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Uma Karmarkar

@umakarma.bsky.social
3.2K followers 2.2K following 1.2K posts

Decision (neuro)scientist. Joint faculty between business and policy at UCSD. Neuroeconomics, psych, marketing, policy, snark, etc.

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Reposted by Uma Karmarkar
tor @torwager.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
A new fMRI study just out on precision functional mapping of imagined and experienced pain, led by Michael Sun (Sun et al., 2026, Nature Communications). How strongly does imagining pain activate nociceptive representations in the brain? doi.org/10.1038/s41... Thread below 👇
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 22h
Students abandoned the AI tutor when it shifted from giving answers to Socratic-style guided questions. something something intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation (Full disclosure : Since HBS, my teaching has rested HEAVILY on case and general Socratic-style interactive methods.)
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Reposted by Uma Karmarkar
Nature Reviews Psychology @natrevpsychol.nature.com · 22h
Empathy as a dyadic process Review by Shir Genzer & Anat Perry FREE to access (with account registration & login) for one month! go.nature.com/4s8EWsT #psychology #psychscisky
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Qiaoli Huang @qiaoli-huang.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Very happy to share our new work. Do our eye movements reveal how we structure information in working memory? We found that eye movements adapt to memory demands, shifting from sequential sampling during encoding to replay-like revisitation during maintenance. dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
dx.plos.org
Eye movements reflect capacity-dependent organization of working memory
Human working memory is capacity-limited, requiring information to be actively organized to support efficient encoding and maintenance. This study shows that spontaneous eye movements track latent mem...
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 23h
Also - no fans/vents. So there's water everywhere, and nowhere for the humidity to go. Which is probably why even the high end places now have water stains on the ceilings/walls and mold in the grout and corners.
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darth™️ @darthbluesky.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
there are now six Platonic solids i do not make the math rules
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Our appreciation for the wonderful work done by early career trainees that won them the 2026 Caltech Chen Center Travel Awards for the @socforneuroecon.bsky.social annual conference
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Colin - I screwed up the link on the first post about this - could you re-quote the new one? Sorry!
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Delighted to announce Lusha Zhu as the 2026 @socforneuroecon.bsky.social mid-career awardee - absolutely wonderful to see someone who I first encountered as a grad student get this kind of recognition
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Congratulations to Sarah Moreno Rodriguez for receiving the Best Dissertation Award this year! @socforneuroecon.bsky.social
Photo of Sarah Moreno Rodriguez, captioned with 2026 best dissertation
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
The other best paper winner, also featured in the keynote lecture www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
We had two (!!) best paper winners at @socforneuroecon.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
My favorite time of year - posting the @socforneuroecon.bsky.social awards winners! Congrats to Zhihao Zhang and @carocharp.bsky.social for their well-deserved early career awards!
Photos of Caroline Charpentier and Zhihao Zhang with the caption text 2026 early career award
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
My pleasure - I didn't want to respond directly on your thread, because it's entirely possible it's different for us vs. other schools!
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
ALSO! Read our doctoral program websites! Rady hosts two great docs from @kennethcwilbur.bsky.social about why/how to apply for PhDs (rady.ucsd.edu/programs/phd...) And @drpop.bsky.social has amazing advice for writing marketing phd apps www.linkedin.com/pulse/ready-...
linkedin.com
Ready to Apply? A Final Check Before You Submit Your Marketing PhD Applications
If you’re planning to apply to Marketing PhD programs this fall, you may be reaching the point where the process suddenly feels very real. You’ve researched programs.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Ooh, this differs between fields. Consumer behavior (marketing) PhDs programs are often "collective"; students are accepted by the department (not individual faculty.) If reaching out, ask research questions & ask about the group, moreso than asking if that prof is accepting students.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
Another SNE highlight: @carlosbrody.bsky.social's keynote centering work identifying the "neurally inferred time of commitment (nTc)" Basically, they "read" the moment when the brain commits to a choice (not necessarily temporally coupled to choice behavior!) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Transitions in dynamical regime and neural mode during perceptual decisions - Nature
Simultaneous recordings were made of hundreds of neurons in the rat frontal cortex and striatum, showing that decision commitment involves a rapid, coordinated transition in dynamical regime and neura...
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
I usually present "final" results, but this time I showed findings that added up to a puzzle, just because I thought it was a neat problem to think about. And smart people got super engaged! They gave me 6+ theories, with different computational models to test! 🤩 Most productive conference EVAR.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 11/10/2026
Just returning home from the fantastic (as usual) neuroecon (SNE) meeting in Pasadena. Hilariously, I accidentally co-opted a bunch of famous & brilliant scientists at the poster session into serving as my own sort of "lab meeting" about an early-stage project.
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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 17/09/2023
In my mind, I picture wombats as badger or possum sized, but they're ... um ... not.
Patrick the Wombat, on the occasion of his 31st birthday.

