Rahul Venugopal, PhD
@rhlvenugopal.bsky.social
Cognitive Scientist 👨🔬 Centre for Consciousness Studies, NIMHANS 🏥 Sense of Self 🧠 tACS⚡ Schizophrenia😵 Non ordinary states of Consciousness🔮
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
fMRI signals “up,” but neural metabolism might be going “down.”
In our @natneuro.nature.com paper, we demonstrate that about 40% of voxels with robust BOLD responses exhibit opposite oxygen metabolism, revealing two distinct hemodynamic modes.
rdcu.be/eUPO8
funds @erc.europa.eu
#neuroskyence 🧵:
In our @natneuro.nature.com paper, we demonstrate that about 40% of voxels with robust BOLD responses exhibit opposite oxygen metabolism, revealing two distinct hemodynamic modes.
rdcu.be/eUPO8
funds @erc.europa.eu
#neuroskyence 🧵:
December 16, 2025 at 3:43 PM
fMRI signals “up,” but neural metabolism might be going “down.”
In our @natneuro.nature.com paper, we demonstrate that about 40% of voxels with robust BOLD responses exhibit opposite oxygen metabolism, revealing two distinct hemodynamic modes.
rdcu.be/eUPO8
funds @erc.europa.eu
#neuroskyence 🧵:
In our @natneuro.nature.com paper, we demonstrate that about 40% of voxels with robust BOLD responses exhibit opposite oxygen metabolism, revealing two distinct hemodynamic modes.
rdcu.be/eUPO8
funds @erc.europa.eu
#neuroskyence 🧵:
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
this seems problematic for claims of increased brain activation
fMRI signals “up,” but neural metabolism might be going “down.”
In our @natneuro.nature.com paper, we demonstrate that about 40% of voxels with robust BOLD responses exhibit opposite oxygen metabolism, revealing two distinct hemodynamic modes.
rdcu.be/eUPO8
funds @erc.europa.eu
#neuroskyence 🧵:
In our @natneuro.nature.com paper, we demonstrate that about 40% of voxels with robust BOLD responses exhibit opposite oxygen metabolism, revealing two distinct hemodynamic modes.
rdcu.be/eUPO8
funds @erc.europa.eu
#neuroskyence 🧵:
December 24, 2025 at 10:45 AM
this seems problematic for claims of increased brain activation
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
🎊📜 NEW PAPER 📜🎊
Can we seriously build synthetic consciousness?
And if so, where do we start?
I’m super excited to present recent publication in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews where @jaanaru.bsky.social and I confront this challenge head on.
1/n
Can we seriously build synthetic consciousness?
And if so, where do we start?
I’m super excited to present recent publication in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews where @jaanaru.bsky.social and I confront this challenge head on.
1/n
On biological and artificial consciousness: A case for biological computationalism
The rapid advances in the capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) have galvanised public and scientific debates over whether artificial systems m…
sciencedirect.com
December 18, 2025 at 5:26 PM
🎊📜 NEW PAPER 📜🎊
Can we seriously build synthetic consciousness?
And if so, where do we start?
I’m super excited to present recent publication in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews where @jaanaru.bsky.social and I confront this challenge head on.
1/n
Can we seriously build synthetic consciousness?
And if so, where do we start?
I’m super excited to present recent publication in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews where @jaanaru.bsky.social and I confront this challenge head on.
1/n
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
This is friggin’ cool.
New preprint!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
As you are silently reading this, you may experience a little voice in your head. How is it represented in the brain, and what purpose does it serve? Our new study answers the questions.
Together with @adriendoerig.bsky.social and Radek Cichy.(1/8)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
As you are silently reading this, you may experience a little voice in your head. How is it represented in the brain, and what purpose does it serve? Our new study answers the questions.
Together with @adriendoerig.bsky.social and Radek Cichy.(1/8)
Auditory representations of words during silent visual reading
Silent visual reading is accompanied by the phenomenological experience of an inner voice. However, the temporal dynamics and functional role of the underlying neural representations remain unclear. H...
www.biorxiv.org
December 15, 2025 at 11:55 PM
This is friggin’ cool.
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
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...
This year's theme is computational neurophenomenology (broadly defined)
Applications are now open!
www.uni-bamberg.de/en/bamxi/res...
