Sam Gershman
@gershbrain.bsky.social
Professor, Department of Psychology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University
https://gershmanlab.com/
https://gershmanlab.com/
That's a new one...
I guess now that James Watson is dead, Rosalind Franklin can finally become active in science again?
I guess now that James Watson is dead, Rosalind Franklin can finally become active in science again?
December 30, 2025 at 11:29 AM
That's a new one...
I guess now that James Watson is dead, Rosalind Franklin can finally become active in science again?
I guess now that James Watson is dead, Rosalind Franklin can finally become active in science again?
Reposted by Sam Gershman
New book! I have written a book, called Syntax: A cognitive approach, published by MIT Press.
This is open access; MIT Press will post a link soon, but until then, the book is available on my website:
tedlab.mit.edu/tedlab_websi...
This is open access; MIT Press will post a link soon, but until then, the book is available on my website:
tedlab.mit.edu/tedlab_websi...
tedlab.mit.edu
December 24, 2025 at 7:55 PM
New book! I have written a book, called Syntax: A cognitive approach, published by MIT Press.
This is open access; MIT Press will post a link soon, but until then, the book is available on my website:
tedlab.mit.edu/tedlab_websi...
This is open access; MIT Press will post a link soon, but until then, the book is available on my website:
tedlab.mit.edu/tedlab_websi...
Depiction of a professor using his research time to pore through last year's student handbook in order to prove to an undergrad who received an A- that the grading guidelines are not new.
December 24, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Depiction of a professor using his research time to pore through last year's student handbook in order to prove to an undergrad who received an A- that the grading guidelines are not new.
Goal selection through the lens of subjective functions:
arxiv.org/abs/2512.15948
I welcome any feedback on these preliminary ideas.
arxiv.org/abs/2512.15948
I welcome any feedback on these preliminary ideas.
Subjective functions
Where do objective functions come from? How do we select what goals to pursue? Human intelligence is adept at synthesizing new objective functions on the fly. How does this work, and can we endow arti...
arxiv.org
December 19, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Goal selection through the lens of subjective functions:
arxiv.org/abs/2512.15948
I welcome any feedback on these preliminary ideas.
arxiv.org/abs/2512.15948
I welcome any feedback on these preliminary ideas.
Academics criticizing OA fee cap:
www.science.org/content/arti...
I understand the equity concerns, but I'm surprised that people have so little faith in market forces. If there's no money to pay the fees, the fees will come down.
www.science.org/content/arti...
I understand the equity concerns, but I'm surprised that people have so little faith in market forces. If there's no money to pay the fees, the fees will come down.
NIH’s proposed caps on open-access publishing fees roil scientific community
Policy to be implemented next year drew more than 900 comments, most of them critical
www.science.org
December 18, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Academics criticizing OA fee cap:
www.science.org/content/arti...
I understand the equity concerns, but I'm surprised that people have so little faith in market forces. If there's no money to pay the fees, the fees will come down.
www.science.org/content/arti...
I understand the equity concerns, but I'm surprised that people have so little faith in market forces. If there's no money to pay the fees, the fees will come down.
I've been trying to think through my misgivings about machine psychology. I think it's reasonable to argue that cognitive science should try to understand all cognitive systems, including machines. And it would be useful to know the biases of agents we are interacting with or delegating work to.
December 18, 2025 at 6:18 PM
I've been trying to think through my misgivings about machine psychology. I think it's reasonable to argue that cognitive science should try to understand all cognitive systems, including machines. And it would be useful to know the biases of agents we are interacting with or delegating work to.
Reposted by Sam Gershman
Our🥶COOLNESS paper to date is finally published! Ice cold and lithium dramatically delay forgetting (extend memory) in C. elegans. Why? read all about it! 👇
rdcu.be/eVhn2
rdcu.be/eVhn2
Cold and lithium delay forgetting of olfactory memories in Caenorhabditis elegans
Nature Neuroscience - In this study, we identify an actively regulated process that governs the rate of forgetting in Caenorhabditis elegans, modulated by both temperature and the mood-stabilizing...
rdcu.be
December 18, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Our🥶COOLNESS paper to date is finally published! Ice cold and lithium dramatically delay forgetting (extend memory) in C. elegans. Why? read all about it! 👇
rdcu.be/eVhn2
rdcu.be/eVhn2
Is there any evidence for anti-Hebbian plasticity during sleep? This is an old hypothesis that continues to get cited (and to appear in some computational models), yet I haven't been able to find any study that shows this. There's ample evidence of synaptic downscaling, but that's different.
December 15, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Is there any evidence for anti-Hebbian plasticity during sleep? This is an old hypothesis that continues to get cited (and to appear in some computational models), yet I haven't been able to find any study that shows this. There's ample evidence of synaptic downscaling, but that's different.
I would like to juxtapose this with this.
bsky.app/profile/mitp...
bsky.app/profile/mitp...
