Edward Vessel

🧬 Is beauty in the eye of the beholder or the object itself?
Join us on Thursday, March 5 for a fascinating talk by Dr. Edward Vessel @edwardvessel.bsky.social on the "interactionist approach to the neuroscience of aesthetics"!

How Beauty Changes the Beholder

Thanks to @alenedawson.bsky.social for this great piece integrating findings from the scientific study of aesthetics, including work from my lab.

www.templeton.org/news/how-bea...

Reminder: Apply or Nominate someone for the 2026 SfNC Awards! Deadline - Feb. 1st ⏰

SfNC is proud to offer three annual awards recognizing outstanding contributions to creativity research. Winners receive a cash prize and are invited to present their work.

Details here: www.tsfnc.org/sfnc-awards

Call for 2026 Mid-Career Award, deadline March 31, with a black and gold beam photo background and the Psychonomic Society logo.

The Psychonomic Society is now accepting nominations for the 2026 Mid-Career Award, which recognizes individuals who have made exceptional contributions to experimental and cognitive psychology and are currently in the middle of their careers. The deadline is March 31. Submit today: buff.ly/Pct3kUM

I just woke up from a nap and somehow while I was asleep, everyone on the bus has figured out we are not going to the right place

hey scientists, have you seen a cool paper recently that didn't get enough attention? let me know! I'm always looking for new studies to cover and would love to hear from you👇

It won't actually exist for another month or so, but because it now 'exists' on amazon, I'll humbly observe that, after working through this book, your student/trainee would be able to read and understand all but two or three papers in this week's J. Neurosci. Check it out:

Last chance! Tonight is the submission deadline for talks/posters for IAEA2026 in Jena, Germany!

iaea-jena2026.org

IAEA members - nominate deserving colleagues for awards!
Fechner Award: lifetime contribution
Baumgarten Award: within 10yr after PhD
Washburn Award: mid-career scientist.

IAEA members submit noms (incl 2 support letters) to b.calvo@city.ac.uk w/ subject "IAEA nomination."

Neural insights into observational drawing: A longitudinal resting state functional connectivity study using 7 t MRI - PubMed Observational drawing is a freehand accurate depiction of directly observed three-dimensional objects, which demands fine-grained visual analysis and sensorimotor translation through engagement of complex cognitive processes like perception, attention, visuomotor coordination, and aesthetic evaluati …

Neural insights into observational drawing: A longitudinal resting state functional connectivity study using 7 t MRI

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41273827/

Google Scholar Is Doomed Academia built entire careers on a free Google service with zero guarantees. What could go wrong?

Since search is dead, how soon do you think Google Scholar is headed for the Google Graveyard? I'm betting it's soon, and academia is NOT prepared

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.

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.

iaea-jena2026.org

I had a lovely conversation with @magdakacz2025.bsky.social as part of her "Dancing into Brain Health" podcast last week. You can listen to it here: open.spotify.com/episode/1sMW...

Thanks Magda!

I will be recruiting 🌟PhD students🌟 for my newish lab! If you're interested in learning & memory mechanisms applied to individual, interactive & collective behavior using computational modeling, real-world experiments and fMRI, email me! RTs much appreciated 🙏 rouhanilab.com

#neuroaesthetics #empiricalaesthetics #neuroskyence

📣 New Paper Alert!
My PhD student Hannah Ovadia and I wrote a concise update on “The 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...

So I'm now feeling my first direct effect of the shutdown. CUNY Research Foundation can't set up payroll for my new Research Assistant, who is being paid off a federal grant. Sigh.

Yesterday I heard and saw what looked like a hawk over City College. Telltale scream of a large bird of prey. I wonder if it’s nesting atop a campus building.

How do we see style? In a recent series of experiments, Boger and Firestone ask: How do we perceive style?’. Their findings suggest that style perception relies on basic perceptual processes involved in differentiating im...

How do we see style?: Trends in Cognitive Sciences www.cell.com/trends/cogni...

YouTube video by The Daily Show Jacinda Ardern - “A Different Kind of Power” | The Daily Show

Jacinda Ardern is so fantastic. I love that she is out there pushing for the idea of compassionate leadership.

youtu.be/xJg1McSvgo8?...

The “Blooming” Field of Neuroarts Despite major federal funding cuts, researchers are dedicated to determining how engaging in the arts can improve our brain health.

This is good 🧠🧪🐡

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

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

#neuroaesthetics

A new study uses AI-generated stimuli to uncover attention to complex scene features. Read more in a post by @ankosov.bsky.social on a new #psynomAPP paper by @songaeun.bsky.social, @drmack.bsky.social, and @dirkbwalther.bsky.social buff.ly/2So7ndD

📣 Call for unpublished studies on discrimination of bisexual people!

⬇️ Please see the full call below

We are very grateful for all contributions!

#SocialPsych #PsychSciSky

Thanks John!

Osher Fellows Osher Fellows bring their world-renowned creative expertise to the Academy's science learning programs.

I've been selected as a 2026 Osher Fellow at the California Academy of Sciences (@calacademy.bsky.social), for a project with Indre Viskontas (@indrevis.bsky.social) and Cal Academy. Thanks so much to Rhonda Rubenstein and for facilitating this opportunity!

www.calacademy.org/osher-fellows

Interoceptive Ability is Unrelated to Mental Health Symptoms: Evidence From a Large Scale Multi-Domain Psychophysical Investigation Interoception-the sensing and perception of the internal viscera-is widely cast as a transdiagnostic mechanism linking brain-body interaction to mental illness. Prevailing models propose that altered ...

Are interoception and mental health linked? Many assume so, with interoception even described as a psychiatric “p-factor.” But in our latest preprint, we were surprised to find little evidence for such a connection. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵 Thread with our reflections on the matter 👇

Opinion | Students Hate Them. Universities Need Them. The Only Real Solution to the A.I. Cheating Crisis.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/o...

No brush, no pencil. Just a typewriter.

Artist James, using a 1930s Smith Premier typewriter, typed out this painting.

#art #printer #unique #typewriter #illustration