#fmri — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #fmri, aggregated by home.social.
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DATE: May 25, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Women who self-harm show altered brain responses to negative social media comments
Young women who engage in non-suicidal self-injury demonstrate significantly different brain activity when receiving positive and negative social media feedback compared to healthy peers, with the severity of the brain differences mirroring the severity of their condition. This new research was published in Translational Psychiatry.
Self-harm without suicidal intent (known as non-suicidal self-injury, or NSSI) is surprisingly common among young people, affecting an estimated one in five adolescents globally, with higher rates in females. It involves deliberately hurting oneself, such as through cutting or burning, without the intention of ending one’s life. Social media exposure has been associated with a greater risk of self-harm among young people, particularly girls. Until now, the biological reasons for this vulnerability were not well understood.
Social media platforms are specifically designed to trigger reward responses: receiving a like or a positive comment activates the same brain regions involved in processing monetary rewards. Thus, researchers were particularly interested in whether the brain’s reward system—the network of structures that processes pleasure and reinforces behavior—might be altered in young women with NSSI during social media interactions.
Led by Stella Nicolaou of the University of Barcelona, the team recruited 91 young women aged 18 to 30, all of whom had active Instagram accounts. After excluding a few participants due to poor scan data or excessive head movement, the final analysis included 88 participants divided into three groups: a clinical group of 29 women diagnosed with both NSSI and borderline personality disorder, a subclinical group of 27 women who engaged in NSSI but had no other psychiatric diagnoses, and a healthy control group of 32 women with no history of self-harm.
Before the study, researchers followed the participants’ Instagram accounts and selected 15 of their personal photos to use as stimuli. Participants were told other volunteers would be rating their photos, and during the brain scan, they received comments—some positive, some negative—that they believed were genuine. All participants underwent brain imaging using functional MRI while completing this task, which simulated real-life Instagram interactions.
The results revealed a clear pattern linked to severity. The clinical group showed significantly dulled brain responses in key reward regions—including the nucleus accumbens, the caudate, and the medial frontal cortex—when receiving positive versus negative feedback. Strikingly, receiving negative comments actually triggered heightened activity in these same reward regions, suggesting that negative social feedback may feel more engaging for women with more severe self-harm histories.
The brain responses of the subclinical group fell in between those of the healthy controls and the clinical group, suggesting what the researchers describe as a “continuum of severity” mapped onto the reward system. These women responded to positive comments similarly to healthy controls but reacted to negative comments more like the clinical group—showing a selective vulnerability to negative online feedback. Behaviorally, the subclinical group also rated negative comments as significantly more unpleasant than controls did.
Importantly, all three groups reported similar overall levels of Instagram use and addiction, meaning the brain differences cannot simply be explained by how much time the participants spent on social media. However, the researchers discovered a crucial link: in both of the groups that engaged in NSSI, lower brain activity in the reward center was directly correlated with higher scores on the Instagram addiction test. This connection was entirely absent in the healthy control group, suggesting that problematic social media use in those with NSSI is tied to altered neural processing.
As the authors write: “These findings reflect a continuum of severity mapped on the reward system, highlighting potential intervention targets and emphasizing the need to address social media interactions in NSSI treatment.”
Several important limitations should be noted. For instance, the negative comments used in the experiment were intentionally mild due to ethical constraints, so the brain responses observed may underestimate what happens during real-world online cyberbullying. Furthermore, because the study focused exclusively on women and utilized Instagram, the results may not necessarily generalize to men or to users of other platforms, like TikTok.
The study, “Reward-related neural activation during social media exposure in young women with non-suicidal self-injury: evidence for a continuum of severity in the reward network,” was authored by Stella Nicolaou, Anna Julià, Daniela Otero, Carlos Schmidt, Juan Carlos Pascual, Joaquim Soler, Josep Marco-Pallarés, and Daniel Vega.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: https://www.nationalpsychologist.com
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #NSSI #SelfHarmAwareness #SocialMediaImpact #RewardSystem #BrainImaging #fMRI #InstagramResearch #MentalHealthResearch #YouthMentalHealth #OnlineFeedback
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DATE: May 25, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Women who self-harm show altered brain responses to negative social media comments
Young women who engage in non-suicidal self-injury demonstrate significantly different brain activity when receiving positive and negative social media feedback compared to healthy peers, with the severity of the brain differences mirroring the severity of their condition. This new research was published in Translational Psychiatry.
Self-harm without suicidal intent (known as non-suicidal self-injury, or NSSI) is surprisingly common among young people, affecting an estimated one in five adolescents globally, with higher rates in females. It involves deliberately hurting oneself, such as through cutting or burning, without the intention of ending one’s life. Social media exposure has been associated with a greater risk of self-harm among young people, particularly girls. Until now, the biological reasons for this vulnerability were not well understood.
Social media platforms are specifically designed to trigger reward responses: receiving a like or a positive comment activates the same brain regions involved in processing monetary rewards. Thus, researchers were particularly interested in whether the brain’s reward system—the network of structures that processes pleasure and reinforces behavior—might be altered in young women with NSSI during social media interactions.
Led by Stella Nicolaou of the University of Barcelona, the team recruited 91 young women aged 18 to 30, all of whom had active Instagram accounts. After excluding a few participants due to poor scan data or excessive head movement, the final analysis included 88 participants divided into three groups: a clinical group of 29 women diagnosed with both NSSI and borderline personality disorder, a subclinical group of 27 women who engaged in NSSI but had no other psychiatric diagnoses, and a healthy control group of 32 women with no history of self-harm.
Before the study, researchers followed the participants’ Instagram accounts and selected 15 of their personal photos to use as stimuli. Participants were told other volunteers would be rating their photos, and during the brain scan, they received comments—some positive, some negative—that they believed were genuine. All participants underwent brain imaging using functional MRI while completing this task, which simulated real-life Instagram interactions.
The results revealed a clear pattern linked to severity. The clinical group showed significantly dulled brain responses in key reward regions—including the nucleus accumbens, the caudate, and the medial frontal cortex—when receiving positive versus negative feedback. Strikingly, receiving negative comments actually triggered heightened activity in these same reward regions, suggesting that negative social feedback may feel more engaging for women with more severe self-harm histories.
