The worse content makes us feel, the more likely we are to keep consuming it. Our brains prioritize negative and exciting content, especially when we’re in a bad mood. Curiosity offers a way out by nudging us toward new, more rewarding, choices. lettersandsciencemag.ucdavis.edu/rage-bait-cu...

Had a great time chatting with Ava about our latest conversation research. If you're interested in what makes for a good conversation, check it out! www.mindsmatterpodcast.com/s5-ep-01-you...

New study out in Neuron: doi.org/10.1016/j.ne.... This work led by Zaid Zada uses fMRI hyperscanning of real dyads to show that speaking and listening rely on shared neural systems; and that conversation recruits unique brain processes that aren't observed in passive comprehension.

Editors of Developmental Psychology have put together a great summary for early career scholars on how to do a good peer review for their journal. doi.org/10.1111/desc...

anxiety

If you've been accepted to the #ICA26 conference and are looking for your visa letter, check your ScholarOne account! 👉 You can find your letter of invitation or visa letter in your ScholarOne account under Messages. 🔗 ica2026.abstractcentral.com

✨Conference registration for the 76th Annual ICA Conference is now open!✨ Anyone can attend, but be sure to log in before registering for discounted rates if you are an active ICA member! 👉 www.icahdq.org/event/ICA26

💫 HAPPY NEW YEAR 2026 - HackingCommSci 💫 while (year == 2026) { code(); test(); break_limits(); build_cool_things(); help_others(); iterate() }

With some trepidation, I'm putting this out into the world: gershmanlab.com/textbook.html It's a textbook called Computational Foundations of Cognitive Neuroscience, which I wrote for my class. My hope is that this will be a living document, continuously improved as I get feedback.

NEW we are hiring 2-3 Postdocs in Social & Decision Neuroscience (SDN) at Caltech. The posting is here www.hss.caltech.edu/about/job-op... Applications are due 15 February 2026. Our core group in SDN is RAdolphs, me, DMobbs, JO'Doherty, and ARangel. Our track record of postdoc success is strong

After 20 years studying neuroscience, I can confidently say that the brain is up to something.

Can someone else figure out my syllabi and also set up my canvas shells

As you make your New Year's resolutions, remember to be kind to your future self, who will likely have less time to work on those resolutions than your current self thinks. @stephanietepper.bsky.social and I wrote about this longstanding time (mis)perception problem a few years ago.

Sleep and digital health in autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Happy new year to all !

My New Year’s resolution is to drink more coffee.

when a call for papers shows up in my inbox

Doing a PhD is - at heart - one long discussion with your mentor. The discussion changes over time - with unexpected turns and ups & downs - but through it all is a pair of people discussing a topic endlessly to make sense of it. PhD students: choose someone you like to talk to!

💯 This was something that @cjsewall9.bsky.social and I tried here: psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/... (preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...) to limited (?) success...

The "smartphones/social media" discourse suffers from some amazing historical amnesia. There was no 2008 financial crisis and no global pandemic starting in 2020, it's all SCREENS SCREENS SCREENS. Major world events? Just the backdrop against which SCREENS happened.

Best MRI demo I’ve ever seen. Accurate. (Sound on).

Sometimes you see a new paper and stop everything you are doing to read it. This is one of those papers. All-star work by an all-star team!

Very excited about this project introducing an integrative character-based network framework predicting success of novels and films. Idea and analysis credit to @gongxuanjun.bsky.social, with big thanks for including me, @fhopp.bsky.social @mattgrizz.bsky.social and Anna Wolfe. More info here:

🚨 Big reveal! New year, new logo, same event! 🚨 Join us for some fun at the 2026 ICA pre-conference hackathon in Stellenbosch, June 3-4. Stay tuned!

And that’s a wrap! Another great (#10!) SoTL Conference @ University of California, Davis ! I appreciated all the thoughtful research and conversations shared by participants. Thank you to everyone who helped make it such an inspiring day!

Tonight’s commute home was epically not bad

Who’s feeling it?

Out now in Scientific Reports! Despite high correlations, ChatGPT models failed to replicate human moral judgments. We propose tests beyond correlation to compare LLM data and human data. With @mattgrizz.bsky.social @andyluttrell.bsky.social @chasmonge.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Being Interdisciplinary feels like practicing non-attachment. Different disciplines come in & out of focus in waves, each a whole world. Engaging with philosophy gives access to different ontologies than engaging in neuroscience or AI. This helps us evaluate each field from within & outside itself.

This is going to ruin the tour www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Beyond honored to speak as keynote for the Comm Horizons Conference at UC Davis!! Triple shout-outs to @richardhuskey.bsky.social, Jorge Peña, and @soojongkim.bsky.social Soojong Kim for organizing efforts. Please consider sending your work and attending the conference (+a short visit to Napa! 🍇🍷)

Excited to announce the third annual Comm Horizons @ucdavis.bsky.social Conference: Communication in the Age of AI and Algorithms Featuring cutting-edge research and keynotes from Jeff Hancock and @angelhwang.bsky.social Hope you'll submit and share! communication.ucdavis.edu/horizonconf2...

If you don’t have the means to donate, even a quick share would mean the world to my pup & I. ❤️‍🩹 Ninook lost her ability to walk this weekend, but a simple (yet expensive) surgery can restore it. I got her when I started this PhD program & she motivates me to finish it. Thank you for your help.

Hi everyone. A grad in my lab (@rachaelkee.bsky.social) could use your help. Her dog needs surgery. If you can, even a little help goes a long way gofund.me/0ebf78a49

The Trump administration demanded UCLA pay $1.2 billion to restore frozen research funding and ensure eligibility for future funding after accusing the school of allowing antisemitism on campus. n.pr/4hYa0pY

Woke up to half a dozen e-learning trainings that are either due or overdue and it makes me wonder what awful things I did in some past life to deserve this

We're disappointed to see Ben Barres's powerful book "The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist" among the ~400 titles removed from the Naval Academy Library. Needless to say, we're proud to have published his book and will keep it — and his memory — alive.

This whole thread owes me royalties for all the bad writing of mine they’re plagiarizing.

seeking contributors for an edited volume

🧵 What does it take to build a small, scrappy, and successful communication neuroscience lab? Our lab, @gongxuanjun.bsky.social, @rachaelkee.bsky.social, Allyson Snyder, Ziyu Zhao, and I put out heads together to answer this question. Here's what we came up with: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

Fireworks in LA rn

This game is like I got caught smoking a baseball and now I have to smoke a whole pack of baseball

Twenty years of edits later, my lasagna barely resembles my mother-in-law’s original. Philosophically speaking, am I still making _her_ lasagna?

This is a great NPR piece for anyone looking for quick, science-based tips on how to build a healthier relationship with media. Fantastic work by @richardhuskey.bsky.social @aeden.bsky.social and Robin Nabi ! #psychsky #healthymedia

We say we want uplifting media, but our revealed preferences tell another story. We often pick darker, more intense content. This @npr.org piece covers our lab’s research on why, and includes great advice from @aeden.bsky.social on building intentional media habits.

🆕 New open neuroimaging dataset released! I’m happy to share that our Naturalistic Neuroimaging Database (NNDb3T+) is now publicly available! NNDb3T+ captures rich, multimodal brain activity in a naturalistic setting with 40 participants and over 160 hours of scanning!

You're telling me a DESK rejected this paper?

Tired: mindfulness Wired: