Ole Goltermann
@olegolt.bsky.social
Doctoral Researcher @isnlab.bsky.social | part of @mps-cognition.bsky.social | previously @mpicbs.bsky.social, @mpi-nl.bsky.social & @univie.ac.at
https://cognition.maxplanckschools.org/en/doctoral-candidates/ole-goltermann
https://cognition.maxplanckschools.org/en/doctoral-candidates/ole-goltermann
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
How do we achieve few-shot generalization? New work led by @fabianrenz.bsky.social dives into the role of replay in learning and using structure to generalize reward. Dream team effort with Shany Grossman @nathanieldaw.bsky.social Peter Dayan & @doellerlab.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org
January 18, 2026 at 3:33 PM
How do we achieve few-shot generalization? New work led by @fabianrenz.bsky.social dives into the role of replay in learning and using structure to generalize reward. Dream team effort with Shany Grossman @nathanieldaw.bsky.social Peter Dayan & @doellerlab.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
Neuer Falter Podcast mit @raimundloew.bsky.social @tessaszy.bsky.social, dem ehemaligen UN-Diplomaten Homayoun Alizadeh und mir über die Proteste im Iran, das grausame Massaker an Demonstrierenden und weshalb man Exilfiguren nicht überbewerten sollte.
www.falter.at/podcasts/rad...
www.falter.at/podcasts/rad...
Podcast: Aufstand im Iran: Kippt nun das Regime?
Ein Gespräch über die Hoffnungen und Ziele der Proteste, die das Mullah-Regime mit blutiger Repression niederzuschlagen versucht - Folge #1560
www.falter.at
January 22, 2026 at 10:29 AM
Neuer Falter Podcast mit @raimundloew.bsky.social @tessaszy.bsky.social, dem ehemaligen UN-Diplomaten Homayoun Alizadeh und mir über die Proteste im Iran, das grausame Massaker an Demonstrierenden und weshalb man Exilfiguren nicht überbewerten sollte.
www.falter.at/podcasts/rad...
www.falter.at/podcasts/rad...
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
Thank you for your responses, Valentin! On this: I tried to match the contrast values to your results — the "true" ΔCBF is based on your reported 7.7% from Table S1; others are from Figure 2b,c. The noise-free simulation shows ΔCBF ranging from -7..7%, well within the -15..30% range in your Fig. 3b.
MRI-data are noisy, but your simulation uses error-terms and SNRs beyond real data quality (i’d guess your CBF signal is around 5x weaker than imaging data, the real T2* changes are around 5x higher), so sure, you’ll easily (intentionally?) get more noise propagation.
January 7, 2026 at 8:02 PM
Thank you for your responses, Valentin! On this: I tried to match the contrast values to your results — the "true" ΔCBF is based on your reported 7.7% from Table S1; others are from Figure 2b,c. The noise-free simulation shows ΔCBF ranging from -7..7%, well within the -15..30% range in your Fig. 3b.
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
An Editorial Expression of Concern by @Nature for one of Marc Tessier-Lavigne (former @Stanford president)'s papers.
pubpeer.com/publications...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#ImageForensics
#ScienceIntegrity
pubpeer.com/publications...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#ImageForensics
#ScienceIntegrity
January 21, 2026 at 3:22 AM
An Editorial Expression of Concern by @Nature for one of Marc Tessier-Lavigne (former @Stanford president)'s papers.
pubpeer.com/publications...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#ImageForensics
#ScienceIntegrity
pubpeer.com/publications...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#ImageForensics
#ScienceIntegrity
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
How the brain listens to the body matters.
Our new preprint investigates interoceptive processing in schizophrenia spectrum disorders across phenomenology, behavior, and heartbeat-evoked brain responses. 🧠🫀DOI: doi.org/10.64898/202...
Our new preprint investigates interoceptive processing in schizophrenia spectrum disorders across phenomenology, behavior, and heartbeat-evoked brain responses. 🧠🫀DOI: doi.org/10.64898/202...
From Body to Brain and Back: Multimodal Evidence for Interoceptive Alterations in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders
When the brain and body misalign, emotional experience and sense of reality can be disrupted. Although such atypical experiences are central to schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD), interoception, p...
doi.org
January 20, 2026 at 9:40 AM
How the brain listens to the body matters.
