Russ Poldrack
@russpoldrack.org
Professor at Stanford. Psychology/Neuroscience/Data Science. Books include: The New Mind Readers, Handbook of fMRI Data Analysis, Hard to Break, and Statistical Thinking.
https://poldrack.github.io/
https://poldrack.github.io/
It's really nice when people actually use software that you create. This is an updated usage figure for the MRIQC.org Web API showing continued usage for the last 7 years, with more than half a million unique BOLD images in BIDS datasets! If you aren't already using MRIQC, check it out!
November 4, 2025 at 8:14 PM
It's really nice when people actually use software that you create. This is an updated usage figure for the MRIQC.org Web API showing continued usage for the last 7 years, with more than half a million unique BOLD images in BIDS datasets! If you aren't already using MRIQC, check it out!
Great piece by @natolambert.bsky.social on the current state of human exhaustion in the AI world. Makes this important point:
October 25, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Great piece by @natolambert.bsky.social on the current state of human exhaustion in the AI world. Makes this important point:
OpenNeuro @openneuro.bsky.social just hit a huge milestone: 1500 datasets! Congrats to the team on making this project so successful over the last 7 years.
October 13, 2025 at 11:35 PM
OpenNeuro @openneuro.bsky.social just hit a huge milestone: 1500 datasets! Congrats to the team on making this project so successful over the last 7 years.
I know that citation statistics are faulty indicator, but I have to say that there is something humbling in knowing that people have decided 100,000 times to cite a paper that I was involved in.
September 20, 2025 at 1:33 PM
I know that citation statistics are faulty indicator, but I have to say that there is something humbling in knowing that people have decided 100,000 times to cite a paper that I was involved in.
It's interesting how some instructions are really hard for coding agents to follow. Recently I have been using a problem file, in which I include an instruction to only mark a problem as fixed once I have confirmed that the fix worked (see image below). Claude Code basically refuses to do this.
September 16, 2025 at 2:29 PM
It's interesting how some instructions are really hard for coding agents to follow. Recently I have been using a problem file, in which I include an instruction to only mark a problem as fixed once I have confirmed that the fix worked (see image below). Claude Code basically refuses to do this.
*Sharing for our department’s trainees*
🧠 Looking for insight on applying to PhD programs in psychology?
✨ Apply by Sep 25th to Stanford Psychology's 9th annual Paths to a Psychology PhD info-session/workshop to have all of your questions answered!
📝 Application: tinyurl.com/pathstophd2025
🧠 Looking for insight on applying to PhD programs in psychology?
✨ Apply by Sep 25th to Stanford Psychology's 9th annual Paths to a Psychology PhD info-session/workshop to have all of your questions answered!
📝 Application: tinyurl.com/pathstophd2025
September 2, 2025 at 6:44 PM
*Sharing for our department’s trainees*
🧠 Looking for insight on applying to PhD programs in psychology?
✨ Apply by Sep 25th to Stanford Psychology's 9th annual Paths to a Psychology PhD info-session/workshop to have all of your questions answered!
📝 Application: tinyurl.com/pathstophd2025
🧠 Looking for insight on applying to PhD programs in psychology?
✨ Apply by Sep 25th to Stanford Psychology's 9th annual Paths to a Psychology PhD info-session/workshop to have all of your questions answered!
📝 Application: tinyurl.com/pathstophd2025
it won't tell me :-).
August 26, 2025 at 7:26 PM
it won't tell me :-).
I ran into a former student at the Stanford graduation today. My stats class clearly had a powerful effect!
June 16, 2025 at 2:48 AM
I ran into a former student at the Stanford graduation today. My stats class clearly had a powerful effect!
I agree that NHST is not an optimal way to do science, but if you are going to do NHST (which many continue to do), then I do think that well-powered experiments are essential. cf. @talyarkoni.com quote from 15 years ago:
June 2, 2025 at 4:29 PM
I agree that NHST is not an optimal way to do science, but if you are going to do NHST (which many continue to do), then I do think that well-powered experiments are essential. cf. @talyarkoni.com quote from 15 years ago:
The quality of evidence in psychology publications has improved substantially over the last two decades, across all subareas. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
June 2, 2025 at 1:29 PM
The quality of evidence in psychology publications has improved substantially over the last two decades, across all subareas. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Great piece on the need for urgent educational reform to deal with the impact of AI. @tunguz.bsky.social www.aei.org/domestic-pol...
