Thrilled to announce our new paper in @natneuro.nature.com! We managed the impossible: precision functional mapping during #DBS, with 11.7h fMRI/patient. Selective DBS-induced deactivations in the SCAN, building on our recent @nature.com paper. nature.com/articles/s41... @ndosenbach.bsky.social

Most of what's known about human memory stems from H.M., who had his hippocampus removed bilaterally. So we studied memory champion Nelson Dellis with precision brain mapping. Everyone's memory for numbers is crap ... 10 digits. He's memorized 10,000, by turning it into a skill, more like juggling

Read all the details in our preprint – www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... with @ndosenbach.bsky.social @gordonneuro.bsky.social @washu.edu @washumedicine.bsky.social @agilmore.bsky.social @smnelson.bsky.social @nasiametoki.bsky.social @samkrimmelneuro.bsky.social and many more

The 6x US memory champion – Nelson Dellis – can memorize a deck of cards in 40 seconds and knows the first 10K digits of pi. To figure out how, he let us peak inside his brain. Here is what we learned in our precision brain mapping study www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... youtube.com/shorts/MryMq...

How can someone train their brain to have not just improved performance, but to have unbelievable, superhuman performance? You have to hijack a brain system used for something people do very well (remembering stories) and trick it into helping with tasks we don't do well (remembering numbers).

My review with @caterinagratton.bsky.social is (apparently) open access for those who couldn't see it before: www.annualreviews.org/content/jour... We discuss individual differences in brain network organization and how to home in on and talk about commonalities in the face of such differences

A recent @natneuro.nature.com paper analyzed lesion network mapping and raised concerns about the validity of the method. See below 👇 for our response. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A recent paper in @natureportfolio.nature.com raised concerns about the lesion network mapping method. Our team of 16 coauthors analyzed >1000 lesions and 34 symptoms and found that "The methodological foundations of lesion network mapping remain sound" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We review studies showing that when brain areas face similar computational demands in social and non-social context, they perform the same computations. We argue that exaptation (repurposing of traits for new functions) played a key role in brain evolution.

Well now, would you look at that? A massive study of NEARLY 300,000 people in the United States found that receiving an updated 2024-2025 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine REDUCED people’s risk of SEVERE disease AND death in ALL age groups, REGARDLESS of immunity from prior infection or vaccination.

I am thrilled to share that I’ll be joining the University of Notre Dame (@notredame.bsky.social) as an Assistant Professor of Psychology this July!☘️🧠 Please reach out if you're interested in joining my lab! More details to follow soon.

Objective Quality Assessment for Precision Functional MRI Data | bioRxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

🚨 New preprint: Objective Quality Assessment for Precision fMRI Precision functional mapping (PFM) enables individual-level brain network studies — but demands more, and better, data. We introduce an objective framework to determine when a dataset truly supports interpretable, replicable PFM.

A social club — started by Nico Dosenbach, MD, PhD and a colleague — dubbed the "Midnight Scan Club," leveraged low-cost nighttime fMRI scans to provide unique insights into individual brain function. Read all about the history of precision self-scanning: https://bit.ly/4qeuLjR

#Medsky🧪 #IDsky #Neurosky #publichealth @nature.com This study has redefined #ParkinsonsDisease (PD) as a disorder of the Somato-Cognitive Action Network (SCAN), a brain system that integrates whole-body movement, cognition, and internal physiological states www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Breakthrough @nature.com study showcases new non-invasive treatment for Parkinson’s Disease that targets the somato-cognitive action network (SCAN) with personalized neuromodulation, for superior outcomes. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Targeting the somato-cognitive action network (SCAN) rather than motor regions doubles efficacy of TMS treatments for Parkinson’s disease. Seems that various DBS targets for Parkinson’s are selectively connected to the SCAN rather than effector-specific motor regions.🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The highlight of my week was the publication of "Parkinson’s disease as a somato-cognitive action network disorder" in @nature.com. It's a great paper that shows how conceptual changes in fundamental neuroscience - the discovery of SCAN - can improve treatment 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I’m very excited about this new work describing the specific cortical-striatal circuits that are altered in Parkinson’s Disease and that should be targeted for optimal PD treatment. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Michael Okun's take on the SCAN Parkinson's story: www.linkedin.com/posts/michae...

Happy to share a short but super cool video that gives a quick overview of our Nature paper on the somato-cognitive action of netwokr in Parkinson's disease www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Parkinson's disease affects over 10 million people worldwide. A new study led by WashU Medicine researchers is paving the way for more personalized, non-invasive treatment, tackling this neurological disorder at its root. @ndosenbach.bsky.social medicine.washu.edu/news/brain-n...

It’s time to rethink Parkinson’s disease. Our work reframes PD as a disorder of the somato-cognitive action network (SCAN), and shows that normalizing SCAN connectivity represents a shared mechanism across diverse effective therapies. rdcu.be/e2n4t @ndosenbach.bsky.social @gordonneuro.bsky.social

Non-invasive brain surface stimulation targeting personalized SCAN alleviated symptoms in patients with Parkinson’s disease. See the videos below.(www.nature.com/articles/s41...)

