C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
@clararastelli.bsky.social
🎓Joint PhD @UniTrento & @unituebingen.bsky.social 🧠 #CoCoSci | #Semantics |💡 #CreativityScience | #RL | 💭Thought dynamics🪆Proud wife & mom, #scimom 🌪️Turning chaos into curious, one thought at a time
📎 clararastelli.github.io
📎 clararastelli.github.io
Pinned
🧠 What happens in the brain when we turn ideas into stories, and what makes a story truly creative?
Our latest study explores the neural mechanisms supporting semantic control during narrative ideation.
#fMRI + #LLMs
Out in Communications Biology @commsbio.bsky.social
A thread 👇
Our latest study explores the neural mechanisms supporting semantic control during narrative ideation.
#fMRI + #LLMs
Out in Communications Biology @commsbio.bsky.social
A thread 👇
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
The real problem isn’t p-values, it’s the epistemology behind them.
Science shouldn’t depend on arbitrary thresholds that change with context.
Knowledge should accumulate, not collapse into yes/no verdicts.
Turning continuous evidence into discrete “significance” decisions is information loss
Science shouldn’t depend on arbitrary thresholds that change with context.
Knowledge should accumulate, not collapse into yes/no verdicts.
Turning continuous evidence into discrete “significance” decisions is information loss
There still seems to be a lot of confusion about significance testing in psych. No, p-values *don’t* become useless at large N. This flawed point also used to be framed as "too much power". But power isn't the problem – it's 1) unbalanced error rates and 2) the (lack of a) SESOI. 1/ >
But here's, the thing, p values and significance become useless at such large sample sizes. When you're dividing the coefficient by the SE and the sample size is in the tens of thousands, EVERYTHING IS SIGNIFICANT. All you're testing is whether the coefficient is different than zero.
November 2, 2025 at 8:54 AM
The real problem isn’t p-values, it’s the epistemology behind them.
Science shouldn’t depend on arbitrary thresholds that change with context.
Knowledge should accumulate, not collapse into yes/no verdicts.
Turning continuous evidence into discrete “significance” decisions is information loss
Science shouldn’t depend on arbitrary thresholds that change with context.
Knowledge should accumulate, not collapse into yes/no verdicts.
Turning continuous evidence into discrete “significance” decisions is information loss
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
📢 Deadline extended! 📢
The registration deadline for #SNS2025 has been extended to Sunday, September 28th!
Register here 👉 meg.medizin.uni-tuebingen.de/sns_2025/reg...
PS: Students of the GTC (Graduate Training Center for Neuroscience) in Tübingen can earn 1 CP for presenting a poster! 👀
The registration deadline for #SNS2025 has been extended to Sunday, September 28th!
Register here 👉 meg.medizin.uni-tuebingen.de/sns_2025/reg...
PS: Students of the GTC (Graduate Training Center for Neuroscience) in Tübingen can earn 1 CP for presenting a poster! 👀
a woman in front of a white board with the words take your time written on it
ALT: a woman in front of a white board with the words take your time written on it
media.tenor.com
September 17, 2025 at 1:11 PM
📢 Deadline extended! 📢
The registration deadline for #SNS2025 has been extended to Sunday, September 28th!
Register here 👉 meg.medizin.uni-tuebingen.de/sns_2025/reg...
PS: Students of the GTC (Graduate Training Center for Neuroscience) in Tübingen can earn 1 CP for presenting a poster! 👀
The registration deadline for #SNS2025 has been extended to Sunday, September 28th!
Register here 👉 meg.medizin.uni-tuebingen.de/sns_2025/reg...
PS: Students of the GTC (Graduate Training Center for Neuroscience) in Tübingen can earn 1 CP for presenting a poster! 👀
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
Are top-down feedback connections enough for robust vision?
We found ConvRNN with top-down feedback exhibiting OOD robustness only when trained with dropout, revealing a dual mechanism for robust sensory coding
with @marco-d.bsky.social, Karl Friston, Giovanni Pezzulo & @siegellab.bsky.social
🧵👇
We found ConvRNN with top-down feedback exhibiting OOD robustness only when trained with dropout, revealing a dual mechanism for robust sensory coding
with @marco-d.bsky.social, Karl Friston, Giovanni Pezzulo & @siegellab.bsky.social
🧵👇
August 18, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Are top-down feedback connections enough for robust vision?
