Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Our latest paper led by Taylor Guthrie with former undergrad RA Aussie Frost. We show that multivariate fMRI signals can decode the identity of specific individuals within the DMN and in the absence of visual features or other lower-level sensory information. link.springer.com/article/10.3... 12311
Reposted by Rob ChavezLT @lindseytepfer.bsky.social · 08/09/2026We don’t just lock on to our first impression of someone and call it a day. Instead, we regularly revise our appraisals as we learn more about them. But *how* do our brains make this process possible? Check out this fresh pre-print to see how we went about answering this question! 064
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 02/09/2026🎵 My tongue's the only muscle on my body that works harder than my heart.. 🎵 amyleesterling.github.io/human-brain/... 140
Reposted by Rob ChavezJulia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 27/08/2026Psychological Science special issue call 📣 Ever had your research denigrated bc it's "only descriptive", "what's the mechanism though?" and "but what are the theoretical implications?" Now has come your time to shine. Send your best descriptive work! www.psychologicalscience.org/publications... 7244128
Reposted by Rob ChavezVictoria Guazzelli Williamson @vgwpsych.bsky.social · 19/08/2026Excited to share a recent review with @prof-nick-allen.bsky.social and @jenndsn.bsky.social: Multidimensional social cognitive profiles: Implications for adolescent internalizing psychopathology out in Trends in Cognitive Sciences! Free access until Aug 28: authors.elsevier.com/a/…authors.elsevier.com 163
Reposted by Rob ChavezTim Verstynen @tdverstynen.bsky.social · 06/08/2026My friend is a co-lead on this project (my wife is a collaborator). Let me tell you what it was about and why Battacharya’s decision simply amplifies the consequences of structural racism that the project was attempting to understand. A 🧵 1/12 15739
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 04/08/2026A refreshingly sober view on important issues in mental health science that I think about a lot... I'm not as pessimistic/nihilistic as I come across sometimes, but I do worry deeply that we are often not meeting the challenges where they are. 140
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 04/08/2026Ed Yong used to do amazing science journalism at The Atlantic... Now we get this: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...theatlantic.comWhat if Freud Was Right?A neuroscientist dares to argue that old-fashioned psychoanalysis holds the key to curing mental illness. 281
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 14/07/2026Three psychologists use QRPs on dubious projects, grossly underpay participants, make coercive and sexist remarks, have their grants revoked, lose their lab space, and wrestle with the possibility of having to work in the private sector... And that's all in just the first 15 minutes of Ghostbusters. 2243
Reposted by Rob ChavezMark Thornton @markthornton.bsky.social · 03/07/2026Now in press at Cortex! "False discovery rate correction promotes confounded neuroimaging designs" Paper 🔓: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 44620
Reposted by Rob ChavezMatt Smear @mattsmear.bsky.social · 18/06/2026I am a neurodivergent neuroscientist. My bipolar brain brings struggle but it also helps me think off-the-map ideas. To help others who are similarly different, I co-founded the Neurodiversity Innovation Center for Excellence in Neuroscience (niceinneuro.org) with Leah Blankenship and Lila Kaye. 1349
Reposted by Rob ChavezEric Hehman @erichehman.bsky.social · 17/06/2026Jon haidt, steven pinker, and cialdini are three psych folks who appear to be attending peter thiels secret meeting 062
Reposted by Rob ChavezbioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 04/06/2026Person identity drives neural similarity more than action and valence during dynamic emotion perception www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20… 082
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 11/05/2026Big congratulations to undergrad RA superstar Debbie Okeke for successfully defending her honors thesis "Investigating Neural Patterns In Dynamic Facial Processing Using Representational Similarity Analysis." Debbie started as a freshman in my lab and we are so proud of all that she has accomplished 290
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 09/05/2026I agree, but It's sad to me that people think we we do is "looking for __ in the brain." And the problem goes both ways. If you are interested in understanding brain, basing it on conceptually vague, poorly measured, or otherwise flawed ideas from psychology isn't helping make progress either. 4181
Reposted by Rob ChavezRob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 09/04/2026Popularity of brain regions and networks in every available SANS (@sansmeeting.bsky.social ) program over the years. Now, animated! Looking forward to seeing everyone next week in La Jolla for #SANS2026. 0242
