Dr Reshanne Reeder

Boomers still using mapquest must be laughing their asses off right now

It's not as much "society-as-a-whole" as "academics-as-a-whole" - the overrepresentation of clever & weird & often also neurodivergent does tend to create pockets of emotional immaturity...

Either my best joke went over everyone's heads or they're busy having a crisis over discovering all their Harvard prof heroes are perverts 🤣

Thank god Robert Langdon is not in the Epstein files

BBS: Pay Attention to Eye Movement Behavior — Anthony Barnhart: Cognitive Scientist, Magic Scholar, & Speaker Hayward Godwin, Michael Hout, and I have written a response to a provocative piece by Ruth Rosenholtz in Behavioral & Brain Sciences where she argues for an abandonment of the concept of “attention” as an explanatory tool.

Now available in its entirety, you can read Ruth Rosenholtz's Behavioral & Brain Sciences critique of attention as an explanation tool in vision science and our reaction to her piece.

www.anthonybarnhart.com/news/bbs-pay...

🚨 New preprint! What if individual alpha peak frequency—often treated as a global marker of brain function and clinical phenotypes—actually reflects a mixture of independent alpha rhythms with distinct frequencies and neural origins? That’s what @davidpascucci.bsky.social and I suggest here. #EEG

Katalin Karikó - Wikipedia

Katalin Karikó is a fascinating and inspirational person - funders and universities never saw the use of her brilliant work. She never got tenure, but she eventually saved the world and won a Nobel Prize for it.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katalin...

Working on it 😁

Thanks, I've been waiting for this preprint!

Do you think perhaps the reason for no between S vividness effects could be due to lack of variability in the sample?

Also, I was really interested to see the Lord of the Rings data - was this scrapped completely now in favor of novel stories?

Pupil size reflects moment-to-moment fluctuations in mental imagery, but not (or hardly) individual differences in imagery Previous research has shown that the eyes' pupils are larger when imaging dark as compared to bright objects or scenes. Based on this, it has been claimed that pupil size is a sensitive marker of ment...

🚨 #Preprint alert 🚨 A multilab study led by Claire Vanbuckave investigated whether the strength of pupil responses to imagined brightness/ darkness reflect differences in vividness of mental imagery. We found … 👇 1/3 🧵 #psychology #aphantasia #pupillometry #mentalimagery
doi.org/10.64898/202...

New student x scientist comics collab! Curious about the science behind hallucinations? Who isn't?? Learn about a tool scientists are using to understand hallucinations & mental imagery. 🧠👁️🎆

Scientist: @kerblooee.bsky.social, University of Liverpool
x
Student: Greta Dalton-Kay, BFA Illustration '26

Thanks for this! I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't work in simulated trauma - I'd be more convinced by a meta anslysis of clinical samples... I remember Emily Holmes saying she's worked w clinicians and many rave about it. Haven't looked too much into it yet, though!

This basic idea was also proposed by @mmonzel.bsky.social et al, I just added a tetris analogy. Speaking of, has anyone tried 'tetris memory blocking' in aphantasia? 🤔

In sum, aphantasia is not an episodic memory impairment per se, but an inability to disengage from current external reality. 8/8

Can Playing the Computer Game “Tetris” Reduce the Build-Up of Flashbacks for Trauma? A Proposal from Cognitive Science Background Flashbacks are the hallmark symptom of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Although we have successful treatments for full-blown PTSD, early interventions are lacking. We propose the util...

Visualizers often ruminate inwards, strengthening episodic memories, future & atemporal imaginings. Whereas aphantasics are constantly "playing tetris" with external reality [see below], hindering inwardly-focused rumination and the consolidation of episodic details. 7/8

doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Indeed, I proposed this in another bluesky thread [below]. 6/8

bsky.app/profile/kerb...

