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Matthias Gruber

@mjgruber.bsky.social
2.8K followers 188 following 43 posts

Associate Professor // Cognitive Neuroscientist interested in how curiosity affects learning and memory. He/him/his. profiles.cardiff.ac.uk/staff/gruberm

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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Distinct motivational factors shape news-seeking in young adults. Pleased to share a new paper - thank you to @eodonoghue.bsky.social, Kathrin Eschmann, @htsujimura.bsky.social for leading this project. Special thanks to David Caswell & BBC News Labs for this university–public service partnership.
nature.com
Distinct motivational factors shape news-seeking in young adults - Scientific Reports
Researchers and news providers have increasingly aimed to identify the distinct motivational factors that promote news-seeking behaviour. However, existing theoretical approaches are rarely data-drive...
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Thank you all for the generous and warm welcome! It feels like stepping into the epicentre of curiosity research (with soon 30 (!!!) PhD students tackling curiosity from different angles). Excited to see what emerges from our conversations.
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
I'm so glad that our paths have crossed in Goettingen, and I hope you had a good time. Thank you so much for the two inspiring talks! Lots to think about that is relevant for my own research...
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
📢 Please repost! 🧠 PhD opportunity in my lab: a fully funded project on the cognitive neuroscience of curiosity-based learning across the lifespan at @cubriccardiff.bsky.social (CUBRIC). 👉 www.findaphd.com/phds/project... #PhDOpportunity #Curiosity #CuriosityResearch #CognitiveNeuroscience
findaphd.com
Investigating curiosity-based learning across the lifespan at Cardiff University on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Investigating curiosity-based learning across the lifespan at Cardiff University, listed on FindAPhD.com
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RTG 2906 Curiosity @rtg2906-curiosity.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
Last week, we had three amazing days full of discussions and wondering what curiosity actually means. Thank you to @modirshanechi.bsky.social, @mjgruber.bsky.social, and Lisa Beinborn for being there with us, it was a pleasure. Special thanks to Azzurra Ruggeri for her great talk!
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Maureen Ritchey @maureenritchey.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
PhD student Nina Curko and I wrote a short article about the superpowers of memory! Now published in Frontiers for Young Minds: kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10....
kids.frontiersin.org
Traveling Through Space and Time With our Memories
A person wearing headphones and a red hoodie walks through an airport with a suitcase, gazing at a boarding gate sign marked C7 with a French flag. Thought bubbles depict the Eiffel Tower and a map of...
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Ellen O'Donoghue @eodonoghue.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Me too! 😊 Excited to see what we find -- thanks so much to @marinabazhydai.bsky.social, @pci-regreports.bsky.social, and the reviewers for their thoughtful handing of the process.
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 21/09/2025
Thank you so much @marinabazhydai.bsky.social for the wonderful recommendation and all your editorial support! Also, a big thank you to the reviewers. Their insightful comments helped strengthen our first-ever fMRI Registered Report. Great experience with PCI and excited for the next steps!
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 21/09/2025
🎉 Congratulations to @edonoghue.bsky.social for leading this in-principle accepted Registered Report with Peer Community In: osf.io/dwy6c. We're now gearing up for major data collection. 📣 Cardiff families with curious 10–14 year olds: get in touch at curiousbrain@cardiff.ac.uk to sign up!
osf.io
OSF
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Thank you so much to @drjocutler.bsky.social for the kind invitation, and to @chbh.bsky.social and @uob-sop.bsky.social for the warm welcome. I really enjoyed sharing ideas and connecting over our shared research interests!
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Is curiosity the key to ageing well? Big thanks to Madeleine Finlay for the thoughtful conversation and for giving Mary Whatley and me the opportunity to share insights from our latest research on The Guardian Science Weekly podcast. 🎧 Listen here: www.theguardian.com/science/audi...
theguardian.com
Is curiosity the key to ageing well? – podcast
Scientists are discovering that rather than tailing off, our curiosity actually becomes more targeted and specific in our later years. Madeleine Finlay finds out what this new understanding could tell...
