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Lydia Hickman

@lydiajhickman.bsky.social

190 followers 220 following 32 posts

Research Associate at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit | interoception, cognition & mental health | (she/her) 🧠🫀🫁 https://sites.google.com/view/dr-lydia-hickman/

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Lydia Hickman @lydiajhickman.bsky.social · Apr 1

How is the body experienced in mental health conditions? 🧠🫀🫁

Our (@gabmackie.bsky.social) new paper in eClinicalMedicine explores lived experiences and patient priorities for interoception research. 🧵1/n

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

ScienceDirect.com | Science, health and medical journals, full text articles and books.

authors.elsevier.com

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Reposted by Lydia Hickman

Connor Keating @connortkeating.bsky.social · 7h

Very happy to see this published! Registered report led by the fantastic Sophie Sowden-Carvalho (and with @thepsychologist.bsky.social & @brainapps.bsky.social) looking at effort-based prosocial decision-making in autistic and non-autistic adults. tinyurl.com/3upvukt2
See thread below for more info⭐️

Autistic and non-autistic prosocial decision-making: The impact of recipient neurotype

A body of research suggests cross-neurotype interpersonal interactions may be more challenging, and non-autistic individuals show less interest in int…

tinyurl.com

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Reposted by Lydia Hickman

alicia-rybicki.bsky.social @alicia-rybicki.bsky.social · 1d

🚨 PhD Opportunity! 🚨

Come investigate the mechanistic role of dopamine in emotion processing with Prof Jennifer Cook - @thechbh.bsky.social @unibirmingham.bsky.social

MIBTP-funded PhD, using behavioural, computational and pharmacological approaches. Get in touch and please share!

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Reposted by Lydia Hickman

Camilla Nord @camillanord.bsky.social · 15d

What drives the bidirectional relationship between metabolic and mental ill-health?

Read our new metabolic psychiatry paper, “An interoceptive model of energy allostasis linking metabolic and mental health” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... led by @saramehrhof.bsky.social @hugofleming.bsky.social

An interoceptive model of energy allostasis linking metabolic and mental health

Interactions between metabolic interoception and regulation may drive comorbidity between mental and metabolic ill-health.

www.science.org

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Reposted by Lydia Hickman

MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge @mrccbu.bsky.social · 25d

Does what you eat really shape your brain, and mental health? Or is it the other way around? Come discover how metabolism links body, brain, and mood with @camillanord.bsky.social at the Arches London Bridge for a SeedTalk on 30 September www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/metabolism...

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Reposted by Lydia Hickman

Alex Pike @alexandrapike.bsky.social · 27d

New qualitative paper! A foray into gastric interception. @lucysta02475610.bsky.social ran a LOT of focus groups, across groups with eating disorders, gastric disorders and neither, to understand how people experience the sensations from their GI system. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

"I feel full with shame": A qualitative perspective on gastric interoceptive sensibility

“Am I hungry? Did I overeat at lunch?” Gastric interoception - the sensing, interpretation, and regulation of signals from the gastrointestinal system…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted by Lydia Hickman

Edwin Dalmaijer @dalmaijer.bsky.social · Sep 9

In this @cp-trendsneuro.bsky.social Spotlight, I describe how a recent paper by @leahbanellis.bsky.social, @brainandstomach.bsky.social, et al. opens new avenues in interoception research, including those focussed on the subjective interpretation of internal signals: www.cell.com/trends/neuro...

Stomach–brain synchronisation is associated with poorer mental health

In common parlance, ‘being in touch with your body’ is often used positively. However, in a recent study, Banellis, Rebollo, and colleagues show that better stomach–brain synchronisation is actually a...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Lydia Hickman

Dr. Rachel Zoffness @drzoffness.bsky.social · Aug 1

A good reminder that THE BRAIN 👏🏼 IS CONNECTED 👏🏼 TO THE BODY 👏🏼 100% OF THE TIME 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

(please repeat loudly for the people in the back)
#medsky #neuroskyence 🧠🧪

American College of Gastroenterology @amcollegegastro.bsky.social · Jul 31

Early Improvement of Mental Health is Associated with Long-term Disease Remission in Ulcerative Colitis
Zheng & Huang, et al.

📕 doi.org/10.14309/ajg.0000000000003638

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Reposted by Lydia Hickman

Lucy Stafford @lucysta02475610.bsky.social · Jul 31

I'm looking for ~25 more people with a gastrointestinal disorder to complete an online survey on interoception. You can find this survey here: sites.google.com/york.ac.uk/l...

🙏

Lucy Stafford - Take part in my research

⬇️Scroll down for links to the BODY experiment and the online surveys.⬇️

sites.google.com

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Reposted by Lydia Hickman

Leah Banellis @leahbanellis.bsky.social · Jul 30

Got Butterflies in your Stomach? I am super excited to share the first major study of my postdoc @the-ecg.bsky.social - Now out in @natmentalhealth.nature.com! We report a multidimensional mental health signature of stomach-brain coupling in the largest sample to date www.nature.com/articles/s44...

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Lydia Hickman @lydiajhickman.bsky.social · Jul 24

Wonderful article, Becca!

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Dementia Researcher @dementiaresearcher.bsky.social · Jul 23

Periods at work: not just a nuisance, but a neurological and emotional storm. Grab a cuppa, then read Rebecca’s @beccasue99.bsky.social brilliant take.

www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/blog-go-with...

