Reposted by Xinyu LiangMustafa Alperen Ekinci @alpekinci.bsky.social · 18/09/2026The first paper of my PhD work! We show that our aesthetic experiences while watching movies can be partly explained by shared perceptual mechanisms: a combination of image-based visual features predicts our moment-to-moment aesthetic experiences, even across different movies. 1124
Reposted by Xinyu Liangtor @torwager.bsky.social · 14/09/2026neuromarkers.io : Browse, view, and download fMRI neuromarkers, population-level predictive brain models that can be applied to new studies and populationscanlab.github.ioNeuromarkers · CANlabPopulation-level brain patterns for new studies. Browse, explore, and download published neuromarkers. 13214
Reposted by Xinyu LiangJörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 12/09/2026I am very excited to share this. 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Most of us agree that the HC is critical for associative memory but there is growing work showing it does much more (WM etc.). Recognition partly relies on a global matching, which based on influential models is not supported by HC. 1188
Reposted by Xinyu LiangJörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 11/09/2026My latest pre-print. If you're at #CNS2026 and wanna have a chat, come to my poster (P6/12). I will soon post a summary thread. 🧵 176
Reposted by Xinyu LiangDeniz Vatansever @neurodenizen.bsky.social · 05/09/2026How does the brain interpret artistic beauty? Here’s our new article in The Conversation, based on our recent study:theconversation.comScience uncovers how the brain interprets artistic beauty – new researchAn MRI study zeroes in on the brain networks that underline collective appreciation of art. 093
Reposted by Xinyu LiangTilbe Göksun @tilbegoksun.bsky.social · 30/07/2026Here is a new paper I wrote with Aykut Coşkun and Anjan Chatterjee for the COPSY Special Issue on "Psychology of Art" @anjanchatterjee.bsky.social “Looking at artifacts”: The development of visual aesthetic preferences www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 082
Reposted by Xinyu LiangMormann Lab @humansingleneuron.bsky.social · 30/07/2026First public dataset from the Mormann/Bonn lab! Congrats to @alanadarcher.bsky.social and @franzigrkn.bsky.social 🧠🎥! 0227
Reposted by Xinyu LiangDeniz Vatansever @neurodenizen.bsky.social · 27/07/2026💡What makes some ideas spring to mind while others we have to reach for? We built an #NLP #fMRI #MachineLearning framework to find out. New study from our lab, led by @kaixiangzhuang.bsky.social out in @natcomms.nature.com 🧵 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41... #CognitiveNeuroscience #Fudan #ISTBI 23914
Reposted by Xinyu LiangDirk Bernhardt-Walther @dirkbwalther.bsky.social · 10/07/2026How can aesthetic pleasure be shaped by so many visual attributes: prototypicality, fluency, complexity, symmetry, and self-relevance? I argue that aesthetic pleasure emerges from a balance between categorization-based rewards and metabolic costs of neural activity. doi.org/10.1016/j.co... 0157
Reposted by Xinyu LiangTiago Peixoto @tiago.skewed.de · 08/07/2026Good news everyone! 🎉 The new version 3.0 of graph-tool is just out with major improvements! See below. graph-tool.skewed.de graph-tool is a comprehensive and efficient Python library to work with networks, including structural, dynamical, and statistical algorithms, as well as visualization. 1/N 112043
Reposted by Xinyu LiangDeniz Vatansever @neurodenizen.bsky.social · 26/06/2026From the "Functions of the Default Mode Network" special issue that I've co-edited with Jessica Andrews-Hanna! #COBS Two years in the making, nearly done. 30+ contributions and a remarkable breadth of perspectives on the DMN. All open to read & cite 👇 www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...sciencedirect.com 082
Reposted by Xinyu LiangDeniz Vatansever @neurodenizen.bsky.social · 26/06/2026What if much of human thought is navigation? 🧠 New open-access review: I argue that the DMN + hippocampal–entorhinal system form a domain-general engine for "mental navigation" across physical and abstract spaces (e.g. social, conceptual, and value). www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 34318
