Xinyu Liang's Avatar

Xinyu Liang

@neocosmliang.bsky.social

Postdoc at ISTBI, Fudan University | Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience | Exploring neuroaesthetics and hemispheric lateralization.

52 Followers  |  87 Following  |  2 Posts  |  Joined: 28.05.2025
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Posts by Xinyu Liang (@neocosmliang.bsky.social)

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β€ͺVoxelwise Encoding Models (VEMs) are a great framework for modeling fMRI data, but it can be difficult to implement. We've made VEM accessible by providing software, tutorials and reviews that guide its use an implementation. Get it here:
gallantlab.org/blog/2025-12...
#neuroscience, #neuroimaging

23.12.2025 20:31 β€” πŸ‘ 47    πŸ” 13    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0
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26.12.2025 00:03 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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AI-assisted coding: 10 simple rules to maintain scientific rigor These guidelines can help researchers ensure the integrity of their work while accelerating progress on important scientific questions.

@russpoldrack.org's guidelines for AI-assisted coding can help researchers ensure the integrity of their work while accelerating progress on important scientific questions.

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/artificial-i...

16.12.2025 15:00 β€” πŸ‘ 30    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1
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screenshot of my post

Big new blogpost!

My guide to data visualization, which includes a very long table of contents, tons of charts, and more.

--> Why data visualization matters and how to make charts more effective, clear, transparent, and sometimes, beautiful.
www.scientificdiscovery.dev/p/salonis-gu...

09.12.2025 20:28 β€” πŸ‘ 799    πŸ” 316    πŸ’¬ 22    πŸ“Œ 50

Due to popular demand, here is a visualisation of the custom "maze" algorithm we used to uncover gradients along the cortical surface.

11.12.2025 09:15 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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🧠 New paper alert (the 1st one from our new lab)!
Led by 1st author & VR wizard @jaquent.bsky.social

@natcomms.nature.com

How do our brains distinguish novel from familiar places as we explore our environments, e.g., a new city?

πŸ”— doi.org/10.1038/s414...

🧡 Thread below with key findings ⬇️

09.12.2025 09:49 β€” πŸ‘ 26    πŸ” 12    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2
Conceptual Roadmap of the present study. To examine the relationship between the metabolic costs of visual processing and aesthetic pleasure, we used both computational and physiological measures to quantify metabolic costs during visual processing: 1. Model-derived estimates of metabolic costs based on the activation of a deep neural network; 2. Metabolic activity of human brains, specifically in the visual processing areas. We found that both measures were inversely related to aesthetic pleasure.

Conceptual Roadmap of the present study. To examine the relationship between the metabolic costs of visual processing and aesthetic pleasure, we used both computational and physiological measures to quantify metabolic costs during visual processing: 1. Model-derived estimates of metabolic costs based on the activation of a deep neural network; 2. Metabolic activity of human brains, specifically in the visual processing areas. We found that both measures were inversely related to aesthetic pleasure.

Energy efficiency drives evolution, and humans may have evolved pleasure-based signals to optimize actions. Does this extend to aesthetic pleasure?

Yes!

Strong evidence in silico and humans, out in PNAS Nexus:
tinyurl.com/3kbu8xw4

With Yikai Tang and Wil Cunningham.
@uoftpsychology.bsky.social

02.12.2025 17:43 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Best practices for using Jupyter notebooks Better Code, Better Science: Chapter 6, Part 6

Best practices for using Jupyter notebooks russpoldrack.substack.com/p/best-pract... - the latest in my Better Code, Better Science series

02.12.2025 16:09 β€” πŸ‘ 22    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Memorability of visual stimuli and the role of processing efficiency Nature Reviews Psychology - Certain items are better remembered than others across individuals, a property known as memorability. In this Review, Bainbridge and colleagues detail memorability...

