Alexey Tolchinsky
@tolchinsky.bsky.social
Clinical psychologist and researcher investigating anxiety disorders, Acute PTSD, dissociations, OCD, Affective Neuroscience, neuropsychoanalysis, application of nonlinear dynamical systems to psychology
https://montgomerycountypsychologist.com
https://montgomerycountypsychologist.com
Pinned
Bluesky
ta.bsky.social
Our paper is published. Co-authored with @drmichaellevin.bsky.social , Chris Fields, @lancelotdacosta.bsky.social ta.bsky.social, Daniel Friedman, Rachael Murphy, David Pincus
www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...
this work presents a computational model of dissociations
www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...
this work presents a computational model of dissociations
Reposted by Alexey Tolchinsky
Victory! The Immigrant Safety Act was just signed into law by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.
New Mexico is sending a message: ICE can't be allowed to continue terrorizing our communities.
New Mexico is sending a message: ICE can't be allowed to continue terrorizing our communities.
February 5, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Victory! The Immigrant Safety Act was just signed into law by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.
New Mexico is sending a message: ICE can't be allowed to continue terrorizing our communities.
New Mexico is sending a message: ICE can't be allowed to continue terrorizing our communities.
A profound thought from @chrisfields38.bsky.social: Your environment is a cognitive agent.
He shared it here (minute 18) in the context of quantum information theory
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm70...
I wrote comments on how I understand Chris here:
www.linkedin.com/posts/activi...
He shared it here (minute 18) in the context of quantum information theory
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm70...
I wrote comments on how I understand Chris here:
www.linkedin.com/posts/activi...
ActInf GuestStream 126.1 ~ Distributed Information and Computation in Generic Quantum Systems
YouTube video by Active Inference Institute
www.youtube.com
February 7, 2026 at 3:31 PM
A profound thought from @chrisfields38.bsky.social: Your environment is a cognitive agent.
He shared it here (minute 18) in the context of quantum information theory
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm70...
I wrote comments on how I understand Chris here:
www.linkedin.com/posts/activi...
He shared it here (minute 18) in the context of quantum information theory
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm70...
I wrote comments on how I understand Chris here:
www.linkedin.com/posts/activi...
a useful book by @chrisfields38.bsky.social and James Glazebrook
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
Presentation about it
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm70...
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
Presentation about it
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm70...
Distributed Information and Computation in Generic Quantum Systems
This book provides insight into modern constructs of AI and quantum information and includes tools for the characterization of physical interactions.
link.springer.com
February 7, 2026 at 2:18 PM
a useful book by @chrisfields38.bsky.social and James Glazebrook
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
Presentation about it
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm70...
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
Presentation about it
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm70...
Reposted by Alexey Tolchinsky
I like this paper, and not just for the obvious reason. A great summary of where we stand in thinking about types of mind. Nice also to see this made explicit: "All living systems share a fundamental property: agency."
arxiv.org/abs/2601.12837
arxiv.org/abs/2601.12837
Cognition spaces: natural, artificial, and hybrid
Cognitive processes are realized across an extraordinary range of natural, artificial, and hybrid systems, yet there is no unified framework for comparing their forms, limits, and unrealized possibili...
arxiv.org
February 4, 2026 at 11:46 PM
I like this paper, and not just for the obvious reason. A great summary of where we stand in thinking about types of mind. Nice also to see this made explicit: "All living systems share a fundamental property: agency."
arxiv.org/abs/2601.12837
arxiv.org/abs/2601.12837
Karl Friston's useful connection of two concepts: Epistemic affordance/foraging, which in some ways is close to play is only possible in deep/hierarchical generative models, not in flat ones. minute 48 here
www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6_X...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6_X...
Platonic Space discussion 3
YouTube video by Michael Levin's Academic Content
www.youtube.com
February 5, 2026 at 2:11 PM
Karl Friston's useful connection of two concepts: Epistemic affordance/foraging, which in some ways is close to play is only possible in deep/hierarchical generative models, not in flat ones. minute 48 here
www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6_X...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6_X...
