Lukas Gunschera
@lukasgunschera.com
PhD Student at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge | Research on mental health, social media, and addiction.
lukasgunschera.com
lukasgunschera.com
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Lukas Gunschera
@lukasgunschera.com
· Apr 30
🚨 Does social media use show established neurocognitive signatures of addiction?
Concerns about social media addiction are widespread, yet whether platforms' design features actually engage the same neurocognitive pathways as established addictions has remained untested.
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Concerns about social media addiction are widespread, yet whether platforms' design features actually engage the same neurocognitive pathways as established addictions has remained untested.
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Instead of asking whether telling people (including minors) that their behaviour is harmful puts them off, we should ask about the harms this message itself could cause.
Designing Social Media Health Warnings for Teenagers and Young Adults
This randomized clinical trial examines whether teenagers and young adults perceive that social media warnings discourage them from wanting to use social media and increase their awareness of the harm...
jamanetwork.com
September 10, 2026 at 11:47 AM
Instead of asking whether telling people (including minors) that their behaviour is harmful puts them off, we should ask about the harms this message itself could cause.
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
Honoured to receive a Poster Prize at #BAP2026 for my project investigating the Effects of Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation (TUS) on Interoceptive Attention.
I'm grateful to everyone who worked on this project, @camillanord.bsky.social and Veronica Forslund, who were at the conference, and...
I'm grateful to everyone who worked on this project, @camillanord.bsky.social and Veronica Forslund, who were at the conference, and...
July 24, 2026 at 3:48 PM
Honoured to receive a Poster Prize at #BAP2026 for my project investigating the Effects of Transcranial Ultrasound Stimulation (TUS) on Interoceptive Attention.
I'm grateful to everyone who worked on this project, @camillanord.bsky.social and Veronica Forslund, who were at the conference, and...
I'm grateful to everyone who worked on this project, @camillanord.bsky.social and Veronica Forslund, who were at the conference, and...
Does problematic social media use involve the same dopamine-related reward mechanisms as addiction?
That’s the question motivating the research I presented at the @bapsych.bsky.social Summer Meeting, involving a dopaminergic manipulation to probe the involved mechanisms. #BAP2026
That’s the question motivating the research I presented at the @bapsych.bsky.social Summer Meeting, involving a dopaminergic manipulation to probe the involved mechanisms. #BAP2026
July 24, 2026 at 2:22 PM
Does problematic social media use involve the same dopamine-related reward mechanisms as addiction?
That’s the question motivating the research I presented at the @bapsych.bsky.social Summer Meeting, involving a dopaminergic manipulation to probe the involved mechanisms. #BAP2026
That’s the question motivating the research I presented at the @bapsych.bsky.social Summer Meeting, involving a dopaminergic manipulation to probe the involved mechanisms. #BAP2026
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
Excited to be chairing/presenting at our post-doc symposium discussing the advancements (and challenges 🤫) of computational psychiatry with a ⭐️ line-up of @saramehrhof.bsky.social @yanivabir.bsky.social & Alicia Rybicki.
If at #BAP2026, come join us today at 2pm ‼️
If at #BAP2026, come join us today at 2pm ‼️
Three high quality Post-Doc symposia will be running in parallel on Monday afternoon, 20th July, with subjects including computational psychiatry, long-term effects of stopping antipsychotics and antidepressants, and challenges of psychosis prediction modelling #BAP2026
The British Association for Psychopharmacology | 2026 Summer Meeting – Birmingham
The British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP) promotes research and education in psychopharmacology, and brings together people in academia, health services, and industry
www.bap.org.uk
July 20, 2026 at 8:15 AM
Excited to be chairing/presenting at our post-doc symposium discussing the advancements (and challenges 🤫) of computational psychiatry with a ⭐️ line-up of @saramehrhof.bsky.social @yanivabir.bsky.social & Alicia Rybicki.
