Drew Schreiner
@schreinerdrew.bsky.social
learning | neuroethology | basal ganglia | birdsong | decision-making | natural history | Current K99 Postdoc Rich Mooney @Duke | PhD Christina Gremel @UC San Diego
Pinned
Drew Schreiner
@schreinerdrew.bsky.social
· Mar 12
Dual neuromodulatory dynamics underlie birdsong learning - Nature
Dopamine release in the basal ganglia of the zebra finch is driven by neurons associated with reinforcement learning and by cholinergic signalling, and tracks performance quality during long-term lear...
www.nature.com
Proud to have contributed to @jiaxuanqi.bsky.social's masterpiece out @nature.com! She shows that dopamine transients track the learned quality of song during juvenile learning and that dopamine release is driven not just by VTA firing, but by a local cholinergic mechanism! (1/x)
Reposted by Drew Schreiner
Reposted by Drew Schreiner
We are excited to announce the 2026 GRC Neurobiology of Cognition (7/19-24) in beautiful Waterville Valley, NH! Registration/abstract submission open. Wonderful speakers/program covering cognition across scales & species, incl. AI & neuromodulation! @desrocherslab.bsky.social @erinlrich.bsky.social
January 6, 2026 at 12:06 AM
We are excited to announce the 2026 GRC Neurobiology of Cognition (7/19-24) in beautiful Waterville Valley, NH! Registration/abstract submission open. Wonderful speakers/program covering cognition across scales & species, incl. AI & neuromodulation! @desrocherslab.bsky.social @erinlrich.bsky.social
Reposted by Drew Schreiner
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 Drew Schreiner
New preprint. We show that in addition to reward prediction errors (RPEs), dorsal striatal dopamine signals encode sensory prediction errors (SPEs), the difference between sensory prior & observed stimulus. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Dorsal striatal dopamine integrates sensory and reward prediction errors to guide perceptual decisions
Perceptual decisions are shaped by expectations about sensory stimuli and rewards, learned through sensory and reward prediction errors. Dopamine is known to convey reward prediction errors that shape...
www.biorxiv.org
January 5, 2026 at 10:49 AM
New preprint. We show that in addition to reward prediction errors (RPEs), dorsal striatal dopamine signals encode sensory prediction errors (SPEs), the difference between sensory prior & observed stimulus. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Drew Schreiner
This was thought provoking 🧠
Doesn't invalidate computational approaches but a clear-eyed view of the limits/assumptions, and an eloquent description of why neurobiology is endlessly fascinating
Doesn't invalidate computational approaches but a clear-eyed view of the limits/assumptions, and an eloquent description of why neurobiology is endlessly fascinating
When we try to formalize a neuron computationally, we don't translate biology into code—we perform a violent collapse.
www.ocrampal.com/what-a-neuro...
#philosophy #science #psychology #AI #intelligence #physics #biology #philmind #philsci #philsky #philpsy #neurosky #neuroskyence
www.ocrampal.com/what-a-neuro...
#philosophy #science #psychology #AI #intelligence #physics #biology #philmind #philsci #philsky #philpsy #neurosky #neuroskyence
What a Neuron Teaches Us About Computation's Limits
When we try to formalize a neuron computationally, we don't translate biology into code—we perform a violent collapse. We lock causation into fixed arrows when biology lives in causal ambiguity. We sy...
www.ocrampal.com
January 4, 2026 at 5:02 PM
This was thought provoking 🧠
Doesn't invalidate computational approaches but a clear-eyed view of the limits/assumptions, and an eloquent description of why neurobiology is endlessly fascinating
Doesn't invalidate computational approaches but a clear-eyed view of the limits/assumptions, and an eloquent description of why neurobiology is endlessly fascinating
Reposted by Drew Schreiner
Happy new year! I wanted to share my new Python package called chatter that streamlines the process of applying AI/ML models to animal communication 🦜🦇🐋🐵👨🌾 masonyoungblood.github.io/chatter/
January 2, 2026 at 4:59 PM
Happy new year! I wanted to share my new Python package called chatter that streamlines the process of applying AI/ML models to animal communication 🦜🦇🐋🐵👨🌾 masonyoungblood.github.io/chatter/
Reposted by Drew Schreiner
Throwback to this Reddit post I saw in 2024 and that I still think about sometimes
January 2, 2026 at 6:35 PM
Throwback to this Reddit post I saw in 2024 and that I still think about sometimes
Happy new year, no ragrets
January 1, 2026 at 2:35 PM
Happy new year, no ragrets
Reposted by Drew Schreiner
I definitely didn’t just scrape the web to get the h-index and total citation count as of 12/30/2025 for 319 living and dead nonhuman primate researchers to get a sense of publication metrics by rank on tenure-track.
December 30, 2025 at 8:15 PM
I definitely didn’t just scrape the web to get the h-index and total citation count as of 12/30/2025 for 319 living and dead nonhuman primate researchers to get a sense of publication metrics by rank on tenure-track.
A quote said by one of my academic "grandfathers" to one of my mentors:
"Well, I'm a tenured professor with an endowed chair at (big deal institution). You're a graduate student. What have we got to lose?"
"Well, I'm a tenured professor with an endowed chair at (big deal institution). You're a graduate student. What have we got to lose?"
Also, regarding the PI, as I point out, PIs value their trainees’ time quite differently than trainees do (should?). Maybe the conclusion would be to continue; my point is that is a discussion we don’t have often enough.