Reposted by Xinyu LiangDeniz Vatansever @neurodenizen.bsky.social · 23/06/2026That’s a wrap on #OHBM2026 for the COGNIZE Lab! 🧠🧠🧠 An amazing week with great science, great colleagues, and a wonderful city to do it all in. So proud of the whole team for presenting our work. Until next time! 👋 #Neuroscience #BrainMapping @ohbmofficial.bsky.social @cognizelab.bsky.social 1102
Xinyu Liang @neocosmliang.bsky.social · 15/06/2026If you are interested, please find me during the Higher Cogntive Functions oral session on Wednesday afternoon, as well as the poster session in last two days :) 010
Reposted by Xinyu LiangDeniz Vatansever @neurodenizen.bsky.social · 15/06/2026Thrilled to share the full roster of presentations from our COGNIZE Lab at #OHBM2026! 🧠 From naturalistic behaviour to conceptual knowledge, hippocampal morphometry to social cognition, here is a thread on what we've been up to 🧵👇 @ohbmofficial.bsky.social #Neuroscience 1102
Reposted by Xinyu Liangtor @torwager.bsky.social · 10/06/2026It’s a substantial extension of our previous book on Leanpub and Principles of fMRI Part 1 and Part 2 on Coursera and Youtube. The new book is $ I know (we didn’t choose that), but these are free :). leanpub.com/principlesof... www.coursera.org/learn/functi... www.coursera.org/learn/functi... 132
Reposted by Xinyu LiangTamas Spisak @tspisak.bsky.social · 19/05/2026Many of you asked how we create those pretty whole-brain plots with the cortical outline. We just made it available as a Python package: pni-lab.github.io/quickbrain/ 35923
Xinyu Liang @neocosmliang.bsky.social · 19/05/2026🎉 🖼️🧠 Thrilled to share our latest paper "Latent neural architecture organising shared aesthetic evaluations of visual artworks", now out at @natcomms.nature.com 👏 Grateful to my supervisor @neurodenizen.bsky.social and all my amazing collaborators! #neuroaesthetics 060
Reposted by Xinyu LiangDeniz Vatansever @neurodenizen.bsky.social · 19/05/2026What makes an artwork beautiful, and can your brain's response decode such hidden dimensions of aesthetic appeal? We built a framework to find out 🎨 🧠 @natcomms.nature.com @cognizelab.bsky.social First author: @neocosmliang.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... #neuroaesthetics #DefaultModenature.comLatent neural architecture organising shared aesthetic evaluations of visual artworks - Nature CommunicationsUsing high-resolution brain imaging, researchers reveal that aesthetic preferences for visual artworks can be captured by two key dimensions, meaning and value, offering insight into how the brain org... 11911
Reposted by Xinyu LiangMartin Hebart @martinhebart.bsky.social · 17/05/2026I'm proud to say we are releasing LAION-fMRI, a densely sampled 7T fMRI dataset of natural images, with very broad stimulus sampling for testing countless hypotheses and for deeply exploring brain representations. The dataset is now available at laion-fmri.hebartlab.com What does LAION-fMRI offer? 🧵laion-fmri.hebartlab.comLAION-fMRI - a 7T fMRI dataset of human visionLAION-fMRI (LfMRI / LAION MRI dataset): 5 subjects, 25,052 launch-release natural images, 165 acquired 7T fMRI sessions with single-trial GLMsingle betas, retinotopy, localizers, and diffusion. 312857
Reposted by Xinyu LiangMartin Hebart @martinhebart.bsky.social · 16/05/2026Finally, today is the day: Josefine Zerbe will present and release our new multi-echo 7T fMRI dataset LAION-fMRI during #VSS2026, with >30 fMRI session per subject and unprecedented stimulus diversity. Come to Talk Room 1 (Scene perception) today at 5:15. Details will follow in a separate thread! 113241
Reposted by Xinyu LiangEdward Vessel @edwardvessel.bsky.social · 15/05/2026Just in case you want to ever hear me blather on some more, I found a link to a podcast I did last year. Thanks to Ken Barrett with the Brainland podcast for the lovely interview and drawing. shows.acast.com/brainland/ep...shows.acast.comYOUR BRAIN ON VISUAL ART: Exploring the world of visual neuroaesthetics. | BRAINLANDin conversation with Ed Vessel. 021
Xinyu Liang @neocosmliang.bsky.social · 09/05/2026Wrapped up my first #IAEA2026, what a joyful and rewarding experience. The depth of discussion, the breadth of perspectives, and the generosity of this scholarly community were genuinely inspiring. See you next time! 😊👋 030
