Haemy Lee Masson

What is the M-WAY study? The M-WAY study aims to better understand anxiety and depression in autistic young people, so as to inform mental health support for autisti...

👋 Hello, Bluesky! We're the M-WAY study team, based at UCL. We're researching mental health and wellbeing in autistic young people. Check out our intro blog post below to find our more about what we're doing 🙂

m-way24.blogspot.com/p/what-is-m-...

Congratulations. 🍾

Centre for Neurodiversity and Development Public Lecture Why autism isn't what you think it is (and why that matters) - end of fellowship Public Lecture by Dr Monique Botha

PUBLIC LECTURE:

My end of @leverhulme.ac.uk fellowship lecture is on the 24th of September! It will be in person at @durhampsych.bsky.social and also streamed online. Tickets are available on Eventbrite.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/centre-for...

8/ In contrast to standard power calculations, our results suggest that jointly optimizing sample size and scan time can boost prediction accuracy while cutting costs. For more complex study design, you can check out our calculator: thomasyeolab.github.io/OptimalScanT...

The extraordinary enigma of ordinary tickle behavior: Why gargalesis still puzzles neuroscience Tickle sensation remains one of the biggest unresolved mysteries in neuroscience—one that scientists are only beginning to unravel.

New article out at Science Advances!

Three challenges, five questions, and multiple implications of tickle.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

@dondersinst.bsky.social @ki.se @erc.europa.eu
#neuroskyence #psychscisky #Sensorimotor #ERCResearch #ticklelab

5. The unpredictability of touch, sensory responsivity, and anxiety affect the experiences of social touch among autistic people.
6. Understanding and respecting individual touch preferences can improve relationship quality and comfort for autistic people.

2. Both groups find touch from partners or children most meaningful and comfortable.
3. Autistic adults enjoy social touch less overall, reporting more challenges, including in romantic relationships.
4. They rate touch as less appropriate and less pleasant in professional or friendly settings.

‼️ Preprint alert ‼️
Led by master's student Macy, with collaboration from @kerenmaclennan.bsky.social and @mmellon.bsky.social.

Link: osf.io/preprints/ps...

1. Autistic adults engage in social touch as frequently as non-autistic adults, with similar satisfaction.

Behind the Scenes: Using Movies to Study the Human Brain What happens inside your brain when you watch your favorite movie? Maybe you wonder what the character thinks or wants to do next? Since characters in movies often act like we do in real life, scienti...

gearing up to recruit / prepare children to do a movie-viewing fMRI experiment? share this article with them!

kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10....

Last chance to apply for a fully-funded 2-year #PostDoc in my @soneatlab.bsky.social @universityofessex.bsky.social using #fNIRS #hyperscanning & behavioural assessment in #children.

👉🏻 SWITCH: pvrticka.com/switch-proje...

Deadline: 01.06.25
Start: 01.10.25

vacancies.essex.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...

I’m happy to be at #VSS2025 and share what our lab has been up to this year!

I’m also honored to receive this year’s young investigator award and will give a short talk at the awards ceremony Monday

Please help: Do you know a baby, less than 12 months old, who can walk? We are trying to complete a project, 7 years in the works. And all we need are 3 infants who are less than a year old and can walk, to do a short online looking-time study.
🆘

I’m not really sure what to say, but it’s good to see you’re getting through it. Sending you lots of hugs. And you are absolutely right. Cancer sucks and science matters.

New paper out at @naturehumbehav.bsky.social!

This is the most comprehensive investigation ever conducted into how people think about relationships: a true tour de force! We identify 5 dimensions and 3 categories that organize relationship concepts. Proud to have made a (small) contribution to it!

raw content 'raw content is a work of dark, aching beauty' Helen Jukes, author of Mother Animal 'A stunning mix of horror and tenderness, love and despair. It's rare ...

Naomi Booth’s stunning new novel - raw content - is among many other things an extraordinary insight into maternal OCD. It was such a privilege to talk with her tonight about risk, writing, Yorkshire, rapture & the shock of birth at a Collected Books event www.hachette.co.uk/titles/naomi...

Our paper in Nature (@mkwittmann.bsky.social et al.): the brain does not only process the *identity* of a person but primarily our *relationship* to them. Even on a neural level, who someone is *in relation to others* is key. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#PsychSciSky #socialpsyc #neuroskyence

New paper out 🤩⬇️🧠🫀👋

Many facets of social inequality - Workshop - Durham University Institute of Advanced Study, Seminar Room, Cosin's Hall, Durham University, Palace Green, Durham, DH1 3RL

Mario Weick will present the results of a metareview (a review of 149 reviews) of the relation between social class and mental health at this free in-person workshop at Durham University UK on Wednesday 12th March.

Sign up to attend here 👇

Really one of the best places to live as an outdoor lover. From trail learning, wild bird watching, paddle boarding, to surfing and so many more.

Published in Molecular Autism. This work examined how autistic adults process social touch at the brain network level. The connectivity strength is linked to a greater preference for social touch and social responsiveness—suggesting neural compensatory mechanisms. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

I previously used X as I have followers from autism community, but didn’t work well (small N and random answers). I will send you a DM later on for other strategies.

But love the british self deprecating humour. It’s the best 😍

Sometimes I find this indirectness difficult to understand the true intentions behind. Often it feels that negative news are presented with optimism while it feels clear that the situation is unlikely to be resolved.

Naturalizing psychopathology—towards a quantitative real-world psychiatry - Molecular Psychiatry Molecular Psychiatry - Naturalizing psychopathology—towards a quantitative real-world psychiatry

Naturalizing psychopathology—towards a quantitative real-world psychiatry
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Neuroinclusion in themed entertainment attractions Neuroinclusion in themed entertainment attractions

We're looking for a PhD student for a project on how to make theme parks more inclusive for neurodivergent people, in partnership with Katapult and Drayton Manor. www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/cen... Deadline 5th March. Get in touch for more info and please share!

I should do the same. Good to know that this request works.

📣 First three years of my PhD have culminated in this work now published at PLoS Computational Biology! 🥳 We take a deep dive into all the many ways we can slice n dice fMRI dynamics to quantify biologically relevant properties 🧠🧮

doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Curious to know your experience compared to EEG.

The biological classification of mental disorders (BeCOME) study: a protocol for an observational deep-phenotyping study for the identification of biological subtypes - BMC Psychiatry Background A major research finding in the field of Biological Psychiatry is that symptom-based categories of mental disorders map poorly onto dysfunctions in brain circuits or neurobiological pathway...

The biological classification of mental disorders (BeCOME) study: a protocol for an observational deep-phenotyping study for the identification of biological subtypes
bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

How measurement noise limits the accuracy of brain-behaviour predictions - Nature Communications Our ability to identify associations between behaviour and brain imaging is important for uncovering markers of cognition and disease. Here, the authors illustrate the importance of the reliability of...

The limiting factor for MRI based prediction of behavioral traits may be neither the imaging nor the pipeline or learning algorith but rather the reliability of the target phenotypes

Thought provoking work my Martin Gell et al:

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