Hugo Spiers
@hugospiers.bsky.social
Prof of Cognitive Neuroscience & Vice Dean at UCL, Fellow of the Royal Inst. of Navigation. I study how we remember, navigate & imagine space
Photo: Our upcoming field research in the Marshall Islands
https://spierslab.wixsite.com/wavesandwayfinding
Photo: Our upcoming field research in the Marshall Islands
https://spierslab.wixsite.com/wavesandwayfinding
Pinned
Hugo Spiers
@hugospiers.bsky.social
· Nov 19
A Voyage Into the Art of Finding One’s Way at Sea
www.nytimes.com
A huge thankyou to @alexaroblesgil.bsky.social for covering our research in the Marshall Islands for the @nytimes.com !
In the photo Ken Daniels (an expert indigenous sailor) is looking towards the horizon whilst wearing an fNIRS system.
Analysis underway!
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/s...
In the photo Ken Daniels (an expert indigenous sailor) is looking towards the horizon whilst wearing an fNIRS system.
Analysis underway!
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/s...
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
Cool. Smell in the spider brain. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Presumed Glomerular Neuropils in the Central Nervous Systems of Spiders (Araneae)
Spiders sense chemicals in their environment with particular sensory hairs (sensilla) on their legs and feelers. Chemosensory neurons inside these sensilla send their axons into the central nervous s...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 5, 2026 at 10:08 AM
Cool. Smell in the spider brain. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
A meta-analysis of studies using Tolman’s sunburst maze suggests poor replicability and little evidence for shortcutting. Ouch! Definitely relevant reading for anyone interested in cognitive maps! 👇
Can humans & animals really use internal maps to take shortcuts?
Tolman famously said yes - based largely on his Sunburst maze.
Our new review & meta-analysis suggests evidence is far weaker than you might think.
🧵👇 doi.org/10.1111/ejn....
@uofgpsychneuro.bsky.social @ejneuroscience.bsky.social
Tolman famously said yes - based largely on his Sunburst maze.
Our new review & meta-analysis suggests evidence is far weaker than you might think.
🧵👇 doi.org/10.1111/ejn....
@uofgpsychneuro.bsky.social @ejneuroscience.bsky.social
Tolman's Sunburst Maze 80 Years on: A Meta‐Analysis Reveals Poor Replicability and Little Evidence for Shortcutting
In 1946, Tolman et al. reported that rats could take a novel shortcut to a goal after training on an indirect route, supporting the Cognitive Map theory. However, a review of subsequent Sunburst maze...
doi.org
January 6, 2026 at 11:26 AM
A meta-analysis of studies using Tolman’s sunburst maze suggests poor replicability and little evidence for shortcutting. Ouch! Definitely relevant reading for anyone interested in cognitive maps! 👇
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
New Perspective from myself, Sarah Heilbronner and @myoo.bsky.social . “Rethinking the centrality of brain areas in understanding functional organization” in Nature Neuroscience. 🧵
rdcu.be/eVZ1A
rdcu.be/eVZ1A
Rethinking the centrality of brain areas in understanding functional organization
Nature Neuroscience - Parcellation of the cortex into functionally modular brain areas is foundational to neuroscience. Here, Hayden, Heilbronner and Yoo question the central status of brain areas...
rdcu.be
December 23, 2025 at 1:02 PM
New Perspective from myself, Sarah Heilbronner and @myoo.bsky.social . “Rethinking the centrality of brain areas in understanding functional organization” in Nature Neuroscience. 🧵
rdcu.be/eVZ1A
rdcu.be/eVZ1A
“Freely explore this environment”: individual differences in exploration behavior and survey knowledge
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
December 21, 2025 at 12:25 PM
“Freely explore this environment”: individual differences in exploration behavior and survey knowledge
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
What has my research lab been up to in 2025?
Time for a wrap up of our research!
This image is a gathering of key figures from our 2025 publications:
Links to publications in the replies:
#spierslab #research #neuroskyence
Time for a wrap up of our research!
This image is a gathering of key figures from our 2025 publications:
Links to publications in the replies:
#spierslab #research #neuroskyence
December 18, 2025 at 2:01 PM
What has my research lab been up to in 2025?
Time for a wrap up of our research!
This image is a gathering of key figures from our 2025 publications:
Links to publications in the replies:
#spierslab #research #neuroskyence
Time for a wrap up of our research!
This image is a gathering of key figures from our 2025 publications:
Links to publications in the replies:
#spierslab #research #neuroskyence
What has my research lab been up to in 2025?
Time for a wrap up of our research!