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Communications Psychology @commspsychol.nature.com · 08/09/2025
Following social isolation, adolescents show increased sensitivity to rewards during effort-based decision making and reward learning. @livia-tomova.bsky.social @sjblakemore.bsky.social @emilyanntowner.bsky.social @stepalminteri.bsky.social @lei-zhang.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s44...
nature.com
Acute isolation is associated with increased reward seeking and reward learning in human adolescents - Communications Psychology
This study shows that, following social isolation, adolescents show increased sensitivity to rewards during effort-based decision making and reward learning. Access to virtual social interactions duri...
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Aidan Horner @aidanhorner.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Deadline is tomorrow so get your applications in people! #neuroskyence #neurojobs #psychscisky #cognition #psychjobs
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Please repost! We're looking for a PhD student to join us on a project exploring how ADHD is linked to greater curiosity. The PhD student will be based across Cardiff University and the University of Bath working with @ggoclowska.bsky.social , Kate Langley, and me as part of a collaborative team.
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Alireza Modirshanechi @modirshanechi.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
So happy to see this work out! 🥳 Huge thanks to our two amazing reviewers who pushed us to make the paper much stronger. A truly joyful collaboration with @lucasgruaz.bsky.social, @sobeckerneuro.bsky.social, and Johanni Brea! 🥰 Tweeprint on an earlier version: bsky.app/profile/modi... 🧠🧪👩‍🔬
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Matthias Nau @matthiasnau.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
Quantifying memory recall is hard! Luckily, natural language processing (incl. #LLMs) offers new, automated, and scalable ways to do that! Great new review by Fenerci & @signysheldon.bsky.social in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social! www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
cell.com
Studying memory narratives with natural language processing
Cognitive neuroscience research has begun to use natural language processing (NLP) to examine memory narratives with the hopes of gaining a nuanced understanding of the mechanisms underlying differenc...
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Thank you so much, Lynn @choosetobecurious.bsky.social, for having me on the podcast! In our conversation, I reflect on my research journey into curiosity, share insights from our current developmental and educational projects, and even tap into my poetic side. Choose To Be Curious with us! 😊
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Yana Fandakova @yanafandakova.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Thrilled to see our new paper highlighted in this week’s issue of #JNeurosci: we showed that metabolites linked to neuropil contraction are related to gray changes in the PFC across childhood and adolescence #devpsyc #neuroscience #neuroskyence
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Cardiff Babylab @cardiffbabylab.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
Is curiosity good for us, or should we learn a lesson from what curiosity did to the cat? A fascinating discussion on the psychology of curiosity, contributed to by Cardiff University’s very own @mjgruber.bsky.social ! Find it here www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio 4 - All in the Mind, The Psychology of Curiosity at Cheltenham Science Festival
Claudia Hammond, Major Tim Peake and panel discuss the psychology of curiosity.
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
For all who didn't make it to the Cheltenham Science Festival this year, here is the recent BBC Radio 4 All in the Mind episode on the Psychology of Curiosity. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio 4 - All in the Mind, The Psychology of Curiosity at Cheltenham Science Festival
Claudia Hammond, Major Tim Peake and panel discuss the psychology of curiosity.
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Very much looking forward to today's BBC Radio 4’s All in the Mind event about the Psychology of Curiosity at the Cheltenham Science Festival, together with astronaut Tim Peake. This will be fun! www.cheltenhamfestivals.org/events/all-i...
cheltenhamfestivals.org
All in the Mind: The Psychology of Curiosity | Cheltenham Festivals
Curiosity – it’s what leads us to discovery and inspiration. For astronaut Tim Peake, curiosity has taken him all the way to the International Space Statio
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Thank you so much for the invitation to speak and for all the insightful questions at the Motivated Cognition Meeting this week!
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Allie Sinclair @asinclair.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
What motivates people to take action and share info about climate change? We tested 17 psychological interventions in a tournament—Discover the winners in our new paper! Out now in @pnas.org w/ @falklab.bsky.social, @michaelemann.bsky.social, & team. Thread ⤵️ 1/9 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
Behavioral interventions motivate action to address climate change | PNAS
Mitigating climate change requires urgent action at individual, collective, and institutional levels. However, individuals may fail to act because ...
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
My Sir Henry Dale Fellowship funded by @wellcometrust.bsky.social & @royalsociety.org ended last week — an incredible 6-year journey. Huge thanks to the brilliant PhD students & Postdocs in the lab — your ideas, persistence & curiosity drove it all. Thanks also to funders, collaborators & mentors!