Our new preprint investigates interoceptive processing in schizophrenia spectrum disorders across phenomenology, behavior, and heartbeat-evoked brain responses. 🧠🫀DOI: doi.org/10.64898/202...
Our new preprint investigates interoceptive processing in schizophrenia spectrum disorders across phenomenology, behavior, and heartbeat-evoked brain responses. 🧠🫀DOI: doi.org/10.64898/202...
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
After 5 years of data collection, our WARN-D machine learning competition to forecast depression onset is now LIVE! We hope many of you will participate—we have incredibly rich data.
If you share a single thing of my lab this year, please make it this competition.
eiko-fried.com/warn-d-machi...
If you share a single thing of my lab this year, please make it this competition.
eiko-fried.com/warn-d-machi...
WARN-D machine learning competition is live » Eiko Fried
If you share one single thing of our team in 2026—on social media or per email with your colleagues—please let it be this machine learning competition. It was half a decade of work to get here, especi...
eiko-fried.com
January 7, 2026 at 7:39 PM
After 5 years of data collection, our WARN-D machine learning competition to forecast depression onset is now LIVE! We hope many of you will participate—we have incredibly rich data.
If you share a single thing of my lab this year, please make it this competition.
eiko-fried.com/warn-d-machi...
If you share a single thing of my lab this year, please make it this competition.
eiko-fried.com/warn-d-machi...
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
Really thrilled that this paper led by @neurozz.bsky.social is now published in its final version in @elife.bsky.social!!
This is a memory-focused (as opposed to RL-focused) account of the detailed characteristics of forward and backward awake and sleep replay!
elifesciences.org/articles/99931
This is a memory-focused (as opposed to RL-focused) account of the detailed characteristics of forward and backward awake and sleep replay!
elifesciences.org/articles/99931
A unifying account of replay as context-driven memory reactivation
A context-driven memory model simulates a wide range of characteristics of waking and sleeping hippocampal replay, providing a new account of how and why replay occurs.
elifesciences.org
January 15, 2026 at 1:57 PM
Really thrilled that this paper led by @neurozz.bsky.social is now published in its final version in @elife.bsky.social!!
This is a memory-focused (as opposed to RL-focused) account of the detailed characteristics of forward and backward awake and sleep replay!
elifesciences.org/articles/99931
This is a memory-focused (as opposed to RL-focused) account of the detailed characteristics of forward and backward awake and sleep replay!
elifesciences.org/articles/99931
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
Kein Internet, kein Telefon: Das iranische Regime legt im Kampf gegen die Massenproteste die Kommunikation des Landes lahm. Die Menschen gehen offenbar trotzdem weiter auf die Straße. Auch wenn sie um ihr Leben fürchten müssen.
Iran – Internetsperre: Dann eben Aufstand ohne Internet
Kein Internet, kein Telefon: Das iranische Regime legt im Kampf gegen die Massenproteste die Kommunikation des Landes lahm. Die Menschen gehen offenbar trotzdem weiter auf die Straße. Auch wenn sie um ihr Leben fürchten müssen.
www.spiegel.de
January 12, 2026 at 5:22 PM
Kein Internet, kein Telefon: Das iranische Regime legt im Kampf gegen die Massenproteste die Kommunikation des Landes lahm. Die Menschen gehen offenbar trotzdem weiter auf die Straße. Auch wenn sie um ihr Leben fürchten müssen.
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
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 Ole Goltermann
Ever wondered how white matter tracts actually map onto the cortical hierarchy and cognition—beyond the usual “projection vs association” labels?
Our new preprint tackles exactly that! 🧠✨ doi.org/10.64898/202...
Thread below 🧵
Our new preprint tackles exactly that! 🧠✨ doi.org/10.64898/202...
Thread below 🧵
Anatomical White Matter Tracts Span the Cortical Hierarchy to Support Cognitive Diversity
Long-range white matter (WM) tracts support cognition by enabling communication between distant cortical regions, which are organized along a hierarchy defined by the sensorimotor-to-association (S-A)...
doi.org
January 5, 2026 at 4:21 PM
Ever wondered how white matter tracts actually map onto the cortical hierarchy and cognition—beyond the usual “projection vs association” labels?
