Sheila Macrine, PhD
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macrinephd.bsky.social
Sheila Macrine, PhD
@macrinephd.bsky.social
1.7K followers 4.1K following 150 posts
Professor Cognitive Psychologist at UMass Dartmouth. She focuses: embodied cognition and Learning
Free access:
https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-edited-volume/5306/Movement-MattersHow-Embodied-Cognition-Informs

https://embodiedcognitionandlearning.com/
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macrinephd.bsky.social
Sheila Macrine, PhD @macrinephd.bsky.social · 17d
Wow! Entangled Brain free @mitpress.bsky.social Open Access! Forget isolated regions. @PessoaBrain shows behavior emerges from “collective computations” across a fully integrated, complex system. mitpress.mit.edu/978026254460...
#Neuroscience #ComplexityScience #SystemsBiology #BrainResearch
The Entangled Brain: How Perception, Cognition, and Emotion Are Woven Together
A new vision of the brain as a fully integrated, networked organ.Popular neuroscience accounts often focus on specific mind-brain aspects like addiction, c
direct.mit.edu
Reposted by Sheila Macrine, PhD
tolchinsky.bsky.social
On embodied cognition @macrinephd.bsky.social You might enjoy this talk by @chrisfields38.bsky.social. I find it to be deeply meaningful. One quote to start with: "Numbers are actions," as in "2" means - repeat an operation f you just did one more time.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5aw...
"From Experience to Math" by Chris Fields
YouTube video by Michael Levin's Academic Content
www.youtube.com
January 1, 2026 at 3:42 PM
macrinephd.bsky.social
The brain is much less like a machine than it is like the murmurations of a flock of starlings. Behaviors arise from interactions, not central control. Essay on the #EntangledBrain by Luis @PessoaBrain #Neuroscience #ComplexityScience #CognitiveScience aeon.co/essays/how-t...
How the human brain is like a murmuration of starlings | Aeon Essays
The brain is much less like a machine than it is like the murmurations of a flock of starlings or an orchestral symphony
aeon.co
January 19, 2026 at 2:46 PM
Reposted by Sheila Macrine, PhD
tolchinsky.bsky.social
Does a virus have agency? This text is written based on the work by @macrinephd.bsky.social @drmichaellevin.bsky.social and @wiringthebrain.bsky.social

Comments and critique are most welcome. Kevin, I wonder what you think on this?

open.substack.com/pub/alexeyto...
Does a virus have agency?
Exploring the limitations of a causality-based model of agency.
open.substack.com
January 19, 2026 at 2:18 PM
macrinephd.bsky.social
Think you can truly empty a box? #Quantummechanics says otherwise. Even at absolute zero, "zero-point energy" remains because the Heisenberg uncertainty principle forbids total stillness.
#ZeroPointEnergy #Physics #Science #CasimirEffect www.quantamagazine.org/in-quantum-m...
In Quantum Mechanics, Nothingness Is the Potential To Be Anything | Quanta Magazine
Try as they might, scientists can’t truly rid a space or an object of its energy. But what “zero-point energy” really means is up for interpretation.
www.quantamagazine.org
January 8, 2026 at 2:47 PM
macrinephd.bsky.social
Algorithms induce "Cognitive Drift" gradually resetting our mental baselines. A neuro-anchored protocol to audit how AI curation reweights user attention and emotion over time. t.co/1kSlt1Ujut
#AI #Neuroscience #DigitalEthics #MentalHealth #AlgorithmAuditing
#ResponsibleAI #ActiveInference
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2025.1697053/full
t.co
January 2, 2026 at 3:48 AM
macrinephd.bsky.social
Wow! Entangled Brain free @mitpress.bsky.social Open Access! Forget isolated regions. @PessoaBrain shows behavior emerges from “collective computations” across a fully integrated, complex system. mitpress.mit.edu/978026254460...
#Neuroscience #ComplexityScience #SystemsBiology #BrainResearch
The Entangled Brain: How Perception, Cognition, and Emotion Are Woven Together
A new vision of the brain as a fully integrated, networked organ.Popular neuroscience accounts often focus on specific mind-brain aspects like addiction, c
direct.mit.edu
January 1, 2026 at 9:05 PM
macrinephd.bsky.social
Happy & Healthy New Year!
January 1, 2026 at 4:08 PM
Reposted by Sheila Macrine, PhD
ksks.bsky.social
New preprint with super @manuelbaltieri.bsky.social !

