Laura Ana Bustamante, PhD
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lauraabusta.bsky.social
Laura Ana Bustamante, PhD
@lauraabusta.bsky.social
5.1K followers 2.8K following 280 posts
Staff scientist @WashU👩🏻‍🔬 Neuro PhD @Princeton, researching cognitive control, decision making & neurodivergent in computational psychiatry, she/her, Latina 🇨🇺. Views my own. Stand Up for Science!
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lauraabusta.bsky.social
Hoi #CCN2025 👋 come to poster C90 (with a great view of #Amsterdam) to hear about how working memory supported reinforcement learning is related to mental health in a representative community sample! This is my first conference as a ‘free agent’ & I’m grateful for support from the Travel Award ☺️🙏
View from ‘de Brug’ (the bridge) on University of Amsterdam campus, there is a canal below, with 5 story red brick buildings on either side, in the distance is a white bridge and in the far distance you can see a windmill. It’s a sunny day with some clouds.
August 15, 2025 at 10:52 AM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
Really feeling you on this as I’m packing up my apartment today for the end of my postdoc! You got this 💪💪
An orange flower is in the foreground and it is coming from a flower bush, behind there is a brown fence and brick building, the photo was taken in St. Louis
July 30, 2025 at 9:05 PM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
Got great feedback and fresh perspectives on my project. I was able to spread the word far and wide that I am looking for the next opportunity in EU/UK 📣 and feeling optimistic! Seriously outstanding conference and community #cpconf2025 🫶
Laura is presenting at a podium, behind her is a slide which has the CNTRACS consortium logo, has her Bluesky handle, her co-author names, and the phrase ‘on the academic job market!’
July 16, 2025 at 3:39 PM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
Heyy skyline #cpconf2025 has been AMAZING🤩 if you’re here catch me at poster 19 today and at the poster spotlight in 1 hour (!) to hear about relationships between working memory supported reinforcement learning and mental health phenotypes in a representative online sample!
Picture of Tubingen Germany, the foreground has colorful flowers on a bridge, and the background is a small river with trees on either side
July 16, 2025 at 6:54 AM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
Friends, please join me in signing your name as a public supporter of the #BethesdaDeclaration and #SaveOurScience

Details here:
www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...

#StandUpForScience #StandUpForNIH #NIH 🧪
Laura and her brother Eddie holding protest signs which say ‘SUPPORT SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT’ and ‘DIVERSITY DRIVES DISCOVERY’ they are standing close to eachother and both wearing baseball caps, they are standing on a sidewalk by the road and there are the backs of other protestors behind them facing the road.
June 9, 2025 at 6:22 PM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
Both would be great thanks @gweindel.bsky.social !
Bellini is laying on a grey sofa stretching, sun is coming in through the window, she looks relaxed. In the background of the photo is a Turkish rug in mustard yellow, navy blue, and red colors.
June 1, 2025 at 10:05 PM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
Fantastic thank you @sebastiaanmathot.bsky.social !
Bellini laying on a black suitcase which is placed on a wooden chair. To her right are two artworks of her, a colored pencil drawing and a yarn artwork of a calico cat, placed on a wooden dresser.
June 1, 2025 at 10:00 PM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
That would be great thank you @tahnee-engelen.bsky.social !
Bellini the calico cat is laying inside a cardboard cat house, she has a bread-shaped toy in front of her that says “ALL YOU KNEAD IS LOAF”. She is alert and looking up at the camera.
June 1, 2025 at 9:31 PM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
Yayyy thanks @samversc.bsky.social ! 🙏
Bellini the calico cat licking water out of a clear drinking glass. You can see her cute pink nose and her tongue is out drinking the water. Her eyes are mostly closed and the photo is a front view.
May 28, 2025 at 3:40 PM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
👋 anyone with successful (or well done) #MSCA or #VENI postdoctoral fellowship applications they are willing to share for me to see examples? Will trade for cat pics 📸😹 🧪 #EU #Netherlands #AcademicChatter
Bellini the calico cat sitting perched on a windowsill beside a bouquet of flowers. She has a serious expression. The flowers are dark and light pinks and green colors.
May 28, 2025 at 9:03 AM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
Spotted in Illinois 👀
A white sign that says “NOT VOTING US THE #1 CAUSE OF UNWANTED PRESIDENCIES” with a baby style Trump cartoon. There is a person behind the sign, with a tshirt that has Lady Liberty, and a street in the background
April 20, 2025 at 11:41 AM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
Support scientific research like your LIFE depends on it!