The brain responses of the subclinical group fell in between those of the healthy controls and the clinical group, suggesting what the researchers describe as a “continuum of severity” mapped onto the reward system. These women responded to positive comments similarly to healthy controls but reacted to negative comments more like the clinical group—showing a selective vulnerability to negative online feedback. Behaviorally, the subclinical group also rated negative comments as significantly more unpleasant than controls did.
Importantly, all three groups reported similar overall levels of Instagram use and addiction, meaning the brain differences cannot simply be explained by how much time the participants spent on social media. However, the researchers discovered a crucial link: in both of the groups that engaged in NSSI, lower brain activity in the reward center was directly correlated with higher scores on the Instagram addiction test. This connection was entirely absent in the healthy control group, suggesting that problematic social media use in those with NSSI is tied to altered neural processing.
As the authors write: “These findings reflect a continuum of severity mapped on the reward system, highlighting potential intervention targets and emphasizing the need to address social media interactions in NSSI treatment.”
Several important limitations should be noted. For instance, the negative comments used in the experiment were intentionally mild due to ethical constraints, so the brain responses observed may underestimate what happens during real-world online cyberbullying. Furthermore, because the study focused exclusively on women and utilized Instagram, the results may not necessarily generalize to men or to users of other platforms, like TikTok.
The study, “Reward-related neural activation during social media exposure in young women with non-suicidal self-injury: evidence for a continuum of severity in the reward network,” was authored by Stella Nicolaou, Anna Julià, Daniela Otero, Carlos Schmidt, Juan Carlos Pascual, Joaquim Soler, Josep Marco-Pallarés, and Daniel Vega.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: https://www.nationalpsychologist.com
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #NSSI #SelfHarmAwareness #SocialMediaImpact #RewardSystem #BrainImaging #fMRI #InstagramResearch #MentalHealthResearch #YouthMentalHealth #OnlineFeedback
-
DATE: May 25, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Women who self-harm show altered brain responses to negative social media comments
Young women who engage in non-suicidal self-injury demonstrate significantly different brain activity when receiving positive and negative social media feedback compared to healthy peers, with the severity of the brain differences mirroring the severity of their condition. This new research was published in Translational Psychiatry.
Self-harm without suicidal intent (known as non-suicidal self-injury, or NSSI) is surprisingly common among young people, affecting an estimated one in five adolescents globally, with higher rates in females. It involves deliberately hurting oneself, such as through cutting or burning, without the intention of ending one’s life. Social media exposure has been associated with a greater risk of self-harm among young people, particularly girls. Until now, the biological reasons for this vulnerability were not well understood.
Social media platforms are specifically designed to trigger reward responses: receiving a like or a positive comment activates the same brain regions involved in processing monetary rewards. Thus, researchers were particularly interested in whether the brain’s reward system—the network of structures that processes pleasure and reinforces behavior—might be altered in young women with NSSI during social media interactions.
Led by Stella Nicolaou of the University of Barcelona, the team recruited 91 young women aged 18 to 30, all of whom had active Instagram accounts. After excluding a few participants due to poor scan data or excessive head movement, the final analysis included 88 participants divided into three groups: a clinical group of 29 women diagnosed with both NSSI and borderline personality disorder, a subclinical group of 27 women who engaged in NSSI but had no other psychiatric diagnoses, and a healthy control group of 32 women with no history of self-harm.
Before the study, researchers followed the participants’ Instagram accounts and selected 15 of their personal photos to use as stimuli. Participants were told other volunteers would be rating their photos, and during the brain scan, they received comments—some positive, some negative—that they believed were genuine. All participants underwent brain imaging using functional MRI while completing this task, which simulated real-life Instagram interactions.
The results revealed a clear pattern linked to severity. The clinical group showed significantly dulled brain responses in key reward regions—including the nucleus accumbens, the caudate, and the medial frontal cortex—when receiving positive versus negative feedback. Strikingly, receiving negative comments actually triggered heightened activity in these same reward regions, suggesting that negative social feedback may feel more engaging for women with more severe self-harm histories.
The brain responses of the subclinical group fell in between those of the healthy controls and the clinical group, suggesting what the researchers describe as a “continuum of severity” mapped onto the reward system. These women responded to positive comments similarly to healthy controls but reacted to negative comments more like the clinical group—showing a selective vulnerability to negative online feedback. Behaviorally, the subclinical group also rated negative comments as significantly more unpleasant than controls did.
Importantly, all three groups reported similar overall levels of Instagram use and addiction, meaning the brain differences cannot simply be explained by how much time the participants spent on social media. However, the researchers discovered a crucial link: in both of the groups that engaged in NSSI, lower brain activity in the reward center was directly correlated with higher scores on the Instagram addiction test. This connection was entirely absent in the healthy control group, suggesting that problematic social media use in those with NSSI is tied to altered neural processing.
As the authors write: “These findings reflect a continuum of severity mapped on the reward system, highlighting potential intervention targets and emphasizing the need to address social media interactions in NSSI treatment.”
Several important limitations should be noted. For instance, the negative comments used in the experiment were intentionally mild due to ethical constraints, so the brain responses observed may underestimate what happens during real-world online cyberbullying. Furthermore, because the study focused exclusively on women and utilized Instagram, the results may not necessarily generalize to men or to users of other platforms, like TikTok.
The study, “Reward-related neural activation during social media exposure in young women with non-suicidal self-injury: evidence for a continuum of severity in the reward network,” was authored by Stella Nicolaou, Anna Julià, Daniela Otero, Carlos Schmidt, Juan Carlos Pascual, Joaquim Soler, Josep Marco-Pallarés, and Daniel Vega.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: https://www.nationalpsychologist.com
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #NSSI #SelfHarmAwareness #SocialMediaImpact #RewardSystem #BrainImaging #fMRI #InstagramResearch #MentalHealthResearch #YouthMentalHealth #OnlineFeedback
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DATE: May 20, 2026 at 08:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Adults with better math skills rely less on the brain’s physical movement areas
A recent study published in the journal Cerebral Cortex suggests that adults who are better at math tend to rely less on the brain areas associated with physical movement when processing numbers. These findings provide evidence that as people develop advanced math skills, their brains shift toward more automatic and abstract ways of thinking about numbers.
