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Spencer Murch, PhD

@spencermurch.bsky.social
176 followers 628 following 56 posts

Cognitive psychologist focused on addictive digital products. SpencerMurch.com

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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
My paper got four peer reviews. I put them into GPTzero, CopyLeaks, and Originality.ai. R1 was clearly human-written, and scores reflected this. R2 was not clearly human, with mixed AI-use indicators. R3 and R4 were rated as 100% AI-generated, and were nearly identical. Is peer review doomed..?
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
New paper: "Addictions are linked but distinct: A transdiagnostic network analysis of concurrent disorder risk" (N = 6,646) Addictions and mental health common co-occur, but what psychological factors are involved, and are they the same for different combinations? doi.org/10.1556/2006...
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
♦️New Paper♦️ "Repetitive responsible gambling slogans and imagery may not be better than AI-generated content" On most metrics, RG content from AUS, CAN, UK, & USA performs about as well as content generated completely by AI. Data ✅ Materials ✅ Pre-reg ✅ Out now in IGS doi.org/10.1080/1445...
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
www.meta.com/thefutureisf... I can't tell if this is stunningly malevolent, or stunningly obtuse. Either way, I'm stunned.
meta.com
The Future is for Everyone
Read Mark Zuckerberg’s piece on our values for building superintelligence for everyone.
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
New paper: "The Need for Benchmarks to Advance AI-Enabled Player Risk Detection in Gambling" Out now in Journal of Gambling Studies rdcu.be/e4ulZ
rdcu.be
The Need for Benchmarks to Advance AI-Enabled Player Risk Detection in Gambling
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
I did @bmj.com podcast and it was honestly a lovely experience, but it got me thinking about the many 'not' lovely interview experiences I've had over the years. SO, here are the top five lessons I learned the hard way in #science, #scicomm, and #media:
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
open.spotify.com/episode/6aZY... I spoke with BMJ about online gambling regulation and the need for consistency across addictive products beginning 25m35s
open.spotify.com
What access to GPs tells us about the NHS 10 year plan, and online gambling
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Reposted by Spencer Murch, PhD
CAGR Conference @cagrconference.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
📢 The call for abstracts is open for the 2026 CAGR conference! The conference is hosted by @ceacg.bsky.social, University of Helsinki on 28-29 May. Deadline for submissions is January 15, 2026. Find more information on our website: cagrconference.org/call-for-pap...
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
New Analysis piece: "Online gambling requires greater government regulation" from @virvemarionneau.bsky.social , Anna van der Gaag, and me. www.bmj.com/content/392/...
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS - The Alberta Gambling Research Institute's 2026 Conference, April 30th - May 2nd in Banff. research.ucalgary.ca/alberta-gamb... Deadline to submit: January 26th
research.ucalgary.ca
2026 Conference Home
April 30 - May 2, 2026 @ The Banff Centre in Banff, Alberta.
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
"Honestly, we are sick of this. We are sick of tech companies utterly neglecting safety until they’re threatened with serious consequences — and then announcing flashy, new tools as a publicity stunt, while having zero intention to implement those tools properly." thehill.com/opinion/tech...
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
IJF is reporting a 331% increase in gambling-related bankruptcies in Ontario from 2021 --> 2025. Combined with increased helpline calls (Turner., 2024), increased advertising volume (Wheaton, 2024), and increased iGaming participation (iGO, 2024) over the same period, a clear picture is emerging.
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Reposted by Spencer Murch, PhD
Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
CDC has overhauled its website to assert that “the claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim”
Autism and
Vaccines
QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS
PAGE 2 OF 9 | ALL PAGES J
For Everyone
NOV. 19, 2025
KEY POINTS
• The claim "vaccines do not cause autism" is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.
• Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.HHS Research on Plausible Biologic
Mechanisms between Vaccines and Autism
HHS will evaluate plausible biologic mechanisms between early childhood vaccinations and autism. Mechanisms for further investigation include the impacts of aluminum adjuvants, risks for certain children with mitochondrial disorders, harms of neuroinflammation, and more.
* The header "Vaccines do not cause autism" has not been removed due to an agreement with the chair of the
U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that it would remain on the CDC website.
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
This piece contrasts meta as worse than google ads, but Google ads is also (at least on YouTube shorts) inundated with medical scams and hoaxes. AI video is making them harder to spot, and Google actively discourages ad blockers, making sure these scams reach people. www.reuters.com/investigatio...
reuters.com
Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show
Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, and it internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day, company documents show.
