SCAN Unit
@scanunit.bsky.social
Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, est. 2010, led by @ClausLamm and based at @univienna | Curated by @lukasmayrhofer
Pinned
SCAN Unit
@scanunit.bsky.social
· Nov 27
We created a starter pack for all current and former members of the SCAN unit @univie.ac.at
Topics: social, cognitive, affective, and environmental neuroscience and psychology 🧠🤗
Follow us for updates on our research!
bsky.app/start/did:pl...
Topics: social, cognitive, affective, and environmental neuroscience and psychology 🧠🤗
Follow us for updates on our research!
bsky.app/start/did:pl...
Another amazing year at the SCAN unit with:
30+ papers🗞️
Many new faces 🤓
Long train rides 🚂
Rejections, resubmissions 📝
Tomatoes 🍅
A lot of science 🧠
And even more teamwork and shared moments 🫶
Thanks 2025 - looking forward to 2026 ✨
30+ papers🗞️
Many new faces 🤓
Long train rides 🚂
Rejections, resubmissions 📝
Tomatoes 🍅
A lot of science 🧠
And even more teamwork and shared moments 🫶
Thanks 2025 - looking forward to 2026 ✨
December 24, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Another amazing year at the SCAN unit with:
30+ papers🗞️
Many new faces 🤓
Long train rides 🚂
Rejections, resubmissions 📝
Tomatoes 🍅
A lot of science 🧠
And even more teamwork and shared moments 🫶
Thanks 2025 - looking forward to 2026 ✨
30+ papers🗞️
Many new faces 🤓
Long train rides 🚂
Rejections, resubmissions 📝
Tomatoes 🍅
A lot of science 🧠
And even more teamwork and shared moments 🫶
Thanks 2025 - looking forward to 2026 ✨
Reposted by SCAN Unit
We are glad to see this paper out by @markusforamitti.bsky.social in collaboration with @mauriciojdmartins.bsky.social,
@clauslamm.bsky.social and @scanunit.bsky.social! 🧠🫀🎵Read more about the shift toward music with more negative, stressful, and simpler lyrics over the past 50 years below.
@clauslamm.bsky.social and @scanunit.bsky.social! 🧠🫀🎵Read more about the shift toward music with more negative, stressful, and simpler lyrics over the past 50 years below.
New paper out! 🥸
Over the last 50 years, people have gravitated toward music with increasingly negative, stressful, and simpler lyrics. Societal crises like COVID-19 disrupted these long-term trends, suggesting escapist music preferences at a societal level. 🎶🧠
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Over the last 50 years, people have gravitated toward music with increasingly negative, stressful, and simpler lyrics. Societal crises like COVID-19 disrupted these long-term trends, suggesting escapist music preferences at a societal level. 🎶🧠
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Societal crises disrupt long-term increases in stress, negativity, and simplicity in US Billboard song lyrics from 1973 to 2023 - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Societal crises disrupt long-term increases in stress, negativity, and simplicity in US Billboard song lyrics from 1973 to 2023
www.nature.com
December 12, 2025 at 1:14 PM
We are glad to see this paper out by @markusforamitti.bsky.social in collaboration with @mauriciojdmartins.bsky.social,
@clauslamm.bsky.social and @scanunit.bsky.social! 🧠🫀🎵Read more about the shift toward music with more negative, stressful, and simpler lyrics over the past 50 years below.
@clauslamm.bsky.social and @scanunit.bsky.social! 🧠🫀🎵Read more about the shift toward music with more negative, stressful, and simpler lyrics over the past 50 years below.
🚨 New paper from the lab!
Using computational modeling we showed how people discount time and effort for self-benefitting vs pro-environmental outcomes and that the rate of discounting relates to their willignness to support costly climate policies 👇🏼
Using computational modeling we showed how people discount time and effort for self-benefitting vs pro-environmental outcomes and that the rate of discounting relates to their willignness to support costly climate policies 👇🏼
I’m thrilled to share that our paper “Effort and time costs influence motivational asymmetries in self-benefitting vs. pro-environmental decisions” is now published in Communications Psychology! 🌿
OA link: www.nature.com/articles/s44...
1/6
OA link: www.nature.com/articles/s44...
1/6
Effort and time costs influence motivational asymmetries in self-benefitting vs pro-environmental decisions - Communications Psychology
People are less willing to incur time and effort costs for the environment than for themselves, with computational modeling revealing nonlinear discounting of time and effort linked to support for cos...
www.nature.com
November 27, 2025 at 12:03 PM
🚨 New paper from the lab!
