Does dopamine modulate the willingness to help? New Psychology Today post, "How Dopamine Affects Our Motivation to Help Others", written by me, with special thanks to @drjocutler.bsky.social and @thepsychologist.bsky.social www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-...

🎉 New paper alert! In this collaboration across 6 countries 🇧🇬🇬🇷🇳🇬🇸🇪🇬🇧🇺🇸 (n = 3,055), we developed a new pro-environmental behavior task and tested which psychological interventions actually make people more willing to put in real effort for mitigating climate change. Fully OA: tinyurl.com/2s46fppb

Read more about the story behind the project here - communities.springernature.com/posts/boosti... Thanks to all the co-authors across @sdnl.bsky.social, @msnlab.bsky.social, @thechbh.bsky.social, @uob-sop.bsky.social, @scanunit.bsky.social & others

Finally, we found that people who believe climate change is man-made and support policies to protect the planet had higher pro-environmental motivation specifically. People lower in trait apathy and who rated the task as less effortful were more likely to help both causes.

Using computational modelling, we showed that these effective interventions changed how rewards 💰 for the climate 🌍 (vs. food charity) were devalued by effort 💪. This was independent of how noisy participants' choices were 🤔

Two interventions robustly decreased the preference to help food over climate, across measures and analyses. These interventions: - decreased psychological distance to the negative effects of climate change - used system justification theory to promote pro-environmental action

We tested the 11 expert-sourced interventions from the International Climate Psychology Collaboration led by @madalina.bsky.social, @kimdoell.bsky.social, @jbakcoleman.bsky.social & @jayvanbavel.bsky.social See doi.org/10.1126/scia... & doi.org/10.1038/s415... (all the data are freely available!)

People were more willing to exert effort when: 💪 the effort required was 🔽 💰 the reward available was 🔼 In the control group without intervention, motivation was higher to provide food than mitigate climate change 🌍 ➡️ Interventions that promote climate motivation are key

3,055 ppts from 6 countries 🇧🇬🇬🇷🇳🇬🇸🇪🇬🇧🇺🇸 did our new online Pro-Environmental Effort Task ✨ the PEET ✨ On each trial, they choose between rest or work: exerting effort by clicking boxes to earn more credits 💪 Credits were donations to a climate charity 🌍 or a matched control food charity

🌎 New paper in @commspsychol.nature.com 🌍 doi.org/10.1038/s442... There is an urgent need to choose behaviours that mitigate climate change, but these are often more effortful. Can we increase pro-environmental motivation? Joint w/ Luis Sebastian Contreras-Huerta & amazing international team 👇🧵

How can we encourage people to put in effort to benefit the climate? Our new task can help tell us how...

Day 2 starts with a keynote from Susan Healy on learning from mistakes!

Had a brilliant day at the Mechanistic Basis of Foraging conference in Birmingham so far - presenting @johalgermissen.bsky.social’s work and listening to many great speakers 🥳🧠🐠

Nearly ready to go! Mechanistic Basis of Foraging 2025!

Really delighted to share our new article in Current Biology showing that the cingulate-to-dorsolateral prefrontal pathway is not involved in trial-to-trial short-term adaptation but rather in sustained motivational control. doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...

Looking for a PhD? Interested in cognitive computational neuroscience, motivation and decision-making? See our project listed in the BBSRC MIBTP competition for funding for a 4-year PhD in the @msnlab.bsky.social in the @thechbh.bsky.social. Deadline 27/11. More info: tinyurl.com/5d5vz8m7

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⭐️

I'm excited to share the news that our climate change project won the @spspnews.bsky.social Robert Cialdini Prize for a "paper that uses field methods and demonstrates the relevance of social psychology to outside groups and communities"! You can read it here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Plus, there's now a related conference organized by some wonderful people @unibirmingham.bsky.social in the UK, including @brainapps.bsky.social, @markdhumphries.bsky.social, and others. (Registration for this conference is still open until the 20th October!) uobevents.eventsair.com/the-mechanis...

Wonderful to see this out! Also heartwarming to see the first author @lauragrima.bsky.social and last author @emmavscholey.bsky.social were/are trainees of mine. I take none of the credit but super proud of them and the team.

Pleased to have this review out in @cp-trendsneuro.bsky.social. In it we discuss various aspects of the intersection between foraging behaviors and neuroscience, and offer some future directions: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Early bird registration for "The Mechanistic Basis of Foraging 2025" conference ends on 30th September! This meeting provides a multidisciplinary perspective on the neural, behavioural and computational mechanisms of foraging across species. uobevents.eventsair.com/the-mechanis... Please share!

Following social isolation, adolescents show increased sensitivity to rewards during effort-based decision making and reward learning. @livia-tomova.bsky.social @sjblakemore.bsky.social @emilyanntowner.bsky.social @stepalminteri.bsky.social @lei-zhang.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Today's the day we welcome over 80 participants, instructors & keynote speakers from all over the world to @uob-sop.bsky.social @unibirmingham.bsky.social for the Computational Social Cognition (CSC) Summer School with @leidenpsychology.bsky.social @unileiden.bsky.social #CSC2025 www.compsoccog.com

Abstract submission open for The Mechanistic Basis of Foraging 2025 (U. Birmingham, 3-5 November) uobevents.eventsair.com/the-mechanis... Deadline: August 17 A meeting for all fascinated by the brain's role in foraging Pls share!

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNS973/h... We're recruiting for a new Head of School for Psychology @unibirmingham.bsky.social - please do get in touch if of interest.