Number processing relies on multiple mental formats. Scientists describe a verbal format for number words, a visual format for written digits, and a semantic format for the actual meaning or quantity. In recent years, scientists have proposed that an embodied format also exists, where physical experiences like counting on fingers help shape how the brain understands quantities.
To explore how these mental formats interact at different life stages, the authors aimed to understand how physical representations of numbers relate to formal math competence in both children and adults. Xueying Ren, a postdoctoral scholar in psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, explained the motivation behind the research.
“While we know that number processing is foundational for mathematical competence, the underlying brain mechanisms have remained heavily debated,” Ren said. “Theories of embodied cognition suggest that our abstract understanding of math is initially rooted in physical, sensory, and motor experiences, like counting on our fingers in early childhood. We wanted to look closely at both children and adults using fMRI to see how the brain’s sensorimotor regions are recruited during number processing, and how that neural engagement actually tracks with real-world math abilities across different stages of development.”
Functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, is a type of brain scan that measures blood flow to detect active brain areas. To conduct the study, the researchers collected imaging data from 104 adults with an average age of about 23 years. They also tested 88 fourth-grade children with an average age of nearly 10 years.
While inside the scanner, participants completed a number comparison task and a sound-based task. During the tasks, participants looked at two types of images on a screen. One type was symbolic Arabic numerals, like the visual number four. The other type was embodied representations, which consisted of color photographs of human hands holding up different numbers of fingers.
In the number task, participants had to decide if the number shown on the screen was larger or smaller than a specific target number. The participants pushed buttons to answer as quickly as possible. In the sound-based phonological task, participants had to judge if the starting sound of the number matched the starting sound of a cartoon object, like a fan or a sun.
The researchers also measured the participants’ overall math abilities outside the scanner using a standardized assessment called the Woodcock-Johnson Third Edition Tests of Achievement. This assessment included three specific math tests. The Calculation subtest measured basic computation skills across various types of math. The Math Fluency subtest measured how many simple arithmetic problems the participant could solve in three minutes.
Finally, the Applied Problems subtest measured the ability to analyze and solve spoken word problems. To ensure the brain activity was specifically linked to math, the scientists also tested basic reading skills. They used two reading subtests to measure letter identification and the ability to sound out unfamiliar words. By comparing the math scores and reading scores against the brain scans, the researchers could isolate the specific neural networks responsible for numerical cognition.
When looking at the brain scans, the scientists observed that adults engaged a widespread network of brain regions when processing numbers compared to processing sounds. These areas included the occipital, temporal, parietal, and insular regions of the brain. Children activated a smaller, more localized set of brain areas during the same tasks.
“What surprised us most was the dramatic shift in how the brain is recruited for number processing as we grow up,” Ren told PsyPost. “When looking at the overall brain maps, adults engage a much wider, more expansive network of regions across the brain compared to children.”
“Yet, within that broader adult network, individuals with higher math proficiency actually showed reduced activation across sensorimotor and attentional areas, a pattern completely absent in children. This reveals a fascinating paradox: as the brain gains years of experience, actual math proficiency becomes marked not by working the brain harder, but by a transition toward incredible neural efficiency and automaticity.”
In adults, lower activity in the somatosensory and motor cortices during the number task was associated with higher math skills. These cortices are the parts of the brain responsible for processing physical touch sensations and voluntary body movements. The authors also found that adults with better math skills showed reduced activation in the right insular cortex.
The insular cortex is a brain region that detects highly demanding cognitive tasks and signals the brain to apply more effort. Lower activation in this area suggests that mathematically proficient adults perceive basic number tasks as less mentally taxing. These adults operate on a sort of cognitive autopilot, requiring less conscious effort to process quantities.
“The core takeaway is that proficient math performance in adulthood is characterized by a fundamental neural shift toward efficiency and automaticity,” Ren said. “While children rely heavily on basic quantity processing and sensory grounding to make sense of numbers, adults with higher math skills actually show reduced activation in sensorimotor and attentional brain areas. This suggests that as we gain experience, higher math proficiency isn’t about working the brain harder, but rather about transitioning away from a physical ‘scaffold’ to more abstract, automated mental representations.”
The scientists also examined the left intraparietal sulcus, a brain region known for handling numerical quantities. For adults, less activity in this region correlated with better math performance, supporting the neural efficiency hypothesis. For children, the exact opposite was true. Higher activity in the left intraparietal sulcus predicted better math scores in the fourth graders, indicating that young learners still rely heavily on basic quantity processing to succeed in math.
None of these brain activity patterns correlated with the participants’ reading scores. This lack of correlation provides evidence that the reduced reliance on motor and quantity-processing regions is highly specific to mathematical skills. It does not simply reflect general intelligence or advanced reading comprehension.
A potential misinterpretation of these findings is that physical methods like finger counting are unhelpful for learning math. The authors note that physical representations often serve as a necessary scaffold for young learners as they grasp basic number concepts.
“An important caveat is that our findings do not imply that sensorimotor strategies, like a child using their fingers to count, are bad or should be abandoned early,” Ren said. “Sensorimotor experiences serve as an essential, adaptive scaffold when we first learn mathematical concepts. The key is that this relationship changes over time; while physical grounding is vital for early learning, our long-term math proficiency relies on the brain eventually learning to offload that effortful physical processing to achieve automaticity.”
A limitation of the study is that the data for adults and children were collected using two different brain scanners. This was partially due to scheduling constraints caused by the global pandemic. While scanner differences usually affect overall signal strength rather than specific behavioral correlations, future studies should use consistent equipment to rule out any potential interference.
“Because this study looked at separate groups of adults and fourth graders, one important next step is to utilize longitudinal designs to trace these neural transitions within the same individuals over time,” Ren said. “It would be interesting and critical to pinpoint exactly when and how the brain shifts away from its reliance on sensorimotor scaffolding. Ultimately, understanding this developmental trajectory can help us design better, more tailored educational strategies and interventions for individuals who face persistent challenges in learning math.”
These findings highlight a broader trend in brain development and cognition. “Overall, I think this study beautifully illustrates a broader principle in cognitive neuroscience: learning and high expertise are often marked by the brain doing less work, adaptively reducing activity as effortful control gives way to smooth automaticity,” Ren said.
