Frederik Aust
@frederikaust.com
Tenured researcher at the University of Cologne, formerly Postdoc at the University of Amsterdam. Interested in Bayesian statistics, mathematical models of learning/memory, and computational reproducibility. I develop R packages and obsess about coffee
Reposted by Frederik Aust
"Theory and Practice of Bayesian Hypothesis Testing with JASP", the last of four summer workshops, is now open for registration. Join Richard Morey and myself in Amsterdam or online! (August 27 & 28)
jasp-stats.org/2026/02/09/h...
jasp-stats.org/2026/02/09/h...
Hybrid Workshop "Theory and Practice of Bayesian Hypothesis Testing with JASP", August 27th & 28th, 2026 - JASP - Free and User-Friendly Statistical Software
We are happy to announce that the JASP team will offer a week of workshops in Amsterdam this summer. In this blogpost we’ll highlight the last workshop: “Theory and Practice of Bayesian Hypothesis Te...
jasp-stats.org
February 10, 2026 at 10:08 PM
"Theory and Practice of Bayesian Hypothesis Testing with JASP", the last of four summer workshops, is now open for registration. Join Richard Morey and myself in Amsterdam or online! (August 27 & 28)
jasp-stats.org/2026/02/09/h...
jasp-stats.org/2026/02/09/h...
Reposted by Frederik Aust
I made a map of 3.4 million Bluesky users - see if you can find yourself!
bluesky-map.theo.io
I've seen some similar projects, but IMO this seems to better capture some of the fine-grained detail
bluesky-map.theo.io
I've seen some similar projects, but IMO this seems to better capture some of the fine-grained detail
Bluesky Map
Interactive map of 3.4 million Bluesky users, visualised by their follower pattern.
bluesky-map.theo.io
February 8, 2026 at 10:59 PM
I made a map of 3.4 million Bluesky users - see if you can find yourself!
bluesky-map.theo.io
I've seen some similar projects, but IMO this seems to better capture some of the fine-grained detail
bluesky-map.theo.io
I've seen some similar projects, but IMO this seems to better capture some of the fine-grained detail
Reposted by Frederik Aust
🧵 New WP with @kaimiele.bsky.social. We document 2 unsettling patterns in mental health care: 1) despite universal coverage, few individuals with mental illness receive guideline-consistent treatment, and 2) the more severe the illness, the lower the treatment uptake & the longer the wait times. 1/n
February 5, 2026 at 8:35 AM
🧵 New WP with @kaimiele.bsky.social. We document 2 unsettling patterns in mental health care: 1) despite universal coverage, few individuals with mental illness receive guideline-consistent treatment, and 2) the more severe the illness, the lower the treatment uptake & the longer the wait times. 1/n
Reposted by Frederik Aust
I hate this: "The Editors have retracted this article... the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) instrument was used without proper permissions" link.springer.com/article/10.1... The MMSE is a series of 11 simple questions. A perfectly good paper is retracted because you can copyright 11 questions
Retraction Note: Cognitive function assessed by Mini-mental state examination and risk of all-cause mortality: a community-based prospective cohort study - BMC Geriatrics
BMC Geriatrics -
link.springer.com
January 28, 2026 at 11:33 AM
I hate this: "The Editors have retracted this article... the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) instrument was used without proper permissions" link.springer.com/article/10.1... The MMSE is a series of 11 simple questions. A perfectly good paper is retracted because you can copyright 11 questions
Reposted by Frederik Aust
Reposted by Frederik Aust
as I'm revising my course materials, I keep stumbling upon cool @mc-stan.org developments.
Current favorites:
1. your model has funnels and you exhausted reparametrization ideas: metric = "dense_e" makes your HMC learn about covariance btw parameters. Sloooow, but effective!
1/
Current favorites:
1. your model has funnels and you exhausted reparametrization ideas: metric = "dense_e" makes your HMC learn about covariance btw parameters. Sloooow, but effective!
1/
February 4, 2026 at 1:30 PM
as I'm revising my course materials, I keep stumbling upon cool @mc-stan.org developments.
Current favorites:
1. your model has funnels and you exhausted reparametrization ideas: metric = "dense_e" makes your HMC learn about covariance btw parameters. Sloooow, but effective!
