Denis Tatone
@denistatone.bsky.social
Cognitive scientist investigating how human and nonhuman minds represent social interactions, relations, and structures. Asst Prof, University of Plymouth. https://denistatone.wixsite.com/my-site
Reposted by Denis Tatone
Vocal convergence during formation of social relationships in vampire bats royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Vocal convergence during formation of social relationships in vampire bats | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
In many group-living birds and mammals, the formation of affiliative relationships is hypothesized to cause vocal convergence (an increase in call similarity between individuals). However, testing this causal effect can be difficult, because it requires ...
royalsocietypublishing.org
November 13, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Vocal convergence during formation of social relationships in vampire bats royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
Reposted by Denis Tatone
In an increasingly divided world, how do strangers become friends? Parakeets might have something to teach us! New paper on formation of affiliative relationships, led by Dr. Claire O’Connell doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...
November 12, 2025 at 1:39 PM
In an increasingly divided world, how do strangers become friends? Parakeets might have something to teach us! New paper on formation of affiliative relationships, led by Dr. Claire O’Connell doi.org/10.1098/rsbl...
Reposted by Denis Tatone
New paper!
We propose a framework to empirically study animal social relationships by modelling social network (SN) data as time-series—that is, without the need to aggregate them over time.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We propose a framework to empirically study animal social relationships by modelling social network (SN) data as time-series—that is, without the need to aggregate them over time.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 12, 2025 at 11:56 AM
New paper!
We propose a framework to empirically study animal social relationships by modelling social network (SN) data as time-series—that is, without the need to aggregate them over time.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We propose a framework to empirically study animal social relationships by modelling social network (SN) data as time-series—that is, without the need to aggregate them over time.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Denis Tatone
Fully funded #PhDposition in Comparative Cultural Psychology @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social.
We will use touchscreen experiments & eyetracking to study mental simulations in nonhuman apes & human children across different cultures.
All info here: www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...
Please share / apply!🙏
We will use touchscreen experiments & eyetracking to study mental simulations in nonhuman apes & human children across different cultures.
All info here: www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...
Please share / apply!🙏
Positions available - Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
www.eva.mpg.de
November 13, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Fully funded #PhDposition in Comparative Cultural Psychology @mpi-eva-leipzig.bsky.social.
We will use touchscreen experiments & eyetracking to study mental simulations in nonhuman apes & human children across different cultures.
All info here: www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...
Please share / apply!🙏
We will use touchscreen experiments & eyetracking to study mental simulations in nonhuman apes & human children across different cultures.
All info here: www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...
Please share / apply!🙏
Reposted by Denis Tatone
updated preprint from @loganjames.bsky.social @themusiclab.org: humans share acoustic preferences with a variety of other species
I love this finding—in call/song/noise/etc pairs where we know (from prior work) that animals have a preference, humans reliably identify the more-attractive sound
I love this finding—in call/song/noise/etc pairs where we know (from prior work) that animals have a preference, humans reliably identify the more-attractive sound
Humans share acoustic preferences with other animals
Many animals produce sounds during courtship and receivers prefer some sounds over others. Shared ancestry and convergent evolution may generate similarities in preference across species and could und...
www.biorxiv.org
October 21, 2025 at 6:20 AM
updated preprint from @loganjames.bsky.social @themusiclab.org: humans share acoustic preferences with a variety of other species
I love this finding—in call/song/noise/etc pairs where we know (from prior work) that animals have a preference, humans reliably identify the more-attractive sound
I love this finding—in call/song/noise/etc pairs where we know (from prior work) that animals have a preference, humans reliably identify the more-attractive sound
Reposted by Denis Tatone
Hunter-gatherer communities like the Ainu often suffered severe consequences from settler colonialism.
I wrote about how Pokémon, the world's biggest media franchise, tackles this painful topic.
www.eurogamer.net/as-pokemon-l...