Just over 600 “Spravato Centers” generated $2,000,000,000 in annual revenue, last year
Owen Scott Muir, M.D, DFAACAP
thefrontierpsychiatrists.substack.com/p/a-eulogy-f...
Owen Scott Muir, M.D, DFAACAP
thefrontierpsychiatrists.substack.com/p/a-eulogy-f...
A Eulogy for Psychiatric Private Practice
It's the beginning of the end
thefrontierpsychiatrists.substack.com
February 4, 2026 at 9:40 PM
Just over 600 “Spravato Centers” generated $2,000,000,000 in annual revenue, last year
Owen Scott Muir, M.D, DFAACAP
thefrontierpsychiatrists.substack.com/p/a-eulogy-f...
Owen Scott Muir, M.D, DFAACAP
thefrontierpsychiatrists.substack.com/p/a-eulogy-f...
Intelligence and consciousness.
@anilseth.bsky.social, brief, clear and to the point: "intelligence is about doing and consciousness is about being"
www.noemamag.com/the-mytholog...
@anilseth.bsky.social, brief, clear and to the point: "intelligence is about doing and consciousness is about being"
www.noemamag.com/the-mytholog...
The Mythology Of Conscious AI | NOEMA
Why consciousness is more likely a property of life than of computation and why creating conscious, or even conscious-seeming AI, is a bad idea.
www.noemamag.com
February 2, 2026 at 5:03 PM
Intelligence and consciousness.
@anilseth.bsky.social, brief, clear and to the point: "intelligence is about doing and consciousness is about being"
www.noemamag.com/the-mytholog...
@anilseth.bsky.social, brief, clear and to the point: "intelligence is about doing and consciousness is about being"
www.noemamag.com/the-mytholog...
@chrisfields38.bsky.social on recursion in interpreting something as a computation. - You need to compute in oder to claim that "ABC" is doing computation. E.g. imagine you're stating that a crow is doing addition - you can't do that unless you do addition in your head.
February 1, 2026 at 8:13 PM
@chrisfields38.bsky.social on recursion in interpreting something as a computation. - You need to compute in oder to claim that "ABC" is doing computation. E.g. imagine you're stating that a crow is doing addition - you can't do that unless you do addition in your head.
Observer-dependent Consciousness?
In this conversation with @anilseth.bsky.social @drmichaellevin.bsky.social asked a question I have not heard before - Consciousness for whom? From which perspective? Minute 44
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kuw...
In this conversation with @anilseth.bsky.social @drmichaellevin.bsky.social asked a question I have not heard before - Consciousness for whom? From which perspective? Minute 44
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kuw...
Your Brain Isn’t a Computer and That Changes Everything
YouTube video by Curt Jaimungal
www.youtube.com
February 1, 2026 at 2:57 PM
Observer-dependent Consciousness?
In this conversation with @anilseth.bsky.social @drmichaellevin.bsky.social asked a question I have not heard before - Consciousness for whom? From which perspective? Minute 44
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kuw...
In this conversation with @anilseth.bsky.social @drmichaellevin.bsky.social asked a question I have not heard before - Consciousness for whom? From which perspective? Minute 44
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kuw...
Space and object permanence.
@chrisfields38.bsky.social in addition to connecting time and identity does the same with space. When we see a ball moving, we must assume it is the same ball and not the series of balls disappearing and appearing - we need identity assumption to perceive something
@chrisfields38.bsky.social in addition to connecting time and identity does the same with space. When we see a ball moving, we must assume it is the same ball and not the series of balls disappearing and appearing - we need identity assumption to perceive something
January 28, 2026 at 2:22 PM
Space and object permanence.
@chrisfields38.bsky.social in addition to connecting time and identity does the same with space. When we see a ball moving, we must assume it is the same ball and not the series of balls disappearing and appearing - we need identity assumption to perceive something
@chrisfields38.bsky.social in addition to connecting time and identity does the same with space. When we see a ball moving, we must assume it is the same ball and not the series of balls disappearing and appearing - we need identity assumption to perceive something
function of space? citation from @chrisfields38.bsky.social "space allows us to keep different packets of information away from each other, so they don't interfere. To be able to distinguish information about some-thing from information about something else."
