Brain, Learning, Animation, & Movement Lab: studying motor control, motor recovery, aesthetics of action, the cognitive-motor interface, & philosophy of science
Johns Hopkins; Santa Fe Inst.
Joined February 2013
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John W. Krakauer retweeted
Most people favor one hand, and that hand tends to be the better one at writing, at throwing, at managing chopsticks. The long-standing view is that the dominant hand is “born” more capable, its skills rooted in a brain hemisphere specialized for motor control.
A new study in PNAS argues that this difference in skill is not innate at all. It is the consequence of a lifetime of practice, and it surfaces only when we pick up a tool. A reminder that even a trait as seemingly fixed as handedness can be emergent, arising from the interplay of biology, behaviour, and culture rather than from any single cause.
santafe.edu/news-center/news…
John W. Krakauer retweeted
🚨New preprint!
Using spinal cord stimulation, we demonstrate that non-monosynaptic corticospinal tract (CST) projections can be leveraged to enable dexterous recovery post-stroke, regardless of MEP status (a traditional measure of CST integrity).
doi.org/10.64898/2026.03.24.…
John W. Krakauer retweeted
SFI President David Krakauer joins The Generalist Podcast to talk about intelligence, the influence of AI on human thinking, and how to preserve creativity and understanding in a rapidly changing information landscape.
Watch the full interview: youtube.com/watch?v=SSBLQyi1…
This week on The Generalist Podcast, I’m interviewing David Krakauer, President of the Santa Fe Institute.
Maintaining Human Intelligence in the AI Era
David Krakauer is a leading complex systems researcher and the president of the @sfiscience, a unique institution dedicated to studying complex systems across disciplines. In this episode, David challenges conventional wisdom about AI, arguing that large language models pose a more immediate threat to humanity than commonly discussed existential risks—not by destroying us directly, but by eroding our cognitive capabilities through addictive, low-quality information.
Listen now:
• YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=SSBLQyi1…
• Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/6Fz…
• Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…
A big thank you to the incredible sponsors that make the podcast possible:
✨ Brex – The banking solution for startups: brex.com/mario
✨ Enterpret – Transform feedback chaos into actionable customer intelligence: enterpret.com/mario
✨ Persona – Trusted identity verification for any use case: withpersona.com/generalist
We explore:
→ Why David believes LLMs aren't intelligent at all and how the AI community misunderstands emergence
→ The three dimensions of intelligence: inference, representation, and strategy—and which one LLMs lack
→ How AI acts as a "competitive" rather than "complementary" cognitive technology, atrophying our thinking abilities
→ What makes great minds unique, from analogical reasoning to the cultivation of unconscious creativity
→ How Cormac McCarthy's approach to knowledge and creativity offers lessons for the AI age
→ Why David believes the greatest threat from AI isn't existential risk but cognitive atrophy—"like sugar cocaine"
→ How to protect your mind against AI's addictive pull and maintain cognitive autonomy
John W. Krakauer retweeted
"Moderate-high intensity aerobic or low-intensity flexibility exercise for 12 months in participants with aMCI may provide protection against decline relative to usual care" alz-journals.onlinelibrary.w…
John W. Krakauer retweeted
In the cerebellum, neurons are placed in competition with one another, nulling the downstream effects of each other's spikes, in a well-organized subtractive process that produces a fast changing, precise output from a collection of slow, noisy neurons.
Very concerning
The internet has been progressively diluted with AI-generated slop. Are medical records headed for the same fate?
🧵 I just published a perspective in @NEJM with @AdamRodmanMD and Arjun Manrai on why rushing AI into medical documentation could be a mistake.
Very useful indeed
So many people confuse LLMs (or genAI, in general) for models of human cognition, language, learning, etc., so I thought it may be useful to share once more my brief comment, titled "Psychological models and their distractors". (open access link: rdcu.be/cGQpY) 🧵
Excited to be part of this
“The knowledge from this project could lead to new treatment approaches down the road for improving stroke recovery.”
Neuroscience research led by @UNC_SOM faculty @AdamHantman and @ShihYYI, along with @blamlab John W. Krakauer at @HopkinsMedicine, has the potential to improve outcomes for people with brain damage thanks to a $1.3 million grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation: unc.live/4feOCuc
John W. Krakauer retweeted
Virtual reality to be used in UK trial to help people beat cocaine addiction theguardian.com/science/2024…
John W. Krakauer retweeted
Integrating brainstem and cortical functional architectures | nature.com/articles/s41593-0…
led by @JustineYHansen in @NatureNeuro
400 cortical regions + 58 brainstem nuclei. Lesgo 🤘🕶️⤵️
Propelled by tech money, the menace of race science is back – and it’s just as nonsensical as ever | Adam Rutherford | The Guardian theguardian.com/commentisfre…
Mouse models of autism say almost nothing about autistic people | Vox vox.com/future-perfect/37773…
John W. Krakauer retweeted
A recent study examining the kinematics of 3D arm movements in individuals in the sub-acute phase after #stroke found that both weakness and synergy intrusion contribute to motor deficits during the sub-acute period. journals.sagepub.com/doi/ful…
#neurotwitter #neurorehabilitation
ALT This image shows details about the article linked in the post. The article was published in the journal Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair. The title is "The Kinematics of 3D Arm Movements in Sub-Acute Stroke: Impaired Inter-Joint Coordination is Attributable to Both Weakness and Flexor Synergy Intrusion". Additional information can be found at the link provided.
John W. Krakauer retweeted
Our paper - Chronic stroke survivors underestimate their upper limb motor ability in a simple 2D motor task - out now from @SebastianSporn @MCollOmana @NeurorehabUCLP
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3935… #JNER
@BioMedCentral
Was fun to provide a commentary on @ProfLaurenRoss and @DaniSBassett piece on mechanism.
Lauren Ross @ProfLaurenRoss and @DaniSBassett outline the different ways neuroscientists use the term mechanism, and they gather insight from nine scientists on how this variety makes it difficult to clarify standards in the field.
thetransmitter.org/the-big-p…