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Aidan Horner @aidanhorner.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
The call for MSCA postdoc fellowships is out and the deadline is 10th September. More generally, people should apply! More specifically, if you'd like to come work in York with me I'm happy to support applications from awesome people 🙂
marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu
Postdoctoral Fellowships
The information provided on this page is a summary of the main rules and requirements for Postdoctoral Fellowships (PFs) and who can apply for them.
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Lluís Fuentemilla @fuentemilla.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
1/2 Just like social groups, human memory is organized in interconnected patterns. Activating one memory can trigger related ones, similar to how information spreads through a community. Could social sharing shape how memories are formed? #PsychSciSky
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Final repost: Our deadline is tomorrow for a 20-month postdoc position leading an fMRI project on the neurodevelopment of metacognition and curiosity as part of an international collabration!
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Louis Renoult @renoultlouis.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Please share; My lab at @psychologyuea.bsky.social @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social is recruiting a post-doc for a cognitive neuroscience memory project. It is a 3-year post, with a proposed start date of 8th September. Application deadline is 15th of June. vacancies.uea.ac.uk/vacancies/15...
vacancies.uea.ac.uk
Senior Research Associate (RA2312) in University of East Anglia | UEA
View details and apply for this Senior Research Associate (RA2312) vacancy in University of East Anglia. School of Psychology Faculty of Social Sciences Senior Research Associate Ref: RA...
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Please repost! Our deadline is fast approaching for a 20-month postdoc position leading an fMRI project on the neurodevelopment of metacognition and curiosity. Join a great lab with fantastic collaborators! 🙂
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Grateful to @yanafandakova.bsky.social for the wonderful days at the University of Trier, advancing our joint projects. Thanks to all students and staff who attended and asked great questions at my talk. Especially honoured to give the commencement speech at the Psychology Graduation in Trier.
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Pierre-Yves Oudeyer @pyoudeyer.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
We are starting a new major research project investigating the joint development of curiosity and metacognition in adolescents, where the Flowers lab will collaborate with @mjgruber.bsky.social 's lab at Univ. Cardiff, and Yana Fandakova at Univ. Trier !!! Open postdocs positions, see below 👇
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Interested in curiosity and metacognition in childhood and adolescence? Join us at Cardiff University (UK) for a Postdoc position in an international collaboration with @yanafandakova.bsky.social (Germany) and @pyoudeyer.bsky.social (France). Please repost! #DevPsych #PsychSciSky #neuroskyence
krb-sjobs.brassring.com
Job Search | Cardiff University
Search for Internet job results.
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Sebastian Horn @sebastianshorn.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
How do changes in memory and experience across the lifespan shape our judgments and decisions? Together with @yeeleeshing.bsky.social @yanafandakova.bsky.social we have edited a special issue on the theme, check it out here: tinyurl.com/EPSpecial @dr-julia-nolte.bsky.social @loeckenhoff.bsky.social
econtent.hogrefe.com
The Interplay of Memory and Decision Making – Developmental and Aging Processes: A Special Issue of European Psychologist: European Psychologist: Vol 29, No 4
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Here is the correct link to the summary: www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/29...
cardiff.ac.uk
Virtual reality research explores curiosity and spatial memory
Virtual reality research reveals that curiosity is key in spatial memory and mental map formation.
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
ICYMI: Here is a great summary of our @commspsychol.bsky.social paper examining the link between curiosity, spatial exploration, and memory via virtual environments. with @cjhodgetts.bsky.social @danlucen.bsky.social www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/29... Paper link 👉🏻: www.nature.com/articles/s44...
cardiff.ac.uk
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Charan Ranganath @charan-neuro.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
I'm looking for a new full-time research assistant ("junior specialist"). It's not quite "lab manager" because I have someone who takes care of the administrative tasks, and here I'm looking for someone to help us get research done! Info is below, please pass on to any talented candidates, thanks!
recruit.ucdavis.edu
Dynamic Memory Lab_Jr Specialist_Ranganath
University of California, Davis is hiring. Apply now!
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Maria Wimber @marwimber.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
We’re recruiting for 5 faculty positions in cognitive neuroscience, psychology & animal neuroscience! Exciting science going on @UofG, Glasgow is an amazing and green city with the friendliest people, and you’ll have the stunning highlands on your doorstep! tinyurl.com/mbn6yf56 Please repost!
tinyurl.com
Professor, Senior Lecturer/Lecturer and Lecturer posts - Glasgow City (GB) job with University of Glasgow | 12838283
University of Glasgow College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences  School of Psychology & Neuroscience Professor in Cognitive Neuroscience/Psy...