The study, “Reduced dependence on sensorimotor processing in the brain is associated with higher math skills in adults,” was authored by Xueying Ren, Marc N. Coutanche, Julie A. Fiez, and Melissa E. Libertus.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: https://www.nationalpsychologist.com
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #MathSkills #CognitiveScience #NeuralEfficiency #EmbodiedCognition #Sensorimotor #Automaticity #BrainImaging #fMRI #NumericalProcessing #AdultMathematics
-
DATE: May 20, 2026 at 08:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Adults with better math skills rely less on the brain’s physical movement areas
A recent study published in the journal Cerebral Cortex suggests that adults who are better at math tend to rely less on the brain areas associated with physical movement when processing numbers. These findings provide evidence that as people develop advanced math skills, their brains shift toward more automatic and abstract ways of thinking about numbers.
Number processing relies on multiple mental formats. Scientists describe a verbal format for number words, a visual format for written digits, and a semantic format for the actual meaning or quantity. In recent years, scientists have proposed that an embodied format also exists, where physical experiences like counting on fingers help shape how the brain understands quantities.
To explore how these mental formats interact at different life stages, the authors aimed to understand how physical representations of numbers relate to formal math competence in both children and adults. Xueying Ren, a postdoctoral scholar in psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, explained the motivation behind the research.
“While we know that number processing is foundational for mathematical competence, the underlying brain mechanisms have remained heavily debated,” Ren said. “Theories of embodied cognition suggest that our abstract understanding of math is initially rooted in physical, sensory, and motor experiences, like counting on our fingers in early childhood. We wanted to look closely at both children and adults using fMRI to see how the brain’s sensorimotor regions are recruited during number processing, and how that neural engagement actually tracks with real-world math abilities across different stages of development.”
Functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, is a type of brain scan that measures blood flow to detect active brain areas. To conduct the study, the researchers collected imaging data from 104 adults with an average age of about 23 years. They also tested 88 fourth-grade children with an average age of nearly 10 years.
While inside the scanner, participants completed a number comparison task and a sound-based task. During the tasks, participants looked at two types of images on a screen. One type was symbolic Arabic numerals, like the visual number four. The other type was embodied representations, which consisted of color photographs of human hands holding up different numbers of fingers.
In the number task, participants had to decide if the number shown on the screen was larger or smaller than a specific target number. The participants pushed buttons to answer as quickly as possible. In the sound-based phonological task, participants had to judge if the starting sound of the number matched the starting sound of a cartoon object, like a fan or a sun.
The researchers also measured the participants’ overall math abilities outside the scanner using a standardized assessment called the Woodcock-Johnson Third Edition Tests of Achievement. This assessment included three specific math tests. The Calculation subtest measured basic computation skills across various types of math. The Math Fluency subtest measured how many simple arithmetic problems the participant could solve in three minutes.
Finally, the Applied Problems subtest measured the ability to analyze and solve spoken word problems. To ensure the brain activity was specifically linked to math, the scientists also tested basic reading skills. They used two reading subtests to measure letter identification and the ability to sound out unfamiliar words. By comparing the math scores and reading scores against the brain scans, the researchers could isolate the specific neural networks responsible for numerical cognition.
When looking at the brain scans, the scientists observed that adults engaged a widespread network of brain regions when processing numbers compared to processing sounds. These areas included the occipital, temporal, parietal, and insular regions of the brain. Children activated a smaller, more localized set of brain areas during the same tasks.
“What surprised us most was the dramatic shift in how the brain is recruited for number processing as we grow up,” Ren told PsyPost. “When looking at the overall brain maps, adults engage a much wider, more expansive network of regions across the brain compared to children.”
“Yet, within that broader adult network, individuals with higher math proficiency actually showed reduced activation across sensorimotor and attentional areas, a pattern completely absent in children. This reveals a fascinating paradox: as the brain gains years of experience, actual math proficiency becomes marked not by working the brain harder, but by a transition toward incredible neural efficiency and automaticity.”
In adults, lower activity in the somatosensory and motor cortices during the number task was associated with higher math skills. These cortices are the parts of the brain responsible for processing physical touch sensations and voluntary body movements. The authors also found that adults with better math skills showed reduced activation in the right insular cortex.
The insular cortex is a brain region that detects highly demanding cognitive tasks and signals the brain to apply more effort. Lower activation in this area suggests that mathematically proficient adults perceive basic number tasks as less mentally taxing. These adults operate on a sort of cognitive autopilot, requiring less conscious effort to process quantities.
“The core takeaway is that proficient math performance in adulthood is characterized by a fundamental neural shift toward efficiency and automaticity,” Ren said. “While children rely heavily on basic quantity processing and sensory grounding to make sense of numbers, adults with higher math skills actually show reduced activation in sensorimotor and attentional brain areas. This suggests that as we gain experience, higher math proficiency isn’t about working the brain harder, but rather about transitioning away from a physical ‘scaffold’ to more abstract, automated mental representations.”
The scientists also examined the left intraparietal sulcus, a brain region known for handling numerical quantities. For adults, less activity in this region correlated with better math performance, supporting the neural efficiency hypothesis. For children, the exact opposite was true. Higher activity in the left intraparietal sulcus predicted better math scores in the fourth graders, indicating that young learners still rely heavily on basic quantity processing to succeed in math.
None of these brain activity patterns correlated with the participants’ reading scores. This lack of correlation provides evidence that the reduced reliance on motor and quantity-processing regions is highly specific to mathematical skills. It does not simply reflect general intelligence or advanced reading comprehension.
A potential misinterpretation of these findings is that physical methods like finger counting are unhelpful for learning math. The authors note that physical representations often serve as a necessary scaffold for young learners as they grasp basic number concepts.
“An important caveat is that our findings do not imply that sensorimotor strategies, like a child using their fingers to count, are bad or should be abandoned early,” Ren said. “Sensorimotor experiences serve as an essential, adaptive scaffold when we first learn mathematical concepts. The key is that this relationship changes over time; while physical grounding is vital for early learning, our long-term math proficiency relies on the brain eventually learning to offload that effortful physical processing to achieve automaticity.”
