GastroPy is now out in early beta! Please to share our Python toolbox for electrogastrography and stomach-brain coupling analyses. It includes tools for cleaning, visualising, and analysing EGG data, plus fMRI stomach-brain coupling workflows. Docs, code, and preprint below. osf.io/preprints/ps...

The prize winners are @lydiajhickman.bsky.social & Sam Nallaperuma-Herzberg, giving overviews of their research

🎉 Excited to share our publication in PNAS! 🎉 What happens when our stream of consciousness turns towards the body? Our fMRI study of 536 individuals finds that 'body-wandering' is associated with patterns of brain connectivity, physiology, affect, and mental health: www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....

Is there a single "interoceptive sense"? Our new study in @commspsychol.nature.com says: probably not. In 241 participants, cardiac and respiratory interoception were completely uncorrelated — only subjective confidence was shared across domains. www.nature.com/articles/s44... #psychscisky 🧪

Had a great time presenting at #MBBS2026 in Berlin - thank you so much to the organisers for a wonderful conference

Now, @martager.bsky.social presents our Brain-Body Analysis Special Interest Group (BBSIG) to facilitate and harmonise the processing and analysis of cardiac and respiratory data. Try it yourself! 🔗www.bbsig.de #MindBrainBody #MBBS2026

So many inspiring talks (here by @saramehrhof.bsky.social, Sameer Alladin, @studenova.bsky.social) and discussions on the first day of the #MindBrainBody Symposium 2026! #MBB2026

Autistics (N=17) on ageing journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... e.g. an autistic aged 46 on Parkinson's: "I have traits in common with Parkinson’s already... But it also might be that they don’t really have Parkinson’s, it’s just what autistic people look like when they get old. I’d like to know"

Thoroughly enjoyed writing a commentary on a great paper by @hugofleming.bsky.social et al for @biologicalpsych.bsky.social:GOS, focusing on how to further explore metabolic contributions to learning and feeling using real-time data and interventional designs: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

We are recruiting! Postdoctoral research fellow at www.sdn-lab.org, studying the computational & neural basis of social decision-making. Birmingham is a fantastic & affordable place to live, with one of the youngest populations in Europe & over 600 parks. Please share! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQO275/p...

Our new paper “An assessment of autistic and parkinsonian movement profiles to inform selective classification algorithms” is now published in the Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders: rdcu.be/e2ItP with Jen Cook @dagmarfraser.bsky.social @galeaj.bsky.social @proffrancescahappe.bsky.social 🧵1/n

How does metabolic learning shape human behaviour? In our recent study www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti..., we found that it shapes flavour preferences but, surprisingly, not action. Thread 🧵

Are you curious about electrogastrography, but keep getting chicken-related results when googling "EGG"? We have the preprint for you! In this tutorial, we describe how to acquire and analyse gastric data from human participants. Plus FREE software! Read it here: arxiv.org/abs/2509.17260

New writeup on interoception in Scientific American focusing on its role in mental health: www.scientificamerican.com/article/inte...

New preprint 🎉 Psych constructs are complex. Symptoms overlap, people rarely fit neat categories, and patterns are non-linear. Most methods compromise this richness. Self-Organising Maps don't. We provide a step-by-step tutorial with annotated R code to make them accessible. doi.org/10.31234/osf...

Celebrating brilliance in UK neuroscience! The 2025 BNA Awards highlight the talent and dedication of our members @andrulyte.bsky.social @lng.org.uk and Jaya Sharma. 🏅 Read more: www.bna.org.uk/resource/202...

Congratulations to MRC CBU’s PhD student Annalise Whines, who won the runner-up prize at the MRC Max Perutz Science Communication Awards in the video category. ‘Does motivation change across the menstrual cycle?’ https://www.ukri.org/publications/mrc-max-perutz-science-writing-award-2025/

Passionate about women's mental health? Interested in brain stimulation? Excited by cutting edge neurotech? Come do a PhD with me! www.findaphd.com/phds/project... (thread)

** Recruiting a postdoc ** We are looking for a postdoc to work on emotion, mental health, and interoception, based in London at @ucl.ac.uk in my lab (Clinical and Affective Neuroscience). Part of a large Wellcome Grant (co-led with the brilliant @camillanord.bsky.social)

I updated a blog which I wrote a few years ago about PhD applications. There's a mix of reflections and practical tips which should be useful for anyone thinking about applying for a PhD (at predominantly UK institutions). Please share if it could be helpful! timothysandhu.github.io/blog/phd_blog/

In a large, preregistered study (see preprint), we compared InteroMap to emBODY. Overall, InteroMap demonstrated superior construct validity and usability www.researchgate.net/publication/...

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⭐️

🚨 PhD Opportunity! 🚨 Come investigate the mechanistic role of dopamine in emotion processing with Prof Jennifer Cook - @thechbh.bsky.social @unibirmingham.bsky.social MIBTP-funded PhD, using behavioural, computational and pharmacological approaches. Get in touch and please share!

What drives the bidirectional relationship between metabolic and mental ill-health? Read our new metabolic psychiatry paper, “An interoceptive model of energy allostasis linking metabolic and mental health” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... led by @saramehrhof.bsky.social @hugofleming.bsky.social

Does what you eat really shape your brain, and mental health? Or is it the other way around? Come discover how metabolism links body, brain, and mood with @camillanord.bsky.social at the Arches London Bridge for a SeedTalk on 30 September www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/metabolism...

