Jessica Sommerville
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jessicas.bsky.social
Jessica Sommerville
@jessicas.bsky.social
1.5K followers 290 following 51 posts
Psych prof at Univ. of Toronto, studying the dev't of social and moral cognition, learning, and behavio(u)r.

tecl.ca
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Jessica Sommerville
joshuaconfer.bsky.social
Why do otherwise rational people disagree about the same evidence? Our new paper finds that group membership is a deeply rooted influence on how we form beliefs, leading even preschoolers to bias their evidential standards and form inaccurate beliefs.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
February 5, 2026 at 4:56 PM
Reposted by Jessica Sommerville
julia-a-leonard.bsky.social
💥New paper alert! Dyadic Decisions About Effort: How Caregivers Shape Young Children’s Persistence (with @reutshachnai.bsky.social)

One of my favorites! If you’re curious about what we’ve been up to in @leonardlearnlab.bsky.social, take a look!
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
February 3, 2026 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Jessica Sommerville
fernandosanchezh.bsky.social
We propose that 2-year-olds show emerging sensitivity to disadvantageous outcomes, but only 4-year-olds' costly responses to unfairness reflect true disadvantageous inequity aversion.

Read more at:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The emergence of disadvantageous inequity aversion between 2–4 years
When and how children begin responding to inequitable resource distributions, particularly those that put them at a disadvantage, remains unclear. Acr…
www.sciencedirect.com
January 26, 2026 at 9:27 PM
jessicas.bsky.social
New lab paper with Dave Sobel @candmlab.bsky.social and led by the remarkable @radovanovic.bsky.social and @jaeminhwang.bsky.social. Infants expect equality not only in resource distributions but also resource collections.
radovanovic.bsky.social Mia Radovanovic @radovanovic.bsky.social · 19d
Out in @cognitionjournal.bsky.social with @jaeminhwang.bsky.social, David Sobel (@candmlab.bsky.social), and @jessicas.bsky.social! Most studies of infants’ fairness expectations focus on resource distribution, but in everyday life, we engage in many different kinds of resource exchanges.
Figure shows the methods used in the paper's experiments. In the left column are the methods for Exp 1 (Collection) and in the right are the methods for Exp 2 (Distribution). In each video, three women sit at a table. One sits in the middle, serving as a collector/distributor, and two sit in the foreground with plates. During familiarization trials, resources were collected from or distributed to their plates with an occluder on the screen hiding the outcomes. During test trials, the same videos were played but with the outcomes shown such that infants either viewed an equal collection/distribution or an unequal collection/distribution.
January 21, 2026 at 4:42 PM
Reposted by Jessica Sommerville
radovanovic.bsky.social
Out in @cognitionjournal.bsky.social with @jaeminhwang.bsky.social, David Sobel (@candmlab.bsky.social), and @jessicas.bsky.social! Most studies of infants’ fairness expectations focus on resource distribution, but in everyday life, we engage in many different kinds of resource exchanges.
Figure shows the methods used in the paper's experiments. In the left column are the methods for Exp 1 (Collection) and in the right are the methods for Exp 2 (Distribution). In each video, three women sit at a table. One sits in the middle, serving as a collector/distributor, and two sit in the foreground with plates. During familiarization trials, resources were collected from or distributed to their plates with an occluder on the screen hiding the outcomes. During test trials, the same videos were played but with the outcomes shown such that infants either viewed an equal collection/distribution or an unequal collection/distribution.
January 21, 2026 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Jessica Sommerville
drlarisa.bsky.social
This paper about inferences that kids draw on the basis of parental incarceration is now published! Pretty version here: psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-.... Link to full text & summary in thread below.
🧪 #PsychSciSky #SocialPsyc #DevPsyc @socphilpsych.bsky.social
January 12, 2026 at 7:19 PM
jessicas.bsky.social
Is it wrong that I'm trying to use AI to try to come up with AI proof assignments for my students? (pls say no, or better yet, give me some suggestions!).
December 30, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Reposted by Jessica Sommerville
umiamipsych.bsky.social
Congrats, Dr. @tiffany6390.bsky.social! 👏

