Carola Salvi

Stand Up for Science plans second rally on March 7 Public health chaos and research funding cuts are inspiring nationwide pro-science protests against the Trump administration

Public health chaos and research funding cuts are inspiring nationwide pro-science protests against the Trump administration

Why the ADHD brain is a perfect pairing for AI Those with the condition tend to struggle in the domains where AI excels, and vice versa.

"Why the ADHD brain is a perfect pairing for AI," excellent article by Jared Lindzon in @fastcompany.com which cites our new study on the relationship between ADHD and creativity. www.fastcompany.com/91493923/why...

The anatomy of insight: A brief review Over the last two decades, research in cognitive neuroscience has revealed that insight problem-solving is characterised by a temporally structured sequence of neural events. Preparatory brain states – marked by anterior cingulate engagement and reductions in visual sampling, including increased blinking – appear to prime the cognitive system for the restructuring that insight later requires. As the moment of solution approaches, a second period of sensory gating further limits interference from the external environment, facilitating weakly activated associations to cohere and break into awareness, a transition associated with right anterior superior temporal gyrus activity and pupillary dilation. Moreover, insight has been found to be related to the dopaminergic system, a finding that helps explain the characteristic affective ‘Aha!’ response as well as why insights are accompanied by a feeling of pleasure and are better remembered. Taken together, the evidence points to insight being supported by an evolutionarily shaped system that promotes exploratory behaviour and strengthens effective problem-solving responses.

Here’s a short review in The Cognitive Psychology Bulletin where I unpack what happens in the brain just before an Aha! moment — and why it feels so rewarding.
The anatomy of insight: A brief review explore.bps.org.uk/content/bpsc...

Will we be seeing you in Philly this year? 🛎️ Abstract submissions for SfNC2026: Liberty to Create close in T - 5 days!

We're looking forward to seeing our members submit an abstract for our 11th annual meeting in Philadelphia, this June 1st to 3rd.

Ready to submit? www.tsfnc.org/sfnc2026-sub...

John Kounios: The Neuroscience of Creativity YouTube video by The Science of Creativity with Dr. Keith Sawyer

I was delighted to be on KeithSawyer's Science of Creativity podcast to talk about creative insight (i.e., the #ahamoment) and the #flowstate. You can hear it on YouTube and on all regular podcast platforms: youtu.be/HYMQ8BX9cyM?...

The white matter of Aha! moments - BMC Psychology BMC Psychology - Insights, or "Aha!" moments, are a crucial aspect of idea generation in creative cognition. While functional neuroimaging studies have identified brain regions involved...

Our new study reports that insight problem solving is associated with differences in white-matter microstructure, offering a finer-grained view of the neural pathways supporting creative cognition.
@simoneluchini.bsky.social

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Children and Adults Differ in Non-linear Indicators of Cognitive Transitions Solving of an insight problem Recent research reported that the entropy and determinism of pupillary diameter fluctuations differentiated children who solved an insight problem fro…

Great paper on how pupillometry can be used as a marker of insight in children. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

La scintilla invisibile: come nasce un'idea creativa | Carola Salvi | TEDxVicenza YouTube video by TEDx Talks

The talk is now online and is dedicated to creativity, and what happens in the brain when an insight suddenly emerges in our mind. My heartfelt thanks to the TEDxVicenza team for making this event truly memorable.
#TEDxVicenza #insight #creativity #neuroscience youtube.com/watch?v=LDtV...

Best of Think 2025 - Think From December 22nd to January 2nd, we’ll be revisiting some of our most listened to Think conversations of 2025. If you missed ’em the first time, this is a great way to catch up!

@think.kera.org podcast listed our March interview "Eureka! How your brain figures it out" as one of their Best of 2025. think.kera.org/2025/12/22/b...

Unexpected events and prosocial behavior: the Batman effect - npj Mental Health Research npj Mental Health Research - Unexpected events and prosocial behavior: the Batman effect

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

AI chatbots are sycophants — researchers say it’s harming science Nature asked researchers who use artificial intelligence how its propensity for people-pleasing affects their work — and what they are doing to mitigate it.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

New Frankenstein, Old Biases Most people are biased to negatively judge people with facial anomalies. How does popular cinema reinforce this psychological effect?