We found ConvRNN with top-down feedback exhibiting OOD robustness only when trained with dropout, revealing a dual mechanism for robust sensory coding
with @marco-d.bsky.social, Karl Friston, Giovanni Pezzulo & @siegellab.bsky.social
🧵👇
We found ConvRNN with top-down feedback exhibiting OOD robustness only when trained with dropout, revealing a dual mechanism for robust sensory coding
with @marco-d.bsky.social, Karl Friston, Giovanni Pezzulo & @siegellab.bsky.social
🧵👇
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
I still get chills
Meet Mike
*30+ years severe depression
*first hospitalized @ 13y
*20 meds
*3 rounds of ECT
*2 near-fatal suicide attempts
Mike felt joy for the first time in decades after we turned on his new brain pacemaker or PACE
see videos, read paper, follow thread
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Meet Mike
*30+ years severe depression
*first hospitalized @ 13y
*20 meds
*3 rounds of ECT
*2 near-fatal suicide attempts
Mike felt joy for the first time in decades after we turned on his new brain pacemaker or PACE
see videos, read paper, follow thread
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
August 10, 2025 at 6:23 PM
I still get chills
Meet Mike
*30+ years severe depression
*first hospitalized @ 13y
*20 meds
*3 rounds of ECT
*2 near-fatal suicide attempts
Mike felt joy for the first time in decades after we turned on his new brain pacemaker or PACE
see videos, read paper, follow thread
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Meet Mike
*30+ years severe depression
*first hospitalized @ 13y
*20 meds
*3 rounds of ECT
*2 near-fatal suicide attempts
Mike felt joy for the first time in decades after we turned on his new brain pacemaker or PACE
see videos, read paper, follow thread
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
🔵 Proud and honoured to share a project I had the chance to contribute to.
It’s been a long journey of research and collaboration, exploring how humans and deep neural networks perform in sound localization 👂📍
Check it out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
It’s been a long journey of research and collaboration, exploring how humans and deep neural networks perform in sound localization 👂📍
Check it out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
August 10, 2025 at 7:19 AM
🔵 Proud and honoured to share a project I had the chance to contribute to.
It’s been a long journey of research and collaboration, exploring how humans and deep neural networks perform in sound localization 👂📍
Check it out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
It’s been a long journey of research and collaboration, exploring how humans and deep neural networks perform in sound localization 👂📍
Check it out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
🧠⏱️ New preprint!
We found that temporal prediction errors are more strongly encoded when an overt response is required, and this encoding occurs in motor rather than sensory space.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵👇
We found that temporal prediction errors are more strongly encoded when an overt response is required, and this encoding occurs in motor rather than sensory space.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵👇
August 8, 2025 at 7:05 AM
🧠⏱️ New preprint!
We found that temporal prediction errors are more strongly encoded when an overt response is required, and this encoding occurs in motor rather than sensory space.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵👇
We found that temporal prediction errors are more strongly encoded when an overt response is required, and this encoding occurs in motor rather than sensory space.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵👇
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
Honored to receive the ✨HIH Paper of the Year Award✨ for our work on predictive learning published in @natcomms.nature.com last year!
Huge thanks to @hih-tuebingen.bsky.social and all collaborators — this recognition means a lot! 🙏
Check out the paper here 👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Huge thanks to @hih-tuebingen.bsky.social and all collaborators — this recognition means a lot! 🙏
Check out the paper here 👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
July 25, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Honored to receive the ✨HIH Paper of the Year Award✨ for our work on predictive learning published in @natcomms.nature.com last year!
Huge thanks to @hih-tuebingen.bsky.social and all collaborators — this recognition means a lot! 🙏
Check out the paper here 👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Huge thanks to @hih-tuebingen.bsky.social and all collaborators — this recognition means a lot! 🙏
Check out the paper here 👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
Word learning is usually about what a word does refer to. But can toddlers learn from what it doesn’t?
Our new Cognition paper shows 20-month-olds use negative evidence to infer novel word meanings, reshaping theories of language development.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Our new Cognition paper shows 20-month-olds use negative evidence to infer novel word meanings, reshaping theories of language development.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
May 20, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Word learning is usually about what a word does refer to. But can toddlers learn from what it doesn’t?