This image is a gathering of key figures from our 2025 publications:
Links to publications in the replies:
#spierslab #research #neuroskyence
Time for a wrap up of our research!
This image is a gathering of key figures from our 2025 publications:
Links to publications in the replies:
#spierslab #research #neuroskyence
December 18, 2025 at 2:01 PM
What has my research lab been up to in 2025?
Time for a wrap up of our research!
This image is a gathering of key figures from our 2025 publications:
Links to publications in the replies:
#spierslab #research #neuroskyence
Time for a wrap up of our research!
This image is a gathering of key figures from our 2025 publications:
Links to publications in the replies:
#spierslab #research #neuroskyence
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
🦋🧪 New research out in Royal Society Open Science! We used #MachineLearning to discover that armed #conflict in #Africa sorts into three distinct types—and found a surprising warning about predicting #violence. 🧵
@royalsociety.org
@csh.ac.at
@kushwaha
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
@royalsociety.org
@csh.ac.at
@kushwaha
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
December 17, 2025 at 2:50 PM
🦋🧪 New research out in Royal Society Open Science! We used #MachineLearning to discover that armed #conflict in #Africa sorts into three distinct types—and found a surprising warning about predicting #violence. 🧵
@royalsociety.org
@csh.ac.at
@kushwaha
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
@royalsociety.org
@csh.ac.at
@kushwaha
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
Was Rosalind Franklin a secret football fan? Cryptic note in her US address book.
December 18, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Was Rosalind Franklin a secret football fan? Cryptic note in her US address book.
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗱𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗳𝗠𝗥𝗜?
We employed Switching Linear Dynamical Systems to investigate the dynamics of resting-state networks
They are dynamic, not static!
Work with Xiaoyu Zhao with lots of new methods.
Thread.
#neuroskyence
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We employed Switching Linear Dynamical Systems to investigate the dynamics of resting-state networks
They are dynamic, not static!
Work with Xiaoyu Zhao with lots of new methods.
Thread.
#neuroskyence
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
December 17, 2025 at 5:01 PM
𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗱𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗳𝗠𝗥𝗜?
We employed Switching Linear Dynamical Systems to investigate the dynamics of resting-state networks
They are dynamic, not static!
Work with Xiaoyu Zhao with lots of new methods.
Thread.
#neuroskyence
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We employed Switching Linear Dynamical Systems to investigate the dynamics of resting-state networks
They are dynamic, not static!
Work with Xiaoyu Zhao with lots of new methods.
Thread.
#neuroskyence
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
“A process which led from the amoeba to man appeared to the philosophers to be obviously a progress - though whether the amoeba would agree with this opinion is not known"
- Bertrand Russell, 1976.
Time-lapse video of Vampyrella lateritia eating Spirogyra algae from Science Source/Oliver Skibbe. 🦠
- Bertrand Russell, 1976.
Time-lapse video of Vampyrella lateritia eating Spirogyra algae from Science Source/Oliver Skibbe. 🦠
December 17, 2025 at 4:53 PM
“A process which led from the amoeba to man appeared to the philosophers to be obviously a progress - though whether the amoeba would agree with this opinion is not known"
- Bertrand Russell, 1976.
Time-lapse video of Vampyrella lateritia eating Spirogyra algae from Science Source/Oliver Skibbe. 🦠
- Bertrand Russell, 1976.
Time-lapse video of Vampyrella lateritia eating Spirogyra algae from Science Source/Oliver Skibbe. 🦠
Easy to read this and think - ooh older men might be getting more 'cuddly' late in life... But that misses the role of oxytocin and sex differences.
This is also people living in traditional communites in the Amazon! (awesome research)
This is also people living in traditional communites in the Amazon! (awesome research)
Oxytocin varies across the lifecourse in a sex-specific way - new paper in @pnas.org working with Tsimane communities. For women, OT looks like a sex hormone and is linked to breastfeeding and childcare. For men, probably more related to health and aging.
www.linkedin.com/posts/uzh-me...
www.linkedin.com/posts/uzh-me...
Oxytocin varies across the life course in a sex-specific way in a human subsistence population | PNAS | UZH Faculty of Medicine
🧠 We often call oxytocin the "love hormone," but could it actually be the key to healthy aging?
In an impressive recent study published in PNAS, researchers from the University of Zurich analysed the...
www.linkedin.com
December 18, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Easy to read this and think - ooh older men might be getting more 'cuddly' late in life... But that misses the role of oxytocin and sex differences.
This is also people living in traditional communites in the Amazon! (awesome research)
This is also people living in traditional communites in the Amazon! (awesome research)
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
In this Article, Battiston et al. discuss the emerging technique of higher-order network analysis, and its application to understanding social systems.
