Juan Balcazar, PhD
@juanbalc.bsky.social
Lecturer, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences| Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience, Texas A&M University
New preprint! 🔬Nearly 4 years in the making, our meta-analysis (92 studies, 100 effects) confirms anxiety & depression show comparable deficits in cognitive flexibility & decision-making—supporting the transdiagnostic #HiTOP model. Joint w/ @congalab.bsky.social & team! Feedback incredibly welcomed
Cognitive Flexibility and Decision-Making in Anxiety and Depression: Meta-Analytic Evidence Facilitated by Machine-Learning Screening
The ability to adjust to changing environments (cognitive flexibility) and optimal decision-making are pivotal brain functions that govern successful human behavior. Anxiety and depressive disorders a...
www.medrxiv.org
May 19, 2026 at 10:33 PM
New preprint! 🔬Nearly 4 years in the making, our meta-analysis (92 studies, 100 effects) confirms anxiety & depression show comparable deficits in cognitive flexibility & decision-making—supporting the transdiagnostic #HiTOP model. Joint w/ @congalab.bsky.social & team! Feedback incredibly welcomed
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
Transdiagnostic stage-based monitoring of public mental health
Review by Claudia Buchweitz, Anna Viduani, Helen Herrman, Brandon A. Kohrt, Patrick McGorry, Giovanni Salum, Claudia Sartor, Shekhar Saxena & Christian Kieling
Web: go.nature.com/3YsOUHG
PDF: rdcu.be/eX0gz
Review by Claudia Buchweitz, Anna Viduani, Helen Herrman, Brandon A. Kohrt, Patrick McGorry, Giovanni Salum, Claudia Sartor, Shekhar Saxena & Christian Kieling
Web: go.nature.com/3YsOUHG
PDF: rdcu.be/eX0gz
January 7, 2026 at 2:28 PM
Transdiagnostic stage-based monitoring of public mental health
Review by Claudia Buchweitz, Anna Viduani, Helen Herrman, Brandon A. Kohrt, Patrick McGorry, Giovanni Salum, Claudia Sartor, Shekhar Saxena & Christian Kieling
Web: go.nature.com/3YsOUHG
PDF: rdcu.be/eX0gz
Review by Claudia Buchweitz, Anna Viduani, Helen Herrman, Brandon A. Kohrt, Patrick McGorry, Giovanni Salum, Claudia Sartor, Shekhar Saxena & Christian Kieling
Web: go.nature.com/3YsOUHG
PDF: rdcu.be/eX0gz
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
New paper & a thread on the results 👇
‘Reward-specific learning parameters change across normative adolescent development and are blunted in youth with high risk for depression’
acamh-onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezp3.lib.umn.edu/doi/full/10....
‘Reward-specific learning parameters change across normative adolescent development and are blunted in youth with high risk for depression’
acamh-onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezp3.lib.umn.edu/doi/full/10....
January 7, 2026 at 7:50 PM
New paper & a thread on the results 👇
‘Reward-specific learning parameters change across normative adolescent development and are blunted in youth with high risk for depression’
acamh-onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezp3.lib.umn.edu/doi/full/10....
‘Reward-specific learning parameters change across normative adolescent development and are blunted in youth with high risk for depression’
acamh-onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezp3.lib.umn.edu/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻
Annual reminder that the book is open access.
How do we think of the brain as a deeply interconnected system with highly distributed, non hierarchical processing.
Want to learn about the brain from a fresh perspective?
#neuroskyence
mitpress.mit.edu/978026254460...
Annual reminder that the book is open access.
How do we think of the brain as a deeply interconnected system with highly distributed, non hierarchical processing.
Want to learn about the brain from a fresh perspective?
#neuroskyence
mitpress.mit.edu/978026254460...
The Entangled Brain
Popular neuroscience accounts often focus on specific mind-brain aspects like addiction, cognition, or memory, but The Entangled Brain tackles a much bigger ...
mitpress.mit.edu
December 28, 2025 at 5:56 PM
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻
Annual reminder that the book is open access.
How do we think of the brain as a deeply interconnected system with highly distributed, non hierarchical processing.
Want to learn about the brain from a fresh perspective?
#neuroskyence
mitpress.mit.edu/978026254460...
Annual reminder that the book is open access.
How do we think of the brain as a deeply interconnected system with highly distributed, non hierarchical processing.
Want to learn about the brain from a fresh perspective?
#neuroskyence
mitpress.mit.edu/978026254460...
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
Very well deserved! Congrats to Andy & Rich!
#ReinforcementLearning (Barto&Sutton) wins the Turing! Wonderful recognition for two personal heroes of mine as well as for the whole field!
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/t...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/t...