Our new preprint tackles exactly that! 🧠✨ doi.org/10.64898/202...
Thread below 🧵
Our new preprint tackles exactly that! 🧠✨ doi.org/10.64898/202...
Thread below 🧵
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
Happy to share this early Christmas present 🎄: our paper about geometry- and locomotion-dependence of 3D memory got published in PNAS! Joint work with co-first-author Volker Reisner (@reisnerv.bsky.social) as well as Leonard König, Misun Kim & Christian Doeller
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/
www.pnas.org
December 22, 2025 at 11:00 PM
Happy to share this early Christmas present 🎄: our paper about geometry- and locomotion-dependence of 3D memory got published in PNAS! Joint work with co-first-author Volker Reisner (@reisnerv.bsky.social) as well as Leonard König, Misun Kim & Christian Doeller
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
Absolutely agree. The genetic makeup of a species does explain what sets it apart from other species, but the explanation is usually complex, and not reducable to the isolated effects of single variants. IMO, this work provides further evidence for the existing view of combinatorial evolution.
This headline is wrong and misleading, and the brief text below it is not much better. Whatever might constitute a full explanation of the differences between sapiens and other hominins, we remain confident that 'genes' will be central to it.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Genes don’t explain what made humans different
Tiny genetic variations between humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans might not be all they were cracked up to be.
www.nature.com
December 19, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Absolutely agree. The genetic makeup of a species does explain what sets it apart from other species, but the explanation is usually complex, and not reducable to the isolated effects of single variants. IMO, this work provides further evidence for the existing view of combinatorial evolution.
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
fMRI signals “up,” but neural metabolism might be going “down.”
In our @natneuro.nature.com paper, we demonstrate that about 40% of voxels with robust BOLD responses exhibit opposite oxygen metabolism, revealing two distinct hemodynamic modes.
rdcu.be/eUPO8
funds @erc.europa.eu
#neuroskyence 🧵:
In our @natneuro.nature.com paper, we demonstrate that about 40% of voxels with robust BOLD responses exhibit opposite oxygen metabolism, revealing two distinct hemodynamic modes.
rdcu.be/eUPO8
funds @erc.europa.eu
#neuroskyence 🧵:
December 16, 2025 at 3:43 PM
fMRI signals “up,” but neural metabolism might be going “down.”
In our @natneuro.nature.com paper, we demonstrate that about 40% of voxels with robust BOLD responses exhibit opposite oxygen metabolism, revealing two distinct hemodynamic modes.
rdcu.be/eUPO8
funds @erc.europa.eu
#neuroskyence 🧵:
In our @natneuro.nature.com paper, we demonstrate that about 40% of voxels with robust BOLD responses exhibit opposite oxygen metabolism, revealing two distinct hemodynamic modes.
rdcu.be/eUPO8
funds @erc.europa.eu
#neuroskyence 🧵:
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
🧠New preprint!
What if cortical geometry alone already encodes much of white-matter organization?
We introduce a subject-specific, reversible cortical folding model that unfolds and refolds the brain from a single T1w MRI; no diffusion, no ML.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
What if cortical geometry alone already encodes much of white-matter organization?
We introduce a subject-specific, reversible cortical folding model that unfolds and refolds the brain from a single T1w MRI; no diffusion, no ML.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
December 17, 2025 at 1:48 AM
🧠New preprint!
What if cortical geometry alone already encodes much of white-matter organization?
We introduce a subject-specific, reversible cortical folding model that unfolds and refolds the brain from a single T1w MRI; no diffusion, no ML.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
What if cortical geometry alone already encodes much of white-matter organization?
We introduce a subject-specific, reversible cortical folding model that unfolds and refolds the brain from a single T1w MRI; no diffusion, no ML.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
I am so excited to share our newest preprint, inspired by @tinalonsdorf.bsky.social, “A multiverse approach to heat-evoked skin conductance analysis: Evaluating the influence of analytic pipeline on associations between skin conductance and pain osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
December 15, 2025 at 3:03 PM
I am so excited to share our newest preprint, inspired by @tinalonsdorf.bsky.social, “A multiverse approach to heat-evoked skin conductance analysis: Evaluating the influence of analytic pipeline on associations between skin conductance and pain osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
Dimensionality reduction may be the wrong approach to understanding neural representations. Our new paper shows that across human visual cortex, dimensionality is unbounded and scales with dataset size—we show this across nearly four orders of magnitude. journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...