Computational Neurophenomenology Cabin Workshop - Bamberg Mathematical Consciousness Science Initiative (BAMΞ)
www.uni-bamberg.de
November 23, 2025 at 11:31 AM
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...
This year's theme is computational neurophenomenology (broadly defined)
Applications are now open!
www.uni-bamberg.de/en/bamxi/res...
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
The 25 most powerful ideas of the 21st century:
1. Dream engineering
"For years, trying to convince scientists to take dreams seriously was a nightmare. Now the tide has turned ..."
www.sciencefocus.com/future-techn...
1. Dream engineering
"For years, trying to convince scientists to take dreams seriously was a nightmare. Now the tide has turned ..."
www.sciencefocus.com/future-techn...
The 25 most powerful ideas of the 21st century (so far), picked by the world’s top thinkers | BBC Science Focus Magazine
We're a quarter of the way into the new century. To mark this milestone, we asked the UK's top minds to highlight some of the game-changing scientific breakthroughs shaping our world since the year 20...
www.sciencefocus.com
November 19, 2025 at 6:41 AM
The 25 most powerful ideas of the 21st century:
1. Dream engineering
"For years, trying to convince scientists to take dreams seriously was a nightmare. Now the tide has turned ..."
www.sciencefocus.com/future-techn...
1. Dream engineering
"For years, trying to convince scientists to take dreams seriously was a nightmare. Now the tide has turned ..."
www.sciencefocus.com/future-techn...
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
Join us this Thursday for an exciting talk by @sconinxphil.bsky.social!
Event info: www.uni-bamberg.de/en/bamxi/res...
To join via Zoom, please register here: www.uni-bamberg.de/en/bamxi/kon... Meeting details will be distributed via email.
#ConSci
Event info: www.uni-bamberg.de/en/bamxi/res...
To join via Zoom, please register here: www.uni-bamberg.de/en/bamxi/kon... Meeting details will be distributed via email.
#ConSci
November 3, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Join us this Thursday for an exciting talk by @sconinxphil.bsky.social!
Event info: www.uni-bamberg.de/en/bamxi/res...
To join via Zoom, please register here: www.uni-bamberg.de/en/bamxi/kon... Meeting details will be distributed via email.
#ConSci
Event info: www.uni-bamberg.de/en/bamxi/res...
To join via Zoom, please register here: www.uni-bamberg.de/en/bamxi/kon... Meeting details will be distributed via email.
#ConSci
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
1/🧵 Out today in @frontiersin.bsky.social : “Consciousness science: where are we, where are we going, and what if we get there?” By @axc.bsky.social @liadmudrik.bsky.social, & me (a CIFAR & @erc.europa.eu production 🧠). www.frontiersin.org/journals/sci...
Advancing consciousness science
Defining new directions in consciousness research and exploring implications for medicine, technology, and ethics
www.frontiersin.org
October 30, 2025 at 12:00 PM
1/🧵 Out today in @frontiersin.bsky.social : “Consciousness science: where are we, where are we going, and what if we get there?” By @axc.bsky.social @liadmudrik.bsky.social, & me (a CIFAR & @erc.europa.eu production 🧠). www.frontiersin.org/journals/sci...
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
Neuroscience of Dreaming
Summer School - May 4-8, 2026 - Lucca, Italy
Applications open: nodsummerschool.imtlucca.it
Summer School - May 4-8, 2026 - Lucca, Italy
Applications open: nodsummerschool.imtlucca.it
October 20, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Neuroscience of Dreaming
Summer School - May 4-8, 2026 - Lucca, Italy
Applications open: nodsummerschool.imtlucca.it
Summer School - May 4-8, 2026 - Lucca, Italy
Applications open: nodsummerschool.imtlucca.it
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
It's an honour to be speaking, in a few minutes, at the memorial symposium for the greatly missed, and the simply great, Daniel Dennett provost.tufts.edu/events/denne...
Let’s Talk About (Artificial) Consciousness: A Day of Study Honoring Dan Dennett - Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President
Location: Alumnae Lounge, Aidekman Arts Center, Medford/Somerville campus Date: Tuesday, October 14, 2025 "Let’s Talk About (Artificial) Consciousness: A Day of Study Honoring Dan Dennett" is a sym...
provost.tufts.edu
October 14, 2025 at 5:34 PM
It's an honour to be speaking, in a few minutes, at the memorial symposium for the greatly missed, and the simply great, Daniel Dennett provost.tufts.edu/events/denne...