Using computational modeling we showed how people discount time and effort for self-benefitting vs pro-environmental outcomes and that the rate of discounting relates to their willignness to support costly climate policies 👇🏼
Using computational modeling we showed how people discount time and effort for self-benefitting vs pro-environmental outcomes and that the rate of discounting relates to their willignness to support costly climate policies 👇🏼
Last weekend’s lab hike came with maximum fog and minimum views of Vienna 😶🌫️. The company more than made up for it though 🫶
November 17, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Last weekend’s lab hike came with maximum fog and minimum views of Vienna 😶🌫️. The company more than made up for it though 🫶
Reposted by SCAN Unit
🎉 New paper alert!
In this collaboration across 6 countries 🇧🇬🇬🇷🇳🇬🇸🇪🇬🇧🇺🇸 (n = 3,055), we developed a new pro-environmental behavior task and tested which psychological interventions actually make people more willing to put in real effort for mitigating climate change.
Fully OA: tinyurl.com/2s46fppb
In this collaboration across 6 countries 🇧🇬🇬🇷🇳🇬🇸🇪🇬🇧🇺🇸 (n = 3,055), we developed a new pro-environmental behavior task and tested which psychological interventions actually make people more willing to put in real effort for mitigating climate change.
Fully OA: tinyurl.com/2s46fppb
Psychological interventions that decrease psychological distance or challenge system justification increase motivation to exert effort to mitigate climate change - Communications Psychology
Pro-environmental actions often require effort. Participants were less motivated to help the climate than a food charity, but two interventions removed this bias. Computational modelling linked climat...
doi.org
November 5, 2025 at 11:31 AM
🎉 New paper alert!
In this collaboration across 6 countries 🇧🇬🇬🇷🇳🇬🇸🇪🇬🇧🇺🇸 (n = 3,055), we developed a new pro-environmental behavior task and tested which psychological interventions actually make people more willing to put in real effort for mitigating climate change.
Fully OA: tinyurl.com/2s46fppb
In this collaboration across 6 countries 🇧🇬🇬🇷🇳🇬🇸🇪🇬🇧🇺🇸 (n = 3,055), we developed a new pro-environmental behavior task and tested which psychological interventions actually make people more willing to put in real effort for mitigating climate change.
Fully OA: tinyurl.com/2s46fppb
Reposted by SCAN Unit
Wer von euch hat schon Mal ein Hundegehirn gesehen?
Hier mal ein strukturelles MRT aus einem meiner Paper: link.springer.com/article/10.1... (Guran et al., 2024)
Dieses Modell basiert auf einem sogenannten Hirnatlas. Unsere funktionellen Daten sehen meist ganz anders aus ...
Hier mal ein strukturelles MRT aus einem meiner Paper: link.springer.com/article/10.1... (Guran et al., 2024)
Dieses Modell basiert auf einem sogenannten Hirnatlas. Unsere funktionellen Daten sehen meist ganz anders aus ...
October 30, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Wer von euch hat schon Mal ein Hundegehirn gesehen?
Hier mal ein strukturelles MRT aus einem meiner Paper: link.springer.com/article/10.1... (Guran et al., 2024)
Dieses Modell basiert auf einem sogenannten Hirnatlas. Unsere funktionellen Daten sehen meist ganz anders aus ...
Hier mal ein strukturelles MRT aus einem meiner Paper: link.springer.com/article/10.1... (Guran et al., 2024)
Dieses Modell basiert auf einem sogenannten Hirnatlas. Unsere funktionellen Daten sehen meist ganz anders aus ...
Reposted by SCAN Unit
Habt ihr schon mal einen Hund in einem MRT Scanner gesehen? Darf ich vorstellen, das ist Toffee, einer unserer 4-pfotigen Freiwilligen.
October 27, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Habt ihr schon mal einen Hund in einem MRT Scanner gesehen? Darf ich vorstellen, das ist Toffee, einer unserer 4-pfotigen Freiwilligen.
Our colleague @rinaguran.bsky.social is giving insights in her life as PostDoc this week. Check out @realscientists.de if you are interested in animal research or just want to see what everyday life looks like for a scientist 🤓
Guten Morgen meine Science Peeps :)
Mein Name ist Alexandrina, und es ist mir eine Freude, in dieser Woche die Posts von @realscientists.de zu liefern.
Worauf ihr euch freuen könnt?
