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Natalie McClain

@nataliemcclain.bsky.social
37 followers 114 following 4 posts

Neuro PhD Student at the Icahn School of Medicine

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Reposted by Natalie McClain
Nature Portfolio @natureportfolio.nature.com · 04/10/2026
How does movie watching affect the brain? Yunrui Zhang and Amy Kuceyeski write about their team's research, published in Communications Biology, that shows watching movies during fMRI scans may reveal more about cognition than traditional resting-state brain scans. #Academicsky #Neuroskyence 🧪
go.nature.com
Watching the brain watching a movie, or how naturalistic fMRI can reveal the brain's inner workings
When most people picture a brain scan, they imagine someone lying inside a cylindrical machine, trying their best not to move or fall asleep as the machine gently beeps, thinking about whatever comes to mind. This is resting-state fMRI, and it has been the dominant paradigm for studying how brain regions communicate with each other for years.
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Natalie McClain @nataliemcclain.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Our new paper is live! We show that recency of drug use modulates perceptual metacognition in cocaine use disorder, positioning this as a promising avenue for future treatment.
nature.com
Metacognitive impairment in cocaine use disorder: confirmatory evidence for the effects of recent drug use - Translational Psychiatry
Translational Psychiatry - Metacognitive impairment in cocaine use disorder: confirmatory evidence for the effects of recent drug use
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Reposted by Natalie McClain
Neuropsychopharmacology @npp-journal.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Recent advances in preclinical and clinical studies support an individual-differences framework of addiction and highlight reward sensitivity as a key driver of vulnerability
nature.com
Recent advances in individual differences in addiction neuroscience in animal models and clinical studies
Neuropsychopharmacology - Recent advances in individual differences in addiction neuroscience in animal models and clinical studies
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Reposted by Natalie McClain
Rita Strack @ritastrack.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Yes, we need more studies of this type! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Robust but independent sex differences in human brain function, structure, and behavior - Nature Communications
Although robust sex differences exist in human brain function, anatomy, and behavior, these traits are largely independent. A sex-typical brain function does not necessarily translate to sex-typical b...
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Reposted by Natalie McClain
Amy Kuceyeski @amykooz.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Our story about The Krakencoder - a new AI tool to analyze brain networks - is out in Weill Cornell's Impact magazine. Support from NIMH and @bowers-wbhi.bsky.social Led by Keith Jamison, with @msabuncu.bsky.social, @cerentozlu.bsky.social, Zijin Gu, Qinxin Wang Full story: tinyurl.com/mryjbzfk
impact.weill.cornell.edu
Unleashing the Krakencoder
Mapping the connections between the brain’s structure and function.
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Natalie McClain @nataliemcclain.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Thank you for the feature! Everyone should go check out the other submissions as well, such a cool collection of brain art. #Artofthebrain
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Reposted by Natalie McClain
The Friedman Brain Institute @sinaibrain.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
@nataliemcclain.bsky.social's "Metropolis of the Mind" reimagines the brain as a city. Different buildings (distinct brain regions) are connected by bridges (neural pathways). Collapsed bridges represent neural pathways weakened by #Addiction. VOTE NOW for #ArtoftheBrain Image # 28 👉 Most 🧡s wins!
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Reposted by Natalie McClain
Alessandro Gozzi @gozziale.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
fMRI connectivity is dominated by recurring high-amplitude BOLD events (CAPs, QPPs) But what originates these events? Many think neuromodulation is the culprit. Our new work offers a simpler take: cortico-cortical dynamics alone can generate CAP-like events! doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013995 🧵1/n
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Reposted by Natalie McClain
Biological Psychiatry @biologicalpsych.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
People recovering from heroin addiction show reduced brain synchronization with their partners and poorer perspective-taking, revealing how addiction disrupts not just individual brain function but also the neural coordination between people during social interaction.
biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com
Social cognitive deficits and altered multi-brain dynamics during problem-solving in heroin abstainers: An fNIRS hyperscanning study
Despite extensive research on the neurobiology of addiction, little is known about how repeated drug use and withdrawal are related to social functioning impairments in humans, a highly social…
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Natalie McClain @nataliemcclain.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Also check out a commentary on these results, which highlights the utility of these drug-biased behavioral measures in clinical addiction research! @narcatms.bsky.social
sciencedirect.com
Improving Treatment Outcome Prediction Beyond Self-Report: The Role of Drug-Biased Behavioral Measures
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Natalie McClain @nataliemcclain.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Go check out our paper illustrating that objective cognitive-behavioral measures can outperform traditional self-reports when it comes to informing clinical outcomes! This is a promising step towards improving the tools we use to assess severity. @narcatms.bsky.social @aoceceli.bsky.social
sciencedirect.com
Moving Beyond Self-Report in Characterizing Drug Addiction: Using Drug-Biased Behavior to Predict Treatment Completion and Dropout in Heroin-Primary, Medication-Maintained Opioid Use Disorder
Drug addiction is accompanied by enhanced salience attributed to drug over nondrug cues. This bias can be objectively measured and is reliable but und…
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