-old infants. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Caregiver-infant behaviours during multi-component object play are associated with infant visual working memory
Through play interactions, caregivers play a significant role in shaping children’s early cognitive development. The over-arching objective of this cr…
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Mark Haselgrove @markhaselgrove.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Absolutely delighted to learn today that @notts-psych.bsky.social has been awarded #AthenaSwan GOLD by @advancehe.bsky.social.
Certificate of Athena Swan Gold from AdvanceHE
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Liz Simpson @simpson.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Stage 2 report now out! Newborn Auditory Brainstem Response and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome doi.org/10.1002/jnr.... #OpenAccess
Drawing of an infant getting an ABR screening, and two different waveforms shown, one for typical and one for infants later dying of SIDS, pointing towards early detection risk identification and potential intervention, showing a baby sleeping.
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Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar @drswijeakumar.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Nice work!
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Lisa S. Scott 🧠 @lisascottbcd.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Im very excited about this work out from our recent infant ssVEP study! Led by postdoc Maeve Boylan! After infants learn about objects while reading a book with a parent, their brains prioritize the processing of familiarity. www.jneurosci.org/content/45/4...
jneurosci.org
Competitive Cortical Prioritization Emerges for Trained Objects across the First Year of Life
Learning to detect and recognize a broad range of visual objects is a crucial developmental task during the first year of life. However, many of the neurophysiological changes underlying the emergence...
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Reposted by Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar
Dorothy Bishop @deevybee.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
New blogpost on my concerns about Wellcome LEAP new $50m program on autism/microbiome links. deevybee.blogspot.com/2025/10/a-le... #autism #microbiome #biomarkers #diagnostic
deevybee.blogspot.com
A LEAP into the future, or off a cliff: Wellcome LEAP's new $50M program
A few days ago, I saw this post on LinkedIn: How does the gut microbiome shape early brain development? That’s what FORM, a new $50 million...
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Dr. Sobana Wijeakumar @drswijeakumar.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
A short summary of our work @aimeetheyer.bsky.social in @notts-psych.bsky.social
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Alexis Brieant @abrieant.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
New lab paper in DCN! 🧠 We conducted interviews with adolescents to better understand their perceptions of neuroscience research and barriers to participation, w/qualitative data that is shaping how we design lab studies & efforts to increase representation. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Understanding barriers to adolescent participation in developmental neuroscience research
Increasing representation of youth in developmental neuroscience research is essential to elucidating neurobiological mechanisms of cognition, behavio…
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Andrew Reid @reid-lab.org · 25/09/2025
This one looks intriguing. Arousal "embedding" whole-brain dynamics. 🤯 #neuroskyence #compneurosky doi.org/10.1038/s415...
doi.org
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.
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Zsuzsa Kaldy @zsuzsakaldy.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Have you ever wondered whether going to school IN AND OF ITSELF improves children’s thinking skills? We found that it does! But not by much (about 1/4 standard deviations). Meta-analysis with Jamie Donenfeld and @erikblaser.bsky.social #DevPsySky #PsySciSky www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
School changes minds: A meta-analysis shows that schooling modestly improves children’s executive functions
Formal schooling places new demands on young children, requiring the inhibition of prepotent responses, sustained attention to instructions, and compl…
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