Our new Cognition paper shows 20-month-olds use negative evidence to infer novel word meanings, reshaping theories of language development.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Our new Cognition paper shows 20-month-olds use negative evidence to infer novel word meanings, reshaping theories of language development.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
🤩New preprint out! 🎉 We explore the neural signatures of predictive coding during the acquisition of incidental sensory associations.
Huge thanks to @agreco.bsky.social for leading this work!
Huge thanks to @agreco.bsky.social for leading this work!
🚨 New preprint! 🚨
Can humans learn sensory regularities that are irrelevant to ongoing behavior? Yes, and we reveal the predictive coding mechanisms behind their acquisition
Our results support uncertainty minimization over environmental state transitions as a core objective of brain function
🧵👇
Can humans learn sensory regularities that are irrelevant to ongoing behavior? Yes, and we reveal the predictive coding mechanisms behind their acquisition
Our results support uncertainty minimization over environmental state transitions as a core objective of brain function
🧵👇
May 18, 2025 at 6:44 PM
🤩New preprint out! 🎉 We explore the neural signatures of predictive coding during the acquisition of incidental sensory associations.
Huge thanks to @agreco.bsky.social for leading this work!
Huge thanks to @agreco.bsky.social for leading this work!
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
The European Workshop on Reinforcement Learning is coming to Tübingen! 🌸
Time to submit your paper! EWRL submissions are open!💫
Check out the Call for Papers here: euro-workshop-on-reinforcement-learning.github.io/ewrl18/
Check out the Call for Papers here: euro-workshop-on-reinforcement-learning.github.io/ewrl18/
May 9, 2025 at 12:04 PM
The European Workshop on Reinforcement Learning is coming to Tübingen! 🌸
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
🙌 Hot off the presses @natcomms.nature.com! We created a custom #Minecraft environment to study a long-standing puzzle in cognitive science:
How do humans flexibly adapt their individual and social learning strategies in dynamic, realistic situations? Check it out 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵👇
How do humans flexibly adapt their individual and social learning strategies in dynamic, realistic situations? Check it out 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵👇
April 25, 2025 at 10:57 AM
🙌 Hot off the presses @natcomms.nature.com! We created a custom #Minecraft environment to study a long-standing puzzle in cognitive science:
How do humans flexibly adapt their individual and social learning strategies in dynamic, realistic situations? Check it out 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵👇
How do humans flexibly adapt their individual and social learning strategies in dynamic, realistic situations? Check it out 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵👇
🧠 What happens in the brain when we turn ideas into stories, and what makes a story truly creative?
Our latest study explores the neural mechanisms supporting semantic control during narrative ideation.
#fMRI + #LLMs
Out in Communications Biology @commsbio.bsky.social
A thread 👇
Our latest study explores the neural mechanisms supporting semantic control during narrative ideation.
#fMRI + #LLMs
Out in Communications Biology @commsbio.bsky.social
A thread 👇
April 1, 2025 at 3:08 PM
🧠 What happens in the brain when we turn ideas into stories, and what makes a story truly creative?
Our latest study explores the neural mechanisms supporting semantic control during narrative ideation.
#fMRI + #LLMs
Out in Communications Biology @commsbio.bsky.social
A thread 👇
Our latest study explores the neural mechanisms supporting semantic control during narrative ideation.
#fMRI + #LLMs
Out in Communications Biology @commsbio.bsky.social
A thread 👇
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
My latest installment of brain state modeling in creativity is out @ Psychophysiology! We found generating novel metaphors is associated with widespread alpha-band synchronization early on in ideation and, paradoxically, alpha-desynch right before response. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
<em>Psychophysiology</em> | SPR Journal | Wiley Online Library
Verbal creativity in generating novel metaphors is widely recognized, but its electrophysiological basis has not been investigated. By applying brain state analysis to EEG data, we identify oscillato...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
February 14, 2025 at 5:56 PM
My latest installment of brain state modeling in creativity is out @ Psychophysiology! We found generating novel metaphors is associated with widespread alpha-band synchronization early on in ideation and, paradoxically, alpha-desynch right before response. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton have won the A.M. Turing Award for developing the theoretical foundations of reinforcement learning, a key method behind many major breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. 🧵
March 5, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton have won the A.M. Turing Award for developing the theoretical foundations of reinforcement learning, a key method behind many major breakthroughs in artificial intelligence. 🧵
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
🚨 New Preprint!!