December 12, 2025 at 1:57 PM
I would like to juxtapose this with this.
bsky.app/profile/mitp...
bsky.app/profile/mitp...
Reposted by Sam Gershman
The Press and @openmindjournal.bsky.social are pleased to announce a partnership with Lyrasis through the Open Access Community Investment Program (OACIP).
Learn how your institution can support this initiative to continue providing the latest #cogsci research—free of charge—here: bit.ly/452nMma
Learn how your institution can support this initiative to continue providing the latest #cogsci research—free of charge—here: bit.ly/452nMma
The MIT Press and Open Mind partner with Lyrasis to support diamond open access publishing through the Open Access Community Investment Program
The Open Access Community Investment Program (OACIP), an innovative model for community action, will seek support for MIT Press journal Open Mind through July 2026
bit.ly
December 11, 2025 at 2:30 PM
The Press and @openmindjournal.bsky.social are pleased to announce a partnership with Lyrasis through the Open Access Community Investment Program (OACIP).
Learn how your institution can support this initiative to continue providing the latest #cogsci research—free of charge—here: bit.ly/452nMma
Learn how your institution can support this initiative to continue providing the latest #cogsci research—free of charge—here: bit.ly/452nMma
Reposted by Sam Gershman
Alright scientists! It's that time again!
Time to sign up for Skype a Scientist's spring semester.
Want to get matched with a classroom in 2026?
Sign up now 🥰
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Time to sign up for Skype a Scientist's spring semester.
Want to get matched with a classroom in 2026?
Sign up now 🥰
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
December 10, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Alright scientists! It's that time again!
Time to sign up for Skype a Scientist's spring semester.
Want to get matched with a classroom in 2026?
Sign up now 🥰
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Time to sign up for Skype a Scientist's spring semester.
Want to get matched with a classroom in 2026?
Sign up now 🥰
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Harvard is under intense budgetary pressure, yet there are many people at the university receiving enormous compensation packages:
www.harvardmagazine.com/2024/05/top-...
I assume these numbers haven't changed, otherwise Harvard presumably would have announced it.
www.harvardmagazine.com/2024/05/top-...
I assume these numbers haven't changed, otherwise Harvard presumably would have announced it.
Harvard Discloses Administrator and Investment Manager Compensation | Harvard Magazine
The annual release on leaders’ most recent pay
www.harvardmagazine.com
December 10, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Harvard is under intense budgetary pressure, yet there are many people at the university receiving enormous compensation packages:
www.harvardmagazine.com/2024/05/top-...
I assume these numbers haven't changed, otherwise Harvard presumably would have announced it.
www.harvardmagazine.com/2024/05/top-...
I assume these numbers haven't changed, otherwise Harvard presumably would have announced it.
This is so clever:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
December 8, 2025 at 3:34 PM
This is so clever:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Reposted by Sam Gershman
fun pre-print for your start of week reading:
"People Make Graded Judgments About The Inconceivable"
(by Hu, Sosa, and me)
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
"People Make Graded Judgments About The Inconceivable"
(by Hu, Sosa, and me)
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
December 8, 2025 at 2:18 PM
fun pre-print for your start of week reading:
"People Make Graded Judgments About The Inconceivable"
(by Hu, Sosa, and me)
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
"People Make Graded Judgments About The Inconceivable"
(by Hu, Sosa, and me)
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Cost of 1 spike: 10^8 ATP (~3-7 bits)
Cost of adding 1 nucleotide to a string: 1 ATP (2 bits)
Cost of releasing 1 typical extracellular vesicle (exosome ~100nm): ~10-100 ATP
Conjecture: it's more energy-efficent (in bits/ATP) to communicate between neurons with RNA packaged in exosomes
Cost of adding 1 nucleotide to a string: 1 ATP (2 bits)
Cost of releasing 1 typical extracellular vesicle (exosome ~100nm): ~10-100 ATP
Conjecture: it's more energy-efficent (in bits/ATP) to communicate between neurons with RNA packaged in exosomes
December 8, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Cost of 1 spike: 10^8 ATP (~3-7 bits)
Cost of adding 1 nucleotide to a string: 1 ATP (2 bits)
Cost of releasing 1 typical extracellular vesicle (exosome ~100nm): ~10-100 ATP
Conjecture: it's more energy-efficent (in bits/ATP) to communicate between neurons with RNA packaged in exosomes
Cost of adding 1 nucleotide to a string: 1 ATP (2 bits)
Cost of releasing 1 typical extracellular vesicle (exosome ~100nm): ~10-100 ATP
Conjecture: it's more energy-efficent (in bits/ATP) to communicate between neurons with RNA packaged in exosomes
Another fun project from @yangxiang.bsky.social. She asks the question: do people assign responsibility to personality traits in the same way that they assign reponsibility to people? The answer: sort of!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
OSF
osf.io
December 6, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Another fun project from @yangxiang.bsky.social. She asks the question: do people assign responsibility to personality traits in the same way that they assign reponsibility to people? The answer: sort of!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
"I dived deep in the ocean of astronomical theories, true and false, and rescued the precious sunken jewel of true knowledge by the means of the boat of my own intellect."