#handsoff

#DiversityDrivesDiscovery
#neurodiversity

#StandUpForScience @standupforscience.bsky.social
Laura in a red STL hat smiling holding a blue sign that says “Support scientific research like your life depends on it” and she is next to her brother who is wearing a black hat, smiling and holding a black sign that says “diversity drives discovery” in white paint. There is a peace sign on the poster. Behind them is a long sidewalk with many people with signs all standing along a main road A word poem with the word AUTISM in red marker written vertically, and the poem says: “Always Unique, Unconditionally loved, Totally capable, Incredibly brave, Shining light, Making a difference” the rest of the poem is in blue ink on a white sign, and there are blue hearts, it makes you think of the USA flag A white poster with green edges that says “SCIENCE NOT SILENCE” with 3 hands of different skin tones that say “Hands off vaccines” “Hands off CDC” “Hands of NIH”
April 20, 2025 at 7:04 AM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
Providing alt text :)
An infographic from the organization Stand Up For Science that reads “it’s time for a summer send-off. NATIONWIDE CAMPUS ACTION. Stand Up, Fight Back - TOGETHER! - STAND UP with US - Because science, higher ed, and democracy are for everyone - Where: YOUR COLLEGE CAMPUS. When: YOUR LAST DAY OF CLASSES. In the top corner is the link: StandUpForScience2025.org. The background is navy blue, and the text is red and white.
April 9, 2025 at 1:58 AM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
Alsoo, here is the #JeffersonCity, #Missouri, #StandUpForScience rally I co-organized, w 200+ attendees who drove HOURS to the Capitol #HandsOffOurScience. Thanks to @hankgreen.bsky.social 4 the #HandsOff Higher Ed slogan. Hear me on the bullhorn 🤘 in this media clip 😋: www.komu.com/news/midmiss...
laura in a field of grass, holding a teal blue bullhorn speaker, she is wearing a red STL hat and tan coveralls. she is leading a crowd of 200+ people (not shown) and holding a green sign which says "SCIENCE NEEDS LIVED EXPERIENCE DEFEND DIVERSITY EQUITY INCLUSION & ACCESSIBILITY" Laura is standing in front of the Missouri State Capitol holding a neon yellow sign that says "HANDS OFF HIGHER ED" in purple paint writing, and there are two red paint handprints on the sign. Laura is smiling wearing a red STL backwards cap, and tan coveralls. Behind her are a crowd of people at the rally. It's a sunny day with blue skies. Laura is standing in front of the Missouri State Capitol holding a neon green sign that says "SCIENCE NEEDS LIVED EXPERIENCE DEFEND DIVERSITY EQUITY INCLUSION & ACCESSIBILITY" in orange, red, and blue paint writing. Laura is smiling wearing a red STL backwards cap, and tan coveralls. Behind her are a crowd of people at the rally. It's a sunny day with blue skies. The state capitol is a beautiful stone building with large columns at the entrance and a statue up on the stairs.
April 6, 2025 at 2:49 PM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
#HandsOff in St. Louis, MO, many people turned out in the pouring rain ☔️ all along the sidewalk of a busy shopping area. Great support from passersby 🚙, there was constant honking, people driving by hung signs out of their windows, and many shouted their thanks ☺️
Laura standing with a white sign with black text: “$1 NIH FUND=$2.46 economic impact” she is on a sidewalk next to a busy road, holding an umbrella, in the background are more people with signs. She is wearing a red STL hat, a full body length rain jacket, and black boots. She is smiling because she is proud to be standing up for science Street in St. Louis, MO, with many cars in the pouring rain, on the sidewalk on both sides are crowds of people with signs and umbrellas.
April 6, 2025 at 12:30 AM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
🚨 TOMORROW 3/7 we unite to Stand Up For Science❣️come say hey 👋 if you join in Jefferson City, #Missouri where you’ll hear me speak on the paramount value of lived experience in #science, & the need to defend #diversity, #equity, #inclusion, and #accessibility! @standupforscience.bsky.social
A lime green poster with painted text: “SCIENCE NEEDS LIVED EXPERIENCE DEFEND DIVERSITY EQUITY INCLUSION & ACCESSIBILITY” in Orange, red, and blue paint
March 7, 2025 at 12:39 AM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
Finally, greater overall depression was related to decreased patch leaving thresholds. This is consistent w reward rate-based accounts of reduced vigor in MDD. Patch foraging may be used as an ecologically valid tool to study depression, with possibility for cross-species translation
Two panel figure titled 'Relationship of individual MDD symptom domains with overall exit threshold (MDD group only)'. A: No diagnostic group differences (x-axis) in overall threshold (y-axis, apples, estimated from low effort conditions). Bar indicates group means, error bars indicate standard error of the mean, points indicate mean overall exit threshold per participant. B: Lower overall exit threshold (y-axes) were significantly related to overall depression severity (x-axes, z-scores, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale Total). Dashed line indicates best threshold policy, linear regression line for MDD group only, comparison participants included for completeness.
January 26, 2025 at 12:36 AM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
Greater anxiety severity was selectively associated with lower cognitive effort cost (i.e. greater willingness to exert effort) to our knowledge this direction of association has not been reported! Anhedonia symptoms were associated w increased physical effort costs, consistent with prior studies
