Giulia Cabbai
@giuliacabbai.bsky.social
Postdoctoral Research Fellow | @imagingneuroucl.bsky.social, previously @sussex.ac.uk | Mental imagery, spontaneous thoughts, multisensory perception
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
We built the openESM database:
▶️60 openly available experience sampling datasets (16K+ participants, 740K+ obs.) in one place
▶️Harmonized (meta-)data, fully open-source software
▶️Filter & search all data, simply download via R/Python
Find out more:
🌐 openesmdata.org
📝 doi.org/10.31234/osf...
▶️60 openly available experience sampling datasets (16K+ participants, 740K+ obs.) in one place
▶️Harmonized (meta-)data, fully open-source software
▶️Filter & search all data, simply download via R/Python
Find out more:
🌐 openesmdata.org
📝 doi.org/10.31234/osf...
October 22, 2025 at 7:34 PM
We built the openESM database:
▶️60 openly available experience sampling datasets (16K+ participants, 740K+ obs.) in one place
▶️Harmonized (meta-)data, fully open-source software
▶️Filter & search all data, simply download via R/Python
Find out more:
🌐 openesmdata.org
📝 doi.org/10.31234/osf...
▶️60 openly available experience sampling datasets (16K+ participants, 740K+ obs.) in one place
▶️Harmonized (meta-)data, fully open-source software
▶️Filter & search all data, simply download via R/Python
Find out more:
🌐 openesmdata.org
📝 doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
@dotproduct.bsky.social's first first author paper is finally out in @sfnjournals.bsky.social! Her findings show that content-specific predictions fluctuate with alpha frequencies, suggesting a more specific role for alpha oscillations than we may have thought. With @jhaarsma.bsky.social. 🧠🟦 🧠🤖
Contents of visual predictions oscillate at alpha frequencies
Predictions of future events have a major impact on how we process sensory signals. However, it remains unclear how the brain keeps predictions online in anticipation of future inputs. Here, we combin...
www.jneurosci.org
October 21, 2025 at 11:05 AM
@dotproduct.bsky.social's first first author paper is finally out in @sfnjournals.bsky.social! Her findings show that content-specific predictions fluctuate with alpha frequencies, suggesting a more specific role for alpha oscillations than we may have thought. With @jhaarsma.bsky.social. 🧠🟦 🧠🤖
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
Why do we remember emotional events so vividly? Our new paper @nathumbehav.nature.com suggests that emotional arousal enhances memory by strengthening integration across large-scale brain networks! Led by the amazing @jadynpark.bsky.social & @ycleong.bsky.social! doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Out now in @nathumbehav.nature.com! We applied graph theoretic analyses to fMRI data of participants watching movies/listening to stories. Integration across large-scale functional networks mediates arousal-dependent enhancement of narrative memories. Open access link: rdcu.be/eKKAw
October 13, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Why do we remember emotional events so vividly? Our new paper @nathumbehav.nature.com suggests that emotional arousal enhances memory by strengthening integration across large-scale brain networks! Led by the amazing @jadynpark.bsky.social & @ycleong.bsky.social! doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
Ahem. Mental imagery (& imagery-critical) researchers should read this:
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Self-reports are better measurement instruments than implicit measures - Nature Reviews Psychology
Implicit measures are widely used because they are assumed to be superior to self-reports. In this Perspective, Corneille and Gawronski challenge this view and argue that claims about disadvantages of...
www.nature.com
September 23, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Ahem. Mental imagery (& imagery-critical) researchers should read this:
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
A transformation from vision to imagery in the human brain. Intriguing new preprint by Roy & Naselaris et al for anyone interested in mental imagery!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A transformation from vision to imagery in the human brain
Extensive work has shown that the visual cortex is reactivated during mental imagery, and that models trained on visual data can predict imagery activity and decode imagined stimuli. These findings ma...
www.biorxiv.org
September 4, 2025 at 9:28 AM
A transformation from vision to imagery in the human brain. Intriguing new preprint by Roy & Naselaris et al for anyone interested in mental imagery!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
the tldr of my thread is that, interoceptive sensing at rest has no relationship to mental health symptoms, and we think this is likely because we need to measure interoception during and after arousal, close in time to symptoms, with ecological measures.