Quoted in The Golden Road, by William Dalrymple
Quoted in The Golden Road, by William Dalrymple
December 6, 2025 at 1:12 PM
"I dived deep in the ocean of astronomical theories, true and false, and rescued the precious sunken jewel of true knowledge by the means of the boat of my own intellect."
Quoted in The Golden Road, by William Dalrymple
Quoted in The Golden Road, by William Dalrymple
The Harvard Gazette has a nice story on my student @yangxiang.bsky.social and her work with @tobigerstenberg.bsky.social
news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
Cracking the code of why, when some choose to ‘self-handicap’ — Harvard Gazette
New research also offers hints for devising ways to stop students from creating obstacles to success.
news.harvard.edu
December 4, 2025 at 7:43 PM
The Harvard Gazette has a nice story on my student @yangxiang.bsky.social and her work with @tobigerstenberg.bsky.social
news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...
Congress is currently considering a piece of legislation that would effectively sever all scientific ties between the US and China. Unbelievable.
You can read the AAU response here:
www.aau.edu/key-issues/a...
You can read the AAU response here:
www.aau.edu/key-issues/a...
December 4, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Congress is currently considering a piece of legislation that would effectively sever all scientific ties between the US and China. Unbelievable.
You can read the AAU response here:
www.aau.edu/key-issues/a...
You can read the AAU response here:
www.aau.edu/key-issues/a...
Descartes thought the mind controls the body, but popular science in the 21st century has fliipped this on its head: an inverted homunculus in the brain controls the mind. Our mental states are hydraulic tubes through which hemodynamic spirits flow, animated by the soul residing in neural tissue.
December 4, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Descartes thought the mind controls the body, but popular science in the 21st century has fliipped this on its head: an inverted homunculus in the brain controls the mind. Our mental states are hydraulic tubes through which hemodynamic spirits flow, animated by the soul residing in neural tissue.
I've worked with Momchil for years and can't recommend his lab enough!
December 3, 2025 at 6:19 PM
I've worked with Momchil for years and can't recommend his lab enough!
Reposted by Sam Gershman
John J. Vastola, Samuel J. Gershman, Kanaka Rajan: A Variational Manifold Embedding Framework for Nonlinear Dimensionality Reduction https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.22128 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2511.22128 https://arxiv.org/html/2511.22128
December 1, 2025 at 6:33 AM
John J. Vastola, Samuel J. Gershman, Kanaka Rajan: A Variational Manifold Embedding Framework for Nonlinear Dimensionality Reduction https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.22128 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2511.22128 https://arxiv.org/html/2511.22128
The best brain-machine interface remains the mouth. Evolution spent 4B years of evolution on R&D developing the device, so I guess it's not that surprising. Yet it still rarely appears as a baseline in evaluations of new devices.
December 1, 2025 at 1:28 PM
The best brain-machine interface remains the mouth. Evolution spent 4B years of evolution on R&D developing the device, so I guess it's not that surprising. Yet it still rarely appears as a baseline in evaluations of new devices.
In his Treatise on Instrumentation and Orchestration, the composer Hector Berlioz envisioned an ideal orchestra that included 30 grand pianos, 30 harps, 360 singers, 120 violins!! As Gertrude Stein said, "If it can be done, why do it?"
www.hberlioz.com/Scores/Berli...
www.hberlioz.com/Scores/Berli...
November 25, 2025 at 4:28 PM
In his Treatise on Instrumentation and Orchestration, the composer Hector Berlioz envisioned an ideal orchestra that included 30 grand pianos, 30 harps, 360 singers, 120 violins!! As Gertrude Stein said, "If it can be done, why do it?"
www.hberlioz.com/Scores/Berli...
www.hberlioz.com/Scores/Berli...
Reposted by Sam Gershman
I am recruiting graduate students for the experimental side of my lab @mcgill.ca for admission in Fall 2026!
Get in touch if you're interested in how brain circuits implement distributed computation, including dopamine-based distributed RL and probabilistic representations.
Get in touch if you're interested in how brain circuits implement distributed computation, including dopamine-based distributed RL and probabilistic representations.
November 19, 2025 at 6:04 PM
I am recruiting graduate students for the experimental side of my lab @mcgill.ca for admission in Fall 2026!
Get in touch if you're interested in how brain circuits implement distributed computation, including dopamine-based distributed RL and probabilistic representations.
Get in touch if you're interested in how brain circuits implement distributed computation, including dopamine-based distributed RL and probabilistic representations.