Mathematical approaches to the study of agents

osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
November 21, 2025 at 12:44 PM
macrinephd.bsky.social
News about biological computationalism -agency arises from the constraints of energy & real-time physics—not abstract code. To engineer #consciousness, need to build systems that "feel" the cost of their computation.
neurosciencenews.com/consciousness-…#Agencyc#Roboticsc#BioEngineeringng
December 27, 2025 at 4:18 PM
macrinephd.bsky.social
Rethinking the mechanism of @dissociation . Combines first-principles & nonlinear dynamics: collapses in "temporal depth" is the key driver behind the loss of self-coherence. tinyurl.com/2wevuvvp
@drmichaellevin.bsky.social , ‪@tolchinsky.bsky.social @lancelotdacosta.bsky.social
Frontiers | Temporal depth in a coherent self and in depersonalization: theoretical model
Multiple theoretical models of dissociative experiences have been formulated over the last century. These theories are clinically useful; however, it remains...
www.frontiersin.org
December 4, 2025 at 9:15 PM
macrinephd.bsky.social
How are the self, space, and time related? A new study on #depersonalization found feeling disconnected from your body-linked to time slowing down, & feeling detached from the world-linked to time speeding up. @Annaciaunica tinyurl.com/bdh4thdb #Neuroscience #TimePerception #Consciousness
Spatiotemporal disruptions of reality perception in depersonalization
Experiences of time and space are core constituents of the sense of bodily self. Depersonalization (DP) is a condition characterized by distressing feelings of
tinyurl.com
September 14, 2025 at 9:30 AM
macrinephd.bsky.social
A brain-wide map of decision-making! 🧠 Study reveals how sensory inputs, choices & motor actions are encoded across 279 brain regions. Dataset publicly available
#Neuroscience #BrainMapping #DecisionMaking #OpenScience #BigData #Neuropixels t.co/54Lc3CmYgV
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09235-0
t.co
September 13, 2025 at 4:25 AM
macrinephd.bsky.social

