Parnian Rafei
@parnianrafei.bsky.social
Psychology PhD student & researcher at Trinity College Dublin www.gillanlab.com 🧠 🇮🇪 | @UnivofTehran Clinical psychology alumnus 🇮🇷 | An ultimate foodie researching cognitive underpinnings of habitual behaviours and addiction 🧠 💊 💉 🚬
Pinned
OSF
osf.io
🚨 New paper alert!
Do time constraints reveal habitual behaviour? 🤔 We directly compared two major paradigms in the habit research field (Outcome Devaluation vs Response Remapping) under identical training and forced-response conditions 🧠 ⏲️ ⌨️
preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Do time constraints reveal habitual behaviour? 🤔 We directly compared two major paradigms in the habit research field (Outcome Devaluation vs Response Remapping) under identical training and forced-response conditions 🧠 ⏲️ ⌨️
preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
JOB ALERT: I am offering a 4-year funded PhD opportunity. The position is specifically linked to the project “Assessing the balance between goal-directed and habitual processing through the course of learning". The project is about learning habits and include eye tracking and pupillometry...
October 23, 2025 at 1:14 PM
JOB ALERT: I am offering a 4-year funded PhD opportunity. The position is specifically linked to the project “Assessing the balance between goal-directed and habitual processing through the course of learning". The project is about learning habits and include eye tracking and pupillometry...
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
🚨 New publication: How to improve conceptual clarity in psychological science?
Thrilled to see this article with @ruimata.bsky.social out. We discuss how LLMs can be leveraged to map, clarify, and generate psychological measures and constructs.
Open access article: doi.org/10.1177/0963...
Thrilled to see this article with @ruimata.bsky.social out. We discuss how LLMs can be leveraged to map, clarify, and generate psychological measures and constructs.
Open access article: doi.org/10.1177/0963...
October 23, 2025 at 7:27 AM
🚨 New publication: How to improve conceptual clarity in psychological science?
Thrilled to see this article with @ruimata.bsky.social out. We discuss how LLMs can be leveraged to map, clarify, and generate psychological measures and constructs.
Open access article: doi.org/10.1177/0963...
Thrilled to see this article with @ruimata.bsky.social out. We discuss how LLMs can be leveraged to map, clarify, and generate psychological measures and constructs.
Open access article: doi.org/10.1177/0963...
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
Looks interesting! We have been facing this exact issue - finding big inconsistencies across different LLMs rating the same text.
🚨 New paper alert 🚨 Using LLMs as data annotators, you can produce any scientific result you want. We call this **LLM Hacking**.
Paper: arxiv.org/pdf/2509.08825
Paper: arxiv.org/pdf/2509.08825
September 25, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Looks interesting! We have been facing this exact issue - finding big inconsistencies across different LLMs rating the same text.
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
This article is now published in @plosone.org. journals.plos.org/plosone/arti... New analysis added: seemingly habitual responses are explained because contingency deg didn't work for some participants (in line with recent outcome dev results in our lab and in @clairegillan.bsky.social lab)
The degraded contingency test fails to detect habit induction in humans
In experimental psychology and behavioral neuroscience, habits are considered stimulus-response (S-R) associations formed through extended reward training. Accordingly, habits are assessed using one o...
journals.plos.org
October 16, 2025 at 7:31 AM
This article is now published in @plosone.org. journals.plos.org/plosone/arti... New analysis added: seemingly habitual responses are explained because contingency deg didn't work for some participants (in line with recent outcome dev results in our lab and in @clairegillan.bsky.social lab)
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
Excited to share this new preprint on the Predictive Modelling of Depression Treatment Response using Individual Symptoms and Latent Factors with @clairegillan.bsky.social fresh up on @medrxivpreprint.bsky.social www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Predictive Modelling of Depression Treatment Response using Individual Symptoms and Latent Factors
Machine learning models have increasingly been used to identify predictors of treatment response in depression, and it is hoped that they may eventually help with clinical decision making. However, th...