Turing Award Goes to A.I. Pioneers Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton
Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton developed reinforcement learning, a technique vital to chatbots like ChatGPT.
www.nytimes.com
March 5, 2025 at 12:04 PM
Very well deserved! Congrats to Andy & Rich!
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
Terrific how-to on communicating the value of basic research to the public in @thetransmitter.bsky.social by @tonyzador.bsky.social.
You may be curious. But when you are communicating the value of what you do, it’s not about you. Point to discoveries.
www.thetransmitter.org/outreach/how...
You may be curious. But when you are communicating the value of what you do, it’s not about you. Point to discoveries.
www.thetransmitter.org/outreach/how...
How to communicate the value of curiosity-driven research
The burden of proof is on us, as researchers, to explain why what we do is valuable to society.
www.thetransmitter.org
March 4, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Terrific how-to on communicating the value of basic research to the public in @thetransmitter.bsky.social by @tonyzador.bsky.social.
You may be curious. But when you are communicating the value of what you do, it’s not about you. Point to discoveries.
www.thetransmitter.org/outreach/how...
You may be curious. But when you are communicating the value of what you do, it’s not about you. Point to discoveries.
www.thetransmitter.org/outreach/how...
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Predictive coding: a more cognitive process than we thought?
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Predictive coding: a more cognitive process than we thought?
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Predictive coding: a more cognitive process than we thought?
In predictive coding (PC), higher-order brain areas generate predictions that are sent to lower-order sensory areas. Top-down predictions are compared…
www.sciencedirect.com
March 2, 2025 at 4:25 AM
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Predictive coding: a more cognitive process than we thought?
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Predictive coding: a more cognitive process than we thought?
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
Call for submissions to the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology special issue on transdiagnostic approaches in neuropsychology.
Deadline is May 1.
Details here: think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issu...
Deadline is May 1.
Details here: think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issu...
Breaking Down Barriers: Transdiagnostic Approaches in Neuropsychology
think.taylorandfrancis.com
March 2, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Call for submissions to the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology special issue on transdiagnostic approaches in neuropsychology.
Deadline is May 1.
Details here: think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issu...
Deadline is May 1.
Details here: think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issu...
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
JAMA Psychiatry
Mapping Lesions That Cause Psychosis to a Human Brain Circuit and Proposed Stimulation Target
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Mapping Lesions That Cause Psychosis to a Human Brain Circuit and Proposed Stimulation Target
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Mapping Lesions That Cause Psychosis
This case-control study analyzes published cases of lesion-induced psychosisTo assess whether lesions that cause secondary psychosis have functional connections to a common brain circuit
jamanetwork.com
February 26, 2025 at 10:13 AM
JAMA Psychiatry
Mapping Lesions That Cause Psychosis to a Human Brain Circuit and Proposed Stimulation Target
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Mapping Lesions That Cause Psychosis to a Human Brain Circuit and Proposed Stimulation Target
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
The likelihood to recall a dream in the morning and the ability to remember its content are modulated by a combination of stable individual traits and dynamic night-by-night and seasonal change, according to a study in Communications Psychology. https://go.nature.com/3EKJaCd 🧪
February 21, 2025 at 11:27 PM
The likelihood to recall a dream in the morning and the ability to remember its content are modulated by a combination of stable individual traits and dynamic night-by-night and seasonal change, according to a study in Communications Psychology. https://go.nature.com/3EKJaCd 🧪
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
Global to local influences on temporal expectation in marmosets and humans
www.cell.com/current-biol...
#neuroscience
www.cell.com/current-biol...
#neuroscience
Global to local influences on temporal expectation in marmosets and humans
Dragoi et al. utilize a timing task in marmosets and humans to show that both species
share similar internal models of temporal expectation. Animals first acquire global
and then local features of tem...
www.cell.com
February 22, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Global to local influences on temporal expectation in marmosets and humans
www.cell.com/current-biol...
#neuroscience
www.cell.com/current-biol...
#neuroscience
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
Stage is set for Tidal 2025, perhaps the hippest conference I have been invited to speak at. Can’t wait to tell them about Rescorla and Wagner :-)
February 20, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Stage is set for Tidal 2025, perhaps the hippest conference I have been invited to speak at. Can’t wait to tell them about Rescorla and Wagner :-)
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
Every scientist, long before they were a scientist, was a little kid who stood in front of a fish tank or stared up at the stars or turned over a rock to look at the bugs underneath and said “wow”. On the best days, working in science still feels like that.
February 19, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Every scientist, long before they were a scientist, was a little kid who stood in front of a fish tank or stared up at the stars or turned over a rock to look at the bugs underneath and said “wow”. On the best days, working in science still feels like that.
This would be a gigantic loss if true
February 19, 2025 at 6:52 PM
This would be a gigantic loss if true
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
Some good news for a change.