- Posts über Tiere 🐶🐷😼🐝🙆 und ihr Verhalten
- Einblicke in den Alltag einer 4-ever-PostDoc
- Hundesocken-Fotos
Mein Name ist Alexandrina, und es ist mir eine Freude, in dieser Woche die Posts von @realscientists.de zu liefern.
Worauf ihr euch freuen könnt?
- Posts über Tiere 🐶🐷😼🐝🙆 und ihr Verhalten
- Einblicke in den Alltag einer 4-ever-PostDoc
- Hundesocken-Fotos
a dog wearing sunglasses and a blue shirt is sitting in a car with the words what 's up bro on the door
ALT: a dog wearing sunglasses and a blue shirt is sitting in a car with the words what 's up bro on the door
media.tenor.com
October 30, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Our colleague @rinaguran.bsky.social is giving insights in her life as PostDoc this week. Check out @realscientists.de if you are interested in animal research or just want to see what everyday life looks like for a scientist 🤓
Reposted by SCAN Unit
New global study lead by @psysciacc.bsky.social with @scanunit.bsky.social across 18 languages challenges a classic idea in psycholinguistics: when we read, we don’t always imagine objects in the same orientation as described. doi.org/10.1007/s121...
Investigating object orientation effects across 18 languages - Current Psychology
Mental simulation theories of language comprehension propose that people automatically create mental representations of objects mentioned in sentences. Mental representation is often measured with the...
doi.org
October 22, 2025 at 1:13 PM
New global study lead by @psysciacc.bsky.social with @scanunit.bsky.social across 18 languages challenges a classic idea in psycholinguistics: when we read, we don’t always imagine objects in the same orientation as described. doi.org/10.1007/s121...
See below to read a short story from our member @lauragschw.bsky.social describing her research - really cool way to communicate science!
🎲 New #ScienceandFiction short story 🎲
This month, @lauragschw.bsky.social talks about anhedonia and how our mood may affect our gaming behavior! 🃏
Content warning: Mental health, depression, anhedonia
🇬🇧 scienceandfiction.net/stories/34_i...
🇩🇪 scienceandfiction.net/de/stories/3...
This month, @lauragschw.bsky.social talks about anhedonia and how our mood may affect our gaming behavior! 🃏
Content warning: Mental health, depression, anhedonia
🇬🇧 scienceandfiction.net/stories/34_i...
🇩🇪 scienceandfiction.net/de/stories/3...
October 20, 2025 at 9:49 AM
See below to read a short story from our member @lauragschw.bsky.social describing her research - really cool way to communicate science!
Reposted by SCAN Unit
Happy #worlddogday! 🐶 👨🔬👩🔬
In this video, you will discover how dogs support us in our research at the University of Vienna and what we can learn from dogs about our own social behavior. 🧠 ⤵️
In this video, you will discover how dogs support us in our research at the University of Vienna and what we can learn from dogs about our own social behavior. 🧠 ⤵️
October 10, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Happy #worlddogday! 🐶 👨🔬👩🔬
In this video, you will discover how dogs support us in our research at the University of Vienna and what we can learn from dogs about our own social behavior. 🧠 ⤵️
In this video, you will discover how dogs support us in our research at the University of Vienna and what we can learn from dogs about our own social behavior. 🧠 ⤵️
Congratulations to @madalina.bsky.social, our former member @kimdoell.bsky.social and all of the 256(!) other collaborators for winning SPSP's Robert Cialdini prize for their manylabs project on how behavioral interventions can help address climate change 🎉
I'm excited to share the news that our climate change project won the @spspnews.bsky.social Robert Cialdini Prize for a "paper that uses field methods and demonstrates the relevance of social psychology to outside groups and communities"!
You can read it here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
You can read it here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
October 8, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Congratulations to @madalina.bsky.social, our former member @kimdoell.bsky.social and all of the 256(!) other collaborators for winning SPSP's Robert Cialdini prize for their manylabs project on how behavioral interventions can help address climate change 🎉
Check out our new publication led by former member @clamassaccesi.bsky.social showing that individuals are equally motivated to incur effort costs to reduce pain to themselves and others 🤝
New paper out in NYAS!
nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
We show that protecting others' from pain promotes effortful prosocial behavior 💪🧑🤝🧑🤝
w/ @clauslamm.bsky.social @silanilab.bsky.social @lei-zhang.bsky.social
(thread below)
nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
We show that protecting others' from pain promotes effortful prosocial behavior 💪🧑🤝🧑🤝
w/ @clauslamm.bsky.social @silanilab.bsky.social @lei-zhang.bsky.social
(thread below)
October 2, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Check out our new publication led by former member @clamassaccesi.bsky.social showing that individuals are equally motivated to incur effort costs to reduce pain to themselves and others 🤝
Reposted by SCAN Unit
🧠🌍 Join me next week for the Planetary Health Alliance – Next Gen Speaker Series to learn why climate action is brain health action!