www.medrxiv.org
September 19, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Excited to share this new preprint on the Predictive Modelling of Depression Treatment Response using Individual Symptoms and Latent Factors with @clairegillan.bsky.social fresh up on @medrxivpreprint.bsky.social www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
Out today in Molecular Psychiatry our paper on multiverse computational factor modeling (i.e. a lotta lotta factor analyses). Thread below for the full rundown. Last PhD paper from @celinef.bsky.social YOU'RE FREE!! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
October 15, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Out today in Molecular Psychiatry our paper on multiverse computational factor modeling (i.e. a lotta lotta factor analyses). Thread below for the full rundown. Last PhD paper from @celinef.bsky.social YOU'RE FREE!! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
Photovoice Exhibition 29th - 31st October at Trinity Business school led by Dr. Claire Howlin. ‘How Music and Arts Support Neurodiversity’ will showcase photos and stories from neurodivergent adults about how creativity helps them thrive. Join us for the LAUNCH Oct 30th @dancingresearch.bsky.social
September 18, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Photovoice Exhibition 29th - 31st October at Trinity Business school led by Dr. Claire Howlin. ‘How Music and Arts Support Neurodiversity’ will showcase photos and stories from neurodivergent adults about how creativity helps them thrive. Join us for the LAUNCH Oct 30th @dancingresearch.bsky.social
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
Now out in JEP: General, "How working memory and reinforcement learning interact when avoiding punishment and pursuing reward concurrently"
psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
Preprint with final version: osf.io/preprints/ps...
1/n
psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
Preprint with final version: osf.io/preprints/ps...
1/n
September 13, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Now out in JEP: General, "How working memory and reinforcement learning interact when avoiding punishment and pursuing reward concurrently"
psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
Preprint with final version: osf.io/preprints/ps...
1/n
psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
Preprint with final version: osf.io/preprints/ps...
1/n
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
Hey everybody! @drjuliawester.bsky.social and I have a new paper!
We surveyed over 800 scientists, science communicators, and science educators who use social media.
Conclusion: Scientists no longer find Twitter useful or pleasant, and many have switched to Bluesky! 🧪🌎🦑
doi.org/10.1093/icb/...
We surveyed over 800 scientists, science communicators, and science educators who use social media.
Conclusion: Scientists no longer find Twitter useful or pleasant, and many have switched to Bluesky! 🧪🌎🦑
doi.org/10.1093/icb/...
Scientists no Longer Find Twitter Professionally Useful, and have Switched to Bluesky
Synopsis. Social media has become widely used by the scientific community for a variety of professional uses, including networking and public outreach. For
doi.org
August 19, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Hey everybody! @drjuliawester.bsky.social and I have a new paper!
We surveyed over 800 scientists, science communicators, and science educators who use social media.
Conclusion: Scientists no longer find Twitter useful or pleasant, and many have switched to Bluesky! 🧪🌎🦑
doi.org/10.1093/icb/...
We surveyed over 800 scientists, science communicators, and science educators who use social media.
Conclusion: Scientists no longer find Twitter useful or pleasant, and many have switched to Bluesky! 🧪🌎🦑
doi.org/10.1093/icb/...
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
New preprint from the lab on habit learning in compulsivity from the fantastic @kellydonegan.bsky.social! ✅ N=1000, ✅ pre-registered, ✅ within-person crossover design...we study individual differences in habit learning using the Neureka App
🚨PREPRINT ALERT🚨
Why do some people get stuck doing things that no longer make sense, or are even harmful? Our new study shows compulsivity isn’t just about weakened goal-directed control; people high in compulsivity also form stronger habits
📄: osf.io/preprints/ps...
#PaperFairy #Habits #CogSci
Why do some people get stuck doing things that no longer make sense, or are even harmful? Our new study shows compulsivity isn’t just about weakened goal-directed control; people high in compulsivity also form stronger habits
📄: osf.io/preprints/ps...