Are interoception and mental health linked? Many assume so, with interoception even described as a psychiatric “p-factor.” But in our latest preprint, we were surprised to find little evidence for such a connection. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵 Thread with our reflections on the matter 👇
Interoceptive Ability is Unrelated to Mental Health Symptoms: Evidence From a Large Scale Multi-Domain Psychophysical Investigation
Interoception-the sensing and perception of the internal viscera-is widely cast as a transdiagnostic mechanism linking brain-body interaction to mental illness. Prevailing models propose that altered ...
www.medrxiv.org
August 28, 2025 at 7:01 AM
the tldr of my thread is that, interoceptive sensing at rest has no relationship to mental health symptoms, and we think this is likely because we need to measure interoception during and after arousal, close in time to symptoms, with ecological measures.
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
🚨Paper now published! 🚨
The Effects of External Cue Overlap and Internal Goals on Selective Memory Retrieval.
Grateful for thorough reviews that made it stronger. Out now in #EJN: doi.org/10.1111/ejn..... w @alexamorcom.bsky.social @MattPlummer @ivorsimpson.bsky.social. Updated summary🧵👇
The Effects of External Cue Overlap and Internal Goals on Selective Memory Retrieval.
Grateful for thorough reviews that made it stronger. Out now in #EJN: doi.org/10.1111/ejn..... w @alexamorcom.bsky.social @MattPlummer @ivorsimpson.bsky.social. Updated summary🧵👇
The Effects of External Cue Overlap and Internal Goals on Selective Memory Retrieval as Revealed by Electroencephalographic (EEG) Neural Pattern Reinstatement
This EEG study used multivariate decoding in humans to investigate how memories are selected when retrieval goals vary. The results showed that EEG neural patterns reinstating studied information tra...
doi.org
July 16, 2025 at 11:16 AM
🚨Paper now published! 🚨
The Effects of External Cue Overlap and Internal Goals on Selective Memory Retrieval.
Grateful for thorough reviews that made it stronger. Out now in #EJN: doi.org/10.1111/ejn..... w @alexamorcom.bsky.social @MattPlummer @ivorsimpson.bsky.social. Updated summary🧵👇
The Effects of External Cue Overlap and Internal Goals on Selective Memory Retrieval.
Grateful for thorough reviews that made it stronger. Out now in #EJN: doi.org/10.1111/ejn..... w @alexamorcom.bsky.social @MattPlummer @ivorsimpson.bsky.social. Updated summary🧵👇
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
Very proud to share this one🥹! We show that personalized signatures of brain activity are heritable and relate to the expression of specific genes. That means my brain-fingerprint is very similar to my twin brother's! #ResearchIsMeSearch🧠 🧬 ♊️
Genetic foundations of interindividual neurophysiological variability
Individual brain activity profiles are shaped by lifelong genetic influences.
www.science.org
July 24, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Very proud to share this one🥹! We show that personalized signatures of brain activity are heritable and relate to the expression of specific genes. That means my brain-fingerprint is very similar to my twin brother's! #ResearchIsMeSearch🧠 🧬 ♊️
Always late to the party, but really excited to share this new preprint led by @benjyb.bsky.social where we find an intriguing link between vividness ratings and reaction times!🧠💭
🚨New preprint🚨 out with the dream team @matanmazor.bsky.social @giuliacabbai.bsky.social and @nadinedijkstra.bsky.social!
We report a novel and robust effect across five different datasets: vivid imagery is reported faster than weak imagery.
📝: osf.io/preprints/ps...
We report a novel and robust effect across five different datasets: vivid imagery is reported faster than weak imagery.
📝: osf.io/preprints/ps...