Higher-order interactions shape collective human behaviour - Nature Human Behaviour
Battiston et al. discuss the emerging paradigm of higher-order network science and its applications to social systems and human dynamics.
www.nature.com
December 17, 2025 at 9:43 PM
In this Article, Battiston et al. discuss the emerging technique of higher-order network analysis, and its application to understanding social systems.
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
#ArtAdventCalendar Day 17
Another #pleinairpainting
I really enjoyed painting this one; it was a gorgeous day and I had a lot of friendly farmers stop to say hello.
Splendour, 11x14 oil on Board
#albertaartist
#canadianartist
#oilpainter
Sivarulrasa.com
Another #pleinairpainting
I really enjoyed painting this one; it was a gorgeous day and I had a lot of friendly farmers stop to say hello.
Splendour, 11x14 oil on Board
#albertaartist
#canadianartist
#oilpainter
Sivarulrasa.com
December 17, 2025 at 9:02 PM
#ArtAdventCalendar Day 17
Another #pleinairpainting
I really enjoyed painting this one; it was a gorgeous day and I had a lot of friendly farmers stop to say hello.
Splendour, 11x14 oil on Board
#albertaartist
#canadianartist
#oilpainter
Sivarulrasa.com
Another #pleinairpainting
I really enjoyed painting this one; it was a gorgeous day and I had a lot of friendly farmers stop to say hello.
Splendour, 11x14 oil on Board
#albertaartist
#canadianartist
#oilpainter
Sivarulrasa.com
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
Are humans really the only rational animals? Our NEW PAPER 🎉 out in @science.org suggests otherwise! In a large collaboration led with my joint first author @hanna-schleihauf.bsky.social, we show that “Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs” 🧵
Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs
The selective revision of beliefs in light of new evidence has been considered one of the hallmarks of human-level rationality. However, tests of this ability in other species are lacking. We examined...
www.science.org
October 30, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Are humans really the only rational animals? Our NEW PAPER 🎉 out in @science.org suggests otherwise! In a large collaboration led with my joint first author @hanna-schleihauf.bsky.social, we show that “Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs” 🧵
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
How do biological agents learn for the future?
Our perspective piece on the value of prospective learning in neuroscience is finally out. This is part of a long running collaboration with @kordinglab.bsky.social & Josh Vogelstein (as well as many other people)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Our perspective piece on the value of prospective learning in neuroscience is finally out. This is part of a long running collaboration with @kordinglab.bsky.social & Josh Vogelstein (as well as many other people)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
December 17, 2025 at 5:06 PM
How do biological agents learn for the future?
Our perspective piece on the value of prospective learning in neuroscience is finally out. This is part of a long running collaboration with @kordinglab.bsky.social & Josh Vogelstein (as well as many other people)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Our perspective piece on the value of prospective learning in neuroscience is finally out. This is part of a long running collaboration with @kordinglab.bsky.social & Josh Vogelstein (as well as many other people)
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
Some new coverage of our research expedition this summer in Explorers Web:
Understanding How Marshall Islanders Find Their Way at Sea
explorersweb.com/understandin...
Understanding How Marshall Islanders Find Their Way at Sea
explorersweb.com/understandin...
Understanding How Marshall Islanders Find Their Way at Sea » Explorersweb
These South Seas navigators read the waves, the shift of swells, the movement of wind, and the motion of the canoe to sense distant islands.
explorersweb.com
December 16, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Some new coverage of our research expedition this summer in Explorers Web:
Understanding How Marshall Islanders Find Their Way at Sea
explorersweb.com/understandin...
Understanding How Marshall Islanders Find Their Way at Sea
explorersweb.com/understandin...
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
I've got a fully-funded PhD studentship open at @birkbeckpsychology.bsky.social, investigating social learning about metacognition & awareness, w/ behavioural studies & neuroimaging (fMRI) - thanks to @leverhulme.ac.uk
More details here: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPV831/p...
#cogsci #neuroskyence
More details here: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPV831/p...
#cogsci #neuroskyence
PhD Studentship: Social Learning of Metacognition and Awareness at Birkbeck, University of London
jobs.ac.uk now advertising a PhD Studentship: Social Learning of Metacognition and Awareness Visit jobs.ac.uk to apply and to browse more PhD opportunities.
www.jobs.ac.uk
December 16, 2025 at 7:08 PM
I've got a fully-funded PhD studentship open at @birkbeckpsychology.bsky.social, investigating social learning about metacognition & awareness, w/ behavioural studies & neuroimaging (fMRI) - thanks to @leverhulme.ac.uk
More details here: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPV831/p...
