Marilyn Horta, Ph.D.

Proud of this one

This was an excellent workshop and I can't wait to apply these methods to future projects. Read @sdukehan.bsky.social's thread below to learn about the topics covered. Thanks, @srndna.bsky.social!

Our latest paper, in Angewandte Chemie, presents fluorescent peptide tracers for visualising the oxytocin receptor (OTR) in live cells/tissues, providing powerful tools to study OTR in health and disease. Press release: www.univie.ac.at/en/news/deta...

#Oxytocin #BreastCancer #Autism #DrugDiscovery

REMINDER: We are hosting a FREE online event on AGING + DECISION MAKING + TECHNOLOGY next week Tuesday!

Flyer detailing information about the position, compensation, and requirements. If you need alt-text details to apply for this position, please email Steven Weisberg at steven dot weisberg @ uta dot edu for more information! We'd love to have you on board :)

🚨The SCANN Lab @ UTA is hiring a postdoctoral researcher!🚨

Topics: 🧭 spatial navigation, 🧠 fMRI, 🎮 VR, 👵 cognitive aging.

Start date: Nov 2025 (flexible).

Salary: NIH levels.

Details 👇

New publication out now featuring feasibility and acceptability findings on a modified mindfulness-based intervention called AutoFOCUS for autologous HCT caregivers

We are super excited to invite you to our

FREE research & networking event

@ Sep 30 (11AM EDT, on ZOOM)

on the intersections of aging, technology, and decision research

with Dr. Wally Boot & Dr. Kaileigh Byrne :

geron.org/News-Events/...

(@geronsociety.bsky.social‬)

The dearth of reviewers for papers often overlooks the expertise of lesser-known ECRs.

If you know an ECR with expertise in neuroimaging, individual differences, and/or social cognition who is interested in reviewer experience for Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience, please reach out to me!

Calling all soon-to-graduate PhD students interested in a career in cancer research! Apply for the #MIOT Symposium today! Visit Moffitt Cancer Center to present your research, meet our faculty, and learn about training opportunities and support. Moffitt.org/MIOT @moffittnews.bsky.social

A chart with blue horizontal bars showing that roughly three-quarters of Americans have experienced an online scam or attack

73% of U.S. adults have experienced some kind of online scam or attack, like credit card fraud, ransomware or online shopping scams. While Americans see older adults as more vulnerable, these crimes are common across age groups.

The UNM @casaa.bsky.social NIAAA T32 training grant has been renewed, finally! We will be sharing info about a postdoc opening soon. Until then, thanks to all of the comments of solidarity and hope for our training program. We are thrilled to keep training brilliant alcohol researchers.

CREATE: Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement Funded by the National Institute on Aging through the National Institutes of Health, CREATE is a multidisciplinary and collaborative center founded in 1999.

📱 Designing tech for mobile devices? Need to assess tech experience of older adults?

The Mobile Device Proficiency Questionnaire is your go-to tool!

✅ Full & short forms
✅ Validated in diverse age groups
✅ Ideal for research & training purposes

Explore it here: create-center.org/resources/in...

Really excited for this special issue on decision neuroscience and aging, supported by @srndna.bsky.social. Call for Papers below 👇

Feel free to reach with with any questions, and we look forward to your submissions this summer!

MS submission deadline: 8/15/2025
Expected pub date: 7/2026

🚨 @markkho.bsky.social & I are hiring a joint postdoc interested in computational models of social interaction & computational psychiatry

💻 Ideal candidates have experience w/ multi-player web-based experiments & computational modeling

📅 Review begins April 18, 2025

🔗 apply.interfolio.com/165809

📣Do you conduct research using technology and other novel approaches to address substance use related behaviors?

Submit your work to our upcoming special issue on novel approaches to Facilitate Health Behavior Change over at ECP, papers due June 1!

tinyurl.com/ECP-Special-...

Exercise cognitive control and listen to the new episode of
🎙️Decision & Aging Insights🎙️ featuring Dr. Todd Braver.

He describes what it's like co-leading a lab and discusses his new collaboration examining the impacts of mindfulness training.

srndna.utdallas.edu/podcast/

Two Weeks from Today: Dr. Patricia Lockwood @thepsychologist.bsky.social tells us about Computational Approaches to Prosocial Behavior–How and When Do We Help Other People?