A limitation of the study is that the data for adults and children were collected using two different brain scanners. This was partially due to scheduling constraints caused by the global pandemic. While scanner differences usually affect overall signal strength rather than specific behavioral correlations, future studies should use consistent equipment to rule out any potential interference.
“Because this study looked at separate groups of adults and fourth graders, one important next step is to utilize longitudinal designs to trace these neural transitions within the same individuals over time,” Ren said. “It would be interesting and critical to pinpoint exactly when and how the brain shifts away from its reliance on sensorimotor scaffolding. Ultimately, understanding this developmental trajectory can help us design better, more tailored educational strategies and interventions for individuals who face persistent challenges in learning math.”
These findings highlight a broader trend in brain development and cognition. “Overall, I think this study beautifully illustrates a broader principle in cognitive neuroscience: learning and high expertise are often marked by the brain doing less work, adaptively reducing activity as effortful control gives way to smooth automaticity,” Ren said.
The study, “Reduced dependence on sensorimotor processing in the brain is associated with higher math skills in adults,” was authored by Xueying Ren, Marc N. Coutanche, Julie A. Fiez, and Melissa E. Libertus.
-------------------------------------------------
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
NYU Information for Practice puts out 400-500 good quality health-related research posts per week but its too much for many people, so that bot is limited to just subscribers. You can read it or subscribe at @PsychResearchBot
Since 1991 The National Psychologist has focused on keeping practicing psychologists current with news, information and items of interest. Check them out for more free articles, resources, and subscription information: https://www.nationalpsychologist.com
EMAIL DAILY DIGEST OF RSS FEEDS -- SUBSCRIBE: http://subscribe-article-digests.clinicians-exchange.org
READ ONLINE: http://read-the-rss-mega-archive.clinicians-exchange.org
It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #MathSkills #CognitiveScience #NeuralEfficiency #EmbodiedCognition #Sensorimotor #Automaticity #BrainImaging #fMRI #NumericalProcessing #AdultMathematics
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DATE: May 20, 2026 at 08:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Adults with better math skills rely less on the brain’s physical movement areas
A recent study published in the journal Cerebral Cortex suggests that adults who are better at math tend to rely less on the brain areas associated with physical movement when processing numbers. These findings provide evidence that as people develop advanced math skills, their brains shift toward more automatic and abstract ways of thinking about numbers.
Number processing relies on multiple mental formats. Scientists describe a verbal format for number words, a visual format for written digits, and a semantic format for the actual meaning or quantity. In recent years, scientists have proposed that an embodied format also exists, where physical experiences like counting on fingers help shape how the brain understands quantities.
To explore how these mental formats interact at different life stages, the authors aimed to understand how physical representations of numbers relate to formal math competence in both children and adults. Xueying Ren, a postdoctoral scholar in psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College, explained the motivation behind the research.
“While we know that number processing is foundational for mathematical competence, the underlying brain mechanisms have remained heavily debated,” Ren said. “Theories of embodied cognition suggest that our abstract understanding of math is initially rooted in physical, sensory, and motor experiences, like counting on our fingers in early childhood. We wanted to look closely at both children and adults using fMRI to see how the brain’s sensorimotor regions are recruited during number processing, and how that neural engagement actually tracks with real-world math abilities across different stages of development.”
Functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, is a type of brain scan that measures blood flow to detect active brain areas. To conduct the study, the researchers collected imaging data from 104 adults with an average age of about 23 years. They also tested 88 fourth-grade children with an average age of nearly 10 years.
While inside the scanner, participants completed a number comparison task and a sound-based task. During the tasks, participants looked at two types of images on a screen. One type was symbolic Arabic numerals, like the visual number four. The other type was embodied representations, which consisted of color photographs of human hands holding up different numbers of fingers.
In the number task, participants had to decide if the number shown on the screen was larger or smaller than a specific target number. The participants pushed buttons to answer as quickly as possible. In the sound-based phonological task, participants had to judge if the starting sound of the number matched the starting sound of a cartoon object, like a fan or a sun.
The researchers also measured the participants’ overall math abilities outside the scanner using a standardized assessment called the Woodcock-Johnson Third Edition Tests of Achievement. This assessment included three specific math tests. The Calculation subtest measured basic computation skills across various types of math. The Math Fluency subtest measured how many simple arithmetic problems the participant could solve in three minutes.
Finally, the Applied Problems subtest measured the ability to analyze and solve spoken word problems. To ensure the brain activity was specifically linked to math, the scientists also tested basic reading skills. They used two reading subtests to measure letter identification and the ability to sound out unfamiliar words. By comparing the math scores and reading scores against the brain scans, the researchers could isolate the specific neural networks responsible for numerical cognition.
When looking at the brain scans, the scientists observed that adults engaged a widespread network of brain regions when processing numbers compared to processing sounds. These areas included the occipital, temporal, parietal, and insular regions of the brain. Children activated a smaller, more localized set of brain areas during the same tasks.
“What surprised us most was the dramatic shift in how the brain is recruited for number processing as we grow up,” Ren told PsyPost. “When looking at the overall brain maps, adults engage a much wider, more expansive network of regions across the brain compared to children.”
“Yet, within that broader adult network, individuals with higher math proficiency actually showed reduced activation across sensorimotor and attentional areas, a pattern completely absent in children. This reveals a fascinating paradox: as the brain gains years of experience, actual math proficiency becomes marked not by working the brain harder, but by a transition toward incredible neural efficiency and automaticity.”
In adults, lower activity in the somatosensory and motor cortices during the number task was associated with higher math skills. These cortices are the parts of the brain responsible for processing physical touch sensations and voluntary body movements. The authors also found that adults with better math skills showed reduced activation in the right insular cortex.
The insular cortex is a brain region that detects highly demanding cognitive tasks and signals the brain to apply more effort. Lower activation in this area suggests that mathematically proficient adults perceive basic number tasks as less mentally taxing. These adults operate on a sort of cognitive autopilot, requiring less conscious effort to process quantities.
“The core takeaway is that proficient math performance in adulthood is characterized by a fundamental neural shift toward efficiency and automaticity,” Ren said. “While children rely heavily on basic quantity processing and sensory grounding to make sense of numbers, adults with higher math skills actually show reduced activation in sensorimotor and attentional brain areas. This suggests that as we gain experience, higher math proficiency isn’t about working the brain harder, but rather about transitioning away from a physical ‘scaffold’ to more abstract, automated mental representations.”
