Natalie McClain
@nataliemcclain.bsky.social
Neuro PhD Student at the Icahn School of Medicine
Pinned
Moving Beyond Self-Report in Characterizing Drug Addiction: Using Drug-Biased Behavior to Predict Treatment Completion and Dropout in Heroin-Primary, Medication-Maintained Opioid Use Disorder
Drug addiction is accompanied by enhanced salience attributed to drug over nondrug cues. This bias can be objectively measured and is reliable but und…
www.sciencedirect.com
Go check out our paper illustrating that objective cognitive-behavioral measures can outperform traditional self-reports when it comes to informing clinical outcomes! This is a promising step towards improving the tools we use to assess severity.
@narcatms.bsky.social @aoceceli.bsky.social
@narcatms.bsky.social @aoceceli.bsky.social
Reposted by Natalie McClain
How does movie watching affect the brain? Yunrui Zhang and Amy Kuceyeski write about their team's research, published in Communications Biology, that shows watching movies during fMRI scans may reveal more about cognition than traditional resting-state brain scans. #Academicsky #Neuroskyence 🧪
Watching the brain watching a movie, or how naturalistic fMRI can reveal the brain's inner workings
When most people picture a brain scan, they imagine someone lying inside a cylindrical machine, trying their best not to move or fall asleep as the machine gently beeps, thinking about whatever comes to mind. This is resting-state fMRI, and it has been the dominant paradigm for studying how brain regions communicate with each other for years.
go.nature.com
October 4, 2026 at 4:25 PM
How does movie watching affect the brain? Yunrui Zhang and Amy Kuceyeski write about their team's research, published in Communications Biology, that shows watching movies during fMRI scans may reveal more about cognition than traditional resting-state brain scans. #Academicsky #Neuroskyence 🧪
Our new paper is live! We show that recency of drug use modulates perceptual metacognition in cocaine use disorder, positioning this as a promising avenue for future treatment.
Metacognitive impairment in cocaine use disorder: confirmatory evidence for the effects of recent drug use - Translational Psychiatry
Translational Psychiatry - Metacognitive impairment in cocaine use disorder: confirmatory evidence for the effects of recent drug use
www.nature.com
September 20, 2026 at 3:03 PM
Our new paper is live! We show that recency of drug use modulates perceptual metacognition in cocaine use disorder, positioning this as a promising avenue for future treatment.
Reposted by Natalie McClain
Recent advances in preclinical and clinical studies support an individual-differences framework of addiction and highlight reward sensitivity as a key driver of vulnerability
Recent advances in individual differences in addiction neuroscience in animal models and clinical studies
Neuropsychopharmacology - Recent advances in individual differences in addiction neuroscience in animal models and clinical studies
www.nature.com
September 15, 2026 at 4:30 PM
Recent advances in preclinical and clinical studies support an individual-differences framework of addiction and highlight reward sensitivity as a key driver of vulnerability
Reposted by Natalie McClain
Yes, we need more studies of this type! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
July 9, 2026 at 6:01 PM
Yes, we need more studies of this type! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Natalie McClain
Our story about The Krakencoder - a new AI tool to analyze brain networks - is out in Weill Cornell's Impact magazine.
Support from NIMH and @bowers-wbhi.bsky.social
Led by Keith Jamison, with @msabuncu.bsky.social, @cerentozlu.bsky.social, Zijin Gu, Qinxin Wang
Full story: tinyurl.com/mryjbzfk
Support from NIMH and @bowers-wbhi.bsky.social
Led by Keith Jamison, with @msabuncu.bsky.social, @cerentozlu.bsky.social, Zijin Gu, Qinxin Wang
Full story: tinyurl.com/mryjbzfk
Unleashing the Krakencoder
Mapping the connections between the brain’s structure and function.
impact.weill.cornell.edu
November 24, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Our story about The Krakencoder - a new AI tool to analyze brain networks - is out in Weill Cornell's Impact magazine.
Support from NIMH and @bowers-wbhi.bsky.social
Led by Keith Jamison, with @msabuncu.bsky.social, @cerentozlu.bsky.social, Zijin Gu, Qinxin Wang
Full story: tinyurl.com/mryjbzfk
Support from NIMH and @bowers-wbhi.bsky.social
Led by Keith Jamison, with @msabuncu.bsky.social, @cerentozlu.bsky.social, Zijin Gu, Qinxin Wang
Full story: tinyurl.com/mryjbzfk
Thank you for the feature! Everyone should go check out the other submissions as well, such a cool collection of brain art. #Artofthebrain
@nataliemcclain.bsky.social's "Metropolis of the Mind" reimagines the brain as a city. Different buildings (distinct brain regions) are connected by bridges (neural pathways). Collapsed bridges represent neural pathways weakened by #Addiction. VOTE NOW for #ArtoftheBrain Image # 28 👉 Most 🧡s wins!