Excited to be guest editing a special issue of Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings on recent advances in psychological pain care! If you're doing research in this space, check out our Call for Manuscripts. Feel free to DM with any questions! #PainResearch #PainPsychology #Pain #NIH

Thursday, March 13 from 5:15pm to 6:45pm poster presentation p278 The limits of capitalizing on new technology: evaluating accessibility of an augmented reality intervention for smoking cessation

I'll be at SRNT for the first time this week. Stop by my poster and let's talk accessibility for smoking cessation mhealth interventions!

Financial exploitation vulnerability and social connectedness in middle-aged and older adults without dementia Financial exploitation of older adults is an understudied but widespread phenomenon in the United States. Previous research examining the association between social functioning and financial exploi...

🌟 NEW STUDY ALERT 🌟

Financial exploitation vulnerability and social connectedness in middle-aged and older adults without dementia

Here we show the DEPTH of relationships is better than the BREADTH of relationships for financial vulnerability in older age.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

What Factors are Associated with Age Differences In Intentional Decision Avoidance? To examine why older adults avoid choices more, two pre-registered, U.S.-based studies (N1 = 164, Mage_1 = 50.71, N2 = 485, Mage_2 = 51.08) evaluated the roles of cognitive load and affect. In Stud...

In our new paper, @loeckenhoff.bsky.social and I examine why older adults are more likely to avoid making decisions.

We find that a writing intervention makes choosing less taxing and stressful (yay us!), but does not decrease avoidance tendencies (boo!).

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Alzheimer's & Dementia: Behavior and Socioeconomics of Aging (#BSEA) launches its inaugural issue March 2025!

A&D's newest journal has published 6 peer-reviewed articles!

Check out the most recently published articles: alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/doSea...

#AlzResearch

Application for Butler-Williams Scholars Program, 2025

Apply for the Butler-Williams Scholars Program now! Learn more about this annual summer opportunity for junior faculty, researchers who are new to the field of aging, and postdoctoral fellows to gain insight about #AgingResearch: bit.ly/4h9NQiX

What are you doing on your lunch break? Listen to the new
🎙️Decision & Aging Insights🎙️ episode featuring @marilynhorta.bsky.social where she discusses her participation with SRNDNA and her research for TRIP at the Moffitt Cancer Center

srndna.utdallas.edu/podcast/

Background: Augmented Reality (AR) is a rapidly developing technology with potential utility for treating addictive behaviors, including tobacco smoking. AR inserts digital images into a natural real-time scene as viewed on a smartphone or other video devices. With respect to smoking cessation, AR can place virtual smoking cues (i.e., smoking “triggers”) within an individual’s natural smoking environment. Repeated exposure to these cues could enhance smoking cessation through Pavlovian extinction processes. Method: In a usability study (N = 10), we evaluated the acceptability of a smoking cessation AR app to inform modifications to the app prior to an upcoming randomized controlled trial (RCT). For the subsequent RCT, in dividuals who enroll in a state tobacco quitline will be referred to the study and, if eligible and consented, randomized to use the app with AR features or without AR features (control) for 5 weeks. The efficacy of the AR features to enhance smoking cessation in the context of concurrent quitline treatment will be evaluated with the primary outcome of self-reported 7-day point-prevalence cigarette abstinence at 6 months post-enrollment. Implementation will be evaluated via incremental cost-effectiveness analyses and interviews with participants, quitline staff, and app coaches. Conclusions: Interventions utilizing emerging mobile technologies such as AR have the potential, compared to traditional therapies, to improve both reach and efficacy by administering therapeutic elements in users’ natural environments. Our AR app will target tobacco smoking, but the approach could be used to deliver exposure therapies for other addictive behaviors, as well as anxiety disorders.

New protocol paper is out describing the use of augmented reality for smoking cessation treatment along with app usability findings. Paper was led by our talented T32 postdoc, Dr. Ranjita Poudel. authors.elsevier.com/c/1kXDg5WqQh...

Special Issue: Social Determinants of Gerontological Health, Functioning, and Well-Being Guest Co-Editors: Regina Wright, PhD, FGSA (University of Delaware, USA) and Samuele Zilioli, PhD (Wayne State University, USA).

New special issue call for papers for my health equity people focused in the aging space. Check it out! academic.oup.com/psychsocgero...

Check out our review highlighting the importance of monoamines towards understanding Alzheimer's disease. We describe promising neuroimaging and daily life sampling approaches to better elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying AD.

We are currently accepting applications for the Moffitt Innovators of Tomorrow Symposium! PhD students within two years of graduating who are interested in a cancer research postdoc should apply - receive a trip to Tampa to visit our campus and present your research! Moffitt.org/MIOT

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