#cogsci #neuroskyence
More details here: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPV831/p...
#cogsci #neuroskyence
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
I wrote this brief talk on why “augmenting diversity” with LLMs is empirically unsubstantiable, conceptually flawed, and epistemically harmful and a nice surprise to see the organisers have made it public
synthetic-data-workshop.github.io/papers/13.pdf
synthetic-data-workshop.github.io/papers/13.pdf
December 16, 2025 at 10:57 AM
I wrote this brief talk on why “augmenting diversity” with LLMs is empirically unsubstantiable, conceptually flawed, and epistemically harmful and a nice surprise to see the organisers have made it public
synthetic-data-workshop.github.io/papers/13.pdf
synthetic-data-workshop.github.io/papers/13.pdf
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
I haven't read the full paper, but I think this is this saying that your hippocampus sometimes "goes to sleep" while you're still awake?😮😴 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41381946/
December 15, 2025 at 8:16 PM
I haven't read the full paper, but I think this is this saying that your hippocampus sometimes "goes to sleep" while you're still awake?😮😴 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41381946/
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
*First preprint from our lab* !!!!!
How does the brain learn to anchor its internal sense of direction to the outside world? 🧭
led by Mark Plitt @markplitt.bsky.social & Dan Turner-Evans, w/ Vivek Jayaraman:
“Octopamine instructs head direction plasticity” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread ⬇️
How does the brain learn to anchor its internal sense of direction to the outside world? 🧭
led by Mark Plitt @markplitt.bsky.social & Dan Turner-Evans, w/ Vivek Jayaraman:
“Octopamine instructs head direction plasticity” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread ⬇️
December 15, 2025 at 6:26 PM
*First preprint from our lab* !!!!!
How does the brain learn to anchor its internal sense of direction to the outside world? 🧭
led by Mark Plitt @markplitt.bsky.social & Dan Turner-Evans, w/ Vivek Jayaraman:
“Octopamine instructs head direction plasticity” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread ⬇️
How does the brain learn to anchor its internal sense of direction to the outside world? 🧭
led by Mark Plitt @markplitt.bsky.social & Dan Turner-Evans, w/ Vivek Jayaraman:
“Octopamine instructs head direction plasticity” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread ⬇️
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
When your PI presents your work
December 15, 2025 at 12:00 PM
When your PI presents your work
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
Thanks to @cnn.com for covering our research on London taxi drivers in their new, rather chatty, format 'Creators'
Taxi driver Tom Scullion is the star of this piece. He trains others to learn the knowledge an has so many insights into that process.
#neuroskyence
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7df...
Taxi driver Tom Scullion is the star of this piece. He trains others to learn the knowledge an has so many insights into that process.
#neuroskyence
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7df...
December 13, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Thanks to @cnn.com for covering our research on London taxi drivers in their new, rather chatty, format 'Creators'
Taxi driver Tom Scullion is the star of this piece. He trains others to learn the knowledge an has so many insights into that process.
#neuroskyence
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7df...
Taxi driver Tom Scullion is the star of this piece. He trains others to learn the knowledge an has so many insights into that process.
#neuroskyence
www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7df...
Reposted by Hugo Spiers
Is the over use of SatNavs causing potential future problems for the population. I discuss with writer Moheb Costandi in his section of this article on
Five voices on the future of human intelligence:
newhumanist.org.uk/articles/648...
Five voices on the future of human intelligence:
newhumanist.org.uk/articles/648...
Five voices on the future of human intelligence
How can we all stay smart in a changing world? We asked the experts
newhumanist.org.uk
December 13, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Is the over use of SatNavs causing potential future problems for the population. I discuss with writer Moheb Costandi in his section of this article on
Five voices on the future of human intelligence:
newhumanist.org.uk/articles/648...
Five voices on the future of human intelligence:
newhumanist.org.uk/articles/648...
Is the over use of SatNavs causing potential future problems for the population. I discuss with writer Moheb Costandi in his section of this article on
Five voices on the future of human intelligence:
newhumanist.org.uk/articles/648...
Five voices on the future of human intelligence:
newhumanist.org.uk/articles/648...
Five voices on the future of human intelligence
How can we all stay smart in a changing world? We asked the experts
newhumanist.org.uk
December 13, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Is the over use of SatNavs causing potential future problems for the population. I discuss with writer Moheb Costandi in his section of this article on
Five voices on the future of human intelligence:
newhumanist.org.uk/articles/648...
Five voices on the future of human intelligence:
newhumanist.org.uk/articles/648...