The scientists also examined the left intraparietal sulcus, a brain region known for handling numerical quantities. For adults, less activity in this region correlated with better math performance, supporting the neural efficiency hypothesis. For children, the exact opposite was true. Higher activity in the left intraparietal sulcus predicted better math scores in the fourth graders, indicating that young learners still rely heavily on basic quantity processing to succeed in math.
None of these brain activity patterns correlated with the participants’ reading scores. This lack of correlation provides evidence that the reduced reliance on motor and quantity-processing regions is highly specific to mathematical skills. It does not simply reflect general intelligence or advanced reading comprehension.
A potential misinterpretation of these findings is that physical methods like finger counting are unhelpful for learning math. The authors note that physical representations often serve as a necessary scaffold for young learners as they grasp basic number concepts.
“An important caveat is that our findings do not imply that sensorimotor strategies, like a child using their fingers to count, are bad or should be abandoned early,” Ren said. “Sensorimotor experiences serve as an essential, adaptive scaffold when we first learn mathematical concepts. The key is that this relationship changes over time; while physical grounding is vital for early learning, our long-term math proficiency relies on the brain eventually learning to offload that effortful physical processing to achieve automaticity.”
A limitation of the study is that the data for adults and children were collected using two different brain scanners. This was partially due to scheduling constraints caused by the global pandemic. While scanner differences usually affect overall signal strength rather than specific behavioral correlations, future studies should use consistent equipment to rule out any potential interference.
“Because this study looked at separate groups of adults and fourth graders, one important next step is to utilize longitudinal designs to trace these neural transitions within the same individuals over time,” Ren said. “It would be interesting and critical to pinpoint exactly when and how the brain shifts away from its reliance on sensorimotor scaffolding. Ultimately, understanding this developmental trajectory can help us design better, more tailored educational strategies and interventions for individuals who face persistent challenges in learning math.”
These findings highlight a broader trend in brain development and cognition. “Overall, I think this study beautifully illustrates a broader principle in cognitive neuroscience: learning and high expertise are often marked by the brain doing less work, adaptively reducing activity as effortful control gives way to smooth automaticity,” Ren said.
The study, “Reduced dependence on sensorimotor processing in the brain is associated with higher math skills in adults,” was authored by Xueying Ren, Marc N. Coutanche, Julie A. Fiez, and Melissa E. Libertus.
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It's primitive... but it works... mostly...
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #MathSkills #CognitiveScience #NeuralEfficiency #EmbodiedCognition #Sensorimotor #Automaticity #BrainImaging #fMRI #NumericalProcessing #AdultMathematics
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https://www.europesays.com/uk/924936/ Language and Empathy Have Distinct Origins in the Developing Brain #BrainConnectivity #BrainDevelopment #cognition #CognitiveEvolution #DevelopmentalNeuroscience #fMRI #Health #LanguageDevelopment #neurodevelopment #Neuroscience #OhioStateUniversity #SuperiorTemporalLobe #TheoryOfMind #UK #UnitedKingdom
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#NeuralSet turns raw #NeuralRecordings and stimuli into #PyTorch-ready datasets. Supports
🧠 #fMRI, #EEG, #MEG, #iEEG, #spikes… and preprocesses 💬 text 🔊 audio ▶️ video 🏞️ image… #embeddings:📚 https://facebookresearch.github.io/neuroai/neuralset/index.html
📝 https://kingjr.github.io/files/neuralset.pdf -
#NeuralSet turns raw #NeuralRecordings and stimuli into #PyTorch-ready datasets. Supports
🧠 #fMRI, #EEG, #MEG, #iEEG, #spikes… and preprocesses 💬 text 🔊 audio ▶️ video 🏞️ image… #embeddings:📚 https://facebookresearch.github.io/neuroai/neuralset/index.html
📝 https://kingjr.github.io/files/neuralset.pdf -
#NeuralSet turns raw #NeuralRecordings and stimuli into #PyTorch-ready datasets. Supports
🧠 #fMRI, #EEG, #MEG, #iEEG, #spikes… and preprocesses 💬 text 🔊 audio ▶️ video 🏞️ image… #embeddings:📚 https://facebookresearch.github.io/neuroai/neuralset/index.html
📝 https://kingjr.github.io/files/neuralset.pdf -
#NeuralSet turns raw #NeuralRecordings and stimuli into #PyTorch-ready datasets. Supports
🧠 #fMRI, #EEG, #MEG, #iEEG, #spikes… and preprocesses 💬 text 🔊 audio ▶️ video 🏞️ image… #embeddings:📚 https://facebookresearch.github.io/neuroai/neuralset/index.html
📝 https://kingjr.github.io/files/neuralset.pdf -
#NeuralSet turns raw #NeuralRecordings and stimuli into #PyTorch-ready datasets. Supports
🧠 #fMRI, #EEG, #MEG, #iEEG, #spikes… and preprocesses 💬 text 🔊 audio ▶️ video 🏞️ image… #embeddings:📚 https://facebookresearch.github.io/neuroai/neuralset/index.html
📝 https://kingjr.github.io/files/neuralset.pdf -
Sleep cleans the brain. Now, researchers have developed a fast, non-invasive way to measure the process
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Sleep cleans the brain. Now, researchers have developed a fast, non-invasive way to measure the process
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https://www.europesays.com/ie/417528/ Noninvasive Stimulation “Talks” to the Brain’s Memory Center #Alzheimer's #BrainConnectivity #Éire #fMRI #Health #Hippocampus #IE #Ireland #neuromodulation #Neuroscience #neurotech #NoninvasiveBrainStimulation #PTSD #tms #UniversityOfIowa
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In this interview, Claudia Gonzalez, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Thompson Rivers University, shares how her research uses neuroimaging to study neurocognitive aging. #fNIRS plays a central role in this work. Using the Brite, her lab investigates brain–behavior relationships across diverse populations, while also integrating other techniques such as eye tracking, #fMRI, and neurostimulation.