Figure with one rows and four columns of scatter plots titled 'Effort costs relationships to individual MDD symptom domains.' Blue indicates cognitive effort and red indicates physical effort. A: y-axes: effort costs from MVT model, x-axes: symptom severity (z-scores) for overall depression (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale Total), anhedonia, anxiety, and behavioral apathy (MDD group only)
January 26, 2025 at 12:36 AM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
Contrary to our predictions, none of the decision-making measures differed with MDD diagnosis & there were mostly no group differences in effort task performance. However, each of the measures were related to symptom severity, over and above effects of ability (i.e., performance)
Two panel plot 'Effort cost by diagnostic group and effort type'. Left panel: mean and standard error of the mean of individual differences in effort cost (y-axis) by effort type (x-axis). Right panel: individual differences histograms, x-axis indicates effort cost (larger values indicate more effort avoidance), y-axis indicates proportion of diagnostic group. Both plots demonstrate no significant group difference.
January 26, 2025 at 12:36 AM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
Here, we used the Effort Foraging Task to quantify cognitive & physical effort costs, & patch leaving thresholds (hypothesized to reflect perceived opportunity cost of time) & investigated their shared vs distinct relationships to symptom domains in participants w MDD (N=52) and comparisons (N=27).
Foraging trial diagram. On each trial, participants chose to harvest the tree they were at (down arrow key) or travel to a new tree (right arrow key), during the travel they completed an effortful task, after which they arrived at a new patch with a replenished supply of apples. The diagram shows a small warrior character to the left of a tree who harvests red apples that appear in a line below them. It shows N-Back stimuli (series of letters) during the travel.
January 26, 2025 at 12:36 AM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
As a student & then assistant instructor for an fMRI decoding course 🧠🧪 w Ken Norman we did notebook exercises with fMRI data: brainiak.org/tutorials/ . I enjoyed it as it was demystifying/made concrete. He gifted us copies of your book, which I happened to pull out to show someone this morning 😆!
Picture of the book "The New Mind Readers: What Neuroimaging Can and Cannot Reveal about Our Thoughts" Russell A. Poldrack. There is a black and white sketch of a brain in the center of the cover, and a rainbow of colors coming out from it. You can see Laura's hand holding the book, and a white door in the background
January 7, 2025 at 6:20 PM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
Come check out my poster #46 today at #ACNP2024 ‘Associations between Working Memory Contributions to Reinforcement Learning and Mental Health Phenotypes in a Representative Online Hypothesis-Generating Sample’ looking forward to getting your brilliant feedback!
Image taken at camelback mountain, the sky is blue, the foreground has some desert bushes, and there are two rocks jutting out of the ground. The rock on the right has a hole in it, maybe something is living there!
December 11, 2024 at 2:53 PM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
First time in Arizona 🏜️😎 for #ACNP2024 & feeling excited for the first conference day! Bellini wanted to come with and was unhappy there was no space in the packed suitcase… #Skychiatry @acnporg.bsky.social
Bellini the calico cat in a blue suitcase. The suitcase lid is covered and just her face is visible behind some clothes. Sunset scene in Arizona, there is a line of palm trees in the center of the photo on the horizon line. The sky is blue and sunset is orange. In the foreground there are some bushes that look like tall brown grass and a small fountain water shooting up. In the center of the photo is a Christmas tree with ornaments
December 8, 2024 at 1:35 PM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
On the family grocery list I wrote ‘oat milk’ which was misread as ‘cat milk’ and fulfilled without question. I present Bellini trying cat milk: she rated it five paws ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ whilst licking off her milk mustache 😹😹😹
Bellini, a calico cat is seen drinking ‘cat milk’ out of a shallow white porcelain bowl. Her pink tongue is out and you see her from the right side. The ‘cat milk’ is in a small blue carton on her left. In the foreground is a lace patterned table cloth. Bellini, a calico cat is seen drinking ‘cat milk’ out of a shallow white porcelain bowl. Her tongue is out while she stands up, licking off her milk mustache. you see her from the right side and the underside of her chin, which has a cute black ‘beard’ spot. The ‘cat milk’ is in a small blue carton on her right. The room she is in has brick walls and a wood furnace
December 1, 2024 at 10:44 PM
lauraabusta.bsky.social
This was well along my path, as I was in grad school, but Mad At School by was the first #disability studies book I read. It blew me out of the water how much needed to change for #education to be inclusive of mental disabilities 🧠, and I refocused my work on how neuroscience and psychology can help
Book cover for MAD at SCHOOL: Rhetorics of Mental Disability and Academic life by Margaret Price, foreword by Tobin Siebers. The cover is grey with red white and yellow text. There is an image of a building with classical style columns in silhouette
November 19, 2024 at 9:42 AM