1/
Current favorites:
1. your model has funnels and you exhausted reparametrization ideas: metric = "dense_e" makes your HMC learn about covariance btw parameters. Sloooow, but effective!
1/
Reposted by Frederik Aust
"Repetitions lead to better memory." Sure - but how? Our new paper led by former lab member @philippmusfeld.bsky.social shines new light on this question, and challenges some longstanding assumptions. Now published in Perspectives on Psychological Science.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/17456916251408052“
February 3, 2026 at 4:00 PM
"Repetitions lead to better memory." Sure - but how? Our new paper led by former lab member @philippmusfeld.bsky.social shines new light on this question, and challenges some longstanding assumptions. Now published in Perspectives on Psychological Science.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Reposted by Frederik Aust
+++ Teilt und unterschreibt unseren offenen Brief an die Hessische Landesregierung! +++ Wir werden die bevorstehende katastrophale Verschlechterung unseres Hochschulsystems nicht hinnehmen und fordern eine Neuverhandlung des Hochschulpakts! #nocuts #nocutsinhessen cryptpad.fr/pad/#/2/pad/...
Encrypted Rich text
CryptPad: end-to-end encrypted collaboration suite
cryptpad.fr
February 3, 2026 at 7:14 AM
+++ Teilt und unterschreibt unseren offenen Brief an die Hessische Landesregierung! +++ Wir werden die bevorstehende katastrophale Verschlechterung unseres Hochschulsystems nicht hinnehmen und fordern eine Neuverhandlung des Hochschulpakts! #nocuts #nocutsinhessen cryptpad.fr/pad/#/2/pad/...
Reposted by Frederik Aust
Why single-item measures of wellbeing are best
Why single-item measures of wellbeing are best
Nature Human Behaviour, Published online: 02 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41562-026-02401-yWhy single-item measures of wellbeing are best
dlvr.it
February 2, 2026 at 11:43 AM
Why single-item measures of wellbeing are best
Reposted by Frederik Aust
A new study from Anthropic finds that gains in coding efficiency when relying on AI assistance did did not meet statistical significance; AI use noticeably degraded programmers’ understanding of what they were doing. Incredible.
The latest from Anthropic: using Anthropic's products makes you worse at your job
How AI assistance impacts the formation of coding skills
Anthropic is an AI safety and research company that's working to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems.
www.anthropic.com
January 30, 2026 at 11:47 PM
A new study from Anthropic finds that gains in coding efficiency when relying on AI assistance did did not meet statistical significance; AI use noticeably degraded programmers’ understanding of what they were doing. Incredible.
Reposted by Frederik Aust
Are episodic and semantic memory really that different? Using closely matched tasks, we found no substantial neural differences between recalling personal experiences and general knowledge: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-025-02390-4
January 29, 2026 at 11:01 AM
Are episodic and semantic memory really that different? Using closely matched tasks, we found no substantial neural differences between recalling personal experiences and general knowledge: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-025-02390-4
Reposted by Frederik Aust
OpenAI just released Prism, a LaTeX editor with embedded ChatGPT for free.
Writing a paper has never been easier.
Clogging the scientific publishing pipeline has never been easier.
It took me 54 seconds to write up an experiment I did not actually conduct.
prism.openai.com
Writing a paper has never been easier.
Clogging the scientific publishing pipeline has never been easier.
It took me 54 seconds to write up an experiment I did not actually conduct.
prism.openai.com
January 27, 2026 at 11:01 PM
OpenAI just released Prism, a LaTeX editor with embedded ChatGPT for free.
Writing a paper has never been easier.
Clogging the scientific publishing pipeline has never been easier.
It took me 54 seconds to write up an experiment I did not actually conduct.
prism.openai.com
Writing a paper has never been easier.
Clogging the scientific publishing pipeline has never been easier.
It took me 54 seconds to write up an experiment I did not actually conduct.
prism.openai.com
Reposted by Frederik Aust
What Quarto extension would make your workflow easier?
There are already almost 300 extensions browsable at m.canouil.dev/quarto-exten... and installable via Quarto Wizard at m.canouil.dev/quarto-wizard/.
Drop your ideas below.
If there's enough interest, I might just build it.
#Quarto #OpenSource
There are already almost 300 extensions browsable at m.canouil.dev/quarto-exten... and installable via Quarto Wizard at m.canouil.dev/quarto-wizard/.
