Sam Berry

Escaping groupthink: What animals’ behavioral quirks reveal about the brain Neuroscientists have long ignored the variability in animals’ behavioral responses in favor of studying differences across groups. But work on the brain differences that underlie that variability is…

Neuroscientists long ignored variability in animals’ behavior in favor of studying differences across groups. But now researchers are studying the brain differences that underlie that variability—and their efforts are beginning to pay off.
www.thetransmitter.org/animal-behav...

Effectiveness of physical activity interventions for improving depression, anxiety and distress: an overview of systematic reviews Objective To synthesise the evidence on the effects of physical activity on symptoms of depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adult populations. Design Umbrella review. Data sources Twel...

bjsm.bmj.com/content/57/1...

This looks super interesting!

A blatant assault on academic freedom

We got a message from the university to remove any use of the "DEI", "diversity", "equity", or "inclusion" from all public-facing documents. They said that even "biodiversity" is being flagged by the federal government. We live in the dumbest timeline.

Cognitive maps for hierarchical spaces in the human brain https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.05.636580v1

@drberry.bsky.social testing his new VR anxiety and exploration paradigm on an unsuspecting @kavishinia.bsky.social!

Episodic and associative memory from spatial scaffolds in the hippocampus - Nature A neocortical–entorhinal–hippocampal network model based on grid cell states recapitulates experimental results and reconciles the spatial, associative and episodic memory roles of the hippocampus.

Nature

Episodic and associative memory from spatial scaffolds in the hippocampus

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

YouTube video by Led By Donkeys Heil Tesla

Great video from Led By Donkeys laying it all out youtu.be/NjWl_RNDMSA?...

Happy 30th birthday year to SPM!! 🎈🍰

To get the party started, we are delighted to announce SPM 25.01, a major new version of the open-source neuroimaging software.

Read the preprint to discover what's new arxiv.org/pdf/2501.12081 and download SPM for free from Github github.com/spm/spm/rele...

Coverage of our recent project in an Italian newspaper
Always sounds more evocative in Italian!
www.ilsole24ore.com/art/neurosci...

(see below advert for a PhD scholarship (internationally open) to come work with us)

New ep! 🎊 this week, @gemmarides.bsky.social & Gaia are joined by Dr Vanita Chamdal, a Teaching Fellow at @royalholloway.bsky.social & therapist. Listen in for advice on how to balance productivity with wellbeing as a PhD student, & what unis & supervisors should be doing to support their students.

The Other Kind of Doctor Podcast · Gemma Rides and Gaia Giampietro · Welcome to The Other Kind of Doctor, where we sprinkle a bit of fun on the brilliance of PhDs! Join our diverse group of PhD candidates as we navigate the m...

This one is good, made for (and by) PhD students. It's a mix of psychology and neuroscience open.spotify.com/show/0MhTwJt...

Front cover of Philip N. Cohen's Citizen Scholar: Public Engagement for Social Scientists.

A few months ago I read @philipncohen.com's Citizen Scholar in proof. It's now available in print.

To restore public trust in expertise, professors can’t just profess—they need to engage. Citizen Scholar explores how contemporary academics can do this, and why they might choose to.

Struck by how many reflections here and offline focus on how Eleanor encouraged and supported their science and careers. A reminder that we distinguish ourselves by our kindness to others. Today, before the mayhem of the new year takes over, take a moment to do something kind for someone if you can.

Eleanor Maguire | 1970 - 2025 | Online-Tribute.com Learning and memory are so fundamental to us, so enmeshed throughout cognition, that ‘solving’ memory, unpacking its neural mechanisms and being able to conceptualise it fully will, I believe, res…

An online tribute page has been set up to remember Eleanor Maguire: www.online-tribute.com/EleanorMaguire

Early changes in neural circuit function engaged by negative emotion and modified by behavioural intervention are associated with depression and problem-solving outcomes: A report from the ENGAGE randomized controlled trial The negative affect circuit may be an important neural target and potential mediator of PST in patients with comorbid obesity.

www.thelancet.com/journals/ebi...

Males and females show different patterns of risk for brain-based conditions. Ignoring these differences does us all a disservice. Although studying sex differences in the brain is complex, technically awkward and socioculturally loaded, it is absolutely essential.

"Rather than avoiding this type of research, our best path forward is to proceed with caution and humility, using the flawed tools we have. Two crucial guide rails can steady our journey: close adherence to the scientific method and a proactive stance against bias." tinyurl.com/5b6nbezv

We're on BlueSky UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences over the top of a BlueSky logo with the picture of a brain inside.

We're excited to join BlueSky! Make sure to follow us for the latest news from the UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences! We'll be posting about our cutting edge research, Faculty events and opportunities!

I've always struggled to get this properly in my head - happy to read it doesn't, in the end, matter that much (don't kill me statisticians).

Our department @rhulpsychology.bsky.social has a starter pack for you all go.bsky.app/9en5Po4

Wow this looks interesting! I will add it to my ever expanding list of papers to read.

Hey #neuroskyence #compneurosky, et al., I am looking for code examples of reinforcement learning modeling in Python 🐍 I am mainly interested in *code organization* here. Thanks for any pointers to your favorite examples! 💫

Black cockapoo curled up in a dog bed.

Rare picture of my dog Archie in his bed. He gets into it about once a month for no longer than 10 minutes at a time.

I keep saying i'm korean but it's moments like this that remind me im a korean american. I simply have no idea what the fuck is happening here

the rapid transition of academics off x (despite temporarily reducing reach/followers) makes you wonder what’s stopping us from ending the for-profit, closed access publishing industry. it’s, like…. we can just do it? or if not, interesting to consider what the inertial differences are.

Why you should talk to people you disagree with about politics Conversations don’t immediately change people’s minds, but they can eventually. And in the meantime, they help forge real connections across a diverse and complex society.

Why you should talk to people you disagree with about politics
@us.theconversation.com
theconversation.com/why-you-shou...

Welcome @nilearn.bsky.social to Bluesky! Nilearn is an amazing package for neuroimaging analysis in Python - certainly one of the most heavily used packages in our lab.

Data management plan. More like data spanagement ham am I right?

This is a great start for those scientists new to Bluesky