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
Michael X Cohen on why he left academia/neuroscience.
mikexcohen.substack.com/p/why-i-left...
mikexcohen.substack.com/p/why-i-left...
Why I left academia and neuroscience
Don't worry, this isn't yet another story of rage-quitting.
mikexcohen.substack.com
October 6, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Michael X Cohen on why he left academia/neuroscience.
mikexcohen.substack.com/p/why-i-left...
mikexcohen.substack.com/p/why-i-left...
Congratulations @introspection.bsky.social 🎉
October 2, 2025 at 5:24 AM
Congratulations @introspection.bsky.social 🎉
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
Honored to be awarded the FRQ–IVADO Research Chair in "Social Neuro-AI & Inter-Personalized Psychiatry"!
Grateful to my team & colleagues at @cra-chusj.bsky.social & @mila-quebec.bsky.social, and my family for their support 🙏
Excited to keep bridging social neuroscience, AI & precision psychiatry🚀
Grateful to my team & colleagues at @cra-chusj.bsky.social & @mila-quebec.bsky.social, and my family for their support 🙏
Excited to keep bridging social neuroscience, AI & precision psychiatry🚀
🔷 IVADO announces 6 new #AI #research chairs with the support of the Fonds de recherche du Québec.
Awarded to professors from our 5 partner universities, they reflect the excellence and diversity of AI research in Québec.
👉 ivado.ca/en/2025/09/2...
@fondsrechercheqc.bsky.social #R3AI
Awarded to professors from our 5 partner universities, they reflect the excellence and diversity of AI research in Québec.
👉 ivado.ca/en/2025/09/2...
@fondsrechercheqc.bsky.social #R3AI
IVADO announces the creation of six new research chairs in artificial intelligence with the support of the Fonds de recherche du Québec | IVADO
ivado.ca
September 29, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Honored to be awarded the FRQ–IVADO Research Chair in "Social Neuro-AI & Inter-Personalized Psychiatry"!
Grateful to my team & colleagues at @cra-chusj.bsky.social & @mila-quebec.bsky.social, and my family for their support 🙏
Excited to keep bridging social neuroscience, AI & precision psychiatry🚀
Grateful to my team & colleagues at @cra-chusj.bsky.social & @mila-quebec.bsky.social, and my family for their support 🙏
Excited to keep bridging social neuroscience, AI & precision psychiatry🚀
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
We want the Dream Database to be a living database, so that it can grow and improve over time.
Don't hesitate to get in touch if you want to use it or contribute to it!
The database link:
bridges.monash.edu/articles/dat...
Don't hesitate to get in touch if you want to use it or contribute to it!
The database link:
bridges.monash.edu/articles/dat...
bridges.monash.edu
August 14, 2025 at 1:40 PM
We want the Dream Database to be a living database, so that it can grow and improve over time.
Don't hesitate to get in touch if you want to use it or contribute to it!
The database link:
bridges.monash.edu/articles/dat...
Don't hesitate to get in touch if you want to use it or contribute to it!
The database link:
bridges.monash.edu/articles/dat...
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
This one looks intriguing. Arousal "embedding" whole-brain dynamics. 🤯
#neuroskyence #compneurosky
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
#neuroskyence #compneurosky
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Arousal as a universal embedding for spatiotemporal brain dynamics - Nature
Reframing of arousal as a latent dynamical system can reconstruct multidimensional measurements of large-scale spatiotemporal brain dynamics on the timescale of seconds in mice.
