The LAB Lab 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
@thelablab.bsky.social
We study the neurobiology of language and its relationship to consciousness, mental health, and wellbeing using neuroimaging and psychedelics at UCL 🧠 🗣️
http://www.lab-lab.org/
UCL Centre for Consciousness Research
https://www.uccr.uk/
http://www.lab-lab.org/
UCL Centre for Consciousness Research
https://www.uccr.uk/
Inner speech and the neurobiology of psychosis
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
With @daniellametti.com and David Green
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
With @daniellametti.com and David Green
August 27, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Inner speech and the neurobiology of psychosis
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
With @daniellametti.com and David Green
biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
With @daniellametti.com and David Green
Call for papers @jneurolang.bsky.social: Towards a Deeper Understanding of the Relationship Between the Neurobiology of Language and Consciousness. 🧠🗨️
direct.mit.edu/DocumentLibr...
☎️ DM me for more details.
direct.mit.edu/DocumentLibr...
☎️ DM me for more details.
July 24, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Call for papers @jneurolang.bsky.social: Towards a Deeper Understanding of the Relationship Between the Neurobiology of Language and Consciousness. 🧠🗨️
direct.mit.edu/DocumentLibr...
☎️ DM me for more details.
direct.mit.edu/DocumentLibr...
☎️ DM me for more details.
1st mobile phone based study tracking longitudinal changes in language & voice for #psychedelics ☎️🗣️⏲️🪷: We find 5-MeO-DMT induces a shift from external focus to introspection, predicting psychological transformations, e.g., in #wellbeing ❤️🩹.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
May 12, 2025 at 10:31 AM
1st mobile phone based study tracking longitudinal changes in language & voice for #psychedelics ☎️🗣️⏲️🪷: We find 5-MeO-DMT induces a shift from external focus to introspection, predicting psychological transformations, e.g., in #wellbeing ❤️🩹.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
You feel closer to AI when it exhibits psychological traits similar to your own. 👏🥂
March 24, 2025 at 10:40 PM
You feel closer to AI when it exhibits psychological traits similar to your own. 👏🥂
Goodbye T. Robbins, you transformed me. 🐐👍 A cherished moment was receiving this message after I wrote you the absurd:
'...that I mostly wear only bejeweled pink flip-flops can be tied by some tendril back to your writing. Your characters have often served as my role models...'
💎 Namo Amitabha 🪷
'...that I mostly wear only bejeweled pink flip-flops can be tied by some tendril back to your writing. Your characters have often served as my role models...'
💎 Namo Amitabha 🪷
February 15, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Goodbye T. Robbins, you transformed me. 🐐👍 A cherished moment was receiving this message after I wrote you the absurd:
'...that I mostly wear only bejeweled pink flip-flops can be tied by some tendril back to your writing. Your characters have often served as my role models...'
💎 Namo Amitabha 🪷
'...that I mostly wear only bejeweled pink flip-flops can be tied by some tendril back to your writing. Your characters have often served as my role models...'
💎 Namo Amitabha 🪷
👋 We show that #wellbeing, like other high-level constructs, e.g., ‘language’, is fundamentally a dynamic, whole brain process, with big-ol' individual differences, supported by distinct networks. 🧠 🗣️ 🫀
Amazing work from the formidable @yumengma.bsky.social. 🥂
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Amazing work from the formidable @yumengma.bsky.social. 🥂
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
February 14, 2025 at 8:50 PM
👋 We show that #wellbeing, like other high-level constructs, e.g., ‘language’, is fundamentally a dynamic, whole brain process, with big-ol' individual differences, supported by distinct networks. 🧠 🗣️ 🫀
Amazing work from the formidable @yumengma.bsky.social. 🥂
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Amazing work from the formidable @yumengma.bsky.social. 🥂
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Arg, Bluesy treated the opacity in this figure as black. This is the intended image. 👇
January 31, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Arg, Bluesy treated the opacity in this figure as black. This is the intended image. 👇
This is is a concern not just for language, but for much of cognitive neuroscience. And this is not the only issue that @lindadrijvers.bsky.social, @slsmall.bsky.social, and I have with claiming that 'the language network' is a 'natural kind'. 🖱️ to find more qualms:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
January 31, 2025 at 10:52 AM
This is is a concern not just for language, but for much of cognitive neuroscience. And this is not the only issue that @lindadrijvers.bsky.social, @slsmall.bsky.social, and I have with claiming that 'the language network' is a 'natural kind'. 🖱️ to find more qualms:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