January 28, 2026 at 2:16 PM
function of space? citation from @chrisfields38.bsky.social "space allows us to keep different packets of information away from each other, so they don't interfere. To be able to distinguish information about some-thing from information about something else."
In our paper with @chrisfields38.bsky.social @drmichaellevin.bsky.social @activeinference.bsky.social @lancelotdacosta.bsky.social we mentioned a dysfunction of a specific memory system as one of the possible underlying mechanism of a dissociative episode. The paper is about temporal depth, however
January 28, 2026 at 12:33 AM
In our paper with @chrisfields38.bsky.social @drmichaellevin.bsky.social @activeinference.bsky.social @lancelotdacosta.bsky.social we mentioned a dysfunction of a specific memory system as one of the possible underlying mechanism of a dissociative episode. The paper is about temporal depth, however
@chrisfields38.bsky.social's comment derived from the 2nd law: given your observation capabilities, whatever direction you see the most information loss is your local, entropic time direction.
#physics
#informationtheory
#physics
#informationtheory
January 28, 2026 at 12:15 AM
@chrisfields38.bsky.social's comment derived from the 2nd law: given your observation capabilities, whatever direction you see the most information loss is your local, entropic time direction.
#physics
#informationtheory
#physics
#informationtheory
Reposted by Alexey Tolchinsky
A video of Alex Pretti reading out the final salute of an unnamed veteran he cared for until the end of his life in the ICU, posted to Facebook by his son.
January 25, 2026 at 1:18 AM
A video of Alex Pretti reading out the final salute of an unnamed veteran he cared for until the end of his life in the ICU, posted to Facebook by his son.
Reposted by Alexey Tolchinsky
Kudos to Gary for realising and saying this ages ago. But bugger me, why were the "big guns" so slow to realise it too, and how much faith can we have in their judgement?
LLMs are not the way to AGI - and the big guns are finally starting to acknowledge it.
open.substack.com/pub/garymarc...
open.substack.com/pub/garymarc...
Breaking: Sir Demis Hassabis becomes the latest to say that ChatGPT is a dead-end and that we must turn our focus to world models
Per the Times of India:
open.substack.com
January 22, 2026 at 11:45 AM
Kudos to Gary for realising and saying this ages ago. But bugger me, why were the "big guns" so slow to realise it too, and how much faith can we have in their judgement?
Reposted by Alexey Tolchinsky
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?
"High-resolution activity maps of PFC did NOT align with cytoarchitecturally defined subregions."
Key tenet in neuroscience is that cytoarchitectonic boundaries correspond to functional ones.
NB: study in the mouse
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
"High-resolution activity maps of PFC did NOT align with cytoarchitecturally defined subregions."
Key tenet in neuroscience is that cytoarchitectonic boundaries correspond to functional ones.
NB: study in the mouse
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
January 22, 2026 at 5:35 PM
𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?
"High-resolution activity maps of PFC did NOT align with cytoarchitecturally defined subregions."
Key tenet in neuroscience is that cytoarchitectonic boundaries correspond to functional ones.
NB: study in the mouse
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
"High-resolution activity maps of PFC did NOT align with cytoarchitecturally defined subregions."
Key tenet in neuroscience is that cytoarchitectonic boundaries correspond to functional ones.
NB: study in the mouse
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Reposted by Alexey Tolchinsky
What Your Genes Really Control - new podcast interview on The Early Perspective open.spotify.com/episode/5iVC...
Spotify – Web Player
open.spotify.com
January 21, 2026 at 8:04 AM
What Your Genes Really Control - new podcast interview on The Early Perspective open.spotify.com/episode/5iVC...
Reposted by Alexey Tolchinsky
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻?
Almost always we average responses thus equating response variability with noise.
Well, we shouldn't because variability is also signal, not noise to be entirely discarded.
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
Almost always we average responses thus equating response variability with noise.
Well, we shouldn't because variability is also signal, not noise to be entirely discarded.