When? 24th of September, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm EDT
Where? Online - register here: planetaryhealthalliance.org/events/next-...
When? 24th of September, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm EDT
Where? Online - register here: planetaryhealthalliance.org/events/next-...
Next Gen Speaker Series - Boryana Todorova - Planetary Health Alliance
Boryana Todorova is a Visiting Researcher at the Net Zero Observatory, University of Queensland, and a member of the Neuro Climate Working Group. Her research examines the two-way relationship between...
planetaryhealthalliance.org
September 15, 2025 at 5:19 AM
🧠🌍 Join me next week for the Planetary Health Alliance – Next Gen Speaker Series to learn why climate action is brain health action!
When? 24th of September, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm EDT
Where? Online - register here: planetaryhealthalliance.org/events/next-...
When? 24th of September, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm EDT
Where? Online - register here: planetaryhealthalliance.org/events/next-...
Reposted by SCAN Unit
New tutorial alert! Crowdsourcing multiverse analyses to explore the impact of different data-processing & analysis decisions published in Psychological Methods.
Full text: psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
Lead: Tom Heyman, @epronizius.bsky.social @slewis5920.bsky.social @aggieerin.bsky.social
Full text: psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
Lead: Tom Heyman, @epronizius.bsky.social @slewis5920.bsky.social @aggieerin.bsky.social
APA PsycNet
psycnet.apa.org
September 22, 2025 at 5:18 AM
New tutorial alert! Crowdsourcing multiverse analyses to explore the impact of different data-processing & analysis decisions published in Psychological Methods.
Full text: psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
Lead: Tom Heyman, @epronizius.bsky.social @slewis5920.bsky.social @aggieerin.bsky.social
Full text: psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
Lead: Tom Heyman, @epronizius.bsky.social @slewis5920.bsky.social @aggieerin.bsky.social
Reposted by SCAN Unit
Another highlight in my mentoring career- tinyurl.com/lukelikely 's stellar defense; Lukas provided plenty of evidence to radically update our priors and call him DOKTA Luke from now on. Shout-out also to great co-supervisors @predragpetrovic.bsky.social & Isa Wagner & all @scanunit.bsky.social
August 31, 2025 at 6:50 AM
Another highlight in my mentoring career- tinyurl.com/lukelikely 's stellar defense; Lukas provided plenty of evidence to radically update our priors and call him DOKTA Luke from now on. Shout-out also to great co-supervisors @predragpetrovic.bsky.social & Isa Wagner & all @scanunit.bsky.social
Reposted by SCAN Unit
Our 2-day social cognition workshop "From Self-knowledge to knowing others" in Brussels on Dec1-2 now welcomes registration and abstracts for poster/talk ! Go www.self-knowing-others.org @selfknowingothers.bsky.social @escaneu.bsky.social @escop.bsky.social @scanunit.bsky.social
September 18, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Our 2-day social cognition workshop "From Self-knowledge to knowing others" in Brussels on Dec1-2 now welcomes registration and abstracts for poster/talk ! Go www.self-knowing-others.org @selfknowingothers.bsky.social @escaneu.bsky.social @escop.bsky.social @scanunit.bsky.social
A new study by our colleagues from Bern was covered as research highlight in @natclimate.nature.com: 🎉
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
They show how structural neuroscience data can be used to better understand interindividual differences in pro-environmental behavior 🧠🌳
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
They show how structural neuroscience data can be used to better understand interindividual differences in pro-environmental behavior 🧠🌳
Neural traits of pro-environmental behaviour - Nature Climate Change
Nature Climate Change - Neural traits of pro-environmental behaviour
www.nature.com
August 11, 2025 at 8:41 AM
A new study by our colleagues from Bern was covered as research highlight in @natclimate.nature.com: 🎉
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
They show how structural neuroscience data can be used to better understand interindividual differences in pro-environmental behavior 🧠🌳
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
They show how structural neuroscience data can be used to better understand interindividual differences in pro-environmental behavior 🧠🌳
Reposted by SCAN Unit
Check our new preprint! Our systematic review of 206 reversal learning studies shows that behavioural flexibility research is heavily biased towards birds, rodents, and humans, with most animal diversity virtually untested. #Manymanys #BigTeamScience #ComparativeCognition