Memories with a blind mind: Remembering the past and imagining the future with aphantasia Our capacity to re-experience the past and simulate the future is thought to depend heavily on visual imagery, which allows us to construct complex se…

This is in line with another study [below] showing that aphantasics are unable to transport themselves both to the past AND the future. In this case, aphantasia is better characterized as an inability to disengage from external (sensory) reality. 5/8

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Monzel et al also found more early visual activity during memory retrieval in aphantasics & weaker connectivity between hippocampus & visual areas in visualizers. This supports a different idea: that aphantasics have difficulty disconnecting from the 'here and now' to mentally time travel. 4/8

Hippocampal-occipital connectivity reflects autobiographical memory deficits in aphantasia The autobiographical memory deficits seen in aphantasia are reflected by altered activation and connectivity patterns of the hippocampus and occipital cortex, corroborating the strong link between memory and mental imagery.

However, @mmonzel.bsky.social et al. (2024) [see below] found reduced hippocampal activity during autobiographical memory retrival in aphantasics, which supports the memory impairment hypothesis. That should be the end of it, right? Well... 3/8

doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

The authors challenge the 'episodic memory impairment' idea put forth by @andreablomkvist.bsky.social (2023) [see below], by arguing that if aphantasia were a memory disorder, impairments should be comparable to amnesia, which they clearly are not. 2/8

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/IMNFYI...

With this new pub arguing that aphantasia is NOT an episodic memory condition, I agree that aphantasia must be defined, first and foremost, by a lack of imagery. However, aphantasia reduces the vividness of episodic memories in predictable ways. Here's another idea... 1/8

rdcu.be/eYxns

Narration: Depending on your recent experiences and memories, you can hallucinate the face of a loved one you saw last week, a character from a movie you watched last night, or something nonsensical from a memorable dream! (Image collage inside a blue cloud featuring Spongebob, a made-up horror movie scene, and a man emerging from an egg.) Narration: And once you look away, or turn the Ganzflicker simulation off, you are suddenly transported to the real world, where this colorful, bizarre world isn’t so fantastical anymore. (Cloud of odd visuals and shapes progressing to form the small flash on a television screen when it is turned off. The top half of a figure is floating head first out of the cloud of visuals.) Narration: The human mind is a very personal and unique space. In turn, each Ganzflicker experience is distinct from one another. These experiences- ranging from extremely vivid imagery to no imagery at all- provide researchers with a plethora of information about how the brain produces imagery. (image of outer space, brain in the center, surrounded by Saturn's ring. A squiggled line of diamonds- each a different color in rainbow order- is overlapping the image of outer space.)

The human mind is a very personal and unique space. In turn, each Ganzflicker experience is distinct from one another. These experiences- ranging from extremely vivid imagery to no imagery at all- provide researchers with a plethora of information about how the brain produces imagery.

Narration: You can travel to outer space… (stylized image of the milky way galaxy, surrounded by stars.) Narration: Be greeted by the letter A… (Image of a capital letter A.) Narration: Stare in the soul of a shadowy figure… (Image of a scribbly, shadowy head, merging with the milky way.) Narration: Become mesmerized by a mandala… (Image of a kaleidoscope-like mandala, shapes concentrated in the center and more dispersed the further out the mandala goes.) Narration: And even see… David Bowie?!? Now you’re talking! (Image of David Bowie, pose from the “Heroes” album.)

You can travel to outer space... Stare into the soul of a shadowy figure... Be mesmerized by a mandala...