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
😮
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
www.ccsa.ca/en/online-ga... New statistics on online gambling problems among young Canadians who do gig work. Of 1,041 Canadian young adults who gamble and who participate in Leger panels, 32% report gambling online. Among them, 69% met the criteria for problem gambling (PGSI 8+).
ccsa.ca
Online Gambling Among Young Canadian Adults: A Call to Action | Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction
Highlights how young people in Canada, aged 18 to 29, are at higher risk of suffering from high levels of gambling-related harms, including financial, emotional, psychological and relationship harms. ...
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
In NYT Opinion today: "...But the rising frequency of these scandals, and the public’s fading trust, points to an industry rotting from the inside — one that rewards corruption, punishes transparency and treats addiction as a business model." What do you think? www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Gambling Is Killing Sports and Consuming America
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
A decent (but not perfectly informative re: survey composition and weighting) survey with propensity weighting to estimate self-reported use of unregulated gambling products in the USA. Could be improved by bootstrapped variance estimation, but still decent. www.americangaming.org/wp-content/u...
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
arstechnica.com/health/2025/...
arstechnica.com
After using ChatGPT, man swaps his salt for sodium bromide—and suffers psychosis
Literal “hallucinations” were the result.
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
A report on the state of unregulated gambling in BC. Raises (and maybe answers) the multimillion dollar question: if most offshore gambling is on the same sites lobbying for liberalization with regulation, what benefit do they perceive? Freedom to advertise and expand? theijf.org/bc-residents...
theijf.org
B.C. residents betting billions on unregulated gambling sites, 2021 report found
Province tried to prevent release of report with details about reach of offshore betting sites
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
A Nobel prize is fine, but what academics really want is to kick the creators of manuscriptcentral one time really hard in the shin.
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
UK Postdoc opportunity just posted: an 18 Month policy fellowship with the Research and Statistics Team at the UK Gambling Commission, funded by UKRI. Details here: www.ukri.org/opportunity/...
ukri.org
UKRI policy fellowships 2025
Spend 18 months as a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) core policy fellow, Natural Hazards and Resilience policy fellow or What Works Innovation fellow to inform policy to address pressing national an...
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
🎉🧵 New Paper Thread 🎉🧵 Machine Learning models that aim to detect at-risk online gamblers seem to hit a performance ceiling, and exhibit serious imprecision when making positive-class predictions. WHY? Maybe it's the outcome variable, the Problem Gambling Severity Index.
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Alberta, like Ontario before it, is moving to expand and privatize online gambling. In a new OpEd, @lukeclark.bsky.social and I argue that British Columbia should not follow suit. vancouversun.com/opinion/op-e...
vancouversun.com
Opinion: Dangers of going all-in on online gambling
Opening B.C.’s online gambling to private companies would make many British Columbians' wages turn to wagers lost to private companies
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Are craving and satiety neurological opposites? Could someone experience craving while feeling sated? Is reducing craving tantamount to inducing satiety? How might semaglutide improve / inform our knowledge of naltrexone, acamprosate, sobriety, and addiction? Very exciting times in the field!
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
TT faculty interviews are a singularly intense and interesting experience. There is really nothing like it.
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Reposted by Spencer Murch, PhD
Katrin Preller @katrinpreller.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
Hi everyone, if you are interested in #psychedelic-assisted therapy, we just published a new study: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti.... Congratulations to Dr. Nathalie Rieser, who has done a terrific job spearheading this project.
sciencedirect.com
Psilocybin-assisted therapy for relapse prevention in alcohol use disorder: a phase 2 randomized clinical trial
Despite the promising therapeutic effects of psilocybin, its efficacy in preventing relapse after withdrawal treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD) …
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Very honoured to receive a UBC FASS Outstanding Lecturer Award 2024/25. It's a real pleasure to teach at UBCO Psych. provost.ok.ubc.ca/2025/02/24/2...
provost.ok.ubc.ca
Recognizing the 2024/25 Outstanding Instructors
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Reposted by Spencer Murch, PhD
Alexis Gkantiragas @alexisggk.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
A beautiful visual representative of hierarchical modelling mfviz.com/hierarchical... #stats
mfviz.com
A Visual Introduction to Hierarchical Models
A visual explanation of multi-level modeling
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Reposted by Spencer Murch, PhD
May van Schalkwyk @maizie333.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
2024 marked 70 years since the tobacco industry, faced with mounting evidence of the harm caused by its products, issued their “Frank Statement” to smokers reassuring them that the link between smoking and lung cancer was yet to be proven.🧵
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries asks courts to block offshore gambling site on behalf of gaming coalition www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries asks courts to block offshore gambling site on behalf of gaming coalition | CBC News
A coalition of Canadian gaming agencies is hoping an application to stop an offshore betting site from operating in Manitoba sets a precedent in the fight against illegal online gambling.