Flexible Behavior or Flexible Methods? A Cross-Taxon Review of Experimental Designs in Reversal Learning: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/mvche_v1
July 13, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Check our new preprint! Our systematic review of 206 reversal learning studies shows that behavioural flexibility research is heavily biased towards birds, rodents, and humans, with most animal diversity virtually untested. #Manymanys #BigTeamScience #ComparativeCognition
🚨A new multi-lab study with contributions from our head @clauslamm.bsky.social & others in our group got published in Nature Climate Change 🎉
It's about how support for climate change policies is shaped by extreme weather events:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/2
It's about how support for climate change policies is shaped by extreme weather events:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/2
www.nature.com
July 10, 2025 at 8:23 AM
🚨A new multi-lab study with contributions from our head @clauslamm.bsky.social & others in our group got published in Nature Climate Change 🎉
It's about how support for climate change policies is shaped by extreme weather events:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/2
It's about how support for climate change policies is shaped by extreme weather events:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
1/2
Reposted by SCAN Unit
Save the date: Nach Hannover, Köln und Mainz findet das nächste Open Science Festival im deutschsprachigen Raum erstmals in Österreich statt – und zwar am 8. und 9. September am Campus der Universität Wien @univie.ac.at. osfestival2025.univie.ac.at #osfestival2025 #openscience #opensciencefestival
Save the Date: Open Science Festival 2025
YouTube video by Universitätsbibliothek Wien
www.youtube.com
January 23, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Save the date: Nach Hannover, Köln und Mainz findet das nächste Open Science Festival im deutschsprachigen Raum erstmals in Österreich statt – und zwar am 8. und 9. September am Campus der Universität Wien @univie.ac.at. osfestival2025.univie.ac.at #osfestival2025 #openscience #opensciencefestival
Reposted by SCAN Unit
Closing Rreflection. This June, I chaired #SIPS2025 in Budapest 🇭🇺, celebrating 10y of @improvingpsych.org. It was a vibrant & inspiring meeting. We hosted workshops, hackathons, lightning talks, & unconferences on topics from AI & theory building to radical transparency, detecting data fabrication.
June 29, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Closing Rreflection. This June, I chaired #SIPS2025 in Budapest 🇭🇺, celebrating 10y of @improvingpsych.org. It was a vibrant & inspiring meeting. We hosted workshops, hackathons, lightning talks, & unconferences on topics from AI & theory building to radical transparency, detecting data fabrication.
One week left to apply for our open phd position 👇
Are you passionate about neuroimaging methods and would like to work with us? 🚨
4-year PhD position on methods development in the new Cluster of Neuronal Circuits in Health and Disease (coe.univie.ac.at) and the role of GABA in the amygdala and other brain areas 🧠
Details: shorturl.at/EcI2W
Pls 🔁
4-year PhD position on methods development in the new Cluster of Neuronal Circuits in Health and Disease (coe.univie.ac.at) and the role of GABA in the amygdala and other brain areas 🧠
Details: shorturl.at/EcI2W
Pls 🔁
Contact person: For further inquiries please contact Katalin Szigeti, PhD, the Training Unit Coordinator of the CoE (margit.katalin.szigeti@univie.ac.at).
coe.univie.ac.at
June 23, 2025 at 7:13 AM
One week left to apply for our open phd position 👇
Proud of our new PhD student @lukasmayrhofer.bsky.social for delivering a great talk at #ICEP2025 on work he did during his master’s 👏
Awesome talk by @lukasmayrhofer.bsky.social on how the emergence of radical climate activists (Last Generation) impacted portayals of moderate activists (Fridays for Future) 🤩👏
See also our preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
See also our preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
June 17, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Proud of our new PhD student @lukasmayrhofer.bsky.social for delivering a great talk at #ICEP2025 on work he did during his master’s 👏
Reposted by SCAN Unit
New paper! When encountering a novel and unfamiliar situation, what mechanisms underly our ability to search and retrieve relevant past experiences? We answer this question by taking first-principles approach – allowing us to bridge between a wide range of previous models (1/16)
June 10, 2025 at 6:26 PM
New paper! When encountering a novel and unfamiliar situation, what mechanisms underly our ability to search and retrieve relevant past experiences? We answer this question by taking first-principles approach – allowing us to bridge between a wide range of previous models (1/16)