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Nicola Sambuco

@nicolasambuco.bsky.social
459 followers 238 following 192 posts

Assistant Professor, University of Bari. nsambuco.github.io Former CSEA trainee at UF

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Nicola Sambuco @nicolasambuco.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The knowledge paradox: the more science we publish, the more often we write that “little is known”. Across PubMed publication years, the two track almost perfectly: r = .98. More knowledge, more documented unknowns. #neuroskyence #science
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Nicola Sambuco @nicolasambuco.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
@afni-pt.bsky.social & @gangchen6.bsky.social clearly show that the path to making the world a better place, one plot at a time, starts with transparent thresholding. And this represents another good reason to take a look at one of my latest preprints! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #Neuroimaging
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Nicola Sambuco @nicolasambuco.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Finally, in psychosis, stronger treatment D₂ affinity tracked lower anticipatory ventral-striatal BOLD and higher negative symptoms. The clinical extension is preliminary, but it raises a testable idea: reward phenotype may help explain why D₂-targeted drugs affect people differently. 4/4
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Nicola Sambuco @nicolasambuco.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
The mechanistic test: D₂/D₃ antagonism selectively reduced anticipatory ventral-striatal responses in sign-trackers, not goal-trackers. This appeared after single-dose risperidone/haloperidol and again after 7 days of amisulpride; aripiprazole showed a different pattern. 3/4
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Nicola Sambuco @nicolasambuco.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
In the discovery cohort (N=890), clustering separated sign-trackers (anticipation-dominant) and goal-trackers (outcome-dominant), plus an intermediate group. The same dissociation generalized to an independent replication sample (N=245; 82.4% accuracy). 2/4
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Nicola Sambuco @nicolasambuco.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
@pessoabrain.bsky.social - Luiz, my kids were watching an educational program on evolution when they started talking about the brain layers, starting from the reptilian one. What should I do? 🤣
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Nicola Sambuco @nicolasambuco.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Translational test from @bensaunders.bsky.social nders.bsky.social (2012): ST cue responses depend on dopamine. Single-dose cohort (N=34): risperidone (0.5 or 2 mg) or haloperidol (3 mg) vs placebo, double-blind, crossover. ST anticipatory ventral striatal BOLD selectively dropped. GT unchanged.
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Nicola Sambuco @nicolasambuco.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Every time I start worrying about AI taking over the world, I ask it to do a simple figure, and I’m reminded of how dumb it still is. Today it decided that the best place for a rat brain was… its belly. Skynet can wait. #neuroskyence #Terminator
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Nicola Sambuco @nicolasambuco.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
5/7 — At rest, the C>P group showed weaker connectivity within the frontoparietal control network. Exploratory analyses also hinted at reduced coupling between this network and the nucleus accumbens, a key reward hub.
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Nicola Sambuco @nicolasambuco.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
3/7 — Two profiles emerged. The C>P group showed stronger brain responses to cigarettes than to pleasant images. The P>C group showed the opposite pattern. Both processed emotion normally, but only C>P treated drug cues as highly salient.
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Nicola Sambuco @nicolasambuco.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
What if a key ERP index of emotion regulation (the LPP) instead reflects a dual-task condition rather than a regulatory effect? Suppress and Enhance have the same effect vs. View, suggesting an instruction-based effect rather than a regulatory one. Check our preprint. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Nicola Sambuco @nicolasambuco.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
AI is getting out of hands folks #neuroskyence #science #skyence www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Nicola Sambuco @nicolasambuco.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
When people choose to give rather than keep, both altruistic and strategic generosity show robust vmPFC and ventral striatum engagement vs selfish choices. Cool that ‘warm glow’ and payoff both light up classic reward hubs. #RewardSignals #neuroskyence pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30195947/
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