Reposted by Xinyu LiangEvan Gordon @gordonneuro.bsky.social · 22/04/2026I always assumed that brain function had to line up with cytoarchitectonics. It turns out I was wrong. Human cortex, especially PFC, is tiled by chains of functional patches that subdivide and interlink architectonic areas into parallel processing streams. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 14234122
Reposted by Xinyu LiangSocial Biobehavioural Research Group @ucl-sbb.bsky.social · 15/04/2026Our recent publication, 'Mechanisms underpinning the mental health impact of arts engagement', has made it onto the cover of Nature Reviews Psychology! 🎨 🔍 Find that article and explore more of our research in our Research paper library: sbbresearch.org/research-pap...sbbresearch.orgResearch papers library - SBRG 072
Xinyu Liang @neocosmliang.bsky.social · 15/04/2026Very important and interesting paper! We recently have an accordant work in which we tried to decompose the aesthetic experience as low dimensions and revealed relevant neural signatures. It will be published soon :) 130
Reposted by Xinyu LiangDeniz Vatansever @neurodenizen.bsky.social · 27/03/2026New from our @cognizelab.bsky.social in Advanced Science: Beneath the Big Five, personality consistently organises into two dimensions, each with distinct brain signatures. Amazing work by postdoc @kaixiangzhuang.bsky.social and thanks to all our collaborators! doi.org/10.1002/advs... 0127
Reposted by Xinyu LiangCaroline Nettekoven @carobellum.bsky.social · 23/03/2026Are you thinking about acquiring multi-task fMRI for your study but don’t know where to start? @bassel_arafat just published a toolbox to optimally select tasks and run them in the MRI scanner - with many commonly used tasks ready to go! Check out the preprint below 👇 0186
Reposted by Xinyu LiangJack Gallant @gallantlab.org · 23/03/2026Pycortex, our awesome brain viewer software, has a major new feature! Thanks to the hard work of Dr. Matteo Visconti and Aditya Vaidya, Pycortex now supports headless webgl viewers! You can create 3D inflated plots without needing a display, and in Jupyter notebooks! gallantlab.org/pycortex/aut...gallantlab.orgPlot 3D Brain Views Headlessly (No Browser) — pycortex 1.3.0.dev0 documentation 0235
Reposted by Xinyu LiangJack Gallant @gallantlab.org · 23/12/2025Voxelwise Encoding Models (VEMs) are a great framework for modeling fMRI data, but it can be difficult to implement. We've made VEM accessible by providing software, tutorials and reviews that guide its use an implementation. Get it here: gallantlab.org/blog/2025-12... #neuroscience, #neuroimaging 34613
Reposted by Xinyu LiangThe Transmitter @thetransmitter.bsky.social · 16/12/2025@russpoldrack.org's guidelines for AI-assisted coding can help researchers ensure the integrity of their work while accelerating progress on important scientific questions. #neuroskyence www.thetransmitter.org/artificial-i...thetransmitter.orgAI-assisted coding: 10 simple rules to maintain scientific rigorThese guidelines can help researchers ensure the integrity of their work while accelerating progress on important scientific questions. 23010
Reposted by Xinyu LiangSaloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 09/12/2025Big new blogpost! My guide to data visualization, which includes a very long table of contents, tons of charts, and more. --> Why data visualization matters and how to make charts more effective, clear, transparent, and sometimes, beautiful. www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/salonis-gu... 28806313
Reposted by Xinyu LiangJörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 11/12/2025Due to popular demand, here is a visualisation of the custom "maze" algorithm we used to uncover gradients along the cortical surface. 051
Reposted by Xinyu LiangDeniz Vatansever @neurodenizen.bsky.social · 09/12/2025🧠 New paper alert (the 1st one from our new lab)! Led by 1st author & VR wizard @jaquent.bsky.social @natcomms.nature.com How do our brains distinguish novel from familiar places as we explore our environments, e.g., a new city? 🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s414... 🧵 Thread below with key findings ⬇️ 12612
