Rome, June 2026: 1 day left to submit your abstract and award application to THE event of the year in cognitive, affective, social and embodied neuroscience! escan2026.eu check out the cool keynotes, preconferences, social and early career programme and our travel, carer and early career awards
Many thanks to all my co-authors for the depth of expertise and genuinely collaborative work behind this review @gerardosalvato.bsky.social @michelabassolino @maddalendabeccerle @gretavianello @katerinafoto.bsky.social @gabriellabottini & @valentinamoro plus the @CairnillarInstitute & @UoVerona
๐ Open access paper:
Interoception and allostatic load after stroke: A scoping review
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Stroke offers a unique window into how the brain constructs bodily awareness โ and how its disruption shapes recovery in ways we still poorly understand.
Priorities for future work:
โข mechanistic studies of interoceptionโallostasis
โข standardised interoceptive assessments
โข integration with rehabilitation science
โข targeted interventions for physiological dysregulation
We argue that stroke research needs to move beyond isolated symptoms and adopt an allostaticโinteroceptive framework that links bodily sensing, regulation, and recovery trajectories.
This is a problem because recovery is not just motor relearning or compensation โ it is physiological regulation.
If the brain cannot accurately sense the body, prediction and regulation break down.
The biggest gap: allostatic load.
Despite strong links to cognition, recovery, and health disparities, it has been almost entirely neglected in stroke research.
Neuroanatomy plays a role โ but the evidence is uneven.
Deficits are most often linked to insula and somatosensory lesions, yet lesion mapping is inconsistently reported and rarely theory-driven.
These are not peripheral symptoms.
Interoceptive impairments are often associated with:
โข poorer functional recovery
โข cognitive dysfunction
โข altered body ownership/awareness
โข reduced independence and participation
Key finding: interoception is frequently impaired after stroke, across multiple domains, including:
โข cardiac & respiratory awareness
โข temperature & affective touch
โข fatigue & energy regulation
โข hunger & bladder awareness
We conducted a scoping review of the literature on interoception and allostatic load after stroke.
๐ 39 studies met inclusion criteria
๐ Only one directly assessed allostatic load
That imbalance matters.
Interoception = sensing the internal state of the body (heartbeat, breathing, temperature, hunger, fatigue).
Allostasis = how the brain predictively regulates these states to maintain stability.
Both are central to recovery โ yet rarely studied together in stroke.
Many post-stroke symptoms donโt fit neatly into โmotorโ or โcognitiveโ boxes โ fatigue, altered body awareness, disrupted breathing, blunted hunger, feeling disconnected from the body.
This paper explores what happens to interoception and physiological regulation after stroke
๐
Delighted to share my first paper of 2026 "Interoception and allostatic load after stroke: A scoping review". Available now, open access: doi.org/10.1016/j.ne...
Writing is thinking
Outsourcing the entire task of writing to LLMs will deprive us of the essential creative task of interpreting our findings and generating a deeper theoretical understanding of the world.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ด๐น๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป
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...
New writeup on interoception in Scientific American focusing on its role in mental health:
www.scientificamerican.com/article/inte...
I've got a fully-funded PhD studentship open at @birkbeckpsychology.bsky.social, investigating social learning about metacognition & awareness, w/ behavioural studies & neuroimaging (fMRI) - thanks to @leverhulme.ac.uk
More details here: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPV831/p...
#cogsci #neuroskyence
Delighted to announce a fully funded PhD opportunity working on a new project looking at body image problems in teenage girls.
Applications now open! Full details here:
www.cairnmillar.org.au/about/career...
crazy
IG em_clarkson
My reviewing style has changed over time. Rather than litigate every little thing, and pushing my own ideas, I focus only on 2 things:
(1) Are the claims interesting/important?
(2) Does the evidence support the claims?
Most of my reviews these days are short and focused.
We are recruiting a new PI at the FIL @imagingneuroucl.bsky.social, Associate or Full Professor. This is an amazing place to do cognitive neuroscience, in the heart of London. If you or someone you know might be interested, please pass it on. #neuroskyence
www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
Game changer!
You're on fire!
Thanks Gavin. I think we'll do that. Best to speed up the rejection process ๐
#AcademicPublishing #MetaAnalysis #PeerReview #SlowScience
Searches are now 12 months oldโsubmitted before they wereโbut delays like this risk reviewers flagging outdated data.
How are we supposed to maintain timely reporting standards when journals donโt?
What shoulld we do? Withdraw? Wait it out? Anyone dealt with this?
Help and advice needed please Bluesky community!
We submitted a meta-analysis over a month ago. It's still โwith editor.โ Three follow-up emails sent. Admin says theyโll chase. Still Nothing.