December 11, 2025 at 3:32 PM
Dimensionality reduction may be the wrong approach to understanding neural representations. Our new paper shows that across human visual cortex, dimensionality is unbounded and scales with dataset size—we show this across nearly four orders of magnitude. journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
Only a few weeks left to apply for our 4-year PhD position, using human brain organoids & multi-omic methods to study genes implicated in speech disorders. Application deadline 5 Jan 2026. Fellowship is embedded in the International Max Planck Research School. More info: www.mpi.nl/imprs-phd-fe...
December 8, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Only a few weeks left to apply for our 4-year PhD position, using human brain organoids & multi-omic methods to study genes implicated in speech disorders. Application deadline 5 Jan 2026. Fellowship is embedded in the International Max Planck Research School. More info: www.mpi.nl/imprs-phd-fe...
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
Very thoughtful thread on why it matters to compute the right noise ceiling & why communication is so important to prevent this issue from spreading. Kudos to Sam for being so transparent!
In brief:
NC for best R^2 == data reliability expressed as r
NC for best r == sqrt(reliability)
In brief:
NC for best R^2 == data reliability expressed as r
NC for best r == sqrt(reliability)
If you calculated noise ceilings (NC) based on split-half reliability - e.g. to compare models - this one is important!
Seems many published studies miscalculated it, overestimating model performance. First, let's make this crystal clear:
NC = 2*r / (1+r)
where r is split-half correlation.
Seems many published studies miscalculated it, overestimating model performance. First, let's make this crystal clear:
NC = 2*r / (1+r)
where r is split-half correlation.
New preprint w/ Malin Styrnal & @martinhebart.bsky.social
Have you ever computed noise ceilings to understand how well a model performs? We wrote a clarifying note on a subtle and common misapplication that can make models appear quite a lot better than they are.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Have you ever computed noise ceilings to understand how well a model performs? We wrote a clarifying note on a subtle and common misapplication that can make models appear quite a lot better than they are.
osf.io/preprints/ps...
December 8, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Very thoughtful thread on why it matters to compute the right noise ceiling & why communication is so important to prevent this issue from spreading. Kudos to Sam for being so transparent!
In brief:
NC for best R^2 == data reliability expressed as r
NC for best r == sqrt(reliability)
In brief:
NC for best R^2 == data reliability expressed as r
NC for best r == sqrt(reliability)
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
1/
Our new paper is out in Imaging Neuroscience! 🎉
We validated in-vivo MRI–based axon radius mapping by comparison to large-scale human brain histology (> 46 M axons & 35 CC-ROIs).
Title: “MRI-scale histology validates spatial sensitivity of in-vivo MRI-based axon radius estimation”
Our new paper is out in Imaging Neuroscience! 🎉
We validated in-vivo MRI–based axon radius mapping by comparison to large-scale human brain histology (> 46 M axons & 35 CC-ROIs).
Title: “MRI-scale histology validates spatial sensitivity of in-vivo MRI-based axon radius estimation”
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Laurin Mordhorst, Siawoosh Mohammadi, et al:
MRI-scale histology validates spatial sensitivity of in-vivo MRI-based axon radius estimation
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
MRI-scale histology validates spatial sensitivity of in-vivo MRI-based axon radius estimation
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
December 6, 2025 at 3:18 PM
1/
Our new paper is out in Imaging Neuroscience! 🎉
We validated in-vivo MRI–based axon radius mapping by comparison to large-scale human brain histology (> 46 M axons & 35 CC-ROIs).
Title: “MRI-scale histology validates spatial sensitivity of in-vivo MRI-based axon radius estimation”
Our new paper is out in Imaging Neuroscience! 🎉
We validated in-vivo MRI–based axon radius mapping by comparison to large-scale human brain histology (> 46 M axons & 35 CC-ROIs).