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Alberta has cut funding to the province's Problem Gambling Resources Network. This development is surprising and dismaying as online gambling continues its rapid expansion and privatization across Canada. www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/arti...
ctvnews.ca
Province cuts funding to gambling support group focusing on video gaming with students
The province has pulled the plug on funding for a non-profit organization that provides education and resources for gambling addiction.
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Reposted by Spencer Murch, PhD
Josh Trigg @joshltrigg.bsky.social · 30/01/2025
Nicotine pouches are now banned in South Australia. They're now subject to the same controls as illicit tobacco and e-cigarette products. Info here: www.premier.sa.gov.au/media-releas...
premier.sa.gov.au
New alarming nicotine trend banned in South Australia
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Reposted by Spencer Murch, PhD
Professor Sally Gainsbury @drsalgainsbury.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
My latest paper looks at how and why people use voluntary deposit limits. We found that most online sports bettors see deposit limits as useful and good practice, but these are for those who can't control their gambling Barriers to use include not knowing what limit to set doi.org/10.1080/1366...
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 28/12/2024
My 11-month-old did something that looked a lot like theory of mind. He pointed towards something he wanted me to give to him, then looked at me, saw I was looking at a different nearby object, and so grabbed that, threw it away, and pointed again. Way early for ToM. What happened here??
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Reposted by Spencer Murch, PhD
Heather Wardle @shwardle.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com/time-to-act-...
drinkanddrugsnews.com
Time to act - Drink and Drugs News
The gambling industry is evolving rapidly, becoming ever-more digitalised and technically sophisticated. Governments need to take action before it’s too late.
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 21/12/2024
What do you think about the idea that there is a lot of 'black market' gambling in monopoly nations? I'm having a hard time finding good estimates of how much this happens. www.gamblingnews.com/news/austria...
gamblingnews.com
Austria Faces Pressure from EGBA to Give Up Gambling Monopoly
The EGBA is urging Austria to replace its outdated gambling monopoly with a multi-licensing system, promising improved consumer protections.
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Reposted by Spencer Murch, PhD
Professor Sally Gainsbury @drsalgainsbury.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
‘Callous exploitation’: NSW losing $1 million an hour on pokies www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw...
smh.com.au
‘Callous exploitation’: NSW losing $1 million an hour on pokies
In one council area, more than $2 million a day was poured into poker machines during a three-month period, leaving gambling reform advocates furious.
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Reposted by Spencer Murch, PhD
The Big Step @thebigstep.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
Thanks for the shoutout, Lord Foster. Get in touch to join @afcwimbledon1889.bsky.social, @lutontown.co.uk and nearly 40 other clubs who've said no to gambling advertising and sponsorship!
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Reposted by Spencer Murch, PhD
Amanda Roberts @arobertslboro.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
'Why it is important to conduct gambling research that is fair and free from conflicts of interest'. Our letter to @AddictionJrnl is available now. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Why it is important to conduct gambling research that is fair and free from conflicts of interest
You have to enable JavaScript in your browser's settings in order to use the eReader.
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Like everyone else, I'm just waiting to hear those three magic words... Revise and resubmit. #science #academia
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Yeah... wow yikes. "The gambling frenzy is mostly about people being free to enjoy themselves" The word 'mostly' is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Hey @leonxiaoy.bsky.social -- Thanks for putting together a list of gambling researchers on Bluesky! I was failing completely to find people!
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
"Comparing ‘fair’ machine learning models for detecting at-risk online gamblers" Peep the latest from my CIHR postdoc work at Concordia. Now out in International Gambling Studies! www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1... #science #psychology #addiction #gambling #ai
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Spencer Murch, PhD @spencermurch.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
I'm new here. Hoping to find a place to talk about behavioural addictions with those in my field, but where the big boss doesn't call for scientists to be jailed. Mastodon and Threads weren't it, but I'm not giving up! Go little butterfly, go! #science #addiction #psychology
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