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Zefan Zheng

@zefanzheng.bsky.social
384 followers 402 following 35 posts

PhD researcher in consciousness at max Planck institute for empirical aesthetics.

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Reposted by Zefan Zheng
bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Long-timescale dynamics shape visual conscious awareness www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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Zefan Zheng @zefanzheng.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
A bottom-up academic Initiative that makes a difference to many🙏
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Fernando Rosas @frosas.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Published version: www.nature.com/articles/s42... Full-text access: rdcu.be/fCDGv
nature.com
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Adrien Doerig @adriendoerig.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
The journal version is out! www.cell.com/trends-open/... AI is turning machine consciousness into a societal issue. Biological Naturalism (BN), the idea that only biological systems can be conscious, is gaining traction. We argue: either BN is untestable, or it is compatible with functionalism.
cell.com
What biology can and cannot tell us about conscious AI
Progress in artificial intelligence is turning machine consciousness from a philosophical curiosity into a societal issue, and has led to criticism of the widespread computational functionalist framew...
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Francesco Ellia @ellia.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I didn't post much in the past months, but I have some pleasant updates! 1) I joined ZEN University as a postdoc. 2) I became a PI (second period) in Qualia Structure! 3) I obtained an early-career scientist grant (WAKATE); 4) I started a Canon Fellowship at Ritsumeikan University!
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Anil Seth @anilseth.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
"Loops all the way up - recurrency as an implementation-first primitive for consciousness." New in Phys Life Rev by @zefanzheng.bsky.social @robertchisciure.bsky.social & others .... well worth a read, & open for peer commentary www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Zefan Zheng @zefanzheng.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
🚨 new paper alert Most consciousness theories are just a specific type of recurrent theory, from the implementation perspective. Out in Physics of Life Reviews: doi.org/10.1016/j.pl... Email me for interests in contributing commentaries (zefan.zheng@rub.de)!!! A 🧵
doi.org
Redirecting
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Fernando Rosas @frosas.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Published version: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... OSF: osf.io/preprints/ps... Kudos to @zefanzheng.bsky.social, @robertchisciure.bsky.social, @annaeiserbeck.bsky.social, @jaanaru.bsky.social, @thomasandrillon.bsky.social, @bechir-jarraya.bsky.social, + others ✨💪
sciencedirect.com
Loops all the way up: Recurrency as an implementation-first primitive for consciousness
Consciousness science is fragmented, and empirical investigations are largely confined within the framework of each theory of consciousness (ToC). Pro…
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Fernando Rosas @frosas.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Finally published: “Loops all the way up: Recurrency as an implementation-first primitive for consciousness” There are 200+ theories of consciousness, mostly talking past each other. Despite their differences, most give central stage to one key notion: Recurrence 🧠 🔁
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Nicolás Sánchez-Fuenzalida @n41c0.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
well on time for my bi-yearly post I'm sharing the final version of this very cool work we started with @cjungerius.bsky.social @smfleming.bsky.social @svangaal.bsky.social @fahrenfort.bsky.social in 2021, when I was young and full of hope. Now out in @natcomms.nature.com 1/11
nature.com
The act of detecting a stimulus contaminates measures of conscious experience with decision biases - Nature Communications
A central challenge in consciousness research is determining whether people truly experience a stimulus. Here, the authors show that context biases traditional detection measures, whereas continuous r...
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Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
I’m very proud that our symposium on #Aphantasia and Consciousness at #ASSC29 was a big success! Aphantasia research has undergone a decade of scientific study. This symposium aimed to address a key question: what does aphantasia reveal about unique aspects of human consciousness?
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Ishan Singhal @singhal.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
First media coverage I ever received for a paper I wrote! It was a huge surprise and honour to be interviewed by @science.org
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Zefan Zheng @zefanzheng.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
The true answer to the hard problem of consciousness might be as hard for us to comprehend as visualizing a 7 dimensional space in our head. It’s simply impossible given our cognitive arsenal.
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Consciousness Commons @consc-commons.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Consciousness research advances faster when ideas, data, and methods are shared openly. Consciousness Commons brings early-career researchers together to build collaborative, reproducible projects using open consciousness datasets. Science as a commons.
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Consciousness Commons @consc-commons.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Imagine walking into a room where neuroscientists, philosophers, coders, and cognitive scientists all work on the same consciousness dataset together. That’s the spirit of Consciousness Commons. Collaborative science > siloed science. ASSC 2026 satellite event • Santiago 🇨🇱
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Consciousness Commons @consc-commons.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Open datasets are changing consciousness science. But data alone isn’t enough — we also need collaborative workflows, preregistration, and interdisciplinary teams. Consciousness Commons is designed around exactly that idea.
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Naotsugu Tsuchiya @naotsuchiya.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Just found a goldmine of 38 "hidden" videos on our YouTube channel! 🤯 Turns out they're my 2022 lectures on the neural basis of consciousness (~20 mins each). Finally set them to public—enjoy the deep dive! 🧠✨ www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
youtube.com
2022 Neural Basis of Consciousness - YouTube
This is the lectures that I gave in 2022 on the neural basis of consciousness.