If at #BAP2026, come join us today at 2pm ‼️
If at #BAP2026, come join us today at 2pm ‼️
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
🎉 Now published in Nature Communications!
🧠 We develop a novel computational reinforcement learning & habit model of Twitter data, and show that younger people & women are more behaviourally sensitive to 'Likes'.
Read the paper: bit.ly/4f1vsKS
🧠 We develop a novel computational reinforcement learning & habit model of Twitter data, and show that younger people & women are more behaviourally sensitive to 'Likes'.
Read the paper: bit.ly/4f1vsKS
June 25, 2026 at 12:38 PM
🎉 Now published in Nature Communications!
🧠 We develop a novel computational reinforcement learning & habit model of Twitter data, and show that younger people & women are more behaviourally sensitive to 'Likes'.
Read the paper: bit.ly/4f1vsKS
🧠 We develop a novel computational reinforcement learning & habit model of Twitter data, and show that younger people & women are more behaviourally sensitive to 'Likes'.
Read the paper: bit.ly/4f1vsKS
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
Excited to share our new paper asking a simple question:
Why do mental and metabolic health so often go hand in hand?
We (@camillanord.bsky.social @hugofleming.bsky.social) tested whether shared neurocognitive signatures play a role in this relationship www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Why do mental and metabolic health so often go hand in hand?
We (@camillanord.bsky.social @hugofleming.bsky.social) tested whether shared neurocognitive signatures play a role in this relationship www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Computational phenotyping of effort-based decision-making in type-2 diabetes on and off semaglutide - Neuropsychopharmacology
Neuropsychopharmacology - Computational phenotyping of effort-based decision-making in type-2 diabetes on and off semaglutide
www.nature.com
May 8, 2026 at 1:55 PM
Excited to share our new paper asking a simple question:
Why do mental and metabolic health so often go hand in hand?
We (@camillanord.bsky.social @hugofleming.bsky.social) tested whether shared neurocognitive signatures play a role in this relationship www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Why do mental and metabolic health so often go hand in hand?
We (@camillanord.bsky.social @hugofleming.bsky.social) tested whether shared neurocognitive signatures play a role in this relationship www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🚨 Does social media use show established neurocognitive signatures of addiction?
Concerns about social media addiction are widespread, yet whether platforms' design features actually engage the same neurocognitive pathways as established addictions has remained untested.
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Concerns about social media addiction are widespread, yet whether platforms' design features actually engage the same neurocognitive pathways as established addictions has remained untested.
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
April 30, 2026 at 3:47 PM
🚨 Does social media use show established neurocognitive signatures of addiction?
Concerns about social media addiction are widespread, yet whether platforms' design features actually engage the same neurocognitive pathways as established addictions has remained untested.
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Concerns about social media addiction are widespread, yet whether platforms' design features actually engage the same neurocognitive pathways as established addictions has remained untested.
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
🚨New Preprint Announcement🚨
Social Media Reward Sensitivity and Depressive Symptoms Over Time
🧵
Social media platforms are designed to maximise engagement by amplifying social rewards such as “likes”, and there is widespread concern that these digital designs contribute to mental health declines.
Social Media Reward Sensitivity and Depressive Symptoms Over Time
🧵
Social media platforms are designed to maximise engagement by amplifying social rewards such as “likes”, and there is widespread concern that these digital designs contribute to mental health declines.
April 24, 2026 at 11:20 AM
🚨New Preprint Announcement🚨
Social Media Reward Sensitivity and Depressive Symptoms Over Time
🧵
Social media platforms are designed to maximise engagement by amplifying social rewards such as “likes”, and there is widespread concern that these digital designs contribute to mental health declines.
Social Media Reward Sensitivity and Depressive Symptoms Over Time
🧵
Social media platforms are designed to maximise engagement by amplifying social rewards such as “likes”, and there is widespread concern that these digital designs contribute to mental health declines.