Narration: Welcome to the world of… Ganzflicker Narration: *Ganzflicker: the rhythmic alternation of two ganzfelds Narration: Basically, a bright red screen flashes on and off very rapidly. When you focus on it, vivid imagery can start to appear in 30 seconds or less! (text placed at the top of this long panel) (A rainbow gradient is progressing across a long, horizontal panel. More vivid imagery appears gradually the further you look right on the composition. Dots -> shapes -> stars -> human silhouettes -> human face -> attributes from a landscape of a castle in the sky.) Narration: But does everyone experience these wild induced hallucinations? Not exactly. Most people experience some form of imagery, though it’s not always complex or fantastical. Narration: Experienced imagery from Ganzflicker heavily depends on how well the individual can visualize. If they experience more vivid imagery, their hallucinations will also be more vivid and complex, and vice versa. (two figures, one on each side of the page. They each have a thought bubble above them of an apple. One is imagining a realistic apple, while the other is imagining a blurry image of an apple. An arrow is pointing inwards from each thought bubble. Next to each arrow is a small panel. Coming from the realistic apple bubble is a small panel with an image of a castle on top of a mountain. Next to the blurry apple bubble is a small panel with simple geometric patterns.) Narration: Those with aphantasia (the inability to visualize) have a 50% chance of seeing imagery from Ganzflicker. If they do, it’s typically very simple. (A head of a figure is looking at a red screen with no visuals on it. To the left of them is a thought bubble with nothing in it.) Narration: Depending on the individual, hallucinations induced from Ganzflicker can be as simple as an X in the middle of the screen or as complex as an entire forest landscape! (A progression of small plants/vegetation to large, evergreen trees)

Welcome to the world of… Ganzflicker!

Experiences heavily depend on how well the individual can visualize. If they have vivid imagery, their hallucinations will also be more vivid and complex. Hallucinations can be as simple as an X or as complex as an entire forest landscape!

Narration: Hallucinations are complex phenomena occurring involuntarily to individuals with a mental disorder. They are often feared and unwanted. Narration: But what if they can be controlled? What if we could intentionally induce them in a secure way, so we can better understand them? Narration: In order for an experimentally induced hallucination to form, the mind must be presented with something specific that is visually very different from what it is accustomed to seeing. Narration: Sensory deprivation: The lack of stimuli (specifically visual). Participants engaging in this method of hallucination induction can be completely blindfolded or left in a pitch black environment. Either way, their mind must not be exposed to light. Narration: Ganzfeld: A uniformly colored, luminary visual field (e.g. a clear blue sky or a singular color on a screen). Exposure to ganzfeld can induce slight visual hallucinations. (Figure laying on the grass, facing a clear blue sky.) Narration: Sensory deprivation can be an unreliable method for the intention of experiencing induced hallucinations. Visuals aren’t always guaranteed, and it can take hours or even days for imagery to start showing up. (Figure sitting on the ground, blindfolded. Cobwebs are on the figure, signifying a long time has passed. A little spider is next to the figure.) Narration: Ganzfeld is also not very reliable. Though most individuals experience visuals, they are not very complex. Most experience colors and simple geometric patterns after a while. (Side view of a head, a cloud forming from their head that contains simple geometric shapes.) Narration: But is there a way to induce complex and vivid hallucinations almost immediately and comfortably? There sure is! (Two figures, shoulders up, next to each other. Exclamation marks next to one, and a question mark next to the other. They are both looking at the text bubble.)

Welcome to the world of Ganzflicker... in comic form!?

Comic by the fabulous daltonkaygreta@gmail.com, Instagram: @Mr.dog.art
A MassArt initiative led by @hudrewthis.bsky.social

Hallucinations are often feared and unwanted... But what if we could induce them, so we can better understand them?

"How participants create illusory experiences to help experimenters." A new preprint of a multi-study manuscript w/
@zoltandienes.bsky.social, @anilseth.bsky.social & Ryan Scott, extending previous work on demand characteristics & phenomenological control in psychological effects. osf.io/n2ukj

Good post with two takeaways for me: 1) we also make mistakes as reviewers (I'm sure I made my share - sorry to those who were wronged) and 2) we need to appreciate papers without data more - a good theory doesn't need data to be good

Very cool! I'm always so impressed by the skill of many academics' hobby projects 😁

Ganzflicker gets a lot of hate, but look- I know it's cheesy. But the name is probably why it's so popular, and got me my job. People will always make fun of things that are different... but if you just go by what everyone else thinks, you'll never stand out 🙃

If more women could do work on visual illusions that would be great, why is this such a male dominated field?

There is still so much more to explore about hyperphantasia (read the alt text in the above images for more info). I hope this article and others can highlight this unique fantastic experience! 4/4