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Dennis Larsson

@dennislarsson

Humboldt Fellow at the University of Kiel, Germany | Developmental neuroscience, interoception, and brain–body interaction | Previously Karolinska Institutet and University of Sussex

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18.11.2024
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Latest posts by Dennis Larsson @dennislarsson

How dynamics arise from the structure is my biggest interest. In this study, we started with a small step and asked how structure constrains dynamics. Spoiler: would that it were so simple… (1/6)

27.02.2026 10:13 👍 31 🔁 23 💬 1 📌 2
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We think of white matter as the highways of the brain. But when we followed development along those highways, we were surprised. The journey is more complex than we thought. My final PhD paper, “Two Axes of White Matter Development”, is now out in @natcomms.nature.com! 🛣️🧠✨
🔗 bit.ly/wm2axes

02.03.2026 01:09 👍 100 🔁 47 💬 2 📌 4

As body-augmenting technologies become more common, it is important to understand how the brain decides what counts as "the body", and how that changes over time.

My first postdoc paper 🦾 now out in @elife.bsky.social 👇

02.03.2026 08:39 👍 39 🔁 15 💬 0 📌 0
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The human body is remarkably adaptable, capable of integrating artificial enhancements from tools to prosthetic limbs.

Researchers have used finger extensions to test how the brain updates its expectations over time.

🔗 buff.ly/HxxCzTz

24.02.2026 21:02 👍 14 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 1
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How does the brain adapt to artificial body extensions over time?

With a wearable finger-extension device, we reveal distinct phases of proprioceptive plasticity: during wear, after active use, and even after removal.

Now in @elife.bsky.social:
elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

19.02.2026 14:20 👍 21 🔁 9 💬 1 📌 0
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The Spatial Coding of Touch Is Defined in Intrinsic, Limb-Specific Coordinates: An EEG Study The brain computes the spatiotopic position of touch by integrating tactile and proprioceptive signals (i.e., tactile remapping). While it is often assumed that the spatiotopic touch location is mappe...

New paper led by @pevianiv.bsky.social!

Using EEG and varied hand positions, we tested how the brain localizes touch. Neural gradients showed limb-specific, intrinsic coding emerging ~160 ms after touch, challenging extrinsic remapping theories.

www.jneurosci.org/content/46/5...

05.02.2026 09:39 👍 3 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0

It's this time of the year again! Does anyone know of a cognitive neuroscience (or adjacent) travel grant for researchers based in the Netherlands, but presenting data from a previous position (e.g., PhD work)? Looking for options to support conference travel! Any leads appreciated 🧠

03.02.2026 13:55 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Super excited that our paper on velocity (longitudinal) normative modelling is finally out!

16.01.2026 10:29 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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Charting the velocity of brain growth and development Brain charts have emerged as a highly useful approach for understanding brain development and aging on the basis of brain imaging and have shown substantial utility in describing typical and atypical ...

I am very excited about this new preprint!

@likeajumprope.bsky.social presents an approach for charting growth velocity using normative models. It provides a fundamental framework for detecting individualised deviations from an assumed developmental trajectory. Enjoy!

arxiv.org/abs/2601.07591

16.01.2026 10:27 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1
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Using Extreme Value Statistics to Reconceptualize Psychopathology as Extreme Deviations From a Normative Reference Model Overview of our approach for extreme value statistics. First, we fit a normative model to imaging phenotypes, before employing a ‘peaks-over-threshold’ approach widely used in meteorology and finance...

A bit belated, but here are some new papers! first, a conceptual framework for modelling extremes in neuroimaging data
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Great work from the inimitable Charlotte Fraza!

16.10.2025 15:00 👍 12 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0

Really happy to share that my talk on how spatial finger augmentation reshapes proprioceptive and tactile maps was accepted as an oral presentation at @ncmsociety.bsky.social meeting in Kobe 🇯🇵 I will present a computational framework for how artificial extensions integrate into body representation.

12.01.2026 11:31 👍 9 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 0
Wie wir mit Magnetresonanztomographie (MRT) das Gehirn sichtbar machen
Wie wir mit Magnetresonanztomographie (MRT) das Gehirn sichtbar machen YouTube video by NMR Kids Lab

Ever wondered how MRI creates images from inside the body?
We made a child-friendly explainer video (german) 🎥👇
youtu.be/k-KCyoUP9vA #scicomm

06.01.2026 09:07 👍 19 🔁 8 💬 1 📌 0
Conversations autour des bébés au Babylab de Lyon
Conversations autour des bébés au Babylab de Lyon YouTube video by CNRS Délégation Rhône Auvergne

In 1000 days, a baby learns to speak, walk, reason, acquires social norms, and begins to shape their own personality. At the @babylyon.bsky.social, we are dedicated to understanding how this extraordinary journey unfolds.
Here’s our story www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sMn...
@cnrs.fr @erc.europa.eu

17.12.2025 09:29 👍 9 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Happy to share our review "Investigating hierarchical critical periods in human neurodevelopment” in @npp-journal.bsky.social! We examine neurobiological, environmental & behavioral evidence for human critical periods in sensory and association cortex +discuss new research directions rdcu.be/eMkVU 🧵

11.11.2025 20:01 👍 92 🔁 43 💬 4 📌 3
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BICCN: A cell census of the developing human brain Expanding cell-type atlases to include developing human, mouse and non-human primate brains using multimodal genomics.