doi.org
September 25, 2025 at 6:03 AM
This one looks intriguing. Arousal "embedding" whole-brain dynamics. 🤯
#neuroskyence #compneurosky
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
#neuroskyence #compneurosky
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Happy to share this new paper (open access) on the logic of extrapolations in consciousness science, written with @liadmudrik.bsky.social
Happy to share this new paper (open access) on the logic of extrapolations in consciousness science, written with @liadmudrik.bsky.social
Extrapolating Other Consciousnesses: The Prospects and Limits of Analogical Abduction | Philosophy of Science | Cambridge Core
Extrapolating Other Consciousnesses: The Prospects and Limits of Analogical Abduction
www.cambridge.org
September 26, 2025 at 3:00 PM
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Happy to share this new paper (open access) on the logic of extrapolations in consciousness science, written with @liadmudrik.bsky.social
Happy to share this new paper (open access) on the logic of extrapolations in consciousness science, written with @liadmudrik.bsky.social
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
Incredible study by Raut et al.: by tracking a single measure (pupil size), you can model slow, large-scale dynamics in neuronal calcium, metabolism, and brain blood oxygen through a shared latent space! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
September 25, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Incredible study by Raut et al.: by tracking a single measure (pupil size), you can model slow, large-scale dynamics in neuronal calcium, metabolism, and brain blood oxygen through a shared latent space! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
🧠🧪 New paper in #NCONSC 🧠🧪
What if people who seem unconscious (e.g., Disorders of Consciousness, DoC) could still dream or experience mind wandering?
We explore this possibility in a new review:
academic.oup.com/nc/article/2...
With Jasmine Walter and Jennifer Windt!
#consciousness #dreaming
What if people who seem unconscious (e.g., Disorders of Consciousness, DoC) could still dream or experience mind wandering?
We explore this possibility in a new review:
academic.oup.com/nc/article/2...
With Jasmine Walter and Jennifer Windt!
#consciousness #dreaming
Do individuals with disorders of consciousness dream and mind wander? Implications for improving diagnosis and understanding patient wellbeing
Abstract. Fluctuations in the presence, experiential quality and contents of consciousness occur naturally during sleep and wakefulness and are core featur
academic.oup.com
September 7, 2025 at 3:52 PM
🧠🧪 New paper in #NCONSC 🧠🧪
What if people who seem unconscious (e.g., Disorders of Consciousness, DoC) could still dream or experience mind wandering?
We explore this possibility in a new review:
academic.oup.com/nc/article/2...
With Jasmine Walter and Jennifer Windt!
#consciousness #dreaming
What if people who seem unconscious (e.g., Disorders of Consciousness, DoC) could still dream or experience mind wandering?
We explore this possibility in a new review:
academic.oup.com/nc/article/2...
With Jasmine Walter and Jennifer Windt!
#consciousness #dreaming
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
Excellent visual explainer article on the flaws of David Geier's anti-vax pseudoscience.
Will have my psych research methods class read this -- hammers home the real-world meaning of poorly designed controls, lax ethics, bias, replication.
#metasci
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Will have my psych research methods class read this -- hammers home the real-world meaning of poorly designed controls, lax ethics, bias, replication.
#metasci
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
September 6, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Excellent visual explainer article on the flaws of David Geier's anti-vax pseudoscience.
Will have my psych research methods class read this -- hammers home the real-world meaning of poorly designed controls, lax ethics, bias, replication.
#metasci
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Will have my psych research methods class read this -- hammers home the real-world meaning of poorly designed controls, lax ethics, bias, replication.
#metasci
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
Next week onwards, I'm teaching a five-day introductory course on Bayesian Data Analysis in Gent. Newly recorded video lectures to accompany the course are now online: vasishth.github.io/LecturesIntr...
Shravan Vasishth's Intro Bayes course home page
vasishth.github.io
July 10, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Next week onwards, I'm teaching a five-day introductory course on Bayesian Data Analysis in Gent. Newly recorded video lectures to accompany the course are now online: vasishth.github.io/LecturesIntr...
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
Are interoception and mental health linked? Many assume so, with interoception even described as a psychiatric “p-factor.” But in our latest preprint, we were surprised to find little evidence for such a connection. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵 Thread with our reflections on the matter 👇
Interoceptive Ability is Unrelated to Mental Health Symptoms: Evidence From a Large Scale Multi-Domain Psychophysical Investigation
Interoception-the sensing and perception of the internal viscera-is widely cast as a transdiagnostic mechanism linking brain-body interaction to mental illness. Prevailing models propose that altered ...
www.medrxiv.org
August 27, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Are interoception and mental health linked? Many assume so, with interoception even described as a psychiatric “p-factor.” But in our latest preprint, we were surprised to find little evidence for such a connection. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵 Thread with our reflections on the matter 👇
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
🚨New Paper🚨
I spend a lot of time trying to control what people dream about.
Usually, we are looking at dreams of recent memory.
