Mark Lescroart
@neuromdl.bsky.social
Computational cognitive neuroscientist at University of Nevada, Reno. Uses fMRI to study visual representations of objects, scenes, and bodies, and how attention affects them. Dad. Nerd since before it was cool. Likes pretty science pictures & puns. He/him
Pinned
Mark Lescroart
@neuromdl.bsky.social
· Jun 12
In a new paper led by @matthewshinkle.bsky.social, we use a pre-trained deep neural network (DNN) to model brain activity and to make detailed visualizations of feature selectivity across many brain areas. In plain English: we make pretty pictures of what different parts of the brain like to see.
Reposted by Mark Lescroart
NSD-synthetic, the out-of-distribution companion dataset of NSD consisting of 7T fMRI responses to 284 artificial images, is now published.
#NeuroAI #CompNeuro #neuroscience #AI
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
#NeuroAI #CompNeuro #neuroscience #AI
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
February 12, 2026 at 2:46 PM
NSD-synthetic, the out-of-distribution companion dataset of NSD consisting of 7T fMRI responses to 284 artificial images, is now published.
#NeuroAI #CompNeuro #neuroscience #AI
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
#NeuroAI #CompNeuro #neuroscience #AI
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Reposted by Mark Lescroart
I finally got around to setting up a lab website!
Have a look: the-steel-lab.github.io
Just in time to start the new semester.
Have a look: the-steel-lab.github.io
Just in time to start the new semester.
The Steel Lab | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
The Steel Lab at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign investigates how brain networks give rise to intelligent behavior
the-steel-lab.github.io
January 13, 2026 at 10:38 PM
I finally got around to setting up a lab website!
Have a look: the-steel-lab.github.io
Just in time to start the new semester.
Have a look: the-steel-lab.github.io
Just in time to start the new semester.
Reposted by Mark Lescroart
This paper had a pretty shocking headline result (40% of voxels!), so I dug into it, and I think it is wrong. Essentially: they compare two noisy measures and find that about 40% of voxels have different sign between the two. I think this is just noise!
Would love to hear expert views on this paper. It appears to show that the operationalization of brain activity the field has relied on for 3 decades—the BOLD response—is not actually a sensible measure of brain activity.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
BOLD signal changes can oppose oxygen metabolism across the human cortex - Nature Neuroscience
Using quantitative brain imaging, the authors show opposite fMRI BOLD signal to metabolic activity due to variable oxygen extraction across the human cortex. This questions the canonical interpretatio...
www.nature.com
January 5, 2026 at 5:22 PM
This paper had a pretty shocking headline result (40% of voxels!), so I dug into it, and I think it is wrong. Essentially: they compare two noisy measures and find that about 40% of voxels have different sign between the two. I think this is just noise!
Reposted by Mark Lescroart
Well, this is an utter disaster for science.
This gutting of peer review is very likely driven by Project 2025/OMB/Vought, very likely is about funding junk science, and very likely is coming for #NIH and biomedical research next.
🧪
This gutting of peer review is very likely driven by Project 2025/OMB/Vought, very likely is about funding junk science, and very likely is coming for #NIH and biomedical research next.
🧪
December 16, 2025 at 4:10 AM
Well, this is an utter disaster for science.
This gutting of peer review is very likely driven by Project 2025/OMB/Vought, very likely is about funding junk science, and very likely is coming for #NIH and biomedical research next.
🧪
This gutting of peer review is very likely driven by Project 2025/OMB/Vought, very likely is about funding junk science, and very likely is coming for #NIH and biomedical research next.
🧪
*shudder*
Also, I feel like there is an analogy to LLMs here…
Also, I feel like there is an analogy to LLMs here…
Always important to remember that this is because these robots are "faking" being human
Theyre actually capable of way more and way weirder stuff
Theyre actually capable of way more and way weirder stuff
December 5, 2025 at 11:20 PM
*shudder*
Also, I feel like there is an analogy to LLMs here…
Also, I feel like there is an analogy to LLMs here…
Reposted by Mark Lescroart
"With the news that the administration plans to link the COVID vaccine to child deaths using data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), it’s worth revisiting how we actually detect whether a vaccine is causing harm."
Excellent explainer from @drjenndowd.bsky.social from 9/2025😷🛟🧪
Excellent explainer from @drjenndowd.bsky.social from 9/2025😷🛟🧪
When “Stuff Happens” After Vaccination
How scientists separate coincidence from true side effects
jenndowd.substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:10 AM
"With the news that the administration plans to link the COVID vaccine to child deaths using data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), it’s worth revisiting how we actually detect whether a vaccine is causing harm."
Excellent explainer from @drjenndowd.bsky.social from 9/2025😷🛟🧪
Excellent explainer from @drjenndowd.bsky.social from 9/2025😷🛟🧪
Reposted by Mark Lescroart
Like you I am celebrating Tuesday's victories. However, my job is not to sugarcoat things and tell you it's all fixed. It is to warning about what to expect next and fight back.
That is why I wrote this and why I hope you read and share. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/what...
That is why I wrote this and why I hope you read and share. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/what...
What Comes Next After the 2025 Elections
Read more here.
www.democracydocket.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Like you I am celebrating Tuesday's victories. However, my job is not to sugarcoat things and tell you it's all fixed. It is to warning about what to expect next and fight back.
That is why I wrote this and why I hope you read and share. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/what...