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Ian Ballard @iancballard.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Interested in dopamine? Have fMRI data? We’ve identified a temporal BOLD feature that carries rich information about dopamine physiology. This measure, obtainable from resting-state and task fMRI, opens new ways to indirectly probe dopamine’s role in cognition and disease. 1/n tinyurl.com/bddyz67b
biorxiv.org
Temporal fMRI Dynamics Map Dopamine Physiology
Spatial variations in dopamine function are linked to cognition and substance use disorders but are challenging to characterize with current methods. Because dopamine influences blood vessel dilation,...
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NAPS lab Cardiff @napslab.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Registration is now open for Replay@CUBRIC-25. Check out our preliminary programme here: www.sleepengineering.co.uk/event-detail...
sleepengineering.co.uk
Replay@CUBRIC-25 | Sleep Conference
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Charan Ranganath @charan-neuro.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Will you be the Cognitive Neuroscience meeting in Boston on March 29 from 12-1pm? If so, see @paulacroxson.bsky.social @ayannakim.bsky.social & I for a FREE science communication workshop. Learn about explaining the mind for a broad audience. Afterward, I'll be signing copies of "Why We Remember"!
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Ellen O'Donoghue @eodonoghue.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Now that it's preregistered, super excited to get started on this project! Using a yoked design, @danlucen.bsky.social, @mjgruber.bsky.social and I will ask whether the benefits of curiosity are direct, or dependent on the ability to actively engage in curiosity-guided exploration.
rr.peercommunityin.org
Investigating influences of curiosity and active exploration on ...
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Dear neuroimagers, here is the Welsh Advanced Neuroimaging Database (WAND) - a new 170-participant multi-modal neuroimaging dataset from the team at CUBRIC. McNabb et al. (2025) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Eitan Schechtman @eitans.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
We've been able to collect data from hundreds of LGBTQIA+s in neuro/psych, but the vast majority of them are in the US. We're hoping to get a more diverse sample. If you are in academia outside of the US, please share this and consider sending it to colleagues who may be interested.
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British Neuroscience Association @britishneuro.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Past BNA President, John Aggleton, has published a remarkable book dedicated to his late son, who passed away from a brain tumour. In honour of this, all royalties from the book will be donated to @braintumourrsch.bsky.social 20% discount from Routledge in January. routledge.com/Memory-and-t...
routledge.com
Memory and the Brain: Using, Losing, and Improving
Memory and the Brain explores the fascinating psychology and neuroscience of human memory. Written by a world expert in the field, John P. Aggleton, this book covers learning and memory from the very ...
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Hugo Spiers @hugospiers.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
🚨 New fMRI preprint from our lab 🚨 "Brain dynamics during architectural experience: prefrontal and hippocampal regions track aesthetics and spatial complexity" Led by Lara Gregorians with co-authors, Zita Patai, Pablo Fernandez Velasco & Fiona Zisch. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #neuroskyence
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Matthias Gruber @mjgruber.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
"The relationships between curiosity and wellbeing: a systematic review" Alisa Priemysheva thoroughly reviewed the literature to synthesise our current knowledge of how different types of curiosity might affect wellbeing. osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io
OSF
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Hugo Spiers @hugospiers.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
🚨 New funded PhD position at UCL 🚨 Funding is provided for a PhD student in our new centre to help work with Fiona Zisch & Sean Hanna to apply agent-based-modelling to analyse the crazy data set from 100+ people navigating a giant maze in PEARL. See details: www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/arc...
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Communications Psychology @commspsychol.nature.com · 08/01/2025
Across two studies using desktop VR, curiosity determined how much humans explored and how well the hand-drawn spatial maps they acquired corresponded to the rooms @cjhodgetts.bsky.social, @mjgruber.bsky.social, @danlucen.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s44...
nature.com
Curiosity shapes spatial exploration and cognitive map formation in humans - Communications Psychology
Across two studies using desktop VR, curiosity determined how much humans explored and how well the hand-drawn spatial maps they acquired corresponded to the rooms
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