Reposted by Rob ChavezErica Busch @elbusch.bsky.social · 13/04/2026New Perspective out in @natmentalhealth.nature.com! We consider why neuroimaging analyses struggles to predict adolescent mental health, discuss approaches for improving prediction, and provide open-source implementations and tutorials: www.nature.com/articles/s44...nature.comRevamping neuroimaging analysis to reveal biomarkers of adolescent mental health - Nature Mental HealthNeuroscience research struggles to link neurobiological phenotypes with real-world mental health experiences, especially in youth. Here the authors challenge assumptions in functional neuroimaging stu... 14313
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 09/04/2026Popularity of brain regions and networks in every available SANS (@sansmeeting.bsky.social ) program over the years. Now, animated! Looking forward to seeing everyone next week in La Jolla for #SANS2026. 0242
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 30/03/2026My new obsession is ggsegSchaefer for plotting stat maps of our preferred brain parcellation atlas. So easy to customize, manipulate, and make pretty (...even if my general aesthetic tastes remain questionable). 1193
Reposted by Rob ChavezJohn Clithero @johnclithero.bsky.social · 20/03/2026Fortunate to be a part of this! Moriah had an incredible dissertation and I was lucky to be on her dissertation committee. 051
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 19/03/2026Also, after 19 years into my career, this is my very first empirical publication that is purely behavioral and has zero neuroscience... I'm officially a real psychologist! 080
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 19/03/2026Excited to share our latest paper on computational mechanisms of self-enhancement with links to mental health. We used hierarchical Bayesian drift diffusion modeling to decompose choices on a social comparison task and relate them internalizing symptoms. journals.sagepub.com/eprint/GPFSV...journals.sagepub.comComputational Mechanisms of Self-Enhancement During Social Comparison and Their Relationship to Internalizing Symptoms - Moriah S. Stendel, John A. Clithero, Robert S. Chavez, 2026Internalizing disorders, such as anxiety and depression, commonly feature cognitive biases in self-evaluation, particularly in the context of social comparison.... 53811
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 18/03/2026At a different point in my life, this would have been shocking and disappointing. The only shocking part now is how numb I feel to this kind of news, and the disappointment is with myself for feeling that way. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/u...nytimes.comCesar Chavez, a Civil Rights Icon, Is Accused of Abusing Girls for Years 030
Reposted by Rob ChavezDeepu Murty @vpmurty.bsky.social · 03/03/2026I’m excited to announce a special issue I am guest editing at SCAN with Johanna Jarcho and @maureenritchey.bsky.social on the intersection of memory and social cognition. Find more info here: academic.oup.com/scan/pages/c...academic.oup.comThe Contribution of Episodic Memory to Social CognitionSocial Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience invites submissions to a collection on “The Contribution of Episodic Memory to Social Cognition”. Making decisions i 02710
Reposted by Rob ChavezVictoria Guazzelli Williamson @vgwpsych.bsky.social · 27/02/2026SPSP is crazy. So many presentations on climate change and environment, yet folks aren’t allowed to take the leftover lunches without tickets because all leftover lunches “must” be thrown away 🤔 Anyways is you see me, say hi! #SPSP2026 071
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 24/02/2026A nice, level-headed post about the motivations and outcomes of using technology (including LLMs) in research that you care about. 121
Reposted by Rob Chavezmoin syed @syeducation.bsky.social · 24/02/2026New post! "Valuing the Process vs. the Product in Research," in which I try to describe some of the tensions around using GenAI/LLMs in scientific research, and why it can be so difficult to have productive conversations on the topic. getsyeducated.substack.com/p/valuing-th...getsyeducated.substack.comValuing the Process vs. the Product in ResearchOn reasonable resistance to using GenAI in research 74925
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 20/02/2026Interaction effects have all kinds of problems that people have been overlooking for years. Maybe we should finally try to publish this damn preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...biorxiv.org 3111
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 20/02/2026Today, the RAs in my lab told me I have "girl dad energy." I've got some practice... 1200
Reposted by Rob ChavezJoão Guassi Moreira @jfguassimoreira.bsky.social · 12/02/2026My lab at UW Madison is hiring a new lab manager! I’m looking for a motivated and detail-oriented person to help run the lab’s day-to-day, including our ongoing neuroimaging and behavioral studies. This is especially well suited for graduating undergrads thinking about grad school. Link below 12834