New qualitative paper! A foray into gastric interception. @lucysta02475610.bsky.social ran a LOT of focus groups, across groups with eating disorders, gastric disorders and neither, to understand how people experience the sensations from their GI system. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

In this @cp-trendsneuro.bsky.social Spotlight, I describe how a recent paper by @leahbanellis.bsky.social, @brainandstomach.bsky.social, et al. opens new avenues in interoception research, including those focussed on the subjective interpretation of internal signals: www.cell.com/trends/neuro...

A good reminder that THE BRAIN 👏🏼 IS CONNECTED 👏🏼 TO THE BODY 👏🏼 100% OF THE TIME 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 (please repeat loudly for the people in the back) #medsky #neuroskyence 🧠🧪

I'm looking for ~25 more people with a gastrointestinal disorder to complete an online survey on interoception. You can find this survey here: sites.google.com/york.ac.uk/l... 🙏

Got Butterflies in your Stomach? I am super excited to share the first major study of my postdoc @the-ecg.bsky.social - Now out in @natmentalhealth.nature.com! We report a multidimensional mental health signature of stomach-brain coupling in the largest sample to date www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Periods at work: not just a nuisance, but a neurological and emotional storm. Grab a cuppa, then read Rebecca’s @beccasue99.bsky.social brilliant take. www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/blog-go-with...

Making Sense of Sensation: A model of Interoceptive Attribution and Appraisal with Clinical applications New preprint from @drhannahsavage.bsky.social & @sarahgarf.bsky.social #interoception #neuroskyence 🧠🫀🫁 osf.io/preprints/ps...

Finally, the amazing Professor Camilla Nord presents on interoception - including some cool lived experience work on body sensations, and work on disgust and gastric rhythms, alongside work on energy conservation. #BAP2025

New paper by @lydiajhickman.bsky.social discusses potential reasons for high rates of Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in the autistic population: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Ever get distracted by your own body? We call this "body-wandering." 🧠🫀 Our latest study uncovers its neural fingerprint and the link to ADHD & depression symptoms. Awesome write-up by our own @leahbanellis.bsky.social, in Psyche Magazine! psyche.co/ideas/how-mu... #neuroscience #research #ADHD

My new paper with Jennifer Cook sets out potential reasons for high rates of Parkinson's disease (PD) diagnosis in the autistic population: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... @mrccbu.bsky.social @thechbh.bsky.social 🧵1/n

On autism, movement & Parkinson's disease (PD), important, free www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... "If it is the case that older autistic individuals are sometimes falsely diagnosed with PD on the basis of outward appearances... the PD diagnosis procedure must be overhauled to guard against this"

For Nature, women make up around 16% of corresponding authors who submit manuscripts — a percentage unchanged from 2018. Women comprise some 18% of corresponding authors who submit papers to Nature Communications and the Nature-branded research journals. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

New article in @psychmag.bsky.social: What Louise Thompson’s Lucky reveals about the mind-body connection www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...

What Louise Thompson’s Lucky reveals about the mind-body connection… @lydiajhickman.bsky.social reviews Louise Thompson's book, 'Lucky: Learning to Live Again'. www.bps.org.uk/psychologist...

Job claxon! Our fantastic colleague Hélio Cuve is looking for a postdoc with expertise in social or affective neuroscience. His lab does cool work on the role of bodily signals in emotions. Apply now! For more info and/or to apply, see: www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

Such a wonderful #BNA2025 conference in sunny Liverpool! Really enjoyed everything on offer for ECRs and the particularly amazing conference dinner location. Thanks so much to the organisers!

so, so excited to share our new theory which endeavours to answer why depression and poor metabolic health go hand-in-hand: "An interoceptive model of energy allostasis linking metabolic and mental health" 💪🧠🔋 @saramehrhof.bsky.social @hugofleming.bsky.social osf.io/preprints/ps...

Thrilled to see @lydiajhickman.bsky.social win the BNA Postgraduate Prize @britishneuro.bsky.social in Liverpool. Hard to think of a better start to a conference!

Whilst I'm on a roll posting to Bluesky, I'd like to share a recent pre-print that's now under review! We looked at how people with eating disorders, a gastric disorder, or neither disorder experience sensations from their gastrointestinal system (gastric interoception). 1/⬇️ osf.io/preprints/os...

Breaking through the mind-body divide: patient priorities for interoception research This broad scoping study establishes new, transdiagnostic, patient-led priorities for the developing field of #interoception in #psychiatry www.thelancet.com/journals/ecl... #MedSky

Fab new pub setting lived experience priorities for interoception research in mental health. Congrats @lydiajhickman.bsky.social‬ & team 👏

Very excited to congratulate Ning Li and @clairelavalley.bsky.social on their new paper published in Molecular Psychiatry. "Directed exploration is reduced by an aversive interoceptive state induction in healthy individuals but not in those with affective disorders" (nature.com/articles/s41...) 🧵👇

Hickman & Mackie et al report ten patient-led priorities for interoception research in psychiatry: doi.org/10.1016/j.ec... @lydiajhickman.bsky.social

I’m so grateful for the opportunity to present my Frith Prize talk at the EPS meeting yesterday — it was such an honour and a delight! I had some fascinating questions and conversations that will definitely help shape my next projects. Huge thanks to @exppsychsoc.bsky.social for the fab conference!