🔗 Read the full interview here https://zurl.co/Xtmon
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To me, fMRI is the equivalent of measuring economic activity across the world by looking at GDP amounts and growth, and trade balances across countries, regions, or continents. Nobody can claim this or that person or city was specifically responsible for the changes, and that's part of what's built into these coarse yet presumably useful economic indicators: the particulars don't matter. (To the point that many measures are averaged that shouldn't be, hiding massive inequalities in opportunity, outcomes, family budgets, education, and more.)
When an fMRI paper claims to look at neural activity patterns, benevolently I presume the authors are speaking at the analogue level of precision of GDP, economic growth, and trade balances. Perhaps here it is useful to distinguish between "neural" and "neuronal".
Any conclusions on mechanisms responsible for the observed activity patterns must be ignored for there isn't any basis whatsoever on the data. Thankfully these are written in the discussion section of the papers: the opinions of the authors about their own results. Since only the methods and results can be read from these papers, often there isn't much or anything to learn from them: all the claims are in the form of (over)interpretations listed in the discussion section.
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I know I keep asking this but how can #Neuroscientists say that #fMRI lets you look at "neural activity patterns"?
The same BOLD signal, in a specific voxel, could be generated from an infinite combination of excitatory and inhibitory neurons being more or less active (and that's not even talking about glial cells). How could similar BOLD signals mean that the underlying neural activity patterns were similar?
I must be missing something, please explain 🙏
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We don't think in words (or numbers). 🧐
🎧 https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Zrt6gbJU8od7Sr00MYaTx?si=9k-th4RZRiW_XNi5Tla8MA
#Language #philosophy #cognitivescience #fmri #science #research #words #cognition #chess #fedorenko #blog #podcast #soduko #blog #podcast #perception #apologies
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We don't think in words (or numbers). 🧐
🎧 https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Zrt6gbJU8od7Sr00MYaTx?si=9k-th4RZRiW_XNi5Tla8MA
#Language #philosophy #cognitivescience #fmri #science #research #words #cognition #chess #fedorenko #blog #podcast #soduko #blog #podcast #perception #apologies
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We don't think in words (or numbers). 🧐
🎧 https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Zrt6gbJU8od7Sr00MYaTx?si=9k-th4RZRiW_XNi5Tla8MA
#Language #philosophy #cognitivescience #fmri #science #research #words #cognition #chess #fedorenko #blog #podcast #soduko #blog #podcast #perception #apologies
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We don't think in words (or numbers). 🧐
🎧 https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Zrt6gbJU8od7Sr00MYaTx?si=9k-th4RZRiW_XNi5Tla8MA
#Language #philosophy #cognitivescience #fmri #science #research #words #cognition #chess #fedorenko #blog #podcast #soduko #blog #podcast #perception #apologies
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We don't think in words (or numbers). 🧐
🎧 https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Zrt6gbJU8od7Sr00MYaTx?si=9k-th4RZRiW_XNi5Tla8MA
#Language #philosophy #cognitivescience #fmri #science #research #words #cognition #chess #fedorenko #blog #podcast #soduko #blog #podcast #perception #apologies
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(2018) Where are the #fMRI correlates of #phosphene perception? https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2018.00883/full "Threshold phosphenes are weak percepts, and their detection subjective and difficult."
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UPDATE: Dự án Llama 3.2 3B fMRI cải tiến khả năng tách biệt lớp dữ liệu, hỗ trợ điều chỉnh độc lập hình học, ánh xạ màu, bản đồ thang đo & nguồn prompt. Tương lai thêm tính năng trong suốt & hiệu ứng "ghosting" để phân biệt cấu trúc. #Llama32 #AI #FMRI #MastodonVN #CôngNghệ
https://www.reddit.com/r/LocalLLaMA/comments/1pqzlnv/llama_32_3b_fmri_build_update/
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40 percent of MRI signals do not correspond to actual brain activity
"For almost three decades, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been one of the main tools in brain research. Yet a new study published in the renowned journal Nature Neuroscience fundamentally challenges the way #fMRI data have so far been interpreted with regard to neuronal activity. According to the findings, there is no generally valid coupling between the oxygen content measured by MRI and neuronal activity."
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Samira Epp and Valentin Riedl show that #fMRI blood-flow signals are not a reliable indicator of #BrainEnergy use. Around 40% can oppose neuronal activity, challenging standard interpretations: http://go.tum.de/211216
📷G.Castrillon
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Samira Epp and Valentin Riedl show that #fMRI blood-flow signals are not a reliable indicator of #BrainEnergy use. Around 40% can oppose neuronal activity, challenging standard interpretations: http://go.tum.de/211216
📷G.Castrillon
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Samira Epp and Valentin Riedl show that #fMRI blood-flow signals are not a reliable indicator of #BrainEnergy use. Around 40% can oppose neuronal activity, challenging standard interpretations: http://go.tum.de/211216
📷G.Castrillon
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Samira Epp and Valentin Riedl show that #fMRI blood-flow signals are not a reliable indicator of #BrainEnergy use. Around 40% can oppose neuronal activity, challenging standard interpretations: http://go.tum.de/211216
📷G.Castrillon
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Samira Epp and Valentin Riedl show that #fMRI blood-flow signals are not a reliable indicator of #BrainEnergy use. Around 40% can oppose neuronal activity, challenging standard interpretations: http://go.tum.de/211216
📷G.Castrillon
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Dự án LLaMA 3.2 3B phát triển công cụ phân tích mới giúp quan sát các lớp transformer và token mức độ chi tiết, hỗ trợ điều chỉnh kích hoạt kết nối theo thời gian thực. Tính năng đáng chú ý: nhãn chiều nổi bật khi hoạt động mạnh, giao diện điều hướng token linh hoạt. Cơ hội học hỏi đáng ngạc nhiên từ người không phải phát triển Godot.
#AI #MachineLearning #LLaMA32 #FMRI #PhânTíchToken #NeuralNethttps://www.reddit.com/r/LocalLLaMA/comments/1pnhi27/llama_32_3b_fmri/
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🧠 New paper by Huang et al.: By using #pharmacological #fMRI and dynamic #connectome-based #PredictiveModeling, they show how #cortisol reshapes whole-brain #NetworkDynamics during emotional memory encoding. Trial-level analyses reveal distinct but increasingly integrated #arousal and #memory networks under #stress, supporting a hormonally driven "memory formation mode".
