Katie Insel's Avatar

Katie Insel

@katieinsel.bsky.social

Assistant Professor @ Northwestern Director of CATS Lab (nucatslab.com)

1,590 Followers  |  440 Following  |  18 Posts  |  Joined: 21.09.2023
Posts Following

Posts by Katie Insel (@katieinsel.bsky.social)

Personalized brain decoding of spontaneous pain in individuals with chronic pain - Nature Neuroscience Lee et al. show that personalized brain-decoding models derived from intensive longitudinal fMRI data can track spontaneous pain in individuals with chronic pain, highlighting the potential of precise...

New paper in Nature Neuroscience! We developed personalized fMRI-based predictive models tracking ongoing spontaneous pain in chronic pain patientsβ€”trained on 6+ months of densely sampled data. A true team effort. Deeply grateful to our participants! doi.org/10.1038/s41593-026-02221-3

26.02.2026 13:30 β€” πŸ‘ 29    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

Federally funded DEI training programs and grants are disappearing. Meet seven neuroscientists who are filling the gaps.

By Paige Miranda

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/dei/we-still...

18.02.2026 19:12 β€” πŸ‘ 21    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1

BREAKING: We reached a settlement that requires the Trump administration to permanently maintain medical research that had been erased on a government website.

The government doesn't get to censor science.

18.02.2026 17:04 β€” πŸ‘ 2105    πŸ” 593    πŸ’¬ 37    πŸ“Œ 22
Preview
Building compositional tasks with shared neural subspaces Nature - The brain can flexibly perform multiple tasks by compositionally combining task-relevant neural representations.

Thrilled that my paper is out in the @nature.com. We explored how the brain builds complex tasks by compositionally combining simpler sub-task representations. The brain flexibly performs multiple tasks by dynamically reusing neural subspaces for sensory inputs and motor actions

rdcu.be/eRVUk

11.02.2026 22:40 β€” πŸ‘ 130    πŸ” 47    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 1

So proud of @meganspurney.bsky.social and team for this exciting new paper from my lab!

Younger adolescents' working memory performance benefits more from reward than older teens and young adults.

This occurs even though all ages report similar preferences about reward value and cognitive demand.

11.02.2026 20:21 β€” πŸ‘ 17    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Dense Phenotyping of Human Brain Network Organization Using Precision fMRI The advent of noninvasive imaging methods like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) transformed cognitive neuroscience, providing insights into large-scale brain networks and their link to cog...

My review with @caterinagratton.bsky.social is (apparently) open access for those who couldn't see it before:

www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

We discuss individual differences in brain network organization and how to home in on and talk about commonalities in the face of such differences

22.01.2026 14:58 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

The cerebellum supports high-level language?? Now out in @cp-neuron.bsky.social, we systematically examined language-responsive areas of the cerebellum using precision fMRI and identified a *cerebellar satellite* of the neocortical language network!
authors.elsevier.com/a/1mUU83BtfH...
1/n πŸ§΅πŸ‘‡

22.01.2026 17:21 β€” πŸ‘ 69    πŸ” 20    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 4
Preview
Episodic memory facilitates flexible decision-making via access to detailed events - Nature Human Behaviour Nicholas and Mattar found that people use episodic memory to make decisions when it is unclear what will be needed in the future. These findings reveal how the rich representational capacity of episod...

Our experiences have countless details, and it can be hard to know which matter.

How can we behave effectively in the future when, right now, we don't know what we'll need?

Out today in @nathumbehav.nature.com , @marcelomattar.bsky.social and I find that people solve this by using episodic memory.

23.01.2026 13:18 β€” πŸ‘ 130    πŸ” 49    πŸ’¬ 7    πŸ“Œ 2
Preview
Dominance and Prestige Motivations to Lead in Adolescence Introduction Dual strategy frameworks of motivation to lead differentiate Dominance motivations, which leverage fear and control to gain power and status, from Prestige motivations, which rely on re...