What makes visual stimuli memorable? Wilma Bainbridge, @keisukefukuda.bsky.social, Lore Goetschalckx, and I investigate the role of processing fluency for memorability in a new review paper in Nature Reviews Psychology. Check it out!

rdcu.be/eSyjz

01.12.2025 15:06 β€” πŸ‘ 36    πŸ” 15    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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The special issue celebrating John Duncan's retirement is now out! Check out all the gem articles here:
sciencedirect.com/special-issue/10QN6R7VQSM

and the editorial (see next figure in the thread for an entertaining analysis)
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...

27.11.2025 16:15 β€” πŸ‘ 27    πŸ” 13    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 2
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Submissions are now open!

The 2026 IAEA Congress invites researchers, scholars, and artists from different domains and countries to present and share empirical research on aesthetics, creativity, and the psychology and neurobiology of the arts and aesthetics.

04.11.2025 10:46 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 9    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
View from your office onto Giessen and surrounding villages.

View from your office onto Giessen and surrounding villages.

Please repost! I am looking for a PhD candidate in the area of Computational Cognitive Neuroscience to start in early 2026.

The position is funded as part of the Excellence Cluster "The Adaptive Mind" at @jlugiessen.bsky.social.

Please apply here until Nov 25:
www.uni-giessen.de/de/ueber-uns...

04.11.2025 13:57 β€” πŸ‘ 80    πŸ” 98    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 4
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πŸ“£ New Paper Alert!
My PhD student Hannah Ovadia and I wrote a concise update on β€œThe Role of the Default Mode Network (DMN) in Aesthetic Appeal” to synthesize evidence, highlight issues, and most importantly, consider theoretical alternatives.

Free access:
authors.elsevier.com/a/1lz-h8MqMi...

22.10.2025 21:27 β€” πŸ‘ 24    πŸ” 9    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Welcome to the IAEA Aesthetics Conference 2026 in Jena!

We are delighted to announce that the International Association for Empirical Aesthetics (IAEA) will hold its next international conference in Jena, Germany, from 5th to 8th May.
Discover more at iaea-jena2026.org (link in bio)

06.10.2025 16:22 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 9    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Are You Moved by Beauty? Beauty is in the hand more than in the eye of the beholder.

How we subconsciously reach towards beauty 🫳

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brai...

09.10.2025 12:52 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

APA Monitor article on what happens in the brain when we view art

www.apa.org/monitor/2025...

#neuroaesthetics

11.09.2025 14:44 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Out today! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

05.08.2025 21:58 β€” πŸ‘ 61    πŸ” 18    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 2
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Neural correlates of negative aesthetic evaluations in visual art: a neuroimaging meta-analysis Abstract. Neuroaesthetics has focused on investigating positive aesthetic evaluations while neglecting negative aesthetic evaluations. The employment of do

Very nice meta-analysis of the neural correlates of negative aesthetic judgments from Zaira Cattaneo's lab.
academic.oup.com/cercor/artic...

13.07.2025 09:35 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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New opinion paper linking the brain’s DMN response to cognitive transitions during narratives and task-switching; by Ashley Zhou, John Duncan and Daniel Mitchell: doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...

26.06.2025 07:06 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Massive congrats to @neocosmliang.bsky.social for receiving the #OHBM Merit Award for his work on β€œthe domain general neural signature of perceived object beautyβ€πŸŒΉ #ECR @ohbmtrainees.bsky.social
@cognizelab.bsky.social

26.06.2025 02:46 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Welcome to see my poster and discuss with me at No. 757 #ohbm #ohbm2025

25.06.2025 07:14 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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✨ Thrilled to Host PREMIER's Inaugural Seminar! ✨

What an honor to welcome @choongwanwoo.bsky.social Ben Becker, Zhou Feng and their brilliant teams for the very first PREMIER: Predictive Modeling in Emotion & Cognition Research seminar at ISTBI, Fudan University! πŸ§ πŸ’‘

@cognizelab.bsky.social

13.06.2025 06:23 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

πŸŽ‰ Excited to share our latest work!!!

29.05.2025 06:53 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0