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
Journal editors - the status quo on preregistration is not working! You need to check submissions vs. preregistrations before sending articles out for review. *56%* of experiments I reviewed in last year have severe problems with non-disclosure, undocumented deviations, & more - see Claude summary ↓
April 23, 2026 at 12:51 PM
Journal editors - the status quo on preregistration is not working! You need to check submissions vs. preregistrations before sending articles out for review. *56%* of experiments I reviewed in last year have severe problems with non-disclosure, undocumented deviations, & more - see Claude summary ↓
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
1/
"Silicon samples" are becoming more and more common in research and polling.
One problem: depending on the analytic decisions made, you can basically get these samples to show any effect you want.
The updated version of this preprint is now online!
THREAD🧵
arxiv.org/abs/2509.13397
"Silicon samples" are becoming more and more common in research and polling.
One problem: depending on the analytic decisions made, you can basically get these samples to show any effect you want.
The updated version of this preprint is now online!
THREAD🧵
arxiv.org/abs/2509.13397
April 20, 2026 at 9:40 AM
1/
"Silicon samples" are becoming more and more common in research and polling.
One problem: depending on the analytic decisions made, you can basically get these samples to show any effect you want.
The updated version of this preprint is now online!
THREAD🧵
arxiv.org/abs/2509.13397
"Silicon samples" are becoming more and more common in research and polling.
One problem: depending on the analytic decisions made, you can basically get these samples to show any effect you want.
The updated version of this preprint is now online!
THREAD🧵
arxiv.org/abs/2509.13397
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
🚨 🎉 Our CONSENSUS VIEW, “An international consensus on core reproducibility items in research,” is now out in @plosbiology.org 🎉 🚨
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
An international consensus on core reproducibility items in research
Evidence-based solutions are needed to help improve reproducibility in research. This Consensus View presents a consensus-based list of core reproducibility items for research that has been developed ...
journals.plos.org
April 16, 2026 at 6:09 PM
🚨 🎉 Our CONSENSUS VIEW, “An international consensus on core reproducibility items in research,” is now out in @plosbiology.org 🎉 🚨
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
@lukasgunschera.com joined The Naked Scientists to unpack whether social media is truly “addictive” as a US jury finds Meta & YouTube partly responsible for harm.
Key point: problematic use is real, but evidence gaps remain.
🎧 www.linkedin.com/posts/digita...
Key point: problematic use is real, but evidence gaps remain.
🎧 www.linkedin.com/posts/digita...
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
lnkd.in
April 2, 2026 at 4:47 PM
@lukasgunschera.com joined The Naked Scientists to unpack whether social media is truly “addictive” as a US jury finds Meta & YouTube partly responsible for harm.
Key point: problematic use is real, but evidence gaps remain.
🎧 www.linkedin.com/posts/digita...
Key point: problematic use is real, but evidence gaps remain.
🎧 www.linkedin.com/posts/digita...
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
UKgov publishes new screen time guidance for under 5s
👨🍼 <2s: Avoid screens except shared activities
👶 2-5s: Try for less than 1hr a day
📱 Choose safe, slow-paced content
🧑🧒🧒 Lead by example
🛌 Have screen-free areas/times
Glad to have contributed. Parent guidance and research report linked below.
👨🍼 <2s: Avoid screens except shared activities
👶 2-5s: Try for less than 1hr a day
📱 Choose safe, slow-paced content
🧑🧒🧒 Lead by example
🛌 Have screen-free areas/times
Glad to have contributed. Parent guidance and research report linked below.
March 27, 2026 at 8:27 AM
UKgov publishes new screen time guidance for under 5s
👨🍼 <2s: Avoid screens except shared activities
👶 2-5s: Try for less than 1hr a day
📱 Choose safe, slow-paced content
🧑🧒🧒 Lead by example
🛌 Have screen-free areas/times
Glad to have contributed. Parent guidance and research report linked below.