July 23, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Always late to the party, but really excited to share this new preprint led by @benjyb.bsky.social where we find an intriguing link between vividness ratings and reaction times!🧠💭
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
New MEG paper by @jhaarsma.bsky.social and @dotproduct.bsky.social! Same design and behavioural results as our 7T layer fMRI study (www.jneurosci.org/content/43/4...), but now shedding light on the temporal dynamics of the sensory signals underlying false percepts. #neuroskyence
Shared and diverging neural dynamics underlying false and veridical perception
We often mistake visual noise for meaningful images, which sometimes appear as convincing as veridical percepts. This suggests considerable overlap between the mechanisms that underlie false and verid...
www.jneurosci.org
June 10, 2025 at 9:27 AM
New MEG paper by @jhaarsma.bsky.social and @dotproduct.bsky.social! Same design and behavioural results as our 7T layer fMRI study (www.jneurosci.org/content/43/4...), but now shedding light on the temporal dynamics of the sensory signals underlying false percepts. #neuroskyence
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
I am so excited to share that our paper 'A neural basis for distinguishing imagination from reality' is now published in @cp-neuron.bsky.social! 🧠✨ See thread below! doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
June 5, 2025 at 3:05 PM
I am so excited to share that our paper 'A neural basis for distinguishing imagination from reality' is now published in @cp-neuron.bsky.social! 🧠✨ See thread below! doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
Looking forward to presenting my work at the Consciousness Club tomorrow! 😊
Excited for Consciousness Club this week with Giulia Cabbai @giuliacabbai.bsky.social
Investigating the neural basis of conscious imagery experience
Wednesday 21st May 11am-1230pm UK time
All welcome, for more details and how to join please see: metacoglab.org/consciousnes...
Investigating the neural basis of conscious imagery experience
Wednesday 21st May 11am-1230pm UK time
All welcome, for more details and how to join please see: metacoglab.org/consciousnes...
Consciousness Club — the MetaLab
metacoglab.org
May 20, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Looking forward to presenting my work at the Consciousness Club tomorrow! 😊
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
@pessoabrain.bsky.social drops knowledge on us. Neuron spiking is highly coordinated. Waves of electric field influences are a great way to do that.
The brain is much less like a machine than it is like the murmurations of a flock of starlings
aeon.co/essays/how-t...
#neuroscience
The brain is much less like a machine than it is like the murmurations of a flock of starlings
aeon.co/essays/how-t...
#neuroscience
How the human brain is like a murmuration of starlings | Aeon Essays
The brain is much less like a machine than it is like the murmurations of a flock of starlings or an orchestral symphony
aeon.co
May 19, 2025 at 11:32 AM
@pessoabrain.bsky.social drops knowledge on us. Neuron spiking is highly coordinated. Waves of electric field influences are a great way to do that.
The brain is much less like a machine than it is like the murmurations of a flock of starlings
aeon.co/essays/how-t...
#neuroscience
The brain is much less like a machine than it is like the murmurations of a flock of starlings
aeon.co/essays/how-t...
#neuroscience
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
Paper finally published in JEP General!
Individual variability in mental imagery vividness does not predict perceptual interference with imagery: A replication study of Cui et al., 2007: osf.io/preprints/os...
A study cited over 500 times couldn't be replicated, even in extreme imagery... a 🧵
1/8
Individual variability in mental imagery vividness does not predict perceptual interference with imagery: A replication study of Cui et al., 2007: osf.io/preprints/os...
A study cited over 500 times couldn't be replicated, even in extreme imagery... a 🧵
1/8
OSF
osf.io
May 6, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Paper finally published in JEP General!
Individual variability in mental imagery vividness does not predict perceptual interference with imagery: A replication study of Cui et al., 2007: osf.io/preprints/os...
A study cited over 500 times couldn't be replicated, even in extreme imagery... a 🧵
1/8
Individual variability in mental imagery vividness does not predict perceptual interference with imagery: A replication study of Cui et al., 2007: osf.io/preprints/os...
A study cited over 500 times couldn't be replicated, even in extreme imagery... a 🧵
1/8
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
On 15 May, we're organizing a very special hybrid event at the FIL: a Symposium on Setbacks in Science!
In a series of talks and discussions with a wonderful set of speakers, we will address the disappointments that are entirely common in research, but that we all hesitate to talk about. (1/3)
In a series of talks and discussions with a wonderful set of speakers, we will address the disappointments that are entirely common in research, but that we all hesitate to talk about. (1/3)
April 29, 2025 at 3:36 PM
On 15 May, we're organizing a very special hybrid event at the FIL: a Symposium on Setbacks in Science!
In a series of talks and discussions with a wonderful set of speakers, we will address the disappointments that are entirely common in research, but that we all hesitate to talk about. (1/3)
In a series of talks and discussions with a wonderful set of speakers, we will address the disappointments that are entirely common in research, but that we all hesitate to talk about. (1/3)
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
With nervous excitement, my most ambitious project yet: Dynamics of mental imagery.