Number of cancer deaths averted in the U.S. between the early 1990s and 2016. The blue line is the actual number of cancer cases; the red line is the number of cancer cases there would have been if we’d stayed on our pre-1990 trajectory. www.stevestewartwilliams.com/p/iq-and-men...
February 19, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Some good news for a change.
Hi all! I will be finishing my PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience in a few months and I am looking for a new role. Connections, advice, or opportunities (especially industry opportunities or insight into that market) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance !
February 14, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Hi all! I will be finishing my PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience in a few months and I am looking for a new role. Connections, advice, or opportunities (especially industry opportunities or insight into that market) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance !
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
In our new @commspsychol.bsky.social review, we explore how humans adjust learning to different types of uncertainty, why biases arise, and what this reveals about learning and psychiatric conditions.
📖 Read more: nature.com/articles/s44...
With Matt Nassar & @haukeren.bsky.social
📖 Read more: nature.com/articles/s44...
With Matt Nassar & @haukeren.bsky.social
Understanding learning through uncertainty and bias - Communications Psychology
Flexible learning requires humans to adjust their behaviour to uncertainty. While normative learning models explain many adaptive behaviours, systematic biases-arising from inaccurate assumptions or c...
nature.com
February 13, 2025 at 2:15 PM
In our new @commspsychol.bsky.social review, we explore how humans adjust learning to different types of uncertainty, why biases arise, and what this reveals about learning and psychiatric conditions.
📖 Read more: nature.com/articles/s44...
With Matt Nassar & @haukeren.bsky.social
📖 Read more: nature.com/articles/s44...
With Matt Nassar & @haukeren.bsky.social
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
Current Opinion in Neurobiology
Neurobiological mechanisms of forgetting across timescales
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Neurobiological mechanisms of forgetting across timescales
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Neurobiological mechanisms of forgetting across timescales
Every species in the animal kingdom that learns, also forgets. Despite this balance between learning and forgetting, most neuroscientific explorations…
www.sciencedirect.com
February 3, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Current Opinion in Neurobiology
Neurobiological mechanisms of forgetting across timescales
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Neurobiological mechanisms of forgetting across timescales
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
1/19 I’m thrilled that my postdoctoral work, with John Widloski and David Foster is now out in @science.org, along with a wonderful preview by Daniel Bendor!
The time course and organization of hippocampal replay
The mechanisms by which the brain replays neural activity sequences remain unknown. Recording from large ensembles of hippocampal place cells in freely behaving rats, we observed that replay content i...
www.science.org
January 31, 2025 at 9:14 PM
1/19 I’m thrilled that my postdoctoral work, with John Widloski and David Foster is now out in @science.org, along with a wonderful preview by Daniel Bendor!
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
Great piece! We think it's also potentially very important in depression and its treatment, especially in relation to motivation
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
From movement to motivation: a proposed framework to understand the antidepressant effect of exercise - Translational Psychiatry
Translational Psychiatry - From movement to motivation: a proposed framework to understand the antidepressant effect of exercise
www.nature.com
January 31, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Great piece! We think it's also potentially very important in depression and its treatment, especially in relation to motivation
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
This is important context for folks thinking about cannabis use. It affects important, cognitive brain functions 🧠 🧪 #neuroscience
Largest Study Ever Done on Cannabis and Brain Function Finds Impact on Working Memory
Large study examined the effects of cannabis use on 1,000 adults. Researchers found 63% of heavy cannabis users exhibited reduced brain activity on a task.
buff.ly
January 30, 2025 at 5:47 PM
This is important context for folks thinking about cannabis use. It affects important, cognitive brain functions 🧠 🧪 #neuroscience
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
Neuron
Amygdalo-cortical dialogue underlies memory enhancement by emotional association
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Amygdalo-cortical dialogue underlies memory enhancement by emotional association
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Amygdalo-cortical dialogue underlies memory enhancement by emotional association
How does emotion prioritize associated memory? Saito et al. show that emotional association
enhances perceptual memory retention and amygdalo-cortical coordination during learning
and early-NREM sleep...
www.cell.com
January 30, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Neuron
Amygdalo-cortical dialogue underlies memory enhancement by emotional association
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Amygdalo-cortical dialogue underlies memory enhancement by emotional association
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Reposted by Juan Balcazar, PhD
Communications Biology
Human response times are governed by dual anticipatory processes with distinct neural signatures
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Human response times are governed by dual anticipatory processes with distinct neural signatures
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Human response times are governed by dual anticipatory processes with distinct neural signatures - Communications Biology
Human intracranial recordings reveal two distinct neural processes underlying anticipatory modulation of response times.
www.nature.com
January 30, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Communications Biology
Human response times are governed by dual anticipatory processes with distinct neural signatures
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Human response times are governed by dual anticipatory processes with distinct neural signatures
www.nature.com/articles/s42...