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Lukas Gunschera

@lukasgunschera.com
861 followers 463 following 62 posts

PhD Student at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge | Research on mental health, social media, and addiction. lukasgunschera.com

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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 10/09/2026
Instead of asking whether telling people (including minors) that their behaviour is harmful puts them off, we should ask about the harms this message itself could cause.
jamanetwork.com
Designing Social Media Health Warnings for Teenagers and Young Adults
This randomized clinical trial examines whether teenagers and young adults perceive that social media warnings discourage them from wanting to use social media and increase their awareness of the harm...
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 25/07/2026
We’re wrapping up data collection soon and I’ll share the detailed results then. For now, I am hesitant to put the preliminary results online
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Gabriel Mackie @gabmackie.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Honoured to receive a Poster Prize at #BAP2026 for my project investigating the Effects of Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation (TUS) on Interoceptive Attention. I'm grateful to everyone who worked on this project, @camillanord.bsky.social and Veronica Forslund, who were at the conference, and...
Me standing next to my posterMe with my award with my collaborators Veronica (left) and Camilla (right)Nord Lab Group Photo
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 24/07/2026
Massive thank you to all the collaborators involved across the projects: @orbenamy.bsky.social, @camillanord.bsky.social, @saramehrhof.bsky.social, @margaritap.bsky.social, @gabmackie.bsky.social, @aliceroe.bsky.social, @jadedavies.bsky.social, Ioanna Fokas, Jo Hickman Dunne.
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 24/07/2026
Also, proud of Jamil Adjallah, who won a poster award for our work involving young people with lived experience to address conceptual shortcomings of current measurement approaches and inform how young people can be better supported online.
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 24/07/2026
Does problematic social media use involve the same dopamine-related reward mechanisms as addiction? That’s the question motivating the research I presented at the @bapsych.bsky.social Summer Meeting, involving a dopaminergic manipulation to probe the involved mechanisms. #BAP2026
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Kelly Donegan @kellydonegan.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Excited to be chairing/presenting at our post-doc symposium discussing the advancements (and challenges 🤫) of computational psychiatry with a ⭐️ line-up of @saramehrhof.bsky.social @yanivabir.bsky.social & Alicia Rybicki. If at #BAP2026, come join us today at 2pm ‼️
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Georgia Turner @georgiaturner.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
🎉 Now published in Nature Communications! 🧠 We develop a novel computational reinforcement learning & habit model of Twitter data, and show that younger people & women are more behaviourally sensitive to 'Likes'. Read the paper: bit.ly/4f1vsKS
bit.ly
A computational model of reward learning and habits on social media - Nature Communications
The cognitive processes driving social media use could be key to understanding social media’s impact. Here, the authors develop a computational model of real-world social media behaviour, identifying ...
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Sara Mehrhof @saramehrhof.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Excited to share our new paper asking a simple question: Why do mental and metabolic health so often go hand in hand? We (@camillanord.bsky.social @hugofleming.bsky.social) tested whether shared neurocognitive signatures play a role in this relationship www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Computational phenotyping of effort-based decision-making in type-2 diabetes on and off semaglutide - Neuropsychopharmacology
Neuropsychopharmacology - Computational phenotyping of effort-based decision-making in type-2 diabetes on and off semaglutide
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 04/05/2026
Thanks, I interpret the devaluation findings to mean that also habits/compulsion alone are not a sufficient explanation for what makes some people (in our sample) report feeling addicted vs. not addicted. I would love to chat about this in more detail sometime!
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 30/04/2026
This work would not have been possible without my wonderful collaborators. Massive thanks to @saramehrhof.bsky.social, Clelia Veith, Ethan Ong, @bcdavidson.bsky.social, @matti.vuorre.com, @camillanord.bsky.social, and @orbenamy.bsky.social!
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 30/04/2026
There are further neurocognitive processes implicated in addiction that we did not examine. Rather than drawing definitive conclusions, we hope this work contributes to a more mechanistic, theory-driven approach to understanding problematic social media use.
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 30/04/2026
💡 These findings challenge the idea that problematic social media use shares neurocognitive mechanisms with established addictions. This doesn't diminish real struggles with social media, but questions whether an addiction framework is the right lens and what that means for support and interventions
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 30/04/2026
Also, none of the neurocognitive markers of addiction were associated with scores on the most commonly used self-report measure of social media addiction.
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 30/04/2026
What did we find? 1️⃣ No elevated wanting for TikTok vs. Netflix, even in self-identified addicted users. 2️⃣ Wanting-liking dissociation driven by lower enjoyment, therefore inconsistent with incentive sensitisation. 3️⃣ No greater devaluation insensitivity in self-identified addicted users.