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Brian Nosek @briannosek.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Best evidence yet that LLMs can match human capabilities in doing science.
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Ben Hayden @benhayden.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
New paper from the lab! "Plasticity and language in the anaesthetized human hippocampus" www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Plasticity and language in the anaesthetized human hippocampus - Nature
In the hippocampus, complex processing of sensory stimuli occurs even in the unconscious state.
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Consciousness - tlab @qualiastructure.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Do we all see the same red? Or feel joy and sadness alike? Mapping how our inner experiences relate to one another could finally reveal how physical processes in the brain give rise to consciousness Very readable! Thanks, George! @gmusser www.newscientist.com/article/2519...
newscientist.com
The simple questions cracking the hard problem of consciousness
Do we all see the same red? Or feel joy and sadness alike? Mapping how our inner experiences relate to one another could finally reveal how physical processes in the brain give rise to consciousness
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Consciousness Commons @consc-commons.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
Applications for Consciousness Commons close on Monday, April 13 @ midnight (PST) If you're an early-career researcher and been thinking about it, this is the moment! Open data. Free compute. A preregistered study. $25K in funding up for grabs. consciousness-commons.github.io/cc-assc-2026/
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Consciousness Commons @consc-commons.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
@assc2026.bsky.social #consci #openscience #teamscience #consciousness #opendata
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Consciousness Commons @consc-commons.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Consciousness Commons participants work with open, reusable datasets -- including direct training on the Cogitate dataset, one of the most rigorously FAIR resources in consciousness research. ➕ free computation through brainlife.io
brainlife.io
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Consciousness Commons @consc-commons.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Something is emerging in Santiago this July. A new kind of scientific gathering. Open data. Interdisciplinary teams. A shared question that's been challenging researchers for decades. Introducing Consciousness Commons: A satellite workshop for early-career researchers @assc2026.bsky.social #ASSC29
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Consciousness Commons @consc-commons.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
And applications are officially OPEN. Deadline to apply to join us is --- April 13 🔸Work with open consciousness datasets 🔸Build a preregistered research project with an interdisciplinary team 🔸Compete for $25,000 in seed funding to carry it forward consciousness-commons.github.io/cc-assc-2026/
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Consciousness Commons @consc-commons.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
@assc2026.bsky.social #consci #openscience #teamscience #consciousness #opendata
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Consciousness Commons @consc-commons.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
You leave with a fully preregistered study. And a shot at $25K in seed funding.
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Consciousness Commons @consc-commons.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
You bring the question. We help you build the study. Applications close April 13. Space is limited. 🔗 consciousness-commons.github.io/cc-assc-2026/
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Simon van Gaal @svangaal.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Just out! Expectations modulate stimulus-evoked recurrent, but not feedforward, processing, and this is attention-dependent. NMDA-dependent feedback specifically supports perceptual integration (illusory contours), rather than mediating expectations (base rate). www.jneurosci.org/content/46/1...
jneurosci.org
Effects of Expectation, Attention, and NMDA Receptor Blockade on Feedforward and Feedback Processing
Perception is increasingly viewed as an inferential process wherein sensory inputs are integrated with prior expectations. We employed time-resolved decoding on electroencephalography (EEG) data ( n  ...
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Consciousness Commons @consc-commons.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Apply by April 13. consciousness-commons.github.io/cc-assc-2026 #ASSC29 #ConsciousnessScience #OpenScience #consci
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Consciousness Commons @consc-commons.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
🔴 1/ You do not attend talks. You build something. ⚫️ 2/ You work in a cross-disciplinary team, not alone. 🔵 3/ You leave with a preregistered plan, not just notes. ⚪️ 4/ Your work can be funded.
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Consciousness Commons @consc-commons.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
What makes Consciousness Commons different from a regular workshop? 👉🧵 1/
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Zefan Zheng @zefanzheng.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Check out this exciting event on data reuse in consciousness science!
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alexlepauvre.bsky.social @alexlepauvre.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
⚠️New preprint out⚠️ Discrete episodes of conscious access revealed by the psychological refractory period Together with @michaengesee.bsky.social , @standehaene.bsky.social and Lucia Melloni (@predictivebrainlab.bsky.social) doi.org/10.31234/osf... #Consciousness #CognitiveNeuroscience
doi.org
OSF
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Rony @ronyhirsch.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
What did we find? Enough to build a website so people can explore the data! (ronyhirsch.github.io/minds-matter) To our question: despite a clear relationship between the two, consciousness doesn't seem to be perceived as necessary for moral status. And it doesn't appear to be sufficient either. 5/n
ronyhirsch.github.io
Minds Matter
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Rony @ronyhirsch.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
New preprint! with @niccolonegro.bsky.social and @liadmudrik.bsky.social doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/ve6c5_v1 Consciousness seems central to moral status debates, from AI to animal welfare. But is consciousness necessary for moral status? Is it sufficient? We surveyed >1000 people to find out. 🧵 1/n
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Doby Rahnev @dobyrahnev.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
New preprint: Confidence-accuracy dissociations in perceptual decision making. A review I was supposed to write 3 years ago for my VSS Young Investigator Award. Better late than never 😅 I tried to organize the literature and explore the likely mechanisms. Feedback welcome! osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io
OSF
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Ishan Singhal @singhal.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
We're very happy to announce another consciousness workshop in the famed snowy mountain cabin of the Austrian Alps! ❄️🦇 This year's theme is computational neurophenomenology (broadly defined) Applications are now open! www.uni-bamberg.de/en/bamxi/res...