Drop your ideas below.
If there's enough interest, I might just build it.
#Quarto #OpenSource
January 29, 2026 at 1:16 PM
What Quarto extension would make your workflow easier?
There are already almost 300 extensions browsable at m.canouil.dev/quarto-exten... and installable via Quarto Wizard at m.canouil.dev/quarto-wizard/.
Drop your ideas below.
If there's enough interest, I might just build it.
#Quarto #OpenSource
There are already almost 300 extensions browsable at m.canouil.dev/quarto-exten... and installable via Quarto Wizard at m.canouil.dev/quarto-wizard/.
Drop your ideas below.
If there's enough interest, I might just build it.
#Quarto #OpenSource
Reposted by Frederik Aust
For a weekly seminar class, I'm looking for pairings of psych popularization with scholarly take-downs of the underlying research. I want students to see examples of how shoddy research gets hyped.
January 29, 2026 at 5:49 AM
For a weekly seminar class, I'm looking for pairings of psych popularization with scholarly take-downs of the underlying research. I want students to see examples of how shoddy research gets hyped.
Reposted by Frederik Aust
webRios is live. #rstats on your iPhone and iPad.
I showed native R compilation on #iOS last week. Shipping it is another story (thanks, GPL). This version uses #webR 's #WebAssembly build instead. Different tradeoffs, but this one clears App Review.
apps.apple.com/us/app/webri...
I showed native R compilation on #iOS last week. Shipping it is another story (thanks, GPL). This version uses #webR 's #WebAssembly build instead. Different tradeoffs, but this one clears App Review.
apps.apple.com/us/app/webri...
January 27, 2026 at 2:42 AM
webRios is live. #rstats on your iPhone and iPad.
I showed native R compilation on #iOS last week. Shipping it is another story (thanks, GPL). This version uses #webR 's #WebAssembly build instead. Different tradeoffs, but this one clears App Review.
apps.apple.com/us/app/webri...
I showed native R compilation on #iOS last week. Shipping it is another story (thanks, GPL). This version uses #webR 's #WebAssembly build instead. Different tradeoffs, but this one clears App Review.
apps.apple.com/us/app/webri...
Reposted by Frederik Aust
The Iowa Gambling Task is an extreme example of Jingle Fallacy and schmeasurement.
In 100 articles we found 244 different ways of scoring it, 177 were never reused. Correlations between them range -.99 to .99.
At the same time, we show meta-analyses combine these results as if they’re equivalent.
In 100 articles we found 244 different ways of scoring it, 177 were never reused. Correlations between them range -.99 to .99.
At the same time, we show meta-analyses combine these results as if they’re equivalent.
How many versions of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) exist? And how much does this affect research using the IGT? More than you might think. 🧵
Methodological Flexibility in the Iowa Gambling Task Undermines Interpretability: A Meta-method Review: https://osf.io/4g3vr
January 25, 2026 at 12:01 PM
The Iowa Gambling Task is an extreme example of Jingle Fallacy and schmeasurement.
In 100 articles we found 244 different ways of scoring it, 177 were never reused. Correlations between them range -.99 to .99.
At the same time, we show meta-analyses combine these results as if they’re equivalent.
In 100 articles we found 244 different ways of scoring it, 177 were never reused. Correlations between them range -.99 to .99.
At the same time, we show meta-analyses combine these results as if they’re equivalent.
Reposted by Frederik Aust
Oooh love this. Easiest way to parallelise anything in #rstats. Just add futurize() to your favourite function call
www.jottr.org/2026/01/22/f...
Thanks @henrikbengtsson.bsky.social HT @rstats.blaze.email
www.jottr.org/2026/01/22/f...
Thanks @henrikbengtsson.bsky.social HT @rstats.blaze.email
January 23, 2026 at 9:04 AM
Oooh love this. Easiest way to parallelise anything in #rstats. Just add futurize() to your favourite function call
www.jottr.org/2026/01/22/f...
Thanks @henrikbengtsson.bsky.social HT @rstats.blaze.email
www.jottr.org/2026/01/22/f...
Thanks @henrikbengtsson.bsky.social HT @rstats.blaze.email
Reposted by Frederik Aust
We are responding to this call for evidence:
ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet...