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 30/04/2026
The neurocognitive signatures tested: 1️⃣ Elevated wanting: heightened motivational salience. 2️⃣ Wanting-liking dissociation: increased craving alongside stable or declining hedonic enjoyment. 3️⃣ Devaluation insensitivity: loss of goal-directed control resulting in behaviour that is rigid.
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 30/04/2026
We ran two preregistered experiments (N=330) to examine three neurocognitive signatures of addiction that are well established in the substance and behavioural addictions, using a computational effort-based decision-making framework. The procedure is illustrated below.
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 30/04/2026
🚨 Does social media use show established neurocognitive signatures of addiction? Concerns about social media addiction are widespread, yet whether platforms' design features actually engage the same neurocognitive pathways as established addictions has remained untested. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
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Brandon C Davidson @bcdavidson.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
🚨New Preprint Announcement🚨 Social Media Reward Sensitivity and Depressive Symptoms Over Time 🧵 Social media platforms are designed to maximise engagement by amplifying social rewards such as “likes”, and there is widespread concern that these digital designs contribute to mental health declines.
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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Journal editors - the status quo on preregistration is not working! You need to check submissions vs. preregistrations before sending articles out for review. *56%* of experiments I reviewed in last year have severe problems with non-disclosure, undocumented deviations, & more - see Claude summary ↓
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Jamie Cummins @jamiecummins.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
1/ "Silicon samples" are becoming more and more common in research and polling. One problem: depending on the analytic decisions made, you can basically get these samples to show any effect you want. The updated version of this preprint is now online! THREAD🧵 arxiv.org/abs/2509.13397
arxiv.org
The threat of analytic flexibility in using large language models to simulate human data
Social scientists are now using large language models to create "silicon samples": synthetic datasets intended to stand in for human respondents. However, producing these samples requires many analyti...
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Florian Naudet @floriannaudet.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
🚨 🎉 Our CONSENSUS VIEW, “An international consensus on core reproducibility items in research,” is now out in @plosbiology.org 🎉 🚨 journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
journals.plos.org
An international consensus on core reproducibility items in research
Evidence-based solutions are needed to help improve reproducibility in research. This Consensus View presents a consensus-based list of core reproducibility items for research that has been developed ...
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Digital Mental Health Group, Cambridge @dmh-group.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
@lukasgunschera.com joined The Naked Scientists to unpack whether social media is truly “addictive” as a US jury finds Meta & YouTube partly responsible for harm. Key point: problematic use is real, but evidence gaps remain. 🎧 www.linkedin.com/posts/digita...
lnkd.in
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
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Amy Orben @orbenamy.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
UKgov publishes new screen time guidance for under 5s 👨‍🍼 <2s: Avoid screens except shared activities 👶 2-5s: Try for less than 1hr a day 📱 Choose safe, slow-paced content 🧑‍🧒‍🧒 Lead by example 🛌 Have screen-free areas/times Glad to have contributed. Parent guidance and research report linked below.
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Diane Coyle @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
There are other reasons for the UK government not to award or continue Palantir contracts but this statement of intent by its CEO must surely be decisive?
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Darren Dahly @statsepi.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
"I don't get it. Why are they confessing?" "They're not confessing. They're bragging"
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Michael Gaebler @michaelgaebler.com · 09/03/2026
So many inspiring talks (here by @saramehrhof.bsky.social, Sameer Alladin, @studenova.bsky.social) and discussions on the first day of the #MindBrainBody Symposium 2026! #MBB2026
Slides of the talk with samples and the task Slide with the results across the 4 samplesSlide with discussions about the brain gut resultsSlide with results about pre and post-stimulus oscillations
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Amy Orben @orbenamy.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
🎉 Congratulations to @georgiaturner.bsky.social for passing her PhD with flying colours today! A meticulous and truly interdisciplinary piece of work. Thank you also to @lorenzspreen.eurosky.social and Paul Fletcher for acting as examiners 🙌
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Georgia Turner @georgiaturner.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
🚨New pre-print🚨 osf.io/preprints/ps... What if the relationship between smartphone use and mental health depends not just on specific harmful or beneficial activities, but also on how users transition between activities?
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Tom Metherell @tommetherell.com · 24/02/2026
Delighted to share that our paper "Associations between early-life mental health and abnormal sleep duration in midlife: findings from a prospective cohort study in Great Britain" is now published in @springernature.com European Journal of Epidemiology! rdcu.be/e5rAK 👇
The header of our article "Associations between early-life mental health and abnormal sleep duration in midlife: findings from a prospective cohort study in Great Britain" on the European Journal of Epidemiology website.