👨🍼 <2s: Avoid screens except shared activities
👶 2-5s: Try for less than 1hr a day
📱 Choose safe, slow-paced content
🧑🧒🧒 Lead by example
🛌 Have screen-free areas/times
Glad to have contributed. Parent guidance and research report linked below.
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
There are other reasons for the UK government not to award or continue Palantir contracts but this statement of intent by its CEO must surely be decisive?
A company being awarded UK Government contracts👇🏻
Palantir CEO promises that his technology will reduce educated women's economic and political power newrepublic.com/post/207693/...
March 13, 2026 at 6:41 AM
There are other reasons for the UK government not to award or continue Palantir contracts but this statement of intent by its CEO must surely be decisive?
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
"I don't get it. Why are they confessing?"
"They're not confessing. They're bragging"
"They're not confessing. They're bragging"
March 12, 2026 at 10:01 AM
"I don't get it. Why are they confessing?"
"They're not confessing. They're bragging"
"They're not confessing. They're bragging"
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
So many inspiring talks (here by @saramehrhof.bsky.social, Sameer Alladin, @studenova.bsky.social) and discussions on the first day of the #MindBrainBody Symposium 2026!
#MBB2026
#MBB2026
March 9, 2026 at 9:34 PM
So many inspiring talks (here by @saramehrhof.bsky.social, Sameer Alladin, @studenova.bsky.social) and discussions on the first day of the #MindBrainBody Symposium 2026!
#MBB2026
#MBB2026
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
🎉 Congratulations to @georgiaturner.bsky.social for passing her PhD with flying colours today! A meticulous and truly interdisciplinary piece of work.
Thank you also to @lorenzspreen.eurosky.social and Paul Fletcher for acting as examiners 🙌
Thank you also to @lorenzspreen.eurosky.social and Paul Fletcher for acting as examiners 🙌
March 5, 2026 at 9:23 PM
🎉 Congratulations to @georgiaturner.bsky.social for passing her PhD with flying colours today! A meticulous and truly interdisciplinary piece of work.
Thank you also to @lorenzspreen.eurosky.social and Paul Fletcher for acting as examiners 🙌
Thank you also to @lorenzspreen.eurosky.social and Paul Fletcher for acting as examiners 🙌
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
🚨New pre-print🚨
osf.io/preprints/ps...
What if the relationship between smartphone use and mental health depends not just on specific harmful or beneficial activities, but also on how users transition between activities?
osf.io/preprints/ps...
What if the relationship between smartphone use and mental health depends not just on specific harmful or beneficial activities, but also on how users transition between activities?
February 24, 2026 at 1:39 PM
🚨New pre-print🚨
osf.io/preprints/ps...
What if the relationship between smartphone use and mental health depends not just on specific harmful or beneficial activities, but also on how users transition between activities?
osf.io/preprints/ps...
What if the relationship between smartphone use and mental health depends not just on specific harmful or beneficial activities, but also on how users transition between activities?
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
Delighted to share that our paper "Associations between early-life mental health and abnormal sleep duration in midlife: findings from a prospective cohort study in Great Britain" is now published in @springernature.com European Journal of Epidemiology! rdcu.be/e5rAK 👇
February 24, 2026 at 10:51 AM
Delighted to share that our paper "Associations between early-life mental health and abnormal sleep duration in midlife: findings from a prospective cohort study in Great Britain" is now published in @springernature.com European Journal of Epidemiology! rdcu.be/e5rAK 👇
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
We are recruiting! Postdoctoral research fellow at www.sdn-lab.org, studying the computational & neural basis of social decision-making. Birmingham is a fantastic & affordable place to live, with one of the youngest populations in Europe & over 600 parks. Please share!
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQO275/p...
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQO275/p...
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Social Decision Neuroscience at University of Birmingham
Explore an exciting academic career as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Social Decision Neuroscience. Don't miss out on other academic jobs. Click to apply and explore more opportunities.
www.jobs.ac.uk
February 20, 2026 at 10:54 AM
We are recruiting! Postdoctoral research fellow at www.sdn-lab.org, studying the computational & neural basis of social decision-making. Birmingham is a fantastic & affordable place to live, with one of the youngest populations in Europe & over 600 parks. Please share!