Researchers from BICAN have expanded their cell-type atlases to include developing human, mouse, and non-human primate brains using multimodal genomics, which was published in Nature. 🧪

08.11.2025 14:52 👍 12 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0

One of the most exciting challenges in neuroscience today - if you're looking for a PhD or Postdoc position tackling cutting-edge questions, reach out to @sarangnemo.bsky.social!

08.10.2025 14:33 👍 9 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
schematic of fetal OPM-MEG

schematic of fetal OPM-MEG

📈🧠 We're looking for brains! 🧠📈
Postdoc + PhD positions are available to help pioneer fetal MEG with optically pumped magnetometers, measuring prenatal responses to sound and light to understand how we start making sense of the world even before we're born. 🐣

Please get in touch to hear more!

08.10.2025 14:27 👍 58 🔁 38 💬 3 📌 5

For a summary, check this out: www.bsms.ac.uk/about/news/2...

More to come out of this data set soon!

26.09.2025 16:00 👍 8 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
Title: Understanding Brain-Body Interactions to Advance Brain Health: A Workshop. Photo: picture of a transparent person with brain and nervous system illuminated.

Title: Understanding Brain-Body Interactions to Advance Brain Health: A Workshop. Photo: picture of a transparent person with brain and nervous system illuminated.

Save the date 📆. On Oct 22/23, @nationalacademies.org will hold a stellar virtual workshop on brain/body interations (open to all).

www.nationalacademies.org/en/our-work/...

26.09.2025 18:55 👍 31 🔁 18 💬 1 📌 2
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Brain–body states as a link between cardiovascular and mental health Numerous studies in humans have demonstrated a strong link between heart and brain function at different timescales. We conceptualize this functional …

Interested in the link between cardiovascular and mental health or, in other “words” the ❤️ and 🧠 through brain-body states? A new paper by our speaker and fellow Arno Villringer with @michaelgaebler.com and Vadim Nikulin sheds more light on these interactions: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

25.09.2025 15:09 👍 14 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 1

Does fetal movement mean more than a sign of the health and well-being of the developing child? Our recent findings suggest fetal movement may also play a role in shaping maternal neurodevelopment. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

18.09.2025 10:56 👍 8 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 2

Check out our new article for young readers (ages 8-15) on heart-brain interactions and interoception! 🧠🫀

I had so much fun co-writing this with @agatapatyczek.bsky.social @el-rei.bsky.social with the support of @michaelgaebler.com ✍️

👉 Share it widely with curious young minds
Yay for #scicomm ✨

12.09.2025 08:26 👍 32 🔁 11 💬 1 📌 1
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The Body’s Band: How Heart and Brain Communicate Illustration of a person with vitiligo practicing yoga, sitting cross-legged and stretching an arm over their head. In a thought bubble, a smiling brain sings into a microphone and a heart plays a dru...

🧠🫀 New from our lab on Frontiers for Young Minds:

Ever wondered how the heart and brain communicate? Think the heart as the drummer 🥁 & the brain as the singer 🎤 keeping the body's band in tune!

Read here (for ages 8–15): kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2025.1536787/full
[1/2]

12.09.2025 08:20 👍 15 🔁 14 💬 1 📌 1

Exciting news: I’ve started a Humboldt Fellowship
@humboldt-foundation.de!

First stop: Hamburg for German training, then in January to Kiel to join Prof. Michael Skeide's group at the Faculty of Medicine of Kiel University @uni-kiel.de.

Happy to connect in Hamburg and Kiel!

12.09.2025 09:46 👍 13 🔁 1 💬 3 📌 0
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🚨 New paper out!
Phase confusion: How inconsistent cardiac labeling obscures interoception research 🫀🧠

We unpack methodological incosistencies and propose a way forward with the HEARTS framework.

In Biol. Psychol. - Open Access:
🔗 shorturl.at/YJhyn

1st paper of great @angeliacaparco.bsky.social!

04.07.2025 09:11 👍 38 🔁 22 💬 0 📌 1
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It’s time to listen to Dennis Larsson talk about #heartbeat sensations in #autism at #BRNet2025 🧠🫀

03.07.2025 13:00 👍 13 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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Dynamics of sensorimotor plasticity during exoskeletal finger augmentation How does the brain integrate artificial body extensions into its somatosensory representation? While prior work has shown that tool use alters body representation, little is known about how artificial...

How does the brain integrate artificial body extensions? Using a custom-built finger-extending exoskeleton, we show that wearable augmentations are quickly integrated into body representation, with proprioceptive space adapting to the device’s structure and function.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

04.07.2025 05:44 👍 37 🔁 15 💬 2 📌 2

Attending the #BRNet2025 Conference in Utrecht, Netherlands. Will be presenting my work on interoception in autism tomorrow. Come and say hi!

02.07.2025 15:32 👍 12 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
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Movie-watching evokes ripple-like activity within events and at event boundaries Nature Communications - The neural processes involved in memory formation for realistic experiences remain poorly understood. Here, the authors found that ripple-like activity in the human...

🧠 Paper out!

We investigated how hippocampal and cortical ripples support memory during movie watching. We found that:

🎬 Hippocampal ripples mark event boundaries
🧩 Cortical ripples predict later recall

Ripples may help transform real-life experiences into lasting memories!

rdcu.be/eui9l

01.07.2025 13:26 👍 154 🔁 67 💬 8 📌 2
Open positions – Dr. Marie Chancel

📣 Open PhD & Postdoc Positions 📣

More info here: mariechancel.com/open-positio... or by contacting me directly !

14.04.2025 13:05 👍 12 🔁 17 💬 1 📌 3