Selim Sametoğlu

Contrasting photographs of the night-time skylines of Manhattan (left) and Nijmegen (right), with matching genome-wide association plots underneath each.

Not sure who came up with "Manhattan Plot", but in 2014 I coined the alternative term "Nijmegen Plot" (inspired by the Dutch town where I live) to describe underwhelming results from our earliest genome-wide association scans of language/reading traits.

Great news, Fiona! Congratulations!!

Thanks of course to my co-authors @dirkpelt.bsky.social @meikebartels.bsky.social and @ntrbiopsy.bsky.social @mpi-nl.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu

👍Feel free to check it out and let me know what you think! If you're also curious about how the data collection process went (the challenges/ups and downs). I’d be happy to share more. I’m planning to write a thread about it later, but you’re welcome to reach out to me in the meantime!

Overall, our study highlighted the potential of integrating social media data for research and its applicability to non-English contexts.

Incorporating Facebook likes and temporal information (e.g., monthly changes in word use) did not improve prediction model performances, even though they yielded insightful associations with survey-based wellbeing measures.

Next, we applied machine learning models to predict survey-based wellbeing scores. In these models, modest convergence between model predictions and traditional self-report wellbeing measures (r = 0.12) was found.

And here are some of the main results:
- We analysed social media posts using both closed and open vocabulary methods.
- Words with negative valence and those related to negative emotions were most strongly related to wellbeing survey scores of people that were assesed over the years...

We combined this data with wellbeing survey scores that had been collected over many years by the Netherlands Twin Register, which served as the gold standard for the wellbeing assessments we aimed to make using social media text-based indices.

We have a new preprint: this work is especially dear to my heart, as it results from the data collection pipeline we established at the Netherlands Twin Register, which enabled us to collect Facebook posts and likes (paid for with plenty of blood, sweat, and tears...)
osf.io/preprints/ps...

Yep, our current multivac is more leaning towards the sugarcoating instead of the truth🤣😅..

You won't regret it!

YouTube video by merlin Humanity’s Final Goal | Isaac Asimov’s The Last Question

The plot follows from there with a sweet plottwist at the very end. Here is also a video commentary for this story with some pretty visuals/animations if you don't feel like reading : youtu.be/BmPcWuv6Mcw?...

Taken from the wikipedia page of the book: "The story centers around Multivac, a self-adjusting and self-correcting computer. Multivac had been fed data for decades, assessing data and answering questions, allowing man to reach beyond the planetary confines of Earth..."

This evening on my way back home, listening to the audiobook version of 'the Last Question' from Isaac Asimov. Today It inspires very differently than before considering the current rise in the use of LLMs by lots of us.

I have seen it for the very first time in my life literally this morning... wondering about what it was, and here it seems like i have an answer already 😀..nice

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Thank you to my co-authors (and former supervisors) @dirkpelt.bsky.social @meikebartels.bsky.social together with @ntrbiopsy.bsky.social and @mpi-nl.bsky.social

The Association Between Frequency of Social Media Use, Wellbeing, and Depressive Symptoms: Disentangling Genetic and Environmental Factors - Behavior Genetics Meta-analyses report small to moderate effect sizes or inconsistent associations (usually around r = -0.10) between wellbeing (WB) and social media use (SMU) and between anxious-depressive symptoms (A...

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📖 Read the full paper:
🧬 The Association Between Frequency of Social Media Use, Wellbeing, and Depressive Symptoms: Disentangling Genetic and Environmental Factors
doi.org/10.1007/s105...

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What does this mean?
➡️ We shouldn't directly assume SMU causes poor wellbeing...
➡️ People may differ in their vulnerability due to underlying genetic predispositions.

This calls for more personalized approaches in research, clinical applications and policy.

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⛓️ The correlations between SMU and WB/ADS were small (|r| < .10)—but importantly,
up to 90% of these small correlations were genetically influenced.

In short: shared genetic factors partly explain why SMU is linked to WB/ADS.

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🧬 Heritability estimates for SMU were both high and modest (depending on the measurement):

SMUt (time spent): 72%

SMUf (posting frequency): 54%

SMUn (number of accounts): 32%

WB and ADS also showed moderate heritability (38–47%).

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We measured SMU via:
📊 Time spent (SMUt)
📝 Posting frequency (SMUf)
📱 Number of accounts (SMUn)

WB included hedonic (life satisfaction, happiness) and eudaimonic (flourishing) aspects. ADS was measured via a validated symptom scale.

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Meta-analyses show small or inconsistent associations between SMU and mental health (often r ≈ ±.10).
But why are some people more affected than others?

We used a genetically informed design to find out what’s behind these links.

🧵 Just published! (And yes, it has something to say about the social media use + wellbeing debate 👀)

Are the links between social media use (SMU) and wellbeing (WB) or anxious-depressive symptoms (ADS) partly driven by genetics?

Just checkout this thread:

What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders?

There are two children in your child's classroom with a Developmental Language Disorder ... but probably no one, not even the teacher, knows who they are. kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10....

Thanks, Leonard!

Perfect, thank you!!

I am very pleased to encounter with this work today! A very smart approach to leverage LLMs power to study psychopathology...some good motivation to dive into the old shelves to see if any of my old projects involved open ended questions...!

Does anyone know of a cohort that has data on the personality or temperament of parent-offspring trios? Genotyped data would be a plus!

Intergenerational transmission of complex traits and the offspring methylome - Molecular Psychiatry Molecular Psychiatry - Intergenerational transmission of complex traits and the offspring methylome

Our new study in Molecular Psychiatry, in 1528 children and their parents (@ntrbiopsy.bsky.social) shows that indirect genetic effects—where parental genetics shape offspring traits via environmental influences (genetic nurture)—impact DNA methylation of children. doi.org/10.1038/s413... (1/5)