What do proteins, animal forms & languages have in common? #Evolution! Unified framework detects evolutionary leaps #branching across #molecular, #morphological, and #cultural scales onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
#Genomics #Adaptation
#ComputationalBiology #Biology
Chameleonic Nature of Aβ: Implications for Alzheimer's and Other Amyloid Diseases
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onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 5, 2025 at 9:35 AM
macrinephd.bsky.social
New research calls an Alzheimer's protein "chameleon-like." 🦎 It shape-shifts to form toxic plaques, but this same flexibility also allows the plaques to break apart. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.10…#Alzheimersr#amyloidi#researchc#neurosciencec#proteinfoldingn#dementiaia
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.10…
September 5, 2025 at 9:32 AM
macrinephd.bsky.social
Nature's #biomimicry at its finest! rove beetle that grows a hyper-realistic "termite puppet" on its back to steal food 🐜 scim.ag/40kQtbI h/t @justinechterna9
#mimicry #evolution #entomology #newspecies #insects #natureiswild
Beetle grows ‘termite’ on back to steal food
Puppet helps insect trick real termites into feeding it
scim.ag
September 5, 2025 at 9:32 AM
macrinephd.bsky.social
What is Life?" @drmichaellevin.bsky.social
& #TerrenceDeacon unite thermodynamics and cognition across all scales, bridging #EvoDev, #cogsci & #philosophy. Inspired by @danieldennett's legacy. youtu.be/HuWbHwPZd60?fe…#Evolutionon#Biologyg#Philosophyh#Consciousnesss#Complexityty
Terrence Deacon & Michael Levin: What is Life? Complexity, Cognition & the Origin of Purpose
YouTube video by Mind-Body Solution
https://youtu.be/HuWbHwPZd60?fe…
September 3, 2025 at 9:25 AM
macrinephd.bsky.social
Can We Engineer Artificial Consciousness?" Professors Karl Friston & Mark Solms, pioneers in #neuroscience, #psychology, and theoretical #biology, dive into the frontiers of #consciousness @KarlFristonNews @Mark_Solms youtu.be/Jtp426wQ-JI?...
Karl Friston & Mark Solms: Is it Possible to Engineer Artificial Consciousness?
YouTube video by Mind-Body Solution
youtu.be
September 3, 2025 at 1:26 AM
macrinephd.bsky.social
An updated evolutionary model shows that living systems evolve in a split-and-hit-the-gas dynamic, where new lineages appear in sudden bursts rather than during a long marathon of gradual changes. #Evolution #Biology #Adaptation www.quantamagazine.org/the-sudden-s...
The Sudden Surges That Forge Evolutionary Trees | Quanta Magazine
An updated evolutionary model shows that living systems evolve in a split-and-hit-the-gas dynamic, where new lineages appear in sudden bursts rather than during a long marathon of gradual changes.
www.quantamagazine.org
August 30, 2025 at 2:09 PM
macrinephd.bsky.social
Open-source AI platform is democratizing the design of custom proteins! 🧬 It "reverse-engineers" the process, to create specific protein binders for therapeutic research applications. share.google/zQLs8VH9S7jm...
#OpenSource #AI #ProteinDesign #Biotechnology #ScienceForAll
An open-source AI platform to democratize protein design
Since its release last year, the open-source platform BindCraft, developed at EPFL, has already disrupted the world of protein design.
share.google
August 30, 2025 at 7:00 AM
macrinephd.bsky.social
Why does AI get stuck in infinite loops?
"Unlike computers, we are beings in time-embodied, embedded, and entimed in our worlds. We can never be caught in infinite loops because we never exist out of time." bigthink.com/neuropsych/a...
Why AI gets stuck in infinite loops — but conscious minds don’t
Anil Seth suggests the difference is that living beings are rooted in time and entropy, a grounding that may be essential for consciousness.
bigthink.com
August 24, 2025 at 1:22 AM
macrinephd.bsky.social
Cool interview with Karl Friston x.com/mlstreettalk...
x.com
August 21, 2025 at 7:13 PM
macrinephd.bsky.social
New research shows a #BCI can decode a person's silent, inner speech into full sentences. Tapping into the brain's motor cortex, revolutionizing communication for those who cannot speak.
#Neuroscience #BrainComputerInterface #Neurotech #Accessibility
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Inner speech in motor cortex and implications for speech neuroprostheses
Inner speech is robustly represented in the motor cortex and can be decoded in real time to restore communication to people with paralysis. Unintentional decoding of private inner speech can be preven...
www.cell.com
August 21, 2025 at 7:08 PM
macrinephd.bsky.social
Can active inference model consciousness? New paper proposes it can, via a "Beautiful Loop Theory." It rests on three key conditions that create a self-evidencing system. 🧠 @KarlFristonNews
#Consciousness #ActiveInference ##FEP
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
A beautiful loop: An active inference theory of consciousness
Can active inference model consciousness? We offer three conditions implying that it can. The first condition is the simulation of a world model, whic…
www.sciencedirect.com
August 21, 2025 at 7:06 PM
macrinephd.bsky.social
Really intriguing talk coming up by @annaciaunica.bsky.social
on whether you need a body to be somebody, a self ?
FREE Online access Artificial General Intelligence (AGI25 ) Conference August 10-13 AGI sign up. agi-conf.org/2025/
Also a link to @AnnaCiaunica paper.
osf.io/preprints/psya…
OSF
https://osf.io/preprints/psya…
July 23, 2025 at 8:08 AM
macrinephd.bsky.social

Breakthrough! After 50 years, a monumental proof in abstract mathematics is bringing us closer to a Grand Unified Theory! This quiet revolution is one of science's biggest stories. #Mathematics #ScienceNews #GrandUnifiedTheory #AbstractMath
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The breakthrough proof bringing mathematics closer to a grand unified theory
The Langlands programme has inspired and befuddled mathematicians for more than 50 years. A major advance has now opened up new worlds for them to explore.
www.nature.com
July 22, 2025 at 8:20 AM