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Patricia Lockwood @thepsychologist.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
We are recruiting! Postdoctoral research fellow at www.sdn-lab.org, studying the computational & neural basis of social decision-making. Birmingham is a fantastic & affordable place to live, with one of the youngest populations in Europe & over 600 parks. Please share! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQO275/p...
jobs.ac.uk
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Social Decision Neuroscience at University of Birmingham
Explore an exciting academic career as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Social Decision Neuroscience. Don't miss out on other academic jobs. Click to apply and explore more opportunities.
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Mel Andrews @bayesianboy.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
A new study from Anthropic finds that gains in coding efficiency when relying on AI assistance did did not meet statistical significance; AI use noticeably degraded programmers’ understanding of what they were doing. Incredible.
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Priya Silverstein @priyasilverstein.com · 19/01/2026
Introducing CORTRE: a reporting guideline for reproducibility efforts 👉 cortre.github.io We are excited to officially announce CORTRE: COmplete Reporting for Transparent Reproducibility Efforts 🎯 🧵👇
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Joe Bak-Coleman @jbakcoleman.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
Ever wonder what proportion of high profile social media research is tied to the tech industry? New from me, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social and @carlbergstrom.com. Thread tomorrow. arxiv.org/abs/2601.11507
arxiv.org
Industry Influence in High-Profile Social Media Research
To what extent is social media research independent from industry influence? Leveraging openly available data, we show that half of the research published in top journals has disclosable ties to indus...
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Michel Nivard @michelnivard.bsky.social · 20/12/2025
This smells distinctly like collider bias and/or selection bias and/or regression to the mean... You simply can't select teen prodigies, and world class athletes rom databases, and go run regressions without serious consideration of the selection process!
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Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛ @rmcelreath.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
I'm teaching Statistical Rethinking again starting Jan 2026. This time with live lectures, divided into Beginner and Experienced sections. Will be a lot more work for me, but I hope much better for students. I will record lectures & all will be found at this link: github.com/rmcelreath/s...
course schedule as a table. Available at the link in the post.
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Daniel Lakens @lakens.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
In my paper Sample Size Justification I discuss 6 approaches to justifying sample sizes. The focus of the paper is to teach people the tools they need to be honest when they explain where their sample size comes from. I know, so radical ;) online.ucpress.edu/collabra/art...
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Joe Bak-Coleman @jbakcoleman.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
I’m glad to see on platform ranking algorithm work done without platform scientists in the mix. I think it’s quite telling that, by the only means we have to verify Metas election collaborations results… we can’t confirm their claims of little to no effect.
science.org
Reranking partisan animosity in algorithmic social media feeds alters affective polarization
Today, social media platforms hold the sole power to study the effects of feed-ranking algorithms. We developed a platform-independent method that reranks participants’ feeds in real time and used thi...
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Björn E. Hommel @bjoernhommel.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
🚨 SynthNet is out 🚨 Researchers propose new constructs and measures faster than anyone can track. We (@anniria.bsky.social @ruben.the100.ci) built a search engine to check what already exists and help identify redundancies; indexing 74,000 scales from ~31,500 instruments in APA PsycTests. 🧵1/3
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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 26/11/2025
Is Santa Real? Many users feel they're getting presents from him. Scientists say it's time to consider whether they're onto something.
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Joe Bak-Coleman @jbakcoleman.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
It’s really hard to defend industry academic collaborations with meta as earnest, if they’re internally burying evidence of harm. www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 14/11/2025
Perfect, this is what I was looking for - thank you :)
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 14/11/2025
Thanks for your help!
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 13/11/2025
This might work - thanks for sending!
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 13/11/2025
Thank you! I should have mentioned that I have drafted this in Avicenna and m-Path already. Although Avicennda does allow for this, it also requires creating separate follow-up questionnaires for each time interval. At 30min intervals this results in 96 versions, which I am trying to avoid
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 13/11/2025
cc @eikofried.bsky.social @ruben.the100.ci who might know?
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 13/11/2025
I'm looking for EMA software that can do relative scheduling: participants report a time in their first daily questionnaire (e.g. "woke up at 7am"), then follow-ups trigger x hours after that reported time. I would greatly appreciate any recommendations!
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Gateklons @gateklons.eurosky.social · 01/11/2025
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
theguardian.com
Revealed: Israel demanded Google and Amazon use secret ‘wink’ to sidestep legal orders
The tech giants agreed to extraordinary terms to clinch a lucrative contract with the Israeli government, documents show
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Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 27/10/2025
It’s astonishing how many researchers seem to believe that a cluster analysis is such a sensible analysis that it needn’t even be justified through a coherent research question. Just cluster analysis go brrrrr
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Lukas Gunschera @lukasgunschera.com · 23/10/2025
Exciting PhD opportunity with @matti.vuorre.com! ⬇️
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