LLMs trained on next-word prediction (NWP) show high alignment with brain recordings. But what drives this alignment—linguistic structure or world knowledge? And how does this alignment evolve during training? Our new paper explores these questions. 👇🧵
LLMs trained on next-word prediction (NWP) show high alignment with brain recordings. But what drives this alignment—linguistic structure or world knowledge? And how does this alignment evolve during training? Our new paper explores these questions. 👇🧵
March 5, 2025 at 3:58 PM
🚨 New Preprint!!
LLMs trained on next-word prediction (NWP) show high alignment with brain recordings. But what drives this alignment—linguistic structure or world knowledge? And how does this alignment evolve during training? Our new paper explores these questions. 👇🧵
LLMs trained on next-word prediction (NWP) show high alignment with brain recordings. But what drives this alignment—linguistic structure or world knowledge? And how does this alignment evolve during training? Our new paper explores these questions. 👇🧵
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
Do whales optimize their vocalizations for efficiency, just like human language? 🐋🎶 My latest study in
Science Advances (@science.org) suggests they do—following linguistic laws seen in human speech. 🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Science Advances (@science.org) suggests they do—following linguistic laws seen in human speech. 🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Language-like efficiency in whale communication
Whale vocalizations follow efficiency rules seen in human language, revealing striking similarities in communication systems.
www.science.org
February 5, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Do whales optimize their vocalizations for efficiency, just like human language? 🐋🎶 My latest study in
Science Advances (@science.org) suggests they do—following linguistic laws seen in human speech. 🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Science Advances (@science.org) suggests they do—following linguistic laws seen in human speech. 🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
Cognitive psych is often traced back to the 1950s.
Psychology is often traced to Wundt's lab in 1879.
Textbooks speak of "proto-psychologists" like Fechner & Helmholtz in the 1800s... Westerners all.
Have you heard about Ibn al-Haytham, whose work predated them by 100s of years?
1/4
Psychology is often traced to Wundt's lab in 1879.
Textbooks speak of "proto-psychologists" like Fechner & Helmholtz in the 1800s... Westerners all.
Have you heard about Ibn al-Haytham, whose work predated them by 100s of years?
1/4
January 31, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Cognitive psych is often traced back to the 1950s.
Psychology is often traced to Wundt's lab in 1879.
Textbooks speak of "proto-psychologists" like Fechner & Helmholtz in the 1800s... Westerners all.
Have you heard about Ibn al-Haytham, whose work predated them by 100s of years?
1/4
Psychology is often traced to Wundt's lab in 1879.
Textbooks speak of "proto-psychologists" like Fechner & Helmholtz in the 1800s... Westerners all.
Have you heard about Ibn al-Haytham, whose work predated them by 100s of years?
1/4
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
How do spatiotemporal patterns of brain activity evolve from childhood to adulthood? 🧠✨
Find in the latest from @tingsterx.bsky.social and ⭐coauthors 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Find in the latest from @tingsterx.bsky.social and ⭐coauthors 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
February 5, 2025 at 3:01 PM
How do spatiotemporal patterns of brain activity evolve from childhood to adulthood? 🧠✨
Find in the latest from @tingsterx.bsky.social and ⭐coauthors 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Find in the latest from @tingsterx.bsky.social and ⭐coauthors 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
My prediction is that in 30-50 years, not a single neuroscientist will study the brain in terms of "regions". These will be the last localizationist-driven decades 🔮
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
January 31, 2025 at 3:25 PM
My prediction is that in 30-50 years, not a single neuroscientist will study the brain in terms of "regions". These will be the last localizationist-driven decades 🔮
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Excited to share our new study! Can visual hallucinations in virtual reality shape high-level cognitive processes? 🧠🍄👾 Check out our article to find out more! 🚀
🚨 NEW PAPER 🚨
Psychedelics alter cognition profoundly, but is the alteration of the visual perception causally related to high-level cognition modulation?
In VR, we found that simulated visual hallucinations affect high-level human cognition in specific ways!
Link 👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.co...
🧵👇
Psychedelics alter cognition profoundly, but is the alteration of the visual perception causally related to high-level cognition modulation?