December 30, 2025 at 7:48 PM
A quote said by one of my academic "grandfathers" to one of my mentors:
"Well, I'm a tenured professor with an endowed chair at (big deal institution). You're a graduate student. What have we got to lose?"
"Well, I'm a tenured professor with an endowed chair at (big deal institution). You're a graduate student. What have we got to lose?"
Reposted by Drew Schreiner
Just published my review of neuroscience in 2025, on The Spike.
The 10th of these, would you believe?
This year we have foundation models, breakthroughs in using light to understand the brain, a gene therapy, and more
Enjoy!
medium.com/the-spike/20...
The 10th of these, would you believe?
This year we have foundation models, breakthroughs in using light to understand the brain, a gene therapy, and more
Enjoy!
medium.com/the-spike/20...
2025: A Review of the Year in Neuroscience
Enlightening the brain
medium.com
December 30, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Just published my review of neuroscience in 2025, on The Spike.
The 10th of these, would you believe?
This year we have foundation models, breakthroughs in using light to understand the brain, a gene therapy, and more
Enjoy!
medium.com/the-spike/20...
The 10th of these, would you believe?
This year we have foundation models, breakthroughs in using light to understand the brain, a gene therapy, and more
Enjoy!
medium.com/the-spike/20...
For every trainee who succeeds at getting some super difficult experiment to yield interesting results, there are another dozen who fruitlessly spun their wheels for years. My advice: explore many technically feasible experiments and follow up on interesting leads
Blog post: Just quit
Quitting projects in science is hard, but we should be doing a lot more of it.
open.substack.com/pub/arjunraj...
Quitting projects in science is hard, but we should be doing a lot more of it.
open.substack.com/pub/arjunraj...
Just quit
Quitting projects in science is hard, but we should be doing a lot more of it.
open.substack.com
December 30, 2025 at 3:52 PM
For every trainee who succeeds at getting some super difficult experiment to yield interesting results, there are another dozen who fruitlessly spun their wheels for years. My advice: explore many technically feasible experiments and follow up on interesting leads
Reposted by Drew Schreiner
Excited to share latest study from the lab by an amazing RA, Dylan Flink.
We solved a small (important) puzzle while in the trenches of a larger (wavy 🌊) puzzle.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🧵...
We solved a small (important) puzzle while in the trenches of a larger (wavy 🌊) puzzle.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🧵...
Dual cholinergic mechanisms for sculpting striatal dopamine in vivo
Striatal dopamine (DA) and acetylcholine constitute a computationally powerful neuromodulatory dyad that orchestrates action selection, motivational vigor, and reward learning. Striatal cholinergic in...
www.biorxiv.org
December 30, 2025 at 5:47 AM
Excited to share latest study from the lab by an amazing RA, Dylan Flink.
We solved a small (important) puzzle while in the trenches of a larger (wavy 🌊) puzzle.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🧵...
We solved a small (important) puzzle while in the trenches of a larger (wavy 🌊) puzzle.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🧵...
Reposted by Drew Schreiner
merry Christmas x2 (go Nuggets)!
December 26, 2025 at 4:43 AM
merry Christmas x2 (go Nuggets)!
Merry Christmas!
December 25, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Merry Christmas!
made a trip to Cerebral Brewing which has perhaps the best named beer for a neuroscientist #neuroskyence
December 24, 2025 at 10:10 PM
made a trip to Cerebral Brewing which has perhaps the best named beer for a neuroscientist #neuroskyence
Reposted by Drew Schreiner
Reposted by Drew Schreiner
Do you love quantifying animal behavior as much as we do? We have just the tool for you! Presenting #OCTRON - a pipeline that helps you create rich annotation data and enables training of custom segmentation models. Have a look, particularly if you work with non-model / invertebrate organisms!
December 23, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Do you love quantifying animal behavior as much as we do? We have just the tool for you! Presenting #OCTRON - a pipeline that helps you create rich annotation data and enables training of custom segmentation models. Have a look, particularly if you work with non-model / invertebrate organisms!
Reposted by Drew Schreiner
iGluSnFR4 is now available @natmethods.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Glutamate indicators with increased sensitivity and tailored deactivation rates 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Glutamate indicators with increased sensitivity and tailored deactivation rates 🧪
Glutamate indicators with increased sensitivity and tailored deactivation rates - Nature Methods
iGluSnFR4f and iGluSnFR4s are the latest generation of genetically encoded glutamate sensors. They are advantageous for detecting rapid dynamics and large population activity, respectively, as demonst...
www.nature.com
December 23, 2025 at 1:21 PM
iGluSnFR4 is now available @natmethods.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Glutamate indicators with increased sensitivity and tailored deactivation rates 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Glutamate indicators with increased sensitivity and tailored deactivation rates 🧪
Reposted by Drew Schreiner
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
Reposted by Drew Schreiner
Look who's finally on Bluesky! Welcome Hendrikje (and lab).
@nienborglab.bsky.social
Let's get her follower count up.
🙂
@nienborglab.bsky.social
Let's get her follower count up.
🙂
December 23, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Look who's finally on Bluesky! Welcome Hendrikje (and lab).
@nienborglab.bsky.social
Let's get her follower count up.
🙂
@nienborglab.bsky.social
Let's get her follower count up.
🙂
Reposted by Drew Schreiner
Yes, having lots of work is stressful, but have you tried finishing all that work and then being nagged by the vague suspicion you've forgotten something?
December 22, 2025 at 11:51 PM
Yes, having lots of work is stressful, but have you tried finishing all that work and then being nagged by the vague suspicion you've forgotten something?