That is why I wrote this and why I hope you read and share. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/what...
I am glad about the election results, but yes this 👇👇👇
serious note: they're gonna try 5x harder to sabotage the midterms after tonight and we're gonna have to organize on a literally historic scale to stop them
really obvious now why trump and the republican party have been working so hard to prevent fair elections lol they know
November 5, 2025 at 5:13 AM
I am glad about the election results, but yes this 👇👇👇
Not a Dodgers fan - but man, that was some good baseball
November 2, 2025 at 5:45 AM
Not a Dodgers fan - but man, that was some good baseball
😞
October 23, 2025 at 9:02 PM
😞
Job announcement! UN Reno Psychology (Cognitive & Brain Sciences division) is hiring for a tenure-track position. Come join us! We have a great group! Deadline December 1. Please share!
nshe.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/UNR-external...
#neuroskyence #neuroscience
nshe.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/UNR-external...
#neuroskyence #neuroscience
Assistant Professor, Cognitive and Brain Sciences
The University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) appreciates your interest in employment at our growing institution. We want your application process to go smoothly and quickly. Final applications must be submitt...
nshe.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
October 21, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Job announcement! UN Reno Psychology (Cognitive & Brain Sciences division) is hiring for a tenure-track position. Come join us! We have a great group! Deadline December 1. Please share!
nshe.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/UNR-external...
#neuroskyence #neuroscience
nshe.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/UNR-external...
#neuroskyence #neuroscience
Refreshingly clear: the hypocrisy is the point.
Dam been writing a book about this and she just TikToked it in 90 seconds.
October 20, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Refreshingly clear: the hypocrisy is the point.
👇👇👇
the aws outage should be evidence that running half the internet on a single company's servers is a terrible idea but i fear nothing will change
October 20, 2025 at 10:02 PM
👇👇👇
Reposted by Mark Lescroart
I didn't take pics but the feeling of being in a group of people with no visible beginning or end was so thrilling. The opposite of online anomie, and a living counterpoint to the wary, isolated, compartmentalized world the shitheads want to make. It's simple and obvious I guess but it means a lot.
Sorry to be corny but the aerial shots of these crowds are almost indescribably moving and hopeful
October 18, 2025 at 10:05 PM
I didn't take pics but the feeling of being in a group of people with no visible beginning or end was so thrilling. The opposite of online anomie, and a living counterpoint to the wary, isolated, compartmentalized world the shitheads want to make. It's simple and obvious I guess but it means a lot.
💯
October 8, 2025 at 3:56 PM
💯
If you like this demo, you will love the great demos by @pezlarson.bsky.social that can be found here:
larsonlab.github.io/MRI-educatio...
(Complete with python code to generate them!)
larsonlab.github.io/MRI-educatio...
(Complete with python code to generate them!)
October 3, 2025 at 9:03 PM
If you like this demo, you will love the great demos by @pezlarson.bsky.social that can be found here:
larsonlab.github.io/MRI-educatio...
(Complete with python code to generate them!)
larsonlab.github.io/MRI-educatio...
(Complete with python code to generate them!)
Whoa dude.
A nice shift in perceived colour between central and peripheral vision. The fixated disc looks purple while the others look blue.
The effect presumably comes from the absence of S-cones in the fovea.
From Hinnerk Schulz-Hildebrandt:
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.115...
The effect presumably comes from the absence of S-cones in the fovea.
From Hinnerk Schulz-Hildebrandt:
arxiv.org/pdf/2509.115...
September 26, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Whoa dude.
Reposted by Mark Lescroart
Sometimes I just think things. Maybe talk with my wife or a friend about them. Phone doesn't even enter into it.
September 11, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Sometimes I just think things. Maybe talk with my wife or a friend about them. Phone doesn't even enter into it.
Reposted by Mark Lescroart
The GRFP lives!! (due end of October)
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
www.nsf.gov
September 8, 2025 at 6:23 PM
The GRFP lives!! (due end of October)
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
What an ugly world this administration wants to create. www.npr.org/2025/08/26/n...
NEA cancels decades-long creative writing fellowship
For decades the program has supported writers who would become big names – Alice Walker, Michael Cunningham, Louise Erdrich and more. Last week, applicants got an email saying the program would be no ...
www.npr.org
August 28, 2025 at 3:25 AM
What an ugly world this administration wants to create. www.npr.org/2025/08/26/n...
This is upsetting and clear and true. Quoting the Declaration of Independence is spot on.
August 27, 2025 at 5:43 AM
This is upsetting and clear and true. Quoting the Declaration of Independence is spot on.
Reposted by Mark Lescroart
A pleasant surprise from the Journal of Neuroscience RE the application of the updated NIH public access policy (authors deposit accepted manuscript in PMC, journal retains license to final copyedited version, no requirement to pay OA fee) www.jneurosci.org/content/righ...
Rights and Permissions | Journal of Neuroscience
www.jneurosci.org
August 22, 2025 at 5:49 PM
A pleasant surprise from the Journal of Neuroscience RE the application of the updated NIH public access policy (authors deposit accepted manuscript in PMC, journal retains license to final copyedited version, no requirement to pay OA fee) www.jneurosci.org/content/righ...
Truck Tetris
This time lapse video of haulage trucks loading on to a ferry to cross the Jialing river is hypnotic.
August 6, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Truck Tetris