I wrote about how Pokémon, the world's biggest media franchise, tackles this painful topic.
www.eurogamer.net/as-pokemon-l...
As Pokémon Legends: Z-A launches, we return to Pokémon Legends: Arceus' rose-tinted take on the past, and the hard questions it raises about Japanese history
Pokémon Legends: Arceus, relevent again upon the release of Legends: Z-A, makes an awkward job of engaging with history - but Game Freak should continue to try.
www.eurogamer.net
October 19, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Hunter-gatherer communities like the Ainu often suffered severe consequences from settler colonialism.
I wrote about how Pokémon, the world's biggest media franchise, tackles this painful topic.
www.eurogamer.net/as-pokemon-l...
I wrote about how Pokémon, the world's biggest media franchise, tackles this painful topic.
www.eurogamer.net/as-pokemon-l...
Reposted by Denis Tatone
Social relationships are powerful predictors of fitness across social animals. But *why*?
In our new @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social paper, we outline testable predictions for why relationship quality and quantity adaptively vary across socio-ecological contexts.
tinyurl.com/55dnkeh7
In our new @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social paper, we outline testable predictions for why relationship quality and quantity adaptively vary across socio-ecological contexts.
tinyurl.com/55dnkeh7
October 16, 2025 at 7:07 AM
Social relationships are powerful predictors of fitness across social animals. But *why*?
In our new @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social paper, we outline testable predictions for why relationship quality and quantity adaptively vary across socio-ecological contexts.
tinyurl.com/55dnkeh7
In our new @cp-trendsecolevo.bsky.social paper, we outline testable predictions for why relationship quality and quantity adaptively vary across socio-ecological contexts.
tinyurl.com/55dnkeh7
Reposted by Denis Tatone
New preprint!
"Non-commitment in mental imagery is distinct from perceptual inattention, and supports hierarchical scene construction"
(by Li, Hammond, & me)
link: doi.org/10.31234/osf...
-- the title's a bit of a mouthful, but the nice thing is that it's a pretty decent summary
"Non-commitment in mental imagery is distinct from perceptual inattention, and supports hierarchical scene construction"
(by Li, Hammond, & me)
link: doi.org/10.31234/osf...
-- the title's a bit of a mouthful, but the nice thing is that it's a pretty decent summary
October 14, 2025 at 1:22 PM
New preprint!
"Non-commitment in mental imagery is distinct from perceptual inattention, and supports hierarchical scene construction"
(by Li, Hammond, & me)
link: doi.org/10.31234/osf...
-- the title's a bit of a mouthful, but the nice thing is that it's a pretty decent summary
"Non-commitment in mental imagery is distinct from perceptual inattention, and supports hierarchical scene construction"
(by Li, Hammond, & me)
link: doi.org/10.31234/osf...
-- the title's a bit of a mouthful, but the nice thing is that it's a pretty decent summary
Reposted by Denis Tatone
Ever wonder how habituation works? Here's our attempt to understand:
A stimulus-computable rational model of visual habituation in infants and adults doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
This is the thesis of two wonderful students: @anjiecao.bsky.social @galraz.bsky.social, w/ @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social
A stimulus-computable rational model of visual habituation in infants and adults doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
This is the thesis of two wonderful students: @anjiecao.bsky.social @galraz.bsky.social, w/ @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social
September 29, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Ever wonder how habituation works? Here's our attempt to understand:
A stimulus-computable rational model of visual habituation in infants and adults doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
This is the thesis of two wonderful students: @anjiecao.bsky.social @galraz.bsky.social, w/ @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social
A stimulus-computable rational model of visual habituation in infants and adults doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
This is the thesis of two wonderful students: @anjiecao.bsky.social @galraz.bsky.social, w/ @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social
Reposted by Denis Tatone
Ever wanted to read about an old problem almost nobody cares about anymore?
Well, I wrote about it.
🧵
Well, I wrote about it.
🧵
September 24, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Ever wanted to read about an old problem almost nobody cares about anymore?