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
January 21, 2026 at 5:53 PM
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻?
Almost always we average responses thus equating response variability with noise.
Well, we shouldn't because variability is also signal, not noise to be entirely discarded.
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
Almost always we average responses thus equating response variability with noise.
Well, we shouldn't because variability is also signal, not noise to be entirely discarded.
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
Reposted by Alexey Tolchinsky
This Thursday at noon. Join us (over Zoom) for the MIT Consciousness Club.
George Mashour (University of Michigan Medical School) - "Consciousness and the Dying Brain"
sites.google.com/view/mit-con...
#neuroscience
George Mashour (University of Michigan Medical School) - "Consciousness and the Dying Brain"
sites.google.com/view/mit-con...
#neuroscience
January 20, 2026 at 1:50 PM
This Thursday at noon. Join us (over Zoom) for the MIT Consciousness Club.
George Mashour (University of Michigan Medical School) - "Consciousness and the Dying Brain"
sites.google.com/view/mit-con...
#neuroscience
George Mashour (University of Michigan Medical School) - "Consciousness and the Dying Brain"
sites.google.com/view/mit-con...
#neuroscience
Does a virus have agency? This text is written based on the work by @macrinephd.bsky.social @drmichaellevin.bsky.social and @wiringthebrain.bsky.social
Comments and critique are most welcome. Kevin, I wonder what you think on this?
open.substack.com/pub/alexeyto...
Comments and critique are most welcome. Kevin, I wonder what you think on this?
open.substack.com/pub/alexeyto...
Does a virus have agency?
Exploring the limitations of a causality-based model of agency.
open.substack.com
January 19, 2026 at 2:18 PM
Does a virus have agency? This text is written based on the work by @macrinephd.bsky.social @drmichaellevin.bsky.social and @wiringthebrain.bsky.social
Comments and critique are most welcome. Kevin, I wonder what you think on this?
open.substack.com/pub/alexeyto...
Comments and critique are most welcome. Kevin, I wonder what you think on this?
open.substack.com/pub/alexeyto...
Talk at McGill next Thursday.
For colleagues in Montreal. I'll present next Thursday 3-4.30pm at the Division of Social & Transcultural Psychiatry. Many thanks to Laurence Kirmayer Ana Gomez-Carrillo and other colleagues.
For colleagues in Montreal. I'll present next Thursday 3-4.30pm at the Division of Social & Transcultural Psychiatry. Many thanks to Laurence Kirmayer Ana Gomez-Carrillo and other colleagues.
January 15, 2026 at 10:32 PM
Talk at McGill next Thursday.
For colleagues in Montreal. I'll present next Thursday 3-4.30pm at the Division of Social & Transcultural Psychiatry. Many thanks to Laurence Kirmayer Ana Gomez-Carrillo and other colleagues.
For colleagues in Montreal. I'll present next Thursday 3-4.30pm at the Division of Social & Transcultural Psychiatry. Many thanks to Laurence Kirmayer Ana Gomez-Carrillo and other colleagues.
Why seeing a graph works better than a table of numbers?
(And how hunter gatherers were good at calculus.)
Related to @macrinephd.bsky.social work on embodied cognition
www.linkedin.com/posts/activi...
(And how hunter gatherers were good at calculus.)
Related to @macrinephd.bsky.social work on embodied cognition
www.linkedin.com/posts/activi...
#embodied #cognition #dynamics #motion | Alexey Tolchinsky, Psy.D.
Why seeing a graph works better than a table of numbers?
(And how hunter gatherers were good at calculus.)
Another data point for Sheila Macrine, PhD and colleagues' collection of examples on the emb...
www.linkedin.com
January 15, 2026 at 2:08 PM
Why seeing a graph works better than a table of numbers?
(And how hunter gatherers were good at calculus.)
Related to @macrinephd.bsky.social work on embodied cognition
www.linkedin.com/posts/activi...
(And how hunter gatherers were good at calculus.)
Related to @macrinephd.bsky.social work on embodied cognition
www.linkedin.com/posts/activi...