#PaperFairy #Habits #CogSci
OSF
osf.io
July 28, 2025 at 2:06 PM
New preprint from the lab on habit learning in compulsivity from the fantastic @kellydonegan.bsky.social! ✅ N=1000, ✅ pre-registered, ✅ within-person crossover design...we study individual differences in habit learning using the Neureka App
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
The good news? If there’s more than one mechanism driving compulsive behaviour, there’s likely more than one way to intervene! We talk about this in our @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social review @eikekofi.bsky.social @parnianrafei.bsky.social
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
Leveraging cognitive neuroscience for making and breaking real-world habits
Habits are the behavioral output of two brain systems. A stimulus–response (S–R) system
that encourages us to efficiently repeat well-practiced actions in familiar settings,
and a goal-directed system...
www.cell.com
July 28, 2025 at 1:53 PM
The good news? If there’s more than one mechanism driving compulsive behaviour, there’s likely more than one way to intervene! We talk about this in our @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social review @eikekofi.bsky.social @parnianrafei.bsky.social
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
🚨PREPRINT ALERT🚨
Why do some people get stuck doing things that no longer make sense, or are even harmful? Our new study shows compulsivity isn’t just about weakened goal-directed control; people high in compulsivity also form stronger habits
📄: osf.io/preprints/ps...
#PaperFairy #Habits #CogSci
Why do some people get stuck doing things that no longer make sense, or are even harmful? Our new study shows compulsivity isn’t just about weakened goal-directed control; people high in compulsivity also form stronger habits
📄: osf.io/preprints/ps...
#PaperFairy #Habits #CogSci
OSF
osf.io
July 28, 2025 at 1:53 PM
🚨PREPRINT ALERT🚨
Why do some people get stuck doing things that no longer make sense, or are even harmful? Our new study shows compulsivity isn’t just about weakened goal-directed control; people high in compulsivity also form stronger habits
📄: osf.io/preprints/ps...
#PaperFairy #Habits #CogSci
Why do some people get stuck doing things that no longer make sense, or are even harmful? Our new study shows compulsivity isn’t just about weakened goal-directed control; people high in compulsivity also form stronger habits
📄: osf.io/preprints/ps...
#PaperFairy #Habits #CogSci
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
New preprint! Habits should get stronger with more practice, right? Well, this crucial result has been difficult to reproduce in human labs. In an instant classic, de Wit (2018) showed 5 failures in obtaining more evidence of habits in conditions with more training -as compared to little trained
Habits Need Time: Evidence of Habit-like Behavior After Short Training Likely Reflects Failures in Habit Testing: https://osf.io/zh39t
July 24, 2025 at 8:57 AM
New preprint! Habits should get stronger with more practice, right? Well, this crucial result has been difficult to reproduce in human labs. In an instant classic, de Wit (2018) showed 5 failures in obtaining more evidence of habits in conditions with more training -as compared to little trained
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
In February 2024, I wrote Scientific Reports about a published meta-analysis claiming that mindfulness interventions affect neural plasticity, 'cementing the neuropsychological basis of mindfulness-based interventions'.
The paper was retracted yesterday—here a little summary of the process.🧵
The paper was retracted yesterday—here a little summary of the process.🧵
July 16, 2025 at 10:11 PM
In February 2024, I wrote Scientific Reports about a published meta-analysis claiming that mindfulness interventions affect neural plasticity, 'cementing the neuropsychological basis of mindfulness-based interventions'.
The paper was retracted yesterday—here a little summary of the process.🧵
The paper was retracted yesterday—here a little summary of the process.🧵
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
You happen to be at #CPConf2025 and interested in habitual processes and how they contribute to compulsivity? We've gathered data from 180 individuals across three different compulsion types including phone-checking (not reflected in the DSM!). Come visit me at poster 2.46!
July 15, 2025 at 1:21 PM
You happen to be at #CPConf2025 and interested in habitual processes and how they contribute to compulsivity? We've gathered data from 180 individuals across three different compulsion types including phone-checking (not reflected in the DSM!). Come visit me at poster 2.46!
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
Experimentology is out today!!! A group of us wrote a free online textbook for experimental methods, available at experimentology.io - the idea was to integrate open science into all aspects of the experimental workflow from planning to design, analysis, and writing.
July 1, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Experimentology is out today!!! A group of us wrote a free online textbook for experimental methods, available at experimentology.io - the idea was to integrate open science into all aspects of the experimental workflow from planning to design, analysis, and writing.