🚨 New paper in European Journal of Neuroscience: Meta-Analysis Reveals That Explore–Exploit Decisions Are Dissociable by Activation in the Dorsal Lateral Prefrontal Cortex, Anterior Insula, and Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex. 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/ejn.... (1/2)

I am delighted to announce registration and abstract submission is open for "The Mechanistic Basis of Foraging 2025" to be held at the Edgbaston Park Hotel, University of Birmingham, UK on 3-5th November 2025. uobevents.eventsair.com/the-mechanis...

Its nearly time....

Excited to see that our International Neuro Climate Working Group is featured by the World Economic Forum as one of the top global initiatives addressing climate change & mental health 🌍🧠 Grateful to be part of this inspiring, growing movement! 📰 Read more: www.weforum.org/stories/2025...

Excited to deliver my Inaugural lecture as Professor of Cognitive Computational Neuroscience - 4pm (UK time), 2nd July, in-person and online. Title: Can I be bothered? Uncovering computations in the brain that (de) motivate us. www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/c...

Important comment on an impressive new paper! People looking to measure incentivised, effortful actions might be interested in our preprint inc. new online task and effect of pro-environmental interventions 💪🌍 osf.io/preprints/ps... w/ @thepsychologist.bsky.social, @brainapps.bsky.social & many more

⏰ Deadline Monday (28th) for @unibirmingham.bsky.social & @unileiden.bsky.social Computational Social Cognition summer school. Don't miss keynotes by Matthew Rushworth, @dianatamir.bsky.social & @davidamodio.bsky.social www.compsoccog.com ⬇️ Only text response questions in the short application:

Announcing the second 'Computational Social Cognition Summer School' @unibirmingham.bsky.social and Uni. Leiden. Keynotes from @dianatamir.bsky.social , @davidamodio.bsky.social, & Matthew Rushworth, hands on tutorials & instruction from experts, & fun activities for a low price! www.compsoccog.com

Please repost this PhD opportunity in my group working on cognitive computational and decision neuroscience.

3.5 year PhD studentship in cognitive computational neuroscience open in my MSN lab, @thechbh.bsky.social, co-supervised with @selmalugtmeijer.bsky.social & @simonlittle.bsky.social. Deadline 23rd March. Only open to UK candidates. More details here: www.findaphd.com/phds/project... Pls repost

3.5 year PhD studentship in cognitive computational neuroscience open in my MSN lab, @thechbh.bsky.social, co-supervised with @selmalugtmeijer.bsky.social & @simonlittle.bsky.social. Deadline 23rd March. Only open to UK candidates. More details here: www.findaphd.com/phds/project... Pls repost

Announcing the second 'Computational Social Cognition Summer School' @unibirmingham.bsky.social and Uni. Leiden. Keynotes from @dianatamir.bsky.social , @davidamodio.bsky.social, & Matthew Rushworth, hands on tutorials & instruction from experts, & fun activities for a low price! www.compsoccog.com

Excited to be part of this project using functional MRS to examine metabolic changes during grip force, offering interesting insights into brain lactate and more....

Proud to have our first fMRS study from @thechbh.bsky.social published with Maria, @kdudzikowska.bsky.social, Dinesh, @ajquinn.bsky.social, @pgmm03.bsky.social, @brainapps.bsky.social :) Looking forward to making further developments towards fMRS becoming a popular tool for measuring brain activity.

Please repost this open PhD studentship.

Funded PhD (UK students only). Interested in a PhD working in the MSN lab, co-supervised by Dr. Romy Froemer? Topic is flexible around themes of motivation and decision-making, using techniques such as computational modelling, brain imaging, or brain stimulation. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Starter pack for researchers studying the control of cognitive processes e.g., attentional control, inhibition, task switching, working memory, error adaptation etc go.bsky.app/12KTqED

Funded PhD (UK students only). Interested in a PhD working in the MSN lab, co-supervised by Dr. Romy Froemer? Topic is flexible around themes of motivation and decision-making, using techniques such as computational modelling, brain imaging, or brain stimulation. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

🌎 New preprint! 🌍 osf.io/preprints/ps... There is an urgent need to choose behaviours that mitigate climate change. But these actions are often more effortful. How can we increase pro-environmental motivation? Jointly led by Luis Sebastian Contreras-Huerta & amazing international team 👇🧵

🤩In one of the largest experiments conducted in #ClimateChange psychology –63 countries, 258 collaborators, almost 60k participants– we reveal targeted strategies to increase climate change awareness and action around the globe. out in @ScienceAdvances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Delighted to have been promoted to Full Professor of Cognitive Computational Neuroscience @thechbh.bsky.social as of 1st April. Thank you to all the students, postdocs, collaborators and mentors who have made this possible.

Postdoc alert! Come work with me on an ESRC project on the role of narratives in the learning and retention of educational material. 2 year position, start date flexible but no later than 1st September. Application deadline 1st March. #neuroskyence #psychscisky #cognition

Are you a Msc or PhD student, postdoc or very recent faculty? Work on social cognition and want to learn computational modelling? Join our very reasonably priced summer school. Fantastic keynote speakers: Wolfram Schultz, Cecilia Heyes, and Christian Ruff. For more info go to compsoccog.com

Birmingham-Leiden Summer School in Computational Social Cognition (CSC 2024) will take place on the beautiful @unibirmingham campus 14th-17th July compsoccog.com. Fantastic lineup of speakers & instructors inc. Wolfram Schultz @celiaheyes.bsky.social Christian Ruff. Please RT and Register ASAP!