Well, I wrote about it.
🧵
Well, I wrote about it.
🧵
Reposted by Denis Tatone
Can we use the way that people attribute intentions to others in order to infer people's intuitive preferences and attitudes?
I've written a short letter highlighting ways that this strategy can go wrong:
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
I've written a short letter highlighting ways that this strategy can go wrong:
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Intention judgments are not a reliable measure of intuitive preferences | PNAS
Intention judgments are not a reliable measure of intuitive preferences
www.pnas.org
September 18, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Can we use the way that people attribute intentions to others in order to infer people's intuitive preferences and attitudes?
I've written a short letter highlighting ways that this strategy can go wrong:
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
I've written a short letter highlighting ways that this strategy can go wrong:
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Denis Tatone
Very excited to announce my student Andreas Arslan's first paper, "Causal coherence improves episodic memory of dynamic events" in Cognition!
Out now open access: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Andreas isn't on bsky, but he very kindly wrote a summary thread for me to share.
🧵 (1/24)
Out now open access: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Andreas isn't on bsky, but he very kindly wrote a summary thread for me to share.
🧵 (1/24)
Causal coherence improves episodic memory of dynamic events
“Episodes” in memory are formed by the experience of dynamic events that unfold over time. However, just because a series of events unfold sequentiall…
www.sciencedirect.com
September 16, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Very excited to announce my student Andreas Arslan's first paper, "Causal coherence improves episodic memory of dynamic events" in Cognition!
Out now open access: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Andreas isn't on bsky, but he very kindly wrote a summary thread for me to share.
🧵 (1/24)
Out now open access: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Andreas isn't on bsky, but he very kindly wrote a summary thread for me to share.
🧵 (1/24)
Reposted by Denis Tatone
"Critics charge EP with producing unfalsifiable 'just-so stories.' Yet EP explicitly employs Popper’s hypothetico-deductive method: abductive reasoning from proximate data to hypothesize evolved functions, deduction to generate novel predictions, and empirical testing to confirm or falsify them."
Project MUSE - Toward an Epistemology of Evolutionary Psychiatry Insights from Evolutionary Psychology
muse.jhu.edu
September 13, 2025 at 2:58 AM
"Critics charge EP with producing unfalsifiable 'just-so stories.' Yet EP explicitly employs Popper’s hypothetico-deductive method: abductive reasoning from proximate data to hypothesize evolved functions, deduction to generate novel predictions, and empirical testing to confirm or falsify them."
Reposted by Denis Tatone
Save the date! Remote participation will be also possible:)
We are organising the 1st Basic Principles of Cognition conference at RUB, Germany, 9-10 October 2025. Save the date! #MinimalCognition #BasalCognition #CognitiveScience #CogSci #Philosophy #Mind #Life #Organism #Evolution basicprinciplesofcognition.wordpress.com
#EPSA25 #ESPP #GAP12 #KogWiss
#EPSA25 #ESPP #GAP12 #KogWiss
Basic Principles of Cognition
1st Basic Principles of Cognition Conference. October 9-10 , Bochum, Germany.
basicprinciplesofcognition.wordpress.com
September 10, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Save the date! Remote participation will be also possible:)
Reposted by Denis Tatone
The TiCS issue featuring our paper on "A timeline of cognitive costs in decision-making" is now available online 😄
Honored to have been a part of this awesome interdisciplinary mega-collab led by Christin Schulze (UNSW Sydney)
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
Honored to have been a part of this awesome interdisciplinary mega-collab led by Christin Schulze (UNSW Sydney)
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
A timeline of cognitive costs in decision-making
Recent research from economics, psychology, cognitive science, computer science, and
marketing is increasingly interested in the idea that people face cognitive costs
when making decisions. Reviewing ...