Speaking of early leadership motivations, I'm thrilled that this paper is finally out - we establish the emergence of dominance and prestige leadership motivations in adolescence, and further show nomological networks identical to young adults

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

16.01.2026 16:39 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
APHA v. NIH | American Civil Liberties Union APHA v. NIH is a legal challenge to the unprecedented and ideologically-driven purge of hundreds of biomedical research projects by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Years of research on a wide...

For anyone trying to keep up with the grant termination/delay litigation against NIH, the ACLU has a good page with summaries and links.

www.aclu.org/cases/apha-v...

02.01.2026 15:02 β€” πŸ‘ 55    πŸ” 24    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

netneurotools: a trainee-oriented approach to network neuroscience | doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Our lab’s internal toolkit for accomplishing everyday tasks in brain imaging ‡️

18.12.2025 14:58 β€” πŸ‘ 74    πŸ” 36    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 3

Very happy to share our paper on the "summer slide" in kid's cognitive test scores is out now in @pnas.org!
We find a replicable dip in performance across multiple domains of cognition in >23,000 kids across 4 datasets!

Check out the 🧡 from @ariellekeller.bsky.social below! πŸ‘‡

18.12.2025 16:54 β€” πŸ‘ 23    πŸ” 9    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Share Your Story and Your Science Competition Participate in APS's social media video competition designed to bring the importance of psychological science to the public.Β Deadline: January 12, 2026

The APS Advocacy Task Force is mobilizing scientists to communicate their stories, their research, and the real-world impact of their work.

Learn more about APS's #WhyPsychScience video competition and submit by Jan 12! #AcademicSky #PsychSciSky

www.psychologicalscience.org/2025-why-psy...

15.12.2025 19:37 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 2
Fund Search Results | Giving to MIT

This is a fundraising post!

An anonymous donor is matching contributions to Children Helping Science up to 100K through the end of the year - if it's in your giving budget, please consider supporting open science infrastructure!

giving.mit.edu/search/node/...

Details below...

08.12.2025 15:50 β€” πŸ‘ 22    πŸ” 22    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 8

Had a great time talking to Maggie Penman about new research on lifespan brain development led by @alexamousley.bsky.social in @duncanastle.bsky.social's group.

This is a great summary of the study and a broader discussion of what brain research can teach us about important developmental phases.

11.12.2025 03:04 β€” πŸ‘ 17    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Northwestern's Adolescent Mental Health and Well-Being  Anthem Video
YouTube video by Vijay Mittal Northwestern's Adolescent Mental Health and Well-Being Anthem Video

I'm so excited to be a Faculty Fellow in the newly formed Institute for Adolescent Mental Health and Wellbeing at Northwestern! iamh.northwestern.edu

Learn more about IAMH's mission and research: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEyy...

Stay tuned for many exciting opportunities to get involved in 2026!

03.12.2025 16:33 β€” πŸ‘ 16    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
The effects of task similarity during representation learning in brains and neural networks Nature Communications - Here, the authors show learning tasks with similar structures can initially cause interference and slow down learning, but both the brain and artificial networks gradually...

Our new paper, now published in @natcomms.nature.com , asks a simple question: when two tasks share a common structure, does the brain learn them more efficiently? Surprisingly, this was not the case. Thread below (1/7)
rdcu.be/eSwvU

02.12.2025 09:41 β€” πŸ‘ 86    πŸ” 35    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 1

First one out in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... πŸŽ‰
Can’t wait to read the full @fitngin.bsky.social special issue!

29.11.2025 17:25 β€” πŸ‘ 17    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

2 weeks left to apply!!

18.11.2025 04:27 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
A habit and working memory model as an alternative account of human reward-based learning Nature Human Behaviour - In this study, Collins proposes an alternative dual-process (working memory and habit) model of reinforcement learning in humans.