uni-bamberg.de
Computational Neurophenomenology Cabin Workshop - Bamberg Mathematical Consciousness Science Initiative (BAMΞ)
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Yuranny Cabral-Calderin @ycabral.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Our paper “Towards a neuroethological approach to consciousness” is out in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. Together with @talking-bat.bsky.social and Lucia Melloni, we suggest bringing Tinbergen’s framework into consciousness research.
royalsocietypublishing.org
Towards a neuroethological approach to consciousness | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Understanding consciousness remains a significant challenge in science. What distinguishes conscious beings from unconscious systems, such as organoids, artificial intelligence or other non-sentient e...
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Torge Dellert @torgedellert.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
👂🧠NCC in an auditory no-report fMRI study 🧠👂 now out in @currentbiology.bsky.social @cellpress.bsky.social ! www.cell.com/current-biol... Using inattentional deafness, we show that awareness of task-irrelevant sounds mainly activates stimulus-specific sensory brain areas.
cell.com
Neural correlates of consciousness in an auditory no-report fMRI study
Dellert et al. use functional magnetic resonance imaging and inattentional deafness to identify the neural basis of conscious auditory perception in humans. Their results reveal a dominant role of sti...
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Peter Zeidman @corticalpete.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Do you like RSA analysis, M/EEG and Bayes? Then you'll love Variational RSA for M/EEG, by recently completed PhD student @alexlepauvre.bsky.social from Lucia Melloni's group. It's a method and SPM toolbox for multivariate analysis of M/EEG data. arxiv.org/pdf/2511.01784 . 🧵 [1/4]
A figure with 3 panels. Top: A plot of log-evidence for an experimental effect over peristimulus time, as inferred using vRSA. Bottom-left: a condition-by-condition matrix of regression parameters. Bottom-right: condition-by-condition matrix estimated by the vRSA model.
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Stanislas Dehaene @standehaene.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
This was a fabulous, once in a lifetime colloquium -- and now the videos are available in high quality on the College de France web site @college-de-france.fr www.college-de-france.fr/fr/agenda/co... With talks by Edvard Moser, Nancy Kanwisher, Liz Spelke, Manuela Piazza, Luca Bonatti and more!
college-de-france.fr
Seeing the Mind, Educating the Brain | Collège de France
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Lena Hahn @lenahahn.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Great work by @abitter.bsky.social @mariogollwitzer.bsky.social @kaisassenberg.bsky.social @t-1m.bsky.social et al. on FAIR data sharing in Psychology. They also suggest 6 simple checks that can be implemented in the editorial process to improve data FAIRness.
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Matthias Michel @matthiasmichel.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
Unconscious perception of ensembles, assessed with a bias-discouraging 2IFC task: osf.io/preprints/ps.... Great work by @patxelos.bsky.social, @dsotob.bsky.social et al.!
osf.io
OSF
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Zefan Zheng @zefanzheng.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
New paper alert🚨 1 + 1 only equals 2 during unconscious processing! Out in JEP: General: doi.org/10.1037/xge0... Here is a thread to explain 🧵
doi.org
APA PsycNet
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Thomas Andrillon @thomasandrillon.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
📜 ¡New preprint! 📜 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 osf.io/preprints/ps... 🧪🧠 With amazing alumni from @mesec-community.bsky.social and including: @zefanzheng.bsky.social @robertchisciure.bsky.social @jaanaru.bsky.social @bechir-jarraya.bsky.social
osf.io
OSF
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Maor Schreiber @maorschreiber.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
📢Excited to share our paper, "Studying unconscious processing: Contention and consensus", published in BBS. The paper is the result of a collaborative effort of 32 leading researchers in the field, from 10 different countries🌏 Check out the full ms👇 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Studying unconscious processing: Contention and consensus | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge Core
Studying unconscious processing: Contention and consensus
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Tom Hardwicke @tomhardwicke.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
Now published — "Prevalence of Transparent Research Practices in Psychology: A Cross-Sectional Study of Empirical Articles Published in 2022" doi.org/10.1177/2515...
doi.org
Prevalence of Transparent Research Practices in Psychology: A Cross-Sectional Study of Empirical Articles Published in 2022 - Tom E. Hardwicke, Robert T. Thibault, Beth Clarke, Nicholas Moodie, Sophia...
More than a decade of advocacy and policy reforms have attempted to increase the uptake of transparent research practices in the field of psychology; however, t...
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