Reposted by Xinyu LiangDirk Bernhardt-Walther @dirkbwalther.bsky.social · 02/12/2025Energy efficiency drives evolution, and humans may have evolved pleasure-based signals to optimize actions. Does this extend to aesthetic pleasure? Yes! Strong evidence in silico and humans, out in PNAS Nexus: tinyurl.com/3kbu8xw4 With Yikai Tang and Wil Cunningham. @uoftpsychology.bsky.social 1147
Reposted by Xinyu LiangRuss Poldrack @russpoldrack.org · 02/12/2025Best practices for using Jupyter notebooks russpoldrack.substack.com/p/best-pract... - the latest in my Better Code, Better Science seriesrusspoldrack.substack.comBest practices for using Jupyter notebooksBetter Code, Better Science: Chapter 6, Part 6 0226
Reposted by Xinyu LiangDirk Bernhardt-Walther @dirkbwalther.bsky.social · 01/12/2025What makes visual stimuli memorable? Wilma Bainbridge, @keisukefukuda.bsky.social, Lore Goetschalckx, and I investigate the role of processing fluency for memorability in a new review paper in Nature Reviews Psychology. Check it out! rdcu.be/eSyjzrdcu.beMemorability of visual stimuli and the role of processing efficiencyNature Reviews Psychology - Certain items are better remembered than others across individuals, a property known as memorability. In this Review, Bainbridge and colleagues detail memorability... 13615
Reposted by Xinyu LiangMoataz Assem @moatazassem.bsky.social · 27/11/2025The special issue celebrating John Duncan's retirement is now out! Check out all the gem articles here: sciencedirect.com/special-issue/10QN6R7VQSM and the editorial (see next figure in the thread for an entertaining analysis) doi.org/10.1016/j.ne... 13013
Reposted by Xinyu Liangiaea-jena2026.bsky.social @iaea-jena2026.bsky.social · 04/11/2025Submissions are now open! The 2026 IAEA Congress invites researchers, scholars, and artists from different domains and countries to present and share empirical research on aesthetics, creativity, and the psychology and neurobiology of the arts and aesthetics. 1129
Reposted by Xinyu LiangMartin Hebart @martinhebart.bsky.social · 04/11/2025Please repost! I am looking for a PhD candidate in the area of Computational Cognitive Neuroscience to start in early 2026. The position is funded as part of the Excellence Cluster "The Adaptive Mind" at @jlugiessen.bsky.social. Please apply here until Nov 25: www.uni-giessen.de/de/ueber-uns... 18098
Reposted by Xinyu LiangEdward Vessel @edwardvessel.bsky.social · 22/10/2025📣 New Paper Alert! My PhD student Hannah Ovadia and I wrote a concise update on “The Role of the Default Mode Network (DMN) in Aesthetic Appeal” to synthesize evidence, highlight issues, and most importantly, consider theoretical alternatives. Free access: authors.elsevier.com/a/1lz-h8MqMi... 1249
Reposted by Xinyu Liangiaea-jena2026.bsky.social @iaea-jena2026.bsky.social · 06/10/2025Welcome to the IAEA Aesthetics Conference 2026 in Jena! We are delighted to announce that the International Association for Empirical Aesthetics (IAEA) will hold its next international conference in Jena, Germany, from 5th to 8th May. Discover more at iaea-jena2026.org (link in bio) 1129
Reposted by Xinyu LiangPenn Center for Neuroaesthetics @pcfn.bsky.social · 09/10/2025How we subconsciously reach towards beauty 🫳 www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brai...psychologytoday.comAre You Moved by Beauty?Beauty is in the hand more than in the eye of the beholder. 064
Reposted by Xinyu LiangEdward Vessel @edwardvessel.bsky.social · 11/09/2025APA Monitor article on what happens in the brain when we view art www.apa.org/monitor/2025... #neuroaestheticsapa.org 051
Reposted by Xinyu LiangChaz Firestone @chazfirestone.bsky.social · 05/08/2025Out today! www.nature.com/articles/s41... 36118
Reposted by Xinyu LiangMRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge @mrccbu.bsky.social · 26/06/2025New opinion paper linking the brain’s DMN response to cognitive transitions during narratives and task-switching; by Ashley Zhou, John Duncan and Daniel Mitchell: doi.org/10.1016/j.ne... 042
Reposted by Xinyu LiangDeniz Vatansever @neurodenizen.bsky.social · 26/06/2025Massive congrats to @neocosmliang.bsky.social for receiving the #OHBM Merit Award for his work on “the domain general neural signature of perceived object beauty”🌹 #ECR @ohbmtrainees.bsky.social @cognizelab.bsky.social 1155
Xinyu Liang @neocosmliang.bsky.social · 25/06/2025Welcome to see my poster and discuss with me at No. 757 #ohbm #ohbm2025 130