Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Razia Sahi @raziasahi.bsky.social · 11h

Managing emotions is not easy - we often get by with a little help. In the NEW Social Interaction and Emotion Lab at Rutgers-Newark, we’ll study how social interactions regulate emotion using experiments, naturalistic data, and multi-modal approaches. ✨ Now recruiting! ✨🙌 Learn more: raziasahi.com

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Tobias Kube @tobikube.bsky.social · 8d

Excited to share this new article of my PhD student Edith Rapo on the association between depression and seeking feedback from others about oneself, depending on the anticipated feedback's valence and congruence with the self-perception. Open Acces in BRAT 👇 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Better to keep a negative self-perception than ask for feedback? - How depressive symptoms are associated with the desire for social feedback

We investigated whether depressive symptom severity is associated with incongruence between how people perceive themselves (self-perception) and how t…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Kunal Jha @kjha02.bsky.social · 6d

Forget modeling every belief and goal! What if we represented people as following simple scripts instead (i.e "cross the crosswalk")?

Our new paper shows AI which models others’ minds as Python code 💻 can quickly and accurately predict human behavior!

shorturl.at/siUYI%F0%9F%...

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Eric Hehman @erichehman.bsky.social · 5d

Paper and R package for (more flexible) power analysis in multilevel: psycnet.apa.org/record/2024-...

APA PsycNet

psycnet.apa.org

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Rich Lucas @richlucas.bsky.social · 19d

Interested in models used to estimate lagged effects in panel data? We (@rebiweidmann.bsky.social, Hyewon Yang) have a new paper looking at patterns of stability and their implications for bias and model choice: osf.io/preprints/ps... [1/x]

OSF

osf.io

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Josh Johansen @jojolab.bsky.social · May 14

I’m excited to share a new paper from the lab. The study led by Xiaowei Gu reveals how the mPFC encodes complex emotional memories, using an internal model to infer emotional associations and memories via projections to the amygdala. a🧵(1/8)

rdcu.be/el19t

Prefrontal encoding of an internal model for emotional inference

Nature - Neurons in the rodent dorsomedial prefrontal cortex encode a flexible internal model of emotion by linking directly experienced and inferred associations with aversive experiences.

rdcu.be

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Sam Nastase @samnastase.bsky.social · 7d

I'm recruiting PhD students to join my new lab in Fall 2026! The Shared Minds Lab at @usc.edu will combine deep learning and ecological human neuroscience to better understand how we communicate our thoughts from one brain to another.

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Steve Rathje @steverathje.bsky.social · 7d

🚨 New preprint 🚨

Across 3 experiments (n = 3,285), we found that interacting with sycophantic (or overly agreeable) AI chatbots entrenched attitudes and led to inflated self-perceptions.

Yet, people preferred sycophantic chatbots and viewed them as unbiased!

osf.io/preprints/ps...

Thread 🧵

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

David V. Smith @dvsmith.bsky.social · 9d

New work led by @mattmattoni.bsky.social

“Overall, results suggest that BOLD activation to reward tasks, and likely other fMRI tasks, is more appropriate for within-person study than between-person study, highlighting a need for intensive longitudinal neuroimaging designs.”

bioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 10d

Precision Imaging for Intraindividual Investigation of the Reward Response https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.26.678878v1

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Eiko Fried @eikofried.bsky.social · 9d

Intervening on a central node in a network likely does little given that its connected neighbors will "flip it back" immediately. Happy to see this position supported now.

"Change is most likely [..] if it spreads first among relatively poorly connected nodes."

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Transformation starts at the periphery of networks where pushback is less - Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports - Transformation starts at the periphery of networks where pushback is less

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Erica D. Pratt @pratted.bsky.social · 12d

Announcing such a major change to NSF GRFP this late in the cycle is incredibly cruel. 2nd yr students (mine included) have been working so hard on their proposals despite ongoing uncertainty. They are driven and passionate about being outstanding scientists and helping those coming up behind them.

This means individuals in the following statuses at the time of application are eligible:

Undergraduate in the final (senior) year of a bachelor’s degree program
Bachelor’s degree-holder with NO enrollment in a graduate degree program (non-degree graduate coursework allowed)
Individual enrolled in a joint bachelor’s-master’s degree program with at least three undergraduate years completed
First-year graduate student in their first graduate degree program with less than one academic year completed in the degree program (according to institution’s academic calendar)
Individuals enrolled in joint bachelor’s-master’s degree programs are considered graduate students. For GRFP, joint bachelor’s-master’s degrees are defined as degrees concurrently pursued and awarded.
Not be a current NSF employee.

Applications that do not meet eligibility requirements will be returned without review as being ineligible for a fellowship.

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Yi Zhang @yizhang96.bsky.social · 15d

New paper out in Journal of Experimental Social Psychology! 🎉

How do we figure out who will accept or reject us in a new group?

We show that people generalize relational value across friendship ties—forming a network gradient of approach & avoidance.

authors.elsevier.com/a/1lq3x51f8w...