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🧠 New paper by Huang et al.: By using #pharmacological #fMRI and dynamic #connectome-based #PredictiveModeling, they show how #cortisol reshapes whole-brain #NetworkDynamics during emotional memory encoding. Trial-level analyses reveal distinct but increasingly integrated #arousal and #memory networks under #stress, supporting a hormonally driven "memory formation mode".
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🧠 New paper by Huang et al.: By using #pharmacological #fMRI and dynamic #connectome-based #PredictiveModeling, they show how #cortisol reshapes whole-brain #NetworkDynamics during emotional memory encoding. Trial-level analyses reveal distinct but increasingly integrated #arousal and #memory networks under #stress, supporting a hormonally driven "memory formation mode".
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🧠 New paper by Huang et al.: By using #pharmacological #fMRI and dynamic #connectome-based #PredictiveModeling, they show how #cortisol reshapes whole-brain #NetworkDynamics during emotional memory encoding. Trial-level analyses reveal distinct but increasingly integrated #arousal and #memory networks under #stress, supporting a hormonally driven "memory formation mode".
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🧠 New paper by Huang et al.: By using #pharmacological #fMRI and dynamic #connectome-based #PredictiveModeling, they show how #cortisol reshapes whole-brain #NetworkDynamics during emotional memory encoding. Trial-level analyses reveal distinct but increasingly integrated #arousal and #memory networks under #stress, supporting a hormonally driven "memory formation mode".
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🧠 🗝️ #fMRI #BrainDecoding: Was neuronale Signale wirklich zeigen
Wir behandeln #fMRI-Bilder oft so, als wären sie Momentaufnahmen aus dem privaten Inneren des Gehirns. Aber wie #DanielDennett in unserem #Zoomposium erklärt, sind diese farbenfrohen Aktivierungskarten keine wörtlichen Bilder – sie sind metaphorische Rekonstruktionen.
📽 https://youtu.be/M2qiVz95ZYk
📎https://philosophies.de/index.php/2023/12/25/naturalistic-view/
#Consciousness #PhilosophyOfMind #Neuroscience #MultipleDraftsModel #RealPatterns #CognitiveScience #AI
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🧠 🗝️ #fMRI #BrainDecoding: What Neural Signals Really Show
We often treat #fMRIimages as if they were snapshots of the brain’s private inner theater. But as #DanielDennett explains in our #Zoomposium, these colorful activation maps are not literal images—they are metaphorical reconstructions.
📽 https://youtu.be/M2qiVz95ZYk
📎https://philosophies.de/index.php/2023/12/25/naturalistic-view/
#neurologyimaging #Consciousness #PhilosophyOfMind #Neuroscience #MultipleDraftsModel #RealPatterns #CognitiveScience #AI
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🧠 🗝️ #fMRI #BrainDecoding: What Neural Signals Really Show
We often treat #fMRIimages as if they were snapshots of the brain’s private inner theater. But as #DanielDennett explains in our #Zoomposium, these colorful activation maps are not literal images—they are metaphorical reconstructions.
📽 https://youtu.be/M2qiVz95ZYk
📎https://philosophies.de/index.php/2023/12/25/naturalistic-view/
#neurologyimaging #Consciousness #PhilosophyOfMind #Neuroscience #MultipleDraftsModel #RealPatterns #CognitiveScience #AI
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🧠 🗝️ #fMRI #BrainDecoding: What Neural Signals Really Show
We often treat #fMRIimages as if they were snapshots of the brain’s private inner theater. But as #DanielDennett explains in our #Zoomposium, these colorful activation maps are not literal images—they are metaphorical reconstructions.
📽 https://youtu.be/M2qiVz95ZYk
📎https://philosophies.de/index.php/2023/12/25/naturalistic-view/
#neurologyimaging #Consciousness #PhilosophyOfMind #Neuroscience #MultipleDraftsModel #RealPatterns #CognitiveScience #AI
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🧠 🗝️ #fMRI #BrainDecoding: What Neural Signals Really Show
We often treat #fMRIimages as if they were snapshots of the brain’s private inner theater. But as #DanielDennett explains in our #Zoomposium, these colorful activation maps are not literal images—they are metaphorical reconstructions.
📽 https://youtu.be/M2qiVz95ZYk
📎https://philosophies.de/index.php/2023/12/25/naturalistic-view/
#neurologyimaging #Consciousness #PhilosophyOfMind #Neuroscience #MultipleDraftsModel #RealPatterns #CognitiveScience #AI
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🧠 🗝️ #fMRI #BrainDecoding: What Neural Signals Really Show
We often treat #fMRIimages as if they were snapshots of the brain’s private inner theater. But as #DanielDennett explains in our #Zoomposium, these colorful activation maps are not literal images—they are metaphorical reconstructions.
📽 https://youtu.be/M2qiVz95ZYk
📎https://philosophies.de/index.php/2023/12/25/naturalistic-view/
#neurologyimaging #Consciousness #PhilosophyOfMind #Neuroscience #MultipleDraftsModel #RealPatterns #CognitiveScience #AI
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@adapalmer
Hmm... I really doubt they found the neural pattern behind aha-moments with #fMRI.. which not only shows blood flow oxygenation, not neural activity, but has a very low temporal resolution compared to the very fast timescale of these events. Plus these are likely to engage a very small and very distributed pattern of neurons throughout the brain.Maybe they've found blood oxygenation changes following the emotional response linked to the aha-moments though? 🤔
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A paper in #Science about "In vivo direct imaging of neuronal activity at high temporospatial resolution" - describing "a method that allows for direct imaging of neuronal activity by #fMRI"
- has been retracted!
The retraction: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aec1773
The paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abh4340"In response to the concerns, we reanalyzed the data. Unfortunately, the additional results revealed unexpected MR signal characteristics and did not robustly support the original conclusions."
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Download it immediately! #free #freeapp #appstore #playstore #resource #family #parenting #generationaltrauma #fmri #science #psychology #development #developmentalpsychology
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Download it immediately! #free #freeapp #appstore #playstore #resource #family #parenting #generationaltrauma #fmri #science #psychology #development #developmentalpsychology
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Download it immediately! #free #freeapp #appstore #playstore #resource #family #parenting #generationaltrauma #fmri #science #psychology #development #developmentalpsychology