In this new paper, for the first time, we caused people to dream about a specific REMOTE memory from their distant past.
#cogsci
#psychscisky
🧠🟦
I spend a lot of time trying to control what people dream about.
Usually, we are looking at dreams of recent memory.
In this new paper, for the first time, we caused people to dream about a specific REMOTE memory from their distant past.
#cogsci
#psychscisky
🧠🟦
Experimentally Inducing Dreams of Remote Emotional Memory
Abstract. People frequently dream of recent experiences, which may reflect the consolidation of memories in the sleeping brain. Many studies demonstrate th
academic.oup.com
August 22, 2025 at 11:52 AM
🚨New Paper🚨
I spend a lot of time trying to control what people dream about.
Usually, we are looking at dreams of recent memory.
In this new paper, for the first time, we caused people to dream about a specific REMOTE memory from their distant past.
#cogsci
#psychscisky
🧠🟦
I spend a lot of time trying to control what people dream about.
Usually, we are looking at dreams of recent memory.
In this new paper, for the first time, we caused people to dream about a specific REMOTE memory from their distant past.
#cogsci
#psychscisky
🧠🟦
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
Now out in @natneuro.nature.com
What happens to the brain’s body map when a body-part is removed?
Scanning patients before and up to 5 yrs after arm amputation, we discovered the brain’s body map is strikingly preserved despite amputation
www.nature.com/articles/s41593-025-02037-7
🧵1/18
What happens to the brain’s body map when a body-part is removed?
Scanning patients before and up to 5 yrs after arm amputation, we discovered the brain’s body map is strikingly preserved despite amputation
www.nature.com/articles/s41593-025-02037-7
🧵1/18
August 21, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Now out in @natneuro.nature.com
What happens to the brain’s body map when a body-part is removed?
Scanning patients before and up to 5 yrs after arm amputation, we discovered the brain’s body map is strikingly preserved despite amputation
www.nature.com/articles/s41593-025-02037-7
🧵1/18
What happens to the brain’s body map when a body-part is removed?
Scanning patients before and up to 5 yrs after arm amputation, we discovered the brain’s body map is strikingly preserved despite amputation
www.nature.com/articles/s41593-025-02037-7
🧵1/18
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
Here's the schedule for the MIT Consciousness Club this year: sites.google.com/view/mit-con.... I'm looking forward to it! (Rooms will be announced soon; and we're currently working on a zoom option for those who would like to join online)
MIT Consciousness Club
The MIT Consciousness Club aims to foster interdisciplinary research on consciousness at MIT and in the broader Boston area by organizing a monthly event featuring an expert talk on consciousness foll...
sites.google.com
August 19, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Here's the schedule for the MIT Consciousness Club this year: sites.google.com/view/mit-con.... I'm looking forward to it! (Rooms will be announced soon; and we're currently working on a zoom option for those who would like to join online)
Reposted by Rahul Venugopal, PhD
💤🧠🧪 New article! 🧪🧠💤
After years of effort led by @qualiastructure.bsky.social (Nao Tsuchiya and William Wong), Jenny Windt, Katja Valli, Valdas Noreika and @rherzoga.bsky.social, the Dream database is now published in @natcomms.nature.com
**A dream EEG and mentation database**
rdcu.be/eAwni
After years of effort led by @qualiastructure.bsky.social (Nao Tsuchiya and William Wong), Jenny Windt, Katja Valli, Valdas Noreika and @rherzoga.bsky.social, the Dream database is now published in @natcomms.nature.com
**A dream EEG and mentation database**
rdcu.be/eAwni
August 14, 2025 at 1:40 PM
💤🧠🧪 New article! 🧪🧠💤
After years of effort led by @qualiastructure.bsky.social (Nao Tsuchiya and William Wong), Jenny Windt, Katja Valli, Valdas Noreika and @rherzoga.bsky.social, the Dream database is now published in @natcomms.nature.com
**A dream EEG and mentation database**
rdcu.be/eAwni
After years of effort led by @qualiastructure.bsky.social (Nao Tsuchiya and William Wong), Jenny Windt, Katja Valli, Valdas Noreika and @rherzoga.bsky.social, the Dream database is now published in @natcomms.nature.com
**A dream EEG and mentation database**
rdcu.be/eAwni