Title: “MRI-scale histology validates spatial sensitivity of in-vivo MRI-based axon radius estimation”
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Laurin Mordhorst, Siawoosh Mohammadi, et al:
MRI-scale histology validates spatial sensitivity of in-vivo MRI-based axon radius estimation
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
MRI-scale histology validates spatial sensitivity of in-vivo MRI-based axon radius estimation
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
December 5, 2025 at 11:48 PM
New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Laurin Mordhorst, Siawoosh Mohammadi, et al:
MRI-scale histology validates spatial sensitivity of in-vivo MRI-based axon radius estimation
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
MRI-scale histology validates spatial sensitivity of in-vivo MRI-based axon radius estimation
doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
Disabled people deserve healthcare.
Disabled people deserve housing.
Disabled people deserve food.
Disabled people deserve support.
Our ability to work and produce should not determine our value.
Disability is not a moral failing. Most people will experience it someday.
Disabled people deserve housing.
Disabled people deserve food.
Disabled people deserve support.
Our ability to work and produce should not determine our value.
Disability is not a moral failing. Most people will experience it someday.
December 4, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Disabled people deserve healthcare.
Disabled people deserve housing.
Disabled people deserve food.
Disabled people deserve support.
Our ability to work and produce should not determine our value.
Disability is not a moral failing. Most people will experience it someday.
Disabled people deserve housing.
Disabled people deserve food.
Disabled people deserve support.
Our ability to work and produce should not determine our value.
Disability is not a moral failing. Most people will experience it someday.
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
Diederik Stapel was a massive watershed moment in psychology.
However, he was -- and let's be slightly glib here -- some guy from The Netherlands who wrote social psychology papers.
The full accounting of the Eysenck case is approx, at minimum, TWO STAPELS.
retractionwatch.com/2025/12/03/n...
However, he was -- and let's be slightly glib here -- some guy from The Netherlands who wrote social psychology papers.
The full accounting of the Eysenck case is approx, at minimum, TWO STAPELS.
retractionwatch.com/2025/12/03/n...
Number of ‘unsafe’ publications by psychologist Hans Eysenck could be ‘high and far reaching’
Hans Eysenck A “high and far reaching” number of papers and books by Hans Eysenck could be “unsafe,” according to an updated statement from King’s College London, where the psychologist was a profe…
retractionwatch.com
December 3, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Diederik Stapel was a massive watershed moment in psychology.
However, he was -- and let's be slightly glib here -- some guy from The Netherlands who wrote social psychology papers.
The full accounting of the Eysenck case is approx, at minimum, TWO STAPELS.
retractionwatch.com/2025/12/03/n...
However, he was -- and let's be slightly glib here -- some guy from The Netherlands who wrote social psychology papers.
The full accounting of the Eysenck case is approx, at minimum, TWO STAPELS.
retractionwatch.com/2025/12/03/n...
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
Thread of French and Dutch research institutes slowly unsubscribing from web of science (and thence impact factors).
December 3, 2025 at 6:53 AM
Thread of French and Dutch research institutes slowly unsubscribing from web of science (and thence impact factors).
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
How does the brain integrate visual and somatosensory representations? A recent @nature.com paper presents a model that, when applied to ongoing co-activations during rest, results in detailed maps of body-part tuning that aligns with visual tuning 🧪 Read more here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Vicarious body maps bridge vision and touch in the human brain - Nature
A mode of brain organization that connects visual and bodily reference frames may translate raw sensory impressions into more abstract formats that are useful for action, social cognition and semantic...
www.nature.com
December 1, 2025 at 8:28 PM
How does the brain integrate visual and somatosensory representations? A recent @nature.com paper presents a model that, when applied to ongoing co-activations during rest, results in detailed maps of body-part tuning that aligns with visual tuning 🧪 Read more here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Ole Goltermann
This is an amazing success story. We are happy to have published several papers there - it really has become the top neuroimaging journal within just two years. Kudos to all who had the courage to make it happen!
Launched in 2023, Imaging Neuroscience is now firmly established, with full indexing (PubMed, etc.) and 700 papers to date.
We're very happy to announce that we are able to reduce the APC to $1400.
Huge thanks to all authors, reviewers, editorial team+board, and MIT Press.
We're very happy to announce that we are able to reduce the APC to $1400.
Huge thanks to all authors, reviewers, editorial team+board, and MIT Press.
September 5, 2025 at 3:14 AM
This is an amazing success story. We are happy to have published several papers there - it really has become the top neuroimaging journal within just two years. Kudos to all who had the courage to make it happen!