Source: https://redtreetimes.com/2020/01/14/the-wombat/
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Reposted by Uma Karmarkar
Brian Sweis @brianmsweis.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
As a field, do we think Prof Schultz’s own #dopamine neurons are spiking, dipping, or staying the same right now? 🖼️ 🧠 #SNE2026 @socforneuroecon.bsky.social
Prof Wolfram Schultz sitting in the audience at the 2026 Society for Neuroeconomics annual meeting seeing his famous figure of classic dopamine reward prediction error firing being presented during a talk. The figure is framed on the slide.  (posted with his permission)
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Ah, I heard this talk, but missed when the paper actually came out. LLMs aren't ready to be used as "humans" for social science research. Congrats to the extraordinary list of authors! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Digital twins are funhouse mirrors: Five systematic distortions
Scientists and practitioners are aggressively moving to deploy digital twins—large language model (LLM)-based models of individuals—across social science and policy research. We conducted 19 preregist...
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Reposted by Uma Karmarkar
Steve Mullis @stevemullis.net · 05/10/2026
[car dealership waiting room] Me: [chanting] knobs, knobs- Other car buyers: knobs, KNOBS Car salesman: [pounding desk] KNOBS, KNOBS, KNOBS!
forbes.com
Knobs Returning To Some Automakers’ Vehicles, To The Relief Of Many
Auto companies are listening to the complaints of consumers, who want their knobs and buttons back.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Aw, yay, I was wondering when this would happen! 😊
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
(see below - apparently a joke, but hey, the learning point stands, so I'm keeping the slide!)
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Oooh, new slide for Monday's survey methods class.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Okay, Mint Royale is a terrific choice. The chorus in Official Chemical is "We give you what you want, we give you what you like", which ... yeah, that could last.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Those are awesome.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I love the idea of a song to mark sending out a manuscript but how do you choose? Anyway, we had an eleventh hour submission tonight, and this is next on the playlist, so: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FS1...
youtube.com
Dub Pistols Official Chemical
YouTube video by TheDubPistols
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Charles has been stealing pages from my diary.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
In our house, sunglasses are just part of daily gear. We've had a drawer of Knockarounds for years (frequently refilled as family, guests, and the ocean waves steal pairs for themselves.) Delighted to learn we're also supporting the home team 😎 today.ucsd.edu/story/inspir...
today.ucsd.edu
Inspired by SoCal, UC San Diego Alumnus Makes Shades for Everyone
Sometimes, it only takes a pair of broken sunglasses on a bright summer day to change your life. This is exactly what happened to Adam Moyer, MFA ’08.
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Reposted by Uma Karmarkar
Marius Vollberg @mariusvollberg.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Did you leave twitter? How much worse would it have been for everyone if you had stayed? New paper w/ Jörg Gross (out today in @nathumbehav.nature.com) shows that selfish *and* prosocial actors distort the social impact of their actions, with selfish-serving distortions showing greater contagion.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Tell me again about how AI firms should be trusted to self-regulate. www.advocate.com/news/meta-ro...
advocate.com
Meta appoints anti-DEI and anti-LGBTQ+ conspiracy theorist Robby Starbuck as AI bias advisor
<p>Robby Starbuck has been appointed as an AI bias advisor at Meta with the goal of making the company's chat bot less "woke."</p>
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Happy morning moment - citing a paper co-authored by someone from my college first-order-logic study group. (She is super famous, so easy to cite, but our fields don't often overlap.)
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Can't speak to the others, but not unreasonable for a b-school depending on brand and subfield.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
business school?
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
dm me?
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
So I'd like to take a minute - just sit right there.
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all-hallows-eve-ison steele, organic human person 🎃 @trulyaliem.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
timeline cleanser
Tumblr screenshot

(poster name not shown): knock knock
dismembered-jackalope: who's there
justsomeguycore: deez 
dismembered-jackalope: sigh. deez who?
justsomeguycore: deez are the voyages of the starship enterprise
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Ira Hyman @irahyman.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
My latest blog post. Based on some researchers who put googly eyes on a takeout food box to see if that would discourage seagulls from stealing your lunch. There's serious work on how animals track eyes and on trying to stop animals from taking food. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ment...
psychologytoday.com
Seagulls Versus Googly Eyes
Have you ever had your lunch stolen by a gull or some other bird? In the battle to save your lunch, scientists may have discovered a secret weapon: googly eyes.
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Jennifer Graham @jennrgraham.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Every intro to sociology class I teach gets this image.
A small digger trying its hardest to dig out the Ever Given ship that has run aground. It says, “Structural Problem” on the giant Ever Given and, “Making different personal choices” on the tiny digger.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Hear me out - "Well, aren't you a sassy horse?" feels like an excellent response to someone who has more of a comment than a question to a conference talk...
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Also, that sudden chill you felt was a reminder your knee cartilage sent from beyond the grave
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
art
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John Bull @garius.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The Cat Righting Reflex is the official name of the process cats use to automatically correct themselves mid-fall and land on their feet. It develops between 3 - 9 weeks of age, and is responsible for the greatest wikipedia gif of all time.
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Totally agree - and I have *such trust* in this creative team given their past work!
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
🎉🎉🎉
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Uma Karmarkar @umakarma.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I was unaware that the Lower Decks guy made an animated series of my 3rd favorite* early arcade game of all time?! Am I going to get to see a chicken-horse tailsweep a bad guy? AM I? *1=Centipede, 2=Street Fighter. I am equivalently terrible at all of them though.
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Institute for Replication @i4replication.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
1/ What is the prevalence of personally identifiable information (PII) in author-collected data publicly shared in the social sciences? We audited 327 replication packages from 11 leading journals in economics, political science, and psychology Answer: surprisingly high 🧵
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Shannon Burns, PhD @shannon47burns.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Are you studying human neuroscience broadly defined, and enjoy working with bright and motivated students? If so we'd love to see your application for this TT position at Pomona College! Review of applications begins on Oct 1.
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