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Kris Jensen @kristorpjensen.bsky.social · 14d

I’m super excited to finally put my recent work with @behrenstimb.bsky.social on bioRxiv, where we develop a new mechanistic theory of how PFC structures adaptive behaviour using attractor dynamics in space and time!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Danielle Navarro @djnavarro.net · 17d

Against my better instincts, I have written some notes on how human probability judgements work and what you should expect from surveys that ask people to guess what proportion of the population is transgender. I hope never to speak of this matter again

Some notes on probability judgement – Notes from a data witch

For the love of fuck, literally nobody thinks that 20% of the population is transgender. Please stop sharing that ridiculous YouGov statistic

blog.djnavarro.net

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Ordinary Notes @hystericalblkns.bsky.social · 21d

If you’re on academia dot edu, let me suggest that you strongly consider deleting your account.

The new TOC from academia dot edu.

By creating an Account with Academia.edu, you grant us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable license, permission, and consent for Academia.edu to use your Member Content and your personal information (including, but not limited to, your name, voice, signature, photograph, likeness, city, institutional affiliations, citations, mentions, publications, and areas of interest) in any manner, including for the purpose of advertising, selling, or soliciting the use or purchase of Academia.edu's Services.

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Linas Nasvytis @linasnasvytis.bsky.social · 22d

🚨New paper out w/ @gershbrain.bsky.social & @fierycushman.bsky.social from my time @Harvard!

Humans are capable of sophisticated theory of mind, but when do we use it?

We formalize & document a new cognitive shortcut: belief neglect — inferring others' preferences, as if their beliefs are correct🧵

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Dr Lena Matyjek @lmatyjek.bsky.social · 21d

I'm so excited to finally share work that’s been a couple of years in the making!
See our new paper on *social interactions in #autism*, co-authored with Isabel Dziobek, @antoniahamilton.bsky.social & @thaliawheatley.bsky.social in @autisminadulthood.bsky.social 🎉
www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Social Interaction Style in Autism: A Narrative Review of Social Behaviors and Outcomes in Autistic and Neurotypical Interactions | Autism in Adulthood

Social interaction difficulties are a defining feature of autism. Historically, research has concentrated on comparing the social behaviors of autistic and neurotypical individuals in cross-neurotype ...

www.liebertpub.com

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Shannon Burns, PhD @shannon47burns.bsky.social · 22d

Congrats @jfguassimoreira.bsky.social!! 👏 killing it!

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Landry Bulls @landrybulls.bsky.social · 22d

Excited to share the preprint for my 1st 1st-author manuscript! @markthornton.bsky.social and I show that people hold robust, structured beliefs about how individual mental states unfold in intensity over time. We find that these beliefs are reflected in other domains of mental state understanding.

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Brandon C Davidson @bcdavidson.bsky.social · 22d

🚨 New Preprint 🚨

Prolonged Isolation is associated with an increased behavioural sensitivity to ‘Likes’ on social media.

🧵

Social media rewards are inherently social—but does posting change during social isolation, when in-person social rewards are limited?

It turns out, yes!

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Dave Hauser @davehauser.bsky.social · Aug 13

To prevent Ps from pasting (GPT-generated) responses to your text entry Qualtrics question, disable pasting.

Add this code to the OnReady section of your question's javascript:

jQuery("#"+this.questionId+" .InputText").on("cut copy paste",function(e) {
e.preventDefault();
});

Enjoy!

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Shannon Burns, PhD @shannon47burns.bsky.social · 26d

A work of art

Kendra Albert @kendraserra.bsky.social · 27d

Very glad to see that someone is doing the important work of aligning AI alignment. alignmentalignment.ai

Center for the Alignment of AI Alignment Centers

We align the aligners

alignmentalignment.ai

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Nature Human Behaviour @nathumbehav.nature.com · Sep 2

In this study, @mayucel.bsky.social et al. examine how skin and hair characteristics impact functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) signal quality, and provide recommendations for inclusive use of fNIRS.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Quantifying the impact of hair and skin characteristics on fNIRS signal quality for enhanced inclusivity - Nature Human Behaviour

Yücel et al. examine how skin and hair characteristics impact functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) signal quality and provide recommendations for inclusive use of fNIRS.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Samantha Joel @datingdecisions.bsky.social · 28d

In a new paper, my colleagues and I set out to demonstrate how method biases can create spurious findings in relationship science, by using a seemingly meaningless scale (e.g., "My relationship has very good Saturn") to predict relationship outcomes. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Pseudo Effects: How Method Biases Can Produce Spurious Findings About Close Relationships - Samantha Joel, John K. Sakaluk, James J. Kim, Devinder Khera, Helena Yuchen Qin, Sarah C. E. Stanton, 2025

Research on interpersonal relationships frequently relies on accurate self-reporting across various relationship facets (e.g., conflict, trust, appreciation). Y...

journals.sagepub.com

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Reposted by Shannon Burns, PhD

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 29d

If you're an author and haven't yet signed up for the Anthropic settlement, do yourself a favor (and strike a blow against AI) by checking to see if any of your books were involved.

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI

Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.

www.theatlantic.com

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