Do you have concrete examples of the added value of #Rstats in the public or private sectors?
Include the most important factors (risk, lock-in, security, innovation...) to assess the added value.
Thanks!
ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet...
Do you have concrete examples of the added value of #Rstats in the public or private sectors?
Include the most important factors (risk, lock-in, security, innovation...) to assess the added value.
Thanks!
European Commission - Have your say
European Commission - Have your say
ec.europa.eu
January 22, 2026 at 3:42 PM
We are responding to this call for evidence:
ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet...
Do you have concrete examples of the added value of #Rstats in the public or private sectors?
Include the most important factors (risk, lock-in, security, innovation...) to assess the added value.
Thanks!
ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet...
Do you have concrete examples of the added value of #Rstats in the public or private sectors?
Include the most important factors (risk, lock-in, security, innovation...) to assess the added value.
Thanks!
Reposted by Frederik Aust
Zotero 8 is out in stable: www.zotero.org/blog/zotero-8/
A bunch of new stuff -- the new citation dialog especially is a huge (and long overdue) improvement; massively speeds up anything I do in Word/GDocs with Zotero
A bunch of new stuff -- the new citation dialog especially is a huge (and long overdue) improvement; massively speeds up anything I do in Word/GDocs with Zotero
Zotero Blog » Blog Archive » Zotero 8
Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research.
www.zotero.org
January 22, 2026 at 7:15 PM
Zotero 8 is out in stable: www.zotero.org/blog/zotero-8/
A bunch of new stuff -- the new citation dialog especially is a huge (and long overdue) improvement; massively speeds up anything I do in Word/GDocs with Zotero
A bunch of new stuff -- the new citation dialog especially is a huge (and long overdue) improvement; massively speeds up anything I do in Word/GDocs with Zotero
Reposted by Frederik Aust
January 22, 2026 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by Frederik Aust
Check out our new JRR blog post with a potential candidate for Robustness Reports!
We highlight an article studying the effects of military policing interventions as a potential candidate for a set of robustness reports.
Link: www.journalofrobustnessreports.org/little-evide...
We highlight an article studying the effects of military policing interventions as a potential candidate for a set of robustness reports.
Link: www.journalofrobustnessreports.org/little-evide...
Little Evidence that Military Policing Reduces Crime or Improves Human Security - Journal of Robustness Reports
In this blogpost we wish to highlight the following article as a candidate for a set of Robustness Reports: Blair, R. A., & Weintraub, M. (2023). Little evidence that military policing reduces crime o...
www.journalofrobustnessreports.org
January 20, 2026 at 9:54 AM
Check out our new JRR blog post with a potential candidate for Robustness Reports!
We highlight an article studying the effects of military policing interventions as a potential candidate for a set of robustness reports.
Link: www.journalofrobustnessreports.org/little-evide...
We highlight an article studying the effects of military policing interventions as a potential candidate for a set of robustness reports.
Link: www.journalofrobustnessreports.org/little-evide...
Reposted by Frederik Aust
The Max Planck Society has begun an exploratory round table for open science. We are drafting some recommendations to leadership. Still a long way to go! But here are my notes on the most recent draft, just so you all know how I am trying to steer things.
December 17, 2025 at 11:33 AM
The Max Planck Society has begun an exploratory round table for open science. We are drafting some recommendations to leadership. Still a long way to go! But here are my notes on the most recent draft, just so you all know how I am trying to steer things.
Reposted by Frederik Aust
if you want to give wikipedia a birthday present, edit an article! volunteer labor is wikipedia’s most valuable resource and always has been!!!!
Operating imperfectly in an imperfect world, Wikipedia still deserves support. I do that by being a Wikipedian, correcting clear errors that I can document and fix, and occasionally translating pieces from Portuguese into English. It's a civic duty, like voting.
January 16, 2026 at 5:19 AM
if you want to give wikipedia a birthday present, edit an article! volunteer labor is wikipedia’s most valuable resource and always has been!!!!
Reposted by Frederik Aust
Es ist wieder soweit! It's time to take down and responsibly dispose of your xmas tree. Please consider the Christmas tree cannon
January 2, 2026 at 12:42 PM
Es ist wieder soweit! It's time to take down and responsibly dispose of your xmas tree. Please consider the Christmas tree cannon