My paper is out!
Computational modeling of error patterns during reward-based learning show evidence that habit learning (value free!) supplements working memory in 7 human data sets.
rdcu.be/eQjLN

17.11.2025 17:18 β€” πŸ‘ 132    πŸ” 49    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 3
A scatter plot of the number of citations associated with grants as a function of percentile score for a data set from NIGMS.

A scatter plot of the number of citations associated with grants as a function of percentile score for a data set from NIGMS.

On the subject of data, here is from an analysis that I did when I was at NIGMS.

nigms.nih.gov/loop/2011/06...

This showed that there were some quite productive grants with percentile scores at or worse than the 30th percentile.

5/13

14.11.2025 15:31 β€” πŸ‘ 26    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1

🚨 New preprint on the first infant 7T MRI project in North America! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We showcase that by leveraging 7T for infants, we can improve data quality and thereby facilitate precision functional mapping in early development.

12.11.2025 04:37 β€” πŸ‘ 29    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 3

Sign up for our final winter session of Scan Camp!!

Looking for teens in the Chicagoland area!

8-10 MRI scans at Northwestern's Feinberg campus.

Wear an Oura ring and answer daily surveys.

Earn up to $1,360, prizes, and a 3D-print of your brain!

northwestern.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

10.11.2025 00:08 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image Post image Post image

Scaling back DEI isn’t just a moral setbackβ€”it’s a loss of innovation.

Bhalla, Trejo & @marymunson4.bsky.social in Nature Cell Biology: limiting who can participate in science β€œweakens research capacity and stifles discovery.”

doi.org/10.1038/s415...

03.11.2025 14:05 β€” πŸ‘ 59    πŸ” 41    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Applications are due December 1, and the GRE is not required!

Learn how to apply here: psychology.northwestern.edu/graduate/pro...

29.10.2025 18:41 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
CATS Lab Child & Adolescent Translational Science Lab at Northwestern University

I'm recruiting PhD students for my lab at Northwestern! I'm reviewing applications for the Department of Psychology for the Cognitive Affective Neuroscience and Clinical areas, due 12/1. 🧠

Come join the CATS Lab: nucatslab.com

Learn about our latest research: iamh.northwestern.edu/research/res...

29.10.2025 18:39 β€” πŸ‘ 56    πŸ” 44    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1
Interactive Cognition Lab | USC Interactive Cognition Lab at USC, led by principal investigator, Dr. Nina Rouhani.

I will be recruiting 🌟PhD students🌟 for my newish lab! If you're interested in learning & memory mechanisms applied to individual, interactive & collective behavior using computational modeling, real-world experiments and fMRI, email me! RTs much appreciated πŸ™ rouhanilab.com

24.10.2025 16:57 β€” πŸ‘ 92    πŸ” 79    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2
Preview
Understanding barriers to adolescent participation in developmental neuroscience research Increasing representation of youth in developmental neuroscience research is essential to elucidating neurobiological mechanisms of cognition, behavio…

New lab paper in DCN! 🧠 We conducted interviews with adolescents to better understand their perceptions of neuroscience research and barriers to participation, w/qualitative data that is shaping how we design lab studies & efforts to increase representation.

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

10.10.2025 16:28 β€” πŸ‘ 41    πŸ” 19    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 1

I have been trying to get this published as an op-ed, but I am going to post it here since I think it is timely in light of the "consent" extortion events.

Deafening Quiet from the Scientific Establishment

jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g...

1/14

06.10.2025 23:27 β€” πŸ‘ 299    πŸ” 163    πŸ’¬ 14    πŸ“Œ 24
Preview
NIH Leadership Is Failing Early Career Researchers Halted training programs, funding chaos, and hiring freezes jeopardize advancement options for early career researchers.

Thoughtful and well-informed op-ed from @ianlmorgan.bsky.social

Definitely worth a read!

www.the-scientist.com/nih-leadersh...

1/2

10.10.2025 12:01 β€” πŸ‘ 116    πŸ” 58    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 8