An example is depicted in the simulation below. 👇 It shows dynamic 'language region' activity (brains 🔴) and connectivity (circle graphs 🔴) between regions and with 'peripheral' brain regions (🔵, 🟢), at different times. These are averaged and thresholded. Behold, 'the language network'. 🪄🎩
January 31, 2025 at 10:52 AM
An example is depicted in the simulation below. 👇 It shows dynamic 'language region' activity (brains 🔴) and connectivity (circle graphs 🔴) between regions and with 'peripheral' brain regions (🔵, 🟢), at different times. These are averaged and thresholded. Behold, 'the language network'. 🪄🎩
🗣️ Language is widely distributed throughout the brain 🧠
In a recent correspondence in @natrevneurosci.bsky.social, we suggest that there is no 'language network' in the brain. What appears as such is an inevitable illusion created in part by the methods we use.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
In a recent correspondence in @natrevneurosci.bsky.social, we suggest that there is no 'language network' in the brain. What appears as such is an inevitable illusion created in part by the methods we use.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
January 31, 2025 at 10:52 AM
🗣️ Language is widely distributed throughout the brain 🧠
In a recent correspondence in @natrevneurosci.bsky.social, we suggest that there is no 'language network' in the brain. What appears as such is an inevitable illusion created in part by the methods we use.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
In a recent correspondence in @natrevneurosci.bsky.social, we suggest that there is no 'language network' in the brain. What appears as such is an inevitable illusion created in part by the methods we use.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
⭐ Do you have experience with #psychedelics 🍄 or #meditation 🪷? ⭐
🆘 Please help us understand how these practices shape the experience of emotions in our bodies.
🔬 Contribute to science by taking part in a quick, 20-min anonymous online experiment.
🖱️ Click here to participate: bit.ly/3DYMEkb
🆘 Please help us understand how these practices shape the experience of emotions in our bodies.
🔬 Contribute to science by taking part in a quick, 20-min anonymous online experiment.
🖱️ Click here to participate: bit.ly/3DYMEkb
January 22, 2025 at 10:40 PM
⭐ Do you have experience with #psychedelics 🍄 or #meditation 🪷? ⭐
🆘 Please help us understand how these practices shape the experience of emotions in our bodies.
🔬 Contribute to science by taking part in a quick, 20-min anonymous online experiment.
🖱️ Click here to participate: bit.ly/3DYMEkb
🆘 Please help us understand how these practices shape the experience of emotions in our bodies.
🔬 Contribute to science by taking part in a quick, 20-min anonymous online experiment.
🖱️ Click here to participate: bit.ly/3DYMEkb
Memories of co-speech hand movements are tied to the speech they are learned with.
From @daniellametti.com and friends 🤲
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
From @daniellametti.com and friends 🤲
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
January 6, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Memories of co-speech hand movements are tied to the speech they are learned with.
From @daniellametti.com and friends 🤲
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
From @daniellametti.com and friends 🤲
link.springer.com/article/10.3...
Congratulations! 🎉 Oh, the places you'll go! 🧠 My two PhD 'daughters' seen here in London. ❤️
December 14, 2024 at 9:18 AM
Congratulations! 🎉 Oh, the places you'll go! 🧠 My two PhD 'daughters' seen here in London. ❤️
We've not done too much work on the cerebellum (except below), but would love to be included. 🧠🎪
direct.mit.edu/jocn/article...
direct.mit.edu/jocn/article...
December 5, 2024 at 6:54 PM
We've not done too much work on the cerebellum (except below), but would love to be included. 🧠🎪
direct.mit.edu/jocn/article...
direct.mit.edu/jocn/article...
Naturalistic encoding of concepts in the brain
@viktorkewenig.bsky.social shows that, while concepts generally encode habitual experiences, the underlying neurobiological organisation is not fixed but depends dynamically on available contextual information. 👏🍾🐐
elifesciences.org/articles/91522
@viktorkewenig.bsky.social shows that, while concepts generally encode habitual experiences, the underlying neurobiological organisation is not fixed but depends dynamically on available contextual information. 👏🍾🐐
elifesciences.org/articles/91522
December 5, 2024 at 6:22 PM
Naturalistic encoding of concepts in the brain
@viktorkewenig.bsky.social shows that, while concepts generally encode habitual experiences, the underlying neurobiological organisation is not fixed but depends dynamically on available contextual information. 👏🍾🐐
elifesciences.org/articles/91522
@viktorkewenig.bsky.social shows that, while concepts generally encode habitual experiences, the underlying neurobiological organisation is not fixed but depends dynamically on available contextual information. 👏🍾🐐
elifesciences.org/articles/91522
I've recently been enamored with these cord diagrams made with pycirclize.