May 31, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Great piece on the need for urgent educational reform to deal with the impact of AI. @tunguz.bsky.social www.aei.org/domestic-pol...
Very important point raised by @petersalib.bsky.social and Simon Goldstein regarding AI risk and alignment:
www.ai-frontiers.org/articles/tod...
www.ai-frontiers.org/articles/tod...
May 21, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Very important point raised by @petersalib.bsky.social and Simon Goldstein regarding AI risk and alignment:
www.ai-frontiers.org/articles/tod...
www.ai-frontiers.org/articles/tod...
Reviewing scientific papers with AI: Part 1 of a series of posts on using AI tools for peer review. russpoldrack.substack.com/p/reviewing-...
May 17, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Reviewing scientific papers with AI: Part 1 of a series of posts on using AI tools for peer review. russpoldrack.substack.com/p/reviewing-...
Claude 3.7 has things to say about MATLAB:
March 18, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Claude 3.7 has things to say about MATLAB:
I am very thankful that 1) I grew up in a time when vaccines were universally recognized as the medical miracle that they are, and 2) my mother saved my childhood vaccine card so I have a record
March 1, 2025 at 5:21 PM
I am very thankful that 1) I grew up in a time when vaccines were universally recognized as the medical miracle that they are, and 2) my mother saved my childhood vaccine card so I have a record
In the "words no longer mean what they say" category, this from Hulu today:
February 14, 2025 at 7:59 PM
In the "words no longer mean what they say" category, this from Hulu today:
A great quote from @ylepidemiologist.bsky.social (which you should definitely be reading!) about what we need to do establish trust for science going forward open.substack.com/pub/yourloca...
February 14, 2025 at 2:16 PM
A great quote from @ylepidemiologist.bsky.social (which you should definitely be reading!) about what we need to do establish trust for science going forward open.substack.com/pub/yourloca...
Girl Talk, Austin City Limits Festival, 10/4/2009
Our first ACL after moving Austin, our friend introduced us to Girl Talk, an amazing mashup artist. Absolutely crazy show. This was also the year of the legendary ACL mud fest.
Our first ACL after moving Austin, our friend introduced us to Girl Talk, an amazing mashup artist. Absolutely crazy show. This was also the year of the legendary ACL mud fest.
January 30, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Girl Talk, Austin City Limits Festival, 10/4/2009
Our first ACL after moving Austin, our friend introduced us to Girl Talk, an amazing mashup artist. Absolutely crazy show. This was also the year of the legendary ACL mud fest.
Our first ACL after moving Austin, our friend introduced us to Girl Talk, an amazing mashup artist. Absolutely crazy show. This was also the year of the legendary ACL mud fest.
Dead Kennedys, Circle A Ranch (Dallas), December 1985
One of the scariest shows I have ever been to - skinheads were beating people up randomly outside. I would love to have seen them earlier but this was still definitely a bucket list item. But Jello Biafra was in perfect form.
One of the scariest shows I have ever been to - skinheads were beating people up randomly outside. I would love to have seen them earlier but this was still definitely a bucket list item. But Jello Biafra was in perfect form.
January 30, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Dead Kennedys, Circle A Ranch (Dallas), December 1985
One of the scariest shows I have ever been to - skinheads were beating people up randomly outside. I would love to have seen them earlier but this was still definitely a bucket list item. But Jello Biafra was in perfect form.
One of the scariest shows I have ever been to - skinheads were beating people up randomly outside. I would love to have seen them earlier but this was still definitely a bucket list item. But Jello Biafra was in perfect form.
Current guidance from Stanford leadership regarding OMB memo:
January 28, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Current guidance from Stanford leadership regarding OMB memo:
Have had a great speaking trip across Asia, giving talks in Singapore, Bangkok, and now wrapping up in Hong Kong.
January 23, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Have had a great speaking trip across Asia, giving talks in Singapore, Bangkok, and now wrapping up in Hong Kong.
Feeling this Banksy piece right about now
January 16, 2025 at 4:52 AM
Feeling this Banksy piece right about now
largely agree, though in my talk here I have a good example of the current challenges of fully automated test development without domain knowledge: poldrack.github.io/talks-AIAssi...
January 6, 2025 at 1:18 AM
largely agree, though in my talk here I have a good example of the current challenges of fully automated test development without domain knowledge: poldrack.github.io/talks-AIAssi...