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQO275/p...
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQO275/p...
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
A new study from Anthropic finds that gains in coding efficiency when relying on AI assistance did did not meet statistical significance; AI use noticeably degraded programmers’ understanding of what they were doing. Incredible.
The latest from Anthropic: using Anthropic's products makes you worse at your job
How AI assistance impacts the formation of coding skills
Anthropic is an AI safety and research company that's working to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems.
www.anthropic.com
January 30, 2026 at 11:47 PM
A new study from Anthropic finds that gains in coding efficiency when relying on AI assistance did did not meet statistical significance; AI use noticeably degraded programmers’ understanding of what they were doing. Incredible.
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
Introducing CORTRE: a reporting guideline for reproducibility efforts 👉 cortre.github.io
We are excited to officially announce CORTRE: COmplete Reporting for Transparent Reproducibility Efforts 🎯
🧵👇
We are excited to officially announce CORTRE: COmplete Reporting for Transparent Reproducibility Efforts 🎯
🧵👇
January 19, 2026 at 10:19 AM
Introducing CORTRE: a reporting guideline for reproducibility efforts 👉 cortre.github.io
We are excited to officially announce CORTRE: COmplete Reporting for Transparent Reproducibility Efforts 🎯
🧵👇
We are excited to officially announce CORTRE: COmplete Reporting for Transparent Reproducibility Efforts 🎯
🧵👇
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
Ever wonder what proportion of high profile social media research is tied to the tech industry?
New from me, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social and @carlbergstrom.com.
Thread tomorrow.
arxiv.org/abs/2601.11507
New from me, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social and @carlbergstrom.com.
Thread tomorrow.
arxiv.org/abs/2601.11507
Industry Influence in High-Profile Social Media Research
To what extent is social media research independent from industry influence? Leveraging openly available data, we show that half of the research published in top journals has disclosable ties to indus...
arxiv.org
January 19, 2026 at 2:17 AM
Ever wonder what proportion of high profile social media research is tied to the tech industry?
New from me, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social and @carlbergstrom.com.
Thread tomorrow.
arxiv.org/abs/2601.11507
New from me, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social and @carlbergstrom.com.
Thread tomorrow.
arxiv.org/abs/2601.11507
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
This smells distinctly like collider bias and/or selection bias and/or regression to the mean... You simply can't select teen prodigies, and world class athletes rom databases, and go run regressions without serious consideration of the selection process!
"Most top achievers (Nobel laureates and world-class musicians, athletes, chess players) demonstrated lower performance than many peers during their early years. Across the highest adult performance, peak performance is negatively correlated with early performance" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Recent discoveries on the acquisition of the highest levels of human performance
Scientists have long debated the origins of exceptional human achievements. This literature review summarizes recent evidence from multiple domains on the acquisition of world-class performance. We re...
www.science.org
December 20, 2025 at 3:48 PM
This smells distinctly like collider bias and/or selection bias and/or regression to the mean... You simply can't select teen prodigies, and world class athletes rom databases, and go run regressions without serious consideration of the selection process!
Reposted by Lukas Gunschera
I'm teaching Statistical Rethinking again starting Jan 2026. This time with live lectures, divided into Beginner and Experienced sections. Will be a lot more work for me, but I hope much better for students.
I will record lectures & all will be found at this link: github.com/rmcelreath/s...
I will record lectures & all will be found at this link: github.com/rmcelreath/s...
December 9, 2025 at 1:58 PM
I'm teaching Statistical Rethinking again starting Jan 2026. This time with live lectures, divided into Beginner and Experienced sections. Will be a lot more work for me, but I hope much better for students.
I will record lectures & all will be found at this link: github.com/rmcelreath/s...
I will record lectures & all will be found at this link: github.com/rmcelreath/s...