Physiology and Behavior

In this episode I chat with Izelle Labuschagne, who is the founder of the Complete Thesis support group, about reproducible science [3:42], social media for academics [21:20], and responding to reviewer comments [39:25]. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is the audio version of a paper I recently co-authored in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, titled "How podcasts can benefit scientific communities". I'm reading the preprint version of the article, which is very similar to the published version. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This was a talk I recently did on social media for academics. I cover both why and how academics can use social media to boost their academic careers. The slides are available here.Enjoy! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This episode is the audio version of our paper, titled "An Allostatic Theory of Oxytocin", that was recently published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences.Here is the abstract:Oxytocin has garnered considerable interest for its role in social behavior, as well as for the potential of intranasal administration to treat social difficulties. How- ever, current theoretical models for the role of oxytocin in social behavior pay little consideration to its evolutionary and developmental history. This article aims to broaden our understanding of the role of oxytocin in social behavior by adopting an ethological approach through the lens of Nikolaas Tinbergen’s 'four questions' – how does oxytocin work; how does the role of oxytocin change during development; how does oxytocin enhance survival; and how did the oxytocin system evolve? We argue that oxytocin is most accurately described as an allostatic hormone that modulates both social and non-social behavior by maintaining stability through changing environments. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is a virtual talk I recently gave to PhD students at Linköping University on how to better adjust to working from homeThe video and the slides from this talk can be found here. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The main hesitation I hear from researchers when it comes to social media is that they've got nothing to share. In this short clip, I show you can you can share ten different bits of information, across different platforms, using just one idea.Here's the video version of this clip. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This podcast episode is about starting your own podcast!Here are some of the links, services, and products that I mention:The mega microphone review from Marco ArmentAudio-Technica ATR2100-USB Cardioid Dynamic USB/XLR MicrophoneFireside podcast hostingAcast podcast hostingAnchor podcast hosting Auphonic audio editing Izotope RX audio editing OBS screen recording softwareeCamm screen recording softwareShare video clips previews using Headliner See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is a talk a recently gave at the university of Copenhagen in which I discuss ways we can improve the precision of oxytocin research. Download the slides here.Here is the talk abstract:The neuropeptide oxytocin has garnered considerable interest for its role in social behavior and its potential for the treatment of psychiatric illnesses characterised by social dysfunction. However, initial excitement has turned to disappointment with some studies failing to replicate earlier results, which has been attributed to issues surrounding research methods, mechanistic understanding, and theory development. In this talk, I will discuss efforts to improve research design to enhance reproducibility, including precise sample size estimation, synthetic datasets, and ways to test evidence for null models. I will also describe two lines of research aiming to better understand oxytocin signalling mechanisms: i) Research identifying whole brain voxel-by-voxel gene expression patterns of the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene and its association with mental states via a large-scale fMRI meta-analysis of 14,371 studies and ii) data from two clinical trials demonstrating that compared to placebo, 8IU intranasal oxytocin (but not 24IU intranasal oxytocin or 1IU intravenous oxytocin) modulates social cognition, pupil diameter, and neural activity. Altogether, these studies provide the first steps towards identifying targets for oxytocin receptor engagement in the human brain and suggest that a lower 8IU intranasal dose might be more efficacious than the conventional 24IU dose. I will close by presenting my new theory of oxytocin’s role in human behaviour, which proposes that oxytocin modulates both social and non-social behaviour to maintain stability in changing environments. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode, Dan shares some audio from a recent interview that he did on his recent paper examining clinical trial reporting in anorexia nervosa studies.-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this talk, I share how open access benefits society, your research, and science. Find the slides here. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A 2018 study that provides mixed support for a causal link between single dose intranasal oxytocin and spiritual experiences -----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study provides oxytocin-like receptor distribution maps for the brains of three birds species-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study suggests that oxytocin blocks enhanced motivation for alcohol in alcohol dependent rats-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study suggests that oxytocin does not influence social decision making in Capuchin monkeys-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study suggests that systemic oxytocin administration alters mesolimbic dopamine release in mice-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study suggests that intranasal oxytocin decreases task-related aggressive responses in young males -----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study suggests that oxytocin increases male-directed threats and vocalizations in female macaques-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study investigates the impact of oxytocin on pupil dilation in response to novel social and non-social stimuli-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study investigates the role of oxytocin in dealing with the idea of one’s mortality-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study demonstrates the role of oxytocin in the modulation of paternal behavior in mandarin voles-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study demonstrates that oxytocin administration modulates helping behaviour in rats depending on social context-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study in the journal Nature demonstrates oxytocin-dependent reopening of a social reward learning critical