www.cell.com
September 3, 2025 at 12:15 AM
The TiCS issue featuring our paper on "A timeline of cognitive costs in decision-making" is now available online 😄
Honored to have been a part of this awesome interdisciplinary mega-collab led by Christin Schulze (UNSW Sydney)
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
Honored to have been a part of this awesome interdisciplinary mega-collab led by Christin Schulze (UNSW Sydney)
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
Reposted by Denis Tatone
Great to have another paper with @chazfirestone.bsky.social @ianbphillips.bsky.social and the brilliant Hanbei Zhou out! In this paper we demonstrate that stimuli within events are perceived further apart in time — an event-based analog of “object-based warping”. psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
September 4, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Great to have another paper with @chazfirestone.bsky.social @ianbphillips.bsky.social and the brilliant Hanbei Zhou out! In this paper we demonstrate that stimuli within events are perceived further apart in time — an event-based analog of “object-based warping”. psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
Reposted by Denis Tatone
The human visual system has specialized modular processing for multiple distinct categories of causal events.
My new paper with my lab manager Katharina Wenig in Cognitive Science, "Causal Perception(s)"
Free open access: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
#CogSci #PsychSciSky
🧵(1/22)
My new paper with my lab manager Katharina Wenig in Cognitive Science, "Causal Perception(s)"
Free open access: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
#CogSci #PsychSciSky
🧵(1/22)
Causal Perception(s)
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
August 31, 2025 at 7:18 AM
The human visual system has specialized modular processing for multiple distinct categories of causal events.
My new paper with my lab manager Katharina Wenig in Cognitive Science, "Causal Perception(s)"
Free open access: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
#CogSci #PsychSciSky
🧵(1/22)
My new paper with my lab manager Katharina Wenig in Cognitive Science, "Causal Perception(s)"
Free open access: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
#CogSci #PsychSciSky
🧵(1/22)
Reposted by Denis Tatone
Visual adaptation is viewed as a test of whether a feature is represented by the visual system.
In a new paper, Sam Clarke and I push the limits of this test. We show spatially selective, putatively "visual" adaptation to a clearly non-visual dimension: Value!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
In a new paper, Sam Clarke and I push the limits of this test. We show spatially selective, putatively "visual" adaptation to a clearly non-visual dimension: Value!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Can we “see” value? Spatiotopic “visual” adaptation to an imperceptible dimension
In much recent philosophy of mind and cognitive science, repulsive adaptation effects are considered a litmus test — a crucial marker, that distinguis…
www.sciencedirect.com
August 28, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Visual adaptation is viewed as a test of whether a feature is represented by the visual system.
In a new paper, Sam Clarke and I push the limits of this test. We show spatially selective, putatively "visual" adaptation to a clearly non-visual dimension: Value!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
In a new paper, Sam Clarke and I push the limits of this test. We show spatially selective, putatively "visual" adaptation to a clearly non-visual dimension: Value!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Denis Tatone
My review of Sex is a Spectrum, by Agustín Fuentes 🧪 #BioAnth blog.edhagen.net/posts/2025-0...
Review of Sex Is a Spectrum: The Biological Limits of the Binary by Agustín Fuentes – Grasshoppermouse
Blog posts and talk slides
blog.edhagen.net
August 23, 2025 at 1:25 AM
My review of Sex is a Spectrum, by Agustín Fuentes 🧪 #BioAnth blog.edhagen.net/posts/2025-0...
Reposted by Denis Tatone
When an animals' groupmates go out of sight, do they also go out of mind?
In a new paper in Proc B @royalsocietypublishing.org, Luz Carvajal and I show that a bonobo (Kanzi) can keep mental tabs on the whereabouts of multiple hidden social partners
royalsocietypublishing.org/eprint/4GI7G...
In a new paper in Proc B @royalsocietypublishing.org, Luz Carvajal and I show that a bonobo (Kanzi) can keep mental tabs on the whereabouts of multiple hidden social partners
royalsocietypublishing.org/eprint/4GI7G...