December 5, 2024 at 9:58 AM
I've recently been enamored with these cord diagrams made with pycirclize.
And our participants.
November 24, 2024 at 2:43 AM
And our participants.
Who ChatGPT 4o thinks we are.
November 24, 2024 at 2:29 AM
Who ChatGPT 4o thinks we are.
The age of spiritual machines: Language quietus induces synthetic altered states of consciousness in AI
🍄🧘🤖🧠
Shifting CLIP or FLAVA's attention away from language simulates ego-loss and unitive and minimal phenomenal states via semantic category blurring.
arxiv.org/abs/2410.00257
🍄🧘🤖🧠
Shifting CLIP or FLAVA's attention away from language simulates ego-loss and unitive and minimal phenomenal states via semantic category blurring.
arxiv.org/abs/2410.00257
November 19, 2024 at 11:29 PM
The age of spiritual machines: Language quietus induces synthetic altered states of consciousness in AI
🍄🧘🤖🧠
Shifting CLIP or FLAVA's attention away from language simulates ego-loss and unitive and minimal phenomenal states via semantic category blurring.
arxiv.org/abs/2410.00257
🍄🧘🤖🧠
Shifting CLIP or FLAVA's attention away from language simulates ego-loss and unitive and minimal phenomenal states via semantic category blurring.
arxiv.org/abs/2410.00257
The activating and push-pull relationship between the neurobiology of language and the amygdala at SNL2023
Poster by Nati Beltrán and Winnie Yeh. 👏🍾
Poster by Nati Beltrán and Winnie Yeh. 👏🍾
October 24, 2023 at 8:28 PM
The activating and push-pull relationship between the neurobiology of language and the amygdala at SNL2023
Poster by Nati Beltrán and Winnie Yeh. 👏🍾
Poster by Nati Beltrán and Winnie Yeh. 👏🍾
Thank you @michael-marshall.bsky.social and New Scientist for the nice article on this work. 👏 🙏 We respectfully disagree with the individuals consulted in that piece... this work is 'life-changing', lol. 😊 www.newscientist.com/article/2393...
October 6, 2023 at 10:59 AM
Thank you @michael-marshall.bsky.social and New Scientist for the nice article on this work. 👏 🙏 We respectfully disagree with the individuals consulted in that piece... this work is 'life-changing', lol. 😊 www.newscientist.com/article/2393...
Here is some more related research with Sarah and @daniellametti.com where we show that overlearned or formulaic speech is not much or isn't processed in 'language regions': academic.oup.com/cercor/artic...
October 6, 2023 at 10:50 AM
Here is some more related research with Sarah and @daniellametti.com where we show that overlearned or formulaic speech is not much or isn't processed in 'language regions': academic.oup.com/cercor/artic...
This is the first of a few papers from the amazing Sarah Aliko's PhD. Fitting with the above, the next shows that language in the brain is best characterised as having a core-periphery organisation, using an algorithm developed with Chengbin Peng: ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/966...
October 6, 2023 at 10:49 AM
This is the first of a few papers from the amazing Sarah Aliko's PhD. Fitting with the above, the next shows that language in the brain is best characterised as having a core-periphery organisation, using an algorithm developed with Chengbin Peng: ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/966...
We show only bits of ‘language regions’ are present in dynamic functional connectivity and these are connectivity hubs, connected to >40% of the rest of the brain. B/c those regions are variable, they get averaged out, leaving a ‘language network’ only in the aggregate over time.
October 6, 2023 at 10:47 AM
We show only bits of ‘language regions’ are present in dynamic functional connectivity and these are connectivity hubs, connected to >40% of the rest of the brain. B/c those regions are variable, they get averaged out, leaving a ‘language network’ only in the aggregate over time.
We show that considerations like this mean that, no matter what language study you do, the results will almost always look like this unless you explicitly consider specific linguistic representations or processes (then the results are invariably distributed):
October 6, 2023 at 10:46 AM
We show that considerations like this mean that, no matter what language study you do, the results will almost always look like this unless you explicitly consider specific linguistic representations or processes (then the results are invariably distributed):