period with MDMA-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study suggests that oxytocin attenuates stress-induced reinstatement of alcohol seeking behavior in mice-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study investigates associations between oxytocin and cortisol activity in response to psychological stress and sexual arousal-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study investigates the neurochemical effects of oxytocin in people at clinical high risk for psychosis -----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new Nature Neuroscience study suggests that oxytocin modulates social value representations in the amygdala -----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study suggests that oxytocin signalling plays a role in amygdala–hippocampal connectivity in autism-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study suggests that oxytocin treatment reduces food intake and body fat in an animal model of post-menopause-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study assesses the social salience hypothesis of oxytocin in a fish species-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study in Molecular Autism reports that the oxytocin receptor gene predicts brain activity during an emotion recognition task in autism-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study in Translational Psychiatry examines the Effect of age and autism spectrum disorder on oxytocin receptor density in the brain-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study demonstrates that oxytocin selectively improves empathic accuracy-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study demonstrates that intranasal oxytocin modulates higher order social cognition in body dysmorphic disorder -----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study demonstrates that prefrontal cortical neurons that express the oxytocin receptor modulate social recognition-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study demonstrates that cortisol and oxytocin show independent activity during chimpanzee intergroup conflict-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new replication study confirms that women’s facial masculinity preferences are predicted by the interaction between their relationship status and average progesterone levels.-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study in eLife suggests that oxytocin promotes coordinated out-group attack during intergroup conflict-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study suggests that an oxytocin-like peptide regulates behavior in ants.-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new preprint suggests that social status in mouse social hierarchies is associated with variation in oxytocin receptor densities-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study suggests that oxytocin improves learning in rats-----Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study suggests that oxytocin levels are associated with impaired social cognition in schizophrenia.--------Follow Dan on Twitter and Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A new study identifies how oxytocin might be transported into the brain to elicit social behaviour. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dan summarises a new preprint that describes a study investigating whether direct nose-to-brain pathways underlie intranasal oxytocin-induced changes in regional cerebral blood flow in humans See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This an audio paper on oxytocin pathway gene networks in the human brain, published in Nature Communications.Read the full paper here.LinksDan on TwitterDan on Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This an audio paper on remedies for three common issues in meta-analysis: lack of pre-registration, misinterpretation of funnel plots, and effect size dependencies.Read the paper preprint here. LinksDan on TwitterDan on Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Here's a talk I recently gave at Leiden University on December 12th 2018. I provide an overview of HRV and its role in mental illness, which is generally characterised by reduced HRV. I will also cover how reduced HRV has important functional significance for social behaviours and psychological flexibility in response to stressors. Easy access to measuring HRV is both one of its strengths and weaknesses, so I also discuss its responsible application in biobehavioral research. LinksHere's the slidedeck I usedTwitter See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I had a chat with Belinda Poole, a graduate student from the University of Sydney (my alma mater!), about her first meta-analysis. We discuss the publication of meta-analysis protocols, how to best find mistakes in your data extraction, and using the JAMOVI software package as a stepping stone to R for meta-analysis. LinksTutorial paper on meta-analysisP uniformStatcheckR meta-analysis mailing listJAMOVITwitterVideo episodes on InstagramVideo episodes on YouTube See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode, I share an audio version of a recent paper on Bayesian alternatives for null hypothesis significance tests. Read the open access paper here.Full reference to the paper: Quintana, D.S. & Williams, D.R. Bayesian alternatives for common null- hypothesis significance tests in psychiatry: a non-technical guide using JASP BMC Psychiatry (2018) 18: 178. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-018-1761-4LinksDan on TwitterDan on Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

I recently had a chat with Thea, a PhD student from New York University, about her first meta-analysis. We discuss the value of learning meta-analysis, the difference between publication bias and small study bias, leave-one-out analyses, using the R meta-analysis mailing list for solving problems, comparing correlations, and the benefits of Twitter when you're learning a new skill.-------LinksTutorial paper on meta-analysisTOSTER R packageR meta-analysis mailing listComparing correlationsTwitterVideo episodes on InstagramVideo episodes on YouTube See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode, I share an audio version of a recent paper on evidence for intranasal oxytocin delivery to the brain. Read the open access paper here.Full reference to the paper: Quintana, D. S., Smerud, K. T., Andreassen, O. A., & Djupesland, P. G. (2018). Evidence for intranasal oxytocin delivery to the brain: recent advances and future perspectives. Therapeutic Delivery, 9(7), 515-525.LinksThe paperDan on TwitterDan on Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this Q&A episode, I answer a question from the #PhDchat hashtag on twitter about how many paper you should read while writing up your lit review.-------LinksOriginal tweet with the questionDan on Twitter Video episodes on Instagram Video episodes on YouTube See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.