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
@glassybrain.bsky.social (Vanessa Teckentrup) will present "Understanding habitual properties of compulsivity using moment-to-moment experience sampling in daily life" with 6 weeks of EMA data tracking OCD, Binge-Eating and Phone-checking compulsions!📱https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/yvhua_v1
July 14, 2025 at 9:19 AM
@glassybrain.bsky.social (Vanessa Teckentrup) will present "Understanding habitual properties of compulsivity using moment-to-moment experience sampling in daily life" with 6 weeks of EMA data tracking OCD, Binge-Eating and Phone-checking compulsions!📱https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/yvhua_v1
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
@kellydonegan.bsky.social will present "Compulsivity is associated with an increase in stimulus- response habit learning"📱,which we are 🤏 close to pre-printing. So 🙏 give us your thoughts and ideas!
July 14, 2025 at 9:19 AM
@kellydonegan.bsky.social will present "Compulsivity is associated with an increase in stimulus- response habit learning"📱,which we are 🤏 close to pre-printing. So 🙏 give us your thoughts and ideas!
🚨 New paper alert!
Do time constraints reveal habitual behaviour? 🤔 We directly compared two major paradigms in the habit research field (Outcome Devaluation vs Response Remapping) under identical training and forced-response conditions 🧠 ⏲️ ⌨️
preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Do time constraints reveal habitual behaviour? 🤔 We directly compared two major paradigms in the habit research field (Outcome Devaluation vs Response Remapping) under identical training and forced-response conditions 🧠 ⏲️ ⌨️
preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
July 8, 2025 at 9:55 AM
🚨 New paper alert!
Do time constraints reveal habitual behaviour? 🤔 We directly compared two major paradigms in the habit research field (Outcome Devaluation vs Response Remapping) under identical training and forced-response conditions 🧠 ⏲️ ⌨️
preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Do time constraints reveal habitual behaviour? 🤔 We directly compared two major paradigms in the habit research field (Outcome Devaluation vs Response Remapping) under identical training and forced-response conditions 🧠 ⏲️ ⌨️
preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Hello #Bluesky!👋 I’m late to the party, but excited to join! 🥳Sharing a recent moment at #RLDM2025: presented a poster on my recent PhD project on measuring time-dependent habits in the lab 🧠 – shared fresh findings, and discovered brilliant research while helping the organisers behind the scenes! 👩💻
July 2, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Hello #Bluesky!👋 I’m late to the party, but excited to join! 🥳Sharing a recent moment at #RLDM2025: presented a poster on my recent PhD project on measuring time-dependent habits in the lab 🧠 – shared fresh findings, and discovered brilliant research while helping the organisers behind the scenes! 👩💻
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
We @smfleming.bsky.social, Marion Rouault and @seowxft.bsky.social and I) have posted a reply osf.io/preprints/ps... to a preprint that recently raised concerns about the validity of associations between mental health and metacognition from online studies. I hope you can take the time to read it.
OSF
osf.io
July 1, 2025 at 8:52 AM
We @smfleming.bsky.social, Marion Rouault and @seowxft.bsky.social and I) have posted a reply osf.io/preprints/ps... to a preprint that recently raised concerns about the validity of associations between mental health and metacognition from online studies. I hope you can take the time to read it.
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
Very happy to see this published open-access in Behavior Research Methods now 🤗
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.3758/s134...
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.3758/s134...
June 18, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Very happy to see this published open-access in Behavior Research Methods now 🤗
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.3758/s134...
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.3758/s134...
Reposted by Parnian Rafei
In our preprint "Limited evidence for reduced learning rate adaptation in anxious-depression, before or after treatment", led by @stephsuddell.bsky.social and Lili Zhang, we fail to find a robust association between anxious-depression and learning rate adaptation
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
June 18, 2025 at 1:16 PM
In our preprint "Limited evidence for reduced learning rate adaptation in anxious-depression, before or after treatment", led by @stephsuddell.bsky.social and Lili Zhang, we fail to find a robust association between anxious-depression and learning rate adaptation
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...