In VR, we found that simulated visual hallucinations affect high-level human cognition in specific ways!
Link 👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.co...
🧵👇
January 27, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Excited to share our new study! Can visual hallucinations in virtual reality shape high-level cognitive processes? 🧠🍄👾 Check out our article to find out more! 🚀
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
We had heard about the challenges posed by motherhood within academia, but what about the previous stage? @ecfreewoman.bsky.social & I wrote our story for @science.org on how the academic system makes it almost impossible for women to even plan for a family ❤️🩹: www.science.org/content/arti...
As women in academia, having children can feel impossible. Talking about it makes us feel less alone
The struggle is “balancing their careers not just with motherhood, but with what comes before: relationships and planning for a family,” these postdocs write
www.science.org
November 29, 2024 at 6:34 AM
We had heard about the challenges posed by motherhood within academia, but what about the previous stage? @ecfreewoman.bsky.social & I wrote our story for @science.org on how the academic system makes it almost impossible for women to even plan for a family ❤️🩹: www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
“Women leave or consider leaving [faculty positions] because of workplace climate more often than work-life balance.” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Gender and retention patterns among U.S. faculty
Women faculty are more likely to leave their jobs than men, most often due to workplace climate, rather than work-life balance.
www.science.org
December 24, 2024 at 3:10 PM
“Women leave or consider leaving [faculty positions] because of workplace climate more often than work-life balance.” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
How critically or favorably do we cite ourselves? How favorably do we cite collaborators? Do high h-index scholars cite more critically than low h-index scholars? Are some disciplines (or countries) more critical than others? Why? Check out our new manuscript: arxiv.org/abs/2411.09675
December 11, 2024 at 9:47 PM
How critically or favorably do we cite ourselves? How favorably do we cite collaborators? Do high h-index scholars cite more critically than low h-index scholars? Are some disciplines (or countries) more critical than others? Why? Check out our new manuscript: arxiv.org/abs/2411.09675
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
Happy New Year🎉
Thrilled to start 2025 with $1M from @cziscience.bsky.social @chanzuckerberg.bsky.social to study the maternal brain using AI!
Grateful for the chance to advance science for mothers worldwide 🧠
@emilyjacobs.bsky.social @susanacarmona.bsky.social @magdamartinezga.bsky.social
Thrilled to start 2025 with $1M from @cziscience.bsky.social @chanzuckerberg.bsky.social to study the maternal brain using AI!
Grateful for the chance to advance science for mothers worldwide 🧠
@emilyjacobs.bsky.social @susanacarmona.bsky.social @magdamartinezga.bsky.social
January 7, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Happy New Year🎉
Thrilled to start 2025 with $1M from @cziscience.bsky.social @chanzuckerberg.bsky.social to study the maternal brain using AI!
Grateful for the chance to advance science for mothers worldwide 🧠
@emilyjacobs.bsky.social @susanacarmona.bsky.social @magdamartinezga.bsky.social
Thrilled to start 2025 with $1M from @cziscience.bsky.social @chanzuckerberg.bsky.social to study the maternal brain using AI!
Grateful for the chance to advance science for mothers worldwide 🧠
@emilyjacobs.bsky.social @susanacarmona.bsky.social @magdamartinezga.bsky.social
Reposted by C҉L҉A҉R҉A 𝝅
Our new paper! "Analytic theory of creativity in convolutional diffusion models" lead expertly by @masonkamb.bsky.social
arxiv.org/abs/2412.20292
Our closed-form theory needs no training, is mechanistically interpretable & accurately predicts diffusion model outputs with high median r^2~0.9
arxiv.org/abs/2412.20292
Our closed-form theory needs no training, is mechanistically interpretable & accurately predicts diffusion model outputs with high median r^2~0.9
December 31, 2024 at 4:54 PM
Our new paper! "Analytic theory of creativity in convolutional diffusion models" lead expertly by @masonkamb.bsky.social
arxiv.org/abs/2412.20292
Our closed-form theory needs no training, is mechanistically interpretable & accurately predicts diffusion model outputs with high median r^2~0.9
arxiv.org/abs/2412.20292
Our closed-form theory needs no training, is mechanistically interpretable & accurately predicts diffusion model outputs with high median r^2~0.9