Our take on the new movie, contextualized by our neuroaesthetics research. @pcfn.bsky.social. New Frankenstein, Old Biases | Psychology Today www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brai...

SfNC Awards — The Society for the Neuroscience of Creativity

It's almost time to apply or nominate someone for the 2026 SfNC Awards!

Each year, the Sarah A. Burgess Award, the Young Investigator Award, and the Dissertation Award are presented to outstanding members of our community.

Applications open on 12/15/25. Learn more here: www.tsfnc.org/sfnc-awards

New research by @steverathje.bsky.social et al
Epistemic Fragility in Large Language Models: Prompt Framing Systematically Modulates Misinformation Correction

WGemini 2.5 Pro had 74% lower odds of strong correction than Claude Sonnet 4.5, highlighting epistemic fragility

arxiv.org/pdf/2511.22746

Andrew R. A. Conway

Michael J. Kane

PS is excited to announce the launch of "Individual Differences in Cognition” (IDIC), an open-access journal on research in cognitive psychology, science, and neuroscience. Co-Editors-in-Chief are Andrew R.A. Conway & Michael J. Kane. Manuscripts accepted this spring. More information coming soon!

We’re saddened by the loss of two giants in our field: Bob Bilder and Jonny Smallwood. Their work reshaped how we understand creativity, imagination, and the wandering mind. Their impact on science and on the people they mentored will continue to guide us. Our thoughts are with their loved ones. 💙

From MRI to Ozempic: breakthroughs that show why fundamental research must be protected In these financially straitened times, funders must recognize that great discoveries often arise from work that was looking for something completely different.

Funders must recognise that great discoveries often come from studies that seeks to advance knowledge for its own sake

go.nature.com/47zrzYZ

Exploring Meta-Reasoning Propositional Confidence in Conspiratorial Beliefs and Socio-Cognitive Polarization Abstract. Conspiracy theories have pervaded human thought across time and cultures, often emerging during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, where they influenced public behaviors and attitudes, no...

“Exploring Meta-Reasoning Propositional Confidence in Conspiratorial Beliefs and Socio-Cognitive Polarization.”
2 studies show that misplaced certainty predicts stronger conspiracy beliefs + SCP amplifies these effects. #Metacognition #ConspiracyBeliefs #OpenMind direct.mit.edu/opmi/article...

I have a new paper on "The Psychology of Virality" with @steverathje.bsky.social

We explain how similar psychological processes (eg preferential attention to negativity, social motives, etc.) drive the spread of information across online and offline contexts: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The unfathomable richness of seeing Many hold that visual experience is sparse and its richness illusory, relying on high-level summaries rather than detailed content. However, we argue here that seeing is more than this – it is unfatho...

The unfathomable richness of seeing: Trends in Cognitive Sciences www.cell.com/trends/cogni...

Becoming an Ostrich: The Development of Information Avoidance - Radhika Santhanagopalan, Jane L. Risen, Katherine D. Kinzler, 2025 Adults selectively avoid useful information. We examined the development of information avoidance in 5- to 10-year-old American children (N = 320). In Experimen...

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Thank you to the organizing committee of @tsfnc.bsky.social for all their hard work setting up this great conference. So proud of my student’s poster presentation!

Next week: see firsthand what happens when our organizing committee is given a wine and cheese budget. Hint: you do NOT want to miss Poster Session 2.

SfNC 2025 is NEXT WEEK in Paris! 🧠

Check our FAQ for full schedule, maps, poster printing info & more: www.tsfnc.org/sfnc2025-faq.

Register by Thursday 5/15 to join our biggest and best meeting yet (and 10th anniversary péniche party)!

Trump Administration Cancels Scores of Grants to Study Online Misinformation

Clear summary of just what got cancelled in the recent misinformation grant terminations - lots of valuable research on how to improve the information environment and ensure that people have easy access to accurate information

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/b...