Promotional graphic for a guest blog titled “Go with the Flo: Periods at Work” by Rebecca Williams, PhD student at the University of Cambridge. The image has a pink background with an illustration of a woman holding her stomach in discomfort, and includes Rebecca's photo in the top right corner.

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Reposted by Lydia Hickman

Natalie Peluso 🧠🫁😊 @nataliepeluso.com · Jul 11

Making Sense of Sensation: A model of Interoceptive Attribution and Appraisal with Clinical applications

New preprint from @drhannahsavage.bsky.social & @sarahgarf.bsky.social

#interoception #neuroskyence 🧠🫀🫁

osf.io/preprints/ps...

OSF

osf.io

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Alex Pike @alexandrapike.bsky.social · Jun 29

Finally, the amazing Professor Camilla Nord presents on interoception - including some cool lived experience work on body sensations, and work on disgust and gastric rhythms, alongside work on energy conservation. #BAP2025

Camilla presenting on all of the exciting implications of her interoception work!

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Reposted by Lydia Hickman

MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge @mrccbu.bsky.social · Jun 24

New paper by @lydiajhickman.bsky.social discusses potential reasons for high rates of Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in the autistic population: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

High rates of Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in the autistic population: True co-occurrence or a product of overlapping traits?

Older autistic adult literature is sparse, and little is known about the aging autistic population. However, recent evidence suggests an increased pre…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted by Lydia Hickman

Embodied Computation Group @the-ecg.bsky.social · Jun 20

Ever get distracted by your own body? We call this "body-wandering." 🧠🫀

Our latest study uncovers its neural fingerprint and the link to ADHD & depression symptoms. Awesome write-up by our own @leahbanellis.bsky.social, in Psyche Magazine!

psyche.co/ideas/how-mu...

#neuroscience #research #ADHD

How much you ‘body-wander’ could affect your mental health | Psyche Ideas

Some people tune into bodily sensations while daydreaming, others don’t – with implications for anxiety, depression and ADHD

psyche.co

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Lydia Hickman @lydiajhickman.bsky.social · Jun 16

However, if autistic individuals present parkinsonian symptoms due to their autistic traits alone, clinicians should incorporate this knowledge into diagnostic assessments to prevent misdiagnosis. 🧵10/n

Lydia Hickman @lydiajhickman.bsky.social · Jun 16

Identifying the cause of the increased PD diagnosis prevalence in autism is important for the adaptation of diagnosis procedures. If autistic individuals are indeed more likely to develop PD, all stakeholders should be aware of this to ensure a prompt diagnosis. 🧵9/n

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Lydia Hickman @lydiajhickman.bsky.social · Jun 16

Finally, we consider other potential explanations for overlap between autism and PD, including potential biological mechanisms (dopamine?🧠), as well as the contribution of antipsychotic medications in autism 💊. 🧵8/n

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Lydia Hickman @lydiajhickman.bsky.social · Jun 16

Separate research studies highlight similarities between autism and PD across both gross and fine motor function, as well as emotion expression and recognition, theory of mind ability and cognitive rigidity. Direct comparisons in a matched-groups design are need to validate these conclusions. 🧵7/n

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Lydia Hickman @lydiajhickman.bsky.social · Jun 16

Given that PD diagnosis is primarily movement-based, if it is the case that autistic movement appears parkinsonian, this may facilitate autistic individuals meeting diagnostic criteria for PD. 🧵6/n

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Lydia Hickman @lydiajhickman.bsky.social · Jun 16

We suggest that a newly emerging body of literature - movement differences in autism - may shed light upon this question. In the case of bradykinesia, postural instability and gait differences (core diagnostic features of PD), differences in autism have been explicitly likened to that of PD. 🧵5/n

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Lydia Hickman @lydiajhickman.bsky.social · Jun 16

Why might this be the case? Genetics studies link some PD risk genes to autism 🧬, but a significant polygenic overlap is not apparent, and first-degree relatives of autistic individuals don't have elevated PD diagnosis rates. So can this relationship really be driven by genetics alone? 🧵4/n

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Lydia Hickman @lydiajhickman.bsky.social · Jun 16

Conducting PD assessments in autistic groups also demonstrates high levels of PD traits. Starkstein et al (2015): 32% of their test sample screened positive for parkinsonism via UPDRS. Geurts et al (2022): 17% and 33% positive screening via PSQ in Netherlands and US samples. 🧵3/n

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Lydia Hickman @lydiajhickman.bsky.social · Jun 16

A number of recent studies have evidenced elevated PD diagnosis rates in autism. E.g., Croen et al (2015): 0.93% PD prevalence in autistic sample vs 0.03% in non-autistic sample. Hand et al (2020): 6.6% in autistic sample vs 1.2% in non-autistic sample. 🧵2/n

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Lydia Hickman @lydiajhickman.bsky.social · Jun 16

My new paper with Jennifer Cook sets out potential reasons for high rates of Parkinson's disease (PD) diagnosis in the autistic population: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @mrccbu.bsky.social @thechbh.bsky.social 🧵1/n

High rates of Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis in the autistic population: true co-occurrence or a product of overlapping traits?

Older autistic adult literature is sparse, and little is known about the aging autistic population. However, recent evidence suggests an increased pre…

www.sciencedirect.com

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