Mental representation of the locations and identities of multiple hidden agents or objects by a bonobo | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Humans are adept at navigating the social world in part because we flexibly map the
locations and identities of agents around us. While field studies suggest primates
can track individual conspecifics...
royalsocietypublishing.org
August 20, 2025 at 7:25 PM
When an animals' groupmates go out of sight, do they also go out of mind?
In a new paper in Proc B @royalsocietypublishing.org, Luz Carvajal and I show that a bonobo (Kanzi) can keep mental tabs on the whereabouts of multiple hidden social partners
royalsocietypublishing.org/eprint/4GI7G...
In a new paper in Proc B @royalsocietypublishing.org, Luz Carvajal and I show that a bonobo (Kanzi) can keep mental tabs on the whereabouts of multiple hidden social partners
royalsocietypublishing.org/eprint/4GI7G...
Reposted by Denis Tatone
Hot on the tail of our Tsimane IGE study comes the theory paper that motivated it! What are the ecological causes and evolutionary consequences of social plasticity in dynamic environments? See our new Functional Ecology paper to find out more
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Frequency dependence favours social plasticity and facilitates socio‐eco‐evolutionary feedback in fluctuating environments
Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
August 7, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Hot on the tail of our Tsimane IGE study comes the theory paper that motivated it! What are the ecological causes and evolutionary consequences of social plasticity in dynamic environments? See our new Functional Ecology paper to find out more
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Denis Tatone
my review 'core systems of music perception' is on the cover of TICS this month (algorithmic art by @kennyvaden.bsky.social)
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
August 5, 2025 at 5:44 PM
my review 'core systems of music perception' is on the cover of TICS this month (algorithmic art by @kennyvaden.bsky.social)
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
Reposted by Denis Tatone
Our new #cogsci2025 paper led by @maxtaylordavies.bsky.social is a task analysis of agent representation under resource constraints:
🧵
🧵
At #CogSci2025 and curious about resource-rational models of social cognition? Come to Nob Hill A at 11:14 tomorrow to hear me talk about work with @tadegquillien.bsky.social where we use the information bottleneck to study stereotype use and the outgroup homogeneity bias!
August 2, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Our new #cogsci2025 paper led by @maxtaylordavies.bsky.social is a task analysis of agent representation under resource constraints:
🧵
🧵
Reposted by Denis Tatone
It’s Friday night (somewhere) so settle in for a 🧵that combines fermented fruit, scrumping monkeys, etymology, Larson cartoons, & Gothic art to tackle the enduring mystery of why humans are so astoundingly good at metabolising alcohol!
or read our new 🧪 paper ;)
academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...
or read our new 🧪 paper ;)
academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...
a man in a suit and bow tie is standing in front of a blue background
Alt: Bill Murray raises a glass of whisky
media.tenor.com
August 1, 2025 at 8:10 PM
It’s Friday night (somewhere) so settle in for a 🧵that combines fermented fruit, scrumping monkeys, etymology, Larson cartoons, & Gothic art to tackle the enduring mystery of why humans are so astoundingly good at metabolising alcohol!
or read our new 🧪 paper ;)
academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...
or read our new 🧪 paper ;)
academic.oup.com/bioscience/a...
Reposted by Denis Tatone
Our *new paper* explores how flexibility in social categories like gender and race can undermine unfair norms. If we can't read an identity, we can't use it to underpin discrimination. We show even a little confusion can be powerful, and advocate identity play
philsci-archive.pitt.edu/26062/
philsci-archive.pitt.edu/26062/
Fairness and Signaling in Bargaining Games - PhilSci-Archive
philsci-archive.pitt.edu
July 31, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Our *new paper* explores how flexibility in social categories like gender and race can undermine unfair norms. If we can't read an identity, we can't use it to underpin discrimination. We show even a little confusion can be powerful, and advocate identity play
philsci-archive.pitt.edu/26062/
philsci-archive.pitt.edu/26062/