Reposted by Rob ChavezPsychoPy @psychopy.org · 09/02/2026We're getting excited... just putting the finishing touches to **PsychoPy Studio** This is a complete rewrite of the PsychoPy Builder/Coder app, now packaged in Electron. Faster load, modernised UI, web-ready, independent of the Python interpreter 🎉 🚀 blog.psychopy.org/general%20bl...blog.psychopy.orgPsychoPy Studio: the app we love, reimaginedIt’s now over 20 years since PsychoPy’s humble beginnings as an open-source Python library to help users present high-precision stimuli and collect responses from participants. Since 2009 PsychoPy… 06217
Reposted by Rob ChavezNathaniel Haines @natehaines.bsky.social · 26/01/20261/9 New blog is live! This is part 2 of a series—last time we looked at the Dunning-Kruger effect, now we are digging in to Implicit vs Explicit attitudes and the Implicit Association Test. To start, of course we need a good meme... haines-lab.com/post/part-2-... 44214
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 31/01/2026Five classes I took in college: - Styles of Scientific Argument - Analysis of Variance - Probability & Statistics for Engineers - Intelligence & Creativity - Advanced Data Analysis II That statistics minor is really pulling its weight... but man, most of my classes sounded so generic. 030
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 11/01/2026Updating my CV now and realizing that in my 19 years in science, I have only ever given one conference symposium talk in my entire career (not counting a grad student blitz and a preconference). ..... and ,of all places, it was at SESP 🤨 🤷 140
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 13/12/2025Oliver Sacks has always been one of my favorite writers, & I've tried to emulate him for a long time. However, anyone who has spent any real effort trying to translate their real-world experience into a compelling narrative knows how unstructured, anticlimactic, and uninteresting reality really is. 070
Reposted by Rob Chavezjonny (leachate composite form) @jo.nny.rip · 10/12/2025"ai is inevitable" is a high accuracy indicator of "I am a sucker" 311130
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 10/12/2025Code red.... Does anyone know a not-by-hand hack to grade 493 scantrons without a scantron machine? ⚰️ 963
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 04/12/2025But for real, I think my wife has legit won this game... ⚰️ 040
Reposted by Rob ChavezJin X. Goh | 吴晋勋 @jinxungoh.bsky.social · 03/12/2025ManuscriptCentral Wrapped! In 2025, you submitted 5 papers AND all got rejected 🎉 You spent 💯 minutes in total trying to submit your papers! You reviewed for 10 journals that would never publish your papers ❤️ 2898
Reposted by Rob ChavezAndrew D Thaler @drandrewthaler.bsky.social · 13/11/2025I think I now have a much better understanding of why these dorks are so impressed by ChatGPT. 332550
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 12/11/2025My former honors student RA (who co-authored a paper with us as an undergrad!) is reporter for the ABC News Medical Unit and a prolific NYC health journalist. It's very gratifying to be a way station on folk's journey through success. Here's his latest: abcnews.go.com/US/whooping-...abcnews.go.comWhooping cough cases skyrocket in Texas, quadrupling last year's numbersTexas is currently seeing four times the number of whooping cough cases compared to the same time last year. 0130
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 12/11/2025I'm as happy as the next person that Bass Pro Shops is now a fashion statement, but I already miss all the Carhartt. 000
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 11/11/2025If you are on the editorial board of a journal and you haven't reviewed a paper for that journal in over 1000 days and you get sent a request to review and you decline that request and you don't even have the courtesy to recommend other reviews.... you shouldn't be on that editorial board. 030
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 05/11/2025... and a faculty meeting is less a Council of Elrond than it is an HOA. 050
Rob Chavez @robchavez.bsky.social · 05/11/2025A university committee is a gathering of important people who individually can do nothing, but together can decide that nothing can be done. 4552
Reposted by Rob ChavezPython Software Foundation @python.org · 27/10/2025TLDR; The PSF has made the decision to put our community and our shared diversity, equity, and inclusion values ahead of seeking $1.5M in new revenue. Please read and share. pyfound.blogspot.com/2025/10/NSF-... 🧵python.orgThe official home of the Python Programming Language 12363792728
Reposted by Rob ChavezM.J. Crockett @mjcrockett.bsky.social · 23/10/2025Spotted on LinkedIn... a bad AI summary of our new paper on risks of AI in research. Please make it stop. 1319