We got over 800 people to recreate the contents of their mental imagery with a focus on distinct phenomenological properties. Temporal grain, smoothness, stability.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
a 🧵1/n
We got over 800 people to recreate the contents of their mental imagery with a focus on distinct phenomenological properties. Temporal grain, smoothness, stability.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
a 🧵1/n
Dynamics of mental imagery
Phenomenology of mental imagery can reveal the structure of underlying mental representations, yet progress has been limited because of its private na…
www.sciencedirect.com
April 16, 2025 at 9:53 AM
With nervous excitement, my most ambitious project yet: Dynamics of mental imagery.
We got over 800 people to recreate the contents of their mental imagery with a focus on distinct phenomenological properties. Temporal grain, smoothness, stability.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
a 🧵1/n
We got over 800 people to recreate the contents of their mental imagery with a focus on distinct phenomenological properties. Temporal grain, smoothness, stability.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
a 🧵1/n
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
🚨 Preprint alert 🚨 After 4 years of work, our new research on the Sense of Reality is finally out! Using Virtual Reality, we investigate our response to Virtual Hallucinations across different reality domains! Discover how our minds and bodies react when reality isn't quite what it seems...
🚨 New preprint! How do we know what is real? so...
"Unreal? A Behavioral, Physiological & Computational Model of the Sense of Reality" is out!
The result of 4 years of incredible teamwork👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
"Unreal? A Behavioral, Physiological & Computational Model of the Sense of Reality" is out!
The result of 4 years of incredible teamwork👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Unreal? A Behavioral, Physiological, and Computational Model of the Sense of Reality
An intriguing aspect of the human mind is our knowledge that our perceptions may be false. Our frequent exposure to non-veridical perceptions such as those found in dreams, illusions and hallucination...
www.biorxiv.org
April 15, 2025 at 9:58 AM
🚨 Preprint alert 🚨 After 4 years of work, our new research on the Sense of Reality is finally out! Using Virtual Reality, we investigate our response to Virtual Hallucinations across different reality domains! Discover how our minds and bodies react when reality isn't quite what it seems...
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
Finally, if you are an academic and want to read the publication, "The impact of aphantasia on mental healthcare experiences" by Mawtus et al, 2024:
online.ucpress.edu/collabra/art...
online.ucpress.edu/collabra/art...
The Impact of Aphantasia on Mental Healthcare Experiences
Approximately 4% of the population has aphantasia, which is defined as impoverished, or absent, sensory mental imagery. Previous research suggests that people with aphantasia (aphants) may have a high...
online.ucpress.edu
April 4, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Finally, if you are an academic and want to read the publication, "The impact of aphantasia on mental healthcare experiences" by Mawtus et al, 2024:
online.ucpress.edu/collabra/art...
online.ucpress.edu/collabra/art...
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
Severance — Music To Refine To feat. ODESZA | Apple TV+
YouTube video by Apple TV
youtu.be
February 25, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
Yesterday I spent an hour trying to put files in OSF because you can't simply drag an entire folder. For anyone else struggling, there is an R package called osfr that you can use to copy your whole repo into your OSF 🙏🙏🙏
GitHub - ropensci/osfr: R interface to the Open Science Framework (OSF)
R interface to the Open Science Framework (OSF). Contribute to ropensci/osfr development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
March 5, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Yesterday I spent an hour trying to put files in OSF because you can't simply drag an entire folder. For anyone else struggling, there is an R package called osfr that you can use to copy your whole repo into your OSF 🙏🙏🙏
Reposted by Giulia Cabbai
Happy #twinpeaksday to all that celebrate
February 24, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Happy #twinpeaksday to all that celebrate
So excited to start this new chapter as part of @nadinedijkstra.bsky.social's lab 🎉
First dinner with the new lab! 🤩🧠 With @giuliacabbai.bsky.social, @pazbartal.bsky.social, @steveallsopp.bsky.social, Bohdana Neurathova, Rico Stecher and Luna Huestegge.
February 19, 2025 at 3:47 PM
So excited to start this new chapter as part of @nadinedijkstra.bsky.social's lab 🎉