April 24, 2026 at 6:52 PM
Thank you for the feature! Everyone should go check out the other submissions as well, such a cool collection of brain art. #Artofthebrain
Reposted by Natalie McClain
@nataliemcclain.bsky.social's "Metropolis of the Mind" reimagines the brain as a city. Different buildings (distinct brain regions) are connected by bridges (neural pathways). Collapsed bridges represent neural pathways weakened by #Addiction. VOTE NOW for #ArtoftheBrain Image # 28 👉 Most 🧡s wins!
April 23, 2026 at 2:53 PM
@nataliemcclain.bsky.social's "Metropolis of the Mind" reimagines the brain as a city. Different buildings (distinct brain regions) are connected by bridges (neural pathways). Collapsed bridges represent neural pathways weakened by #Addiction. VOTE NOW for #ArtoftheBrain Image # 28 👉 Most 🧡s wins!
Reposted by Natalie McClain
fMRI connectivity is dominated by recurring high-amplitude BOLD events (CAPs, QPPs)
But what originates these events? Many think neuromodulation is the culprit. Our new work offers a simpler take: cortico-cortical dynamics alone can generate CAP-like events! doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013995
🧵1/n
But what originates these events? Many think neuromodulation is the culprit. Our new work offers a simpler take: cortico-cortical dynamics alone can generate CAP-like events! doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013995
🧵1/n
March 5, 2026 at 1:40 PM
fMRI connectivity is dominated by recurring high-amplitude BOLD events (CAPs, QPPs)
But what originates these events? Many think neuromodulation is the culprit. Our new work offers a simpler take: cortico-cortical dynamics alone can generate CAP-like events! doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013995
🧵1/n
But what originates these events? Many think neuromodulation is the culprit. Our new work offers a simpler take: cortico-cortical dynamics alone can generate CAP-like events! doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013995
🧵1/n
Reposted by Natalie McClain
People recovering from heroin addiction show reduced brain synchronization with their partners and poorer perspective-taking, revealing how addiction disrupts not just individual brain function but also the neural coordination between people during social interaction.
Social cognitive deficits and altered multi-brain dynamics during problem-solving in heroin abstainers: An fNIRS hyperscanning study
Despite extensive research on the neurobiology of addiction, little is known about how repeated drug use and withdrawal are related to social functioning impairments in humans, a highly social…
www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com
April 19, 2026 at 12:01 PM
People recovering from heroin addiction show reduced brain synchronization with their partners and poorer perspective-taking, revealing how addiction disrupts not just individual brain function but also the neural coordination between people during social interaction.
Also check out a commentary on these results, which highlights the utility of these drug-biased behavioral measures in clinical addiction research!
@narcatms.bsky.social
@narcatms.bsky.social
March 3, 2026 at 3:52 PM
Also check out a commentary on these results, which highlights the utility of these drug-biased behavioral measures in clinical addiction research!
@narcatms.bsky.social
@narcatms.bsky.social
Go check out our paper illustrating that objective cognitive-behavioral measures can outperform traditional self-reports when it comes to informing clinical outcomes! This is a promising step towards improving the tools we use to assess severity.
@narcatms.bsky.social @aoceceli.bsky.social
@narcatms.bsky.social @aoceceli.bsky.social
Moving Beyond Self-Report in Characterizing Drug Addiction: Using Drug-Biased Behavior to Predict Treatment Completion and Dropout in Heroin-Primary, Medication-Maintained Opioid Use Disorder
Drug addiction is accompanied by enhanced salience attributed to drug over nondrug cues. This bias can be objectively measured and is reliable but und…
www.sciencedirect.com
March 3, 2026 at 3:48 PM
Go check out our paper illustrating that objective cognitive-behavioral measures can outperform traditional self-reports when it comes to informing clinical outcomes! This is a promising step towards improving the tools we use to assess severity.
@narcatms.bsky.social @aoceceli.bsky.social
@narcatms.bsky.social @aoceceli.bsky.social