This 👇is the last revolution. We are working on the next one - and need your help. HIRING: Postdoc at NYU (Center for Psychedelic Medicine). Looking for strong neuroimaging, human subjects experience, a publication track record, and top scientistiness. Send CV to [email protected]

A specific brain network, the somato-cognitive action network (SCAN), has been identified as central to Parkinson's disease, offering new potential for targeted, noninvasive therapies.

www.nature.com/articles/s41... the original research article ... no paywall

An “extraordinary” brain network discovery shows that Parkinson’s disease may not be a movement disorder after all

A recently discovered brain network that links cognition and actions may have an important role in Parkinson’s disease and could improve its treatment, according to a study in Nature. go.nature.com/49VBuKI #Neuroskyence 🧪

Scientists just discovered a key brain network affected by Parkinson’s disease. The finding could change how doctors understand symptoms and lead to better treatments. 🧠 bit.ly/4qdpLMf

A recently discovered brain network that links cognition (thinking) and actions may have an important role in Parkinson’s disease and could improve its treatment, according to a study published in Nature: spklr.io/63320DMwOi #Neuroscience #Neuroskyence #Parkinsons 🧠 🧪

Check out our new work on the relationship between glioma and system-level functional networks! We identify that nearly all gliomas localize within a common brain functional network, Action-Mode Network (AMN) . biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.05.697608v1

This is genuinely one of the most surprising neuroscience findings I've seen in years. Months after Weigang and Hesheng first showed me this result, I'm still not sure I've wrapped my head around what it means. But I do think it may represent a paradigm shift for research into this terrible disease.

This paper had a pretty shocking headline result (40% of voxels!), so I dug into it, and I think it is wrong. Essentially: they compare two noisy measures and find that about 40% of voxels have different sign between the two. I think this is just noise!

Appreciate the excellent (as usual) science reporting by NPR's Jon Hamilton highlighting our work showing stimulants affect arousal and reward, without directly affecting the brain's attention networks! www.npr.org/2025/12/24/n... Read the whole story in Cell doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

It's about what your brain considers drudgery ... tedium ... boring; not your attention. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... Stimulant drugs (Ritalin) wake you up & boost reward anticipation, they don't make you pay attention better. Since they help with ADHD, it begs the question ... is that a misnomer?

This is your brain on Ritalin. Got your attention? Stimulant medications like Ritalin (methylphenidate) do, but not in the way you might think. They don't act directly on the brain’s attention systems! Find out what's really happening in @cellpress.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

Stimulant medications for ADHD primarily activate brain regions linked to reward and wakefulness, rather than directly targeting attention circuits, suggesting alertness and motivation play key roles. doi.org/hbgxbh

What if we've misunderstood how ADHD stimulants work? WashU Medicine brain imaging and child neurology teams joined forces to uncover where in the brain these drugs act — knowledge that could improve how attention disorders are treated. medicine.washu.edu/news/stimula...

We used Network Level Analysis @muriahwheelock.bsky.social to assess relative stimulant-related changes in attention, arousal, and reward networks. Attention was the least changed, arousal and reward the most. The effects on arousal were so great, stimulants negated the brain effects of drowsiness!

Check out these extremely interesting new findings from @benjaminkay.bsky.social. This has very much changed how I think about ADHD medication and stimulants in general.

as well as research articles on how stimulant medications affect arousal and reward rather than attention networks www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings

This is the genius of the Portland protests - they make the claims of lawlessness look not just wrong, but comical

Is resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC), cortical thickness (CT), or cortical volume more effective at capturing sex and gender differences in the brains of preadolescents? Check out our new article (doi.org/10.1016/j.dc...) now out in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.

Let's continue to build solidarity by peacefully opposing our tyrant-in-chief at No Kings Day 2.0 on October 18. There are currently over 2,000 events planned nationwide. More details here: https://www.nokings.org

Ever wondered if your interesting brain-behavior correlation was over- or under-estimated due to head motion, but were afraid to ask? We’ve created a motion impact score for detecting spurious brain-behavior associations, now available in Nature Communications! doi.org/10.1038/s414...

It took me 2 minutes to write about how this proposed rule would eliminate all foreign PhD students, who are a critical part of US science and technology, and drive US innovation and economic growth

It is really disheartening to see the men who are in charge of science and healthcare in the United States stand before us all and spew misinformation about autism. To claim that genetic background isn’t the overwhelming contributor to autism is egregious.

The FDA is taking their reviews of new drugs behind closed doors, with Director Marty Makary replacing vetted and publicly transparent deliberations with "panels of handpicked scientists who support his views." This is a miscarriage of science, and a betrayal of public trust in service of MAHA.