Benjamin Lowe

I think a lot of people studying neural expectation have been skeptical of literal interpretations of PC for a while now. Again, this is not same as saying the brain doesn’t integrate prior knowledge with sensory input when resolving precepts.

I’m excited to see where the field goes next :)

15.07.2025 11:43 — 👍 6    🔁 1    💬 2    📌 0

IMO (now that this canned of worms has been opened), I think the field would really benefit from moving away from evoked responses and towards pre-stimulus and/or state-based activity characterising how predictions themselves are signalled (rather their errors!)

15.07.2025 11:43 — 👍 5    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 0

The envelope has been pushed forward and now we can think about what these data mean within the broader literature. It’s exciting!

15.07.2025 11:43 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

I really like this paper. I fear that people think the authors are claiming that the brain isn’t predictive though, which this study cannot (and does not) address. As the title says, the data purely show that evoked responses are not necessarily prediction errors, which makes sense!

15.07.2025 11:43 — 👍 18    🔁 4    💬 2    📌 1

New paper out in @plosbiology.org w/ Charlie, @phil-johnson.bsky.social, Ella, and Hinze 🎉

We track moving stimuli via EEG, find evidence that motion is extrapolated across distinct stages of processing + show how this effect may emerge from a simple synaptic learning rule!

tinyurl.com/2szh6w5c

23.05.2025 20:34 — 👍 24    🔁 10    💬 4    📌 0

my NIH grant was terminated today - the grant that pays my rent and my bills and my loans and my health insurance - because I study how to improve the lives and wellbeing of queer people #episky #medsky

21.03.2025 21:31 — 👍 851    🔁 310    💬 64    📌 12

Neural mechanisms of learned suppression uncovered by probing the hidden attentional priority map Learned suppression of distractor locations in visual search emerges through reactive mechanisms that involve initial spatial selection prior to suppression.

We used a brain "pinging" again and found that distractor suppression is reactive rather than proactive, meaning attention is first drawn to the distractor before being suppressed.

27.02.2025 08:00 — 👍 13    🔁 11    💬 0    📌 0

Climate science 👀

25.02.2025 08:14 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Concurrent perception of competing predictions: A “split-stimulus effect” | JOV | ARVO Journals

Excited to share my first paper: a novel visual illusion discovered by my co-authors Will Turner and Hinze Hogendoorn which we call the "Split-Stimulus Effect", in which a single flashed stimulus is perceived to be in two different locations simultaneously jov.arvojournals.org/article.aspx... [1/5]

16.11.2024 02:15 — 👍 47    🔁 15    💬 1    📌 2

How to Support Trans Colleagues Create a Gender-Inclusive Environment Research institutional, governmental, local, and other bureaucratic procedures and policies that recognize and support gender transition. Support training and advocacy for colleagues’ personal/professional safety (ex. in fieldwork, lab work, conferences, institution visits, affinity groups). Establish and/or identify gender-neutral bathrooms throughout your building. Implement trans-inclusive recruitment and hiring procedures. Acknowledge intersectionality and the unique needs and barriers that someone with multiple marginalized identities may face. Consider the importance of representation in your field. Advocate for Name Changes Research institutional, governmental, local, and other bureaucratic procedures and policy to recognize and support an individual’s name change. Identify journals in your field that allow authors to change their names post- publication. Improve Information Accessibility Publicly share information on inclusive practices throughout your departments and institution. (Ensure the content centers and is created by trans people.) Consider Daily Language & Use Decrease use of gendered terms to avoid exclusionary language. Ask for personal pronouns. List on all public-facing directories, and consider including them in email signatures and on professional websites. Practice discretion. Don’t out your colleagues without their consent.

Collaborating with @rin-krichilsky.bsky.social and Kanako Shimizu, we put together what's basically a top-ten list of ways to help foster trans inclusivity and awareness within our scientific and academic communities and would love if you could help share the guide!

16.01.2025 07:20 — 👍 68    🔁 51    💬 1    📌 1

PhD student Jesse Gardner-Russell earns $20 an hour. Experts say low pay is turning Australia’s best and brightest away The University of Melbourne student whose work could contribute to curing blindness says ‘people are shocked to find out how unlivable it is’

“The PhD stipend is $33,511 … well below minimum wage of $47,627”

“Universities can raise the stipend to a maximum of $52,352, but a ACGR survey found none have done so. The highest stipend is just over $40,000 … with the average at $34,244.”

#RaiseTheStipend

16.01.2025 23:37 — 👍 53    🔁 28    💬 1    📌 4

Aperiodic and oscillatory systems underpinning human domain-general cognition Communications Biology - Using MEG/EEG, this study reports that aperiodic broadband power, rather than oscillations, reflects a core response to diverse cognitive demand that links to the...

✨New paper @commsbio.bsky.social !! Using MEG/EEG, we investigated domain-general cognitive systems in human brains implemented by aperiodic and oscillatory responses. Great collaboration with @alexwoolgar.bsky.social , John Duncan, and Nadene Dermody. rdcu.be/d34pt

18.12.2024 20:46 — 👍 13    🔁 5    💬 0    📌 1