news.miami.edu/stories/2025...
Big ideas in 180 seconds
The 10th Annual Three Minute Thesis Competition showcased graduate students across the University of Miami presenting research in fields ranging from medicine and computer engineering to literature an...
news.miami.edu
November 14, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Reposted by Jessica Sommerville
Are you a US-based PhD student WITHOUT summer funding who is interested in adolescent development, trans youth, and/or gender? Reach out to me about applying to join my lab in Summer 2026 for the VIPS program! psych.princeton.edu/diversity/vi...
Visiting Internship for Ph.D. Students (VIPS) Program
The VIPS program is an initiative of the DEI committee of the Department of Psychology at Princeton University. VIPS will support up to 4 Ph.D. students who are full-time students at other universitie...
psych.princeton.edu
October 31, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Reposted by Jessica Sommerville
dirkbwalther.bsky.social
Who's afraid of AI?

toronto2025.ai
October 16, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Reposted by Jessica Sommerville
janderz8.bsky.social
Hi #canadian researchers - please sign this petition to help ensure funding isn’t cut to tri council agencies (NSERC, SSHRC, and CIHR). We’re looking at potential 15% cuts to ALL federal spending including grants win.newmode.net/canadianasso...
New/Mode | Make your voice impossible to ignore
win.newmode.net
September 18, 2025 at 9:13 PM
Reposted by Jessica Sommerville
addyct.bsky.social
two figurines on a white background. one side is labeled Labubu, with your typically furry Labubu figure. the other side is Lakiki, and it's fur has been photoshopped to be spiky.
September 30, 2025 at 2:20 PM
jessicas.bsky.social
📣📣📣 Hi Everyone! I'm accepting PhD students for the Fall 2026 cycle! Our lab topics include the developmental origins and elaboration of moral cognition/prosocial behavior, persistence, and optimism. More info below!!
September 11, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Jessica Sommerville
infantstudies.bsky.social
Lazarus et al. (2025): A simple act with a lasting impact: Holding babies skin-to-skin in the NICU helped support their development and reduced differences linked to family income. Early touch can be a powerful way to promote equity from the very start #infancypapers doi.org/10.1111/infa...
doi.org
July 31, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by Jessica Sommerville
jkileyhamlin.bsky.social
New paper! Here (in Nature Communications) we (Ale Geraci, Luca Surian, Lucia Gabriella Tina, & I; work led/run by Ale) show that 5-day-old newborns selectively attend to two distinct forms of prosocial over antisocial action: approaching versus avoiding and helping versus hindering.
rdcu.be/evorW
Human newborns spontaneously attend to prosocial interactions
Nature Communications - Abilities to distinguish between prosocial and antisocial actions are crucial for sustaining cooperative systems. Here, the authors show that human newborns with just 5 days...
rdcu.be
July 8, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Reposted by Jessica Sommerville
anniewertz.bsky.social
I'm hiring a full-time #labmanager for my new Lab for Infant Learning and Cognition (LILAC) at UCSB! The start date is flexible, but could be as early as August 1, 2025. Application review begins July 17th and will continue until the position is filled 👶🪴

recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02992

#academicjobs
Junior Specialist-Lab for Infant Learning And Cognition (LILAC), Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
University of California Santa Barbara is hiring. Apply now!
recruit.ap.ucsb.edu
July 2, 2025 at 7:26 PM
jessicas.bsky.social
🚨 Postdoc Opportunity!!!
The Toronto Early Cognition Lab (@UofT) is hiring a postdoc to study early optimism in infants & young children.
Work w/ multi-method approach, amazing undergrads & grads.
Start: Fall 2025 or later.
Details: jessica.sommerville@utoronto.ca
RTs appreciated 💫
June 26, 2025 at 2:48 PM
jessicas.bsky.social
Wow this is cool!!
June 26, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Jessica Sommerville
vddwivedi.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PnO...
Check out this 1 min clip where I describe why it's impossible for AI to 'understand' language.
based on @theconversation.com article lnkd.in/gh97_cbW
#Neuroscience @brocku.ca
Veena Dwivedi discusses limits to AI’s ability to ‘understand’ like a human brain
YouTube video by Brock University
www.youtube.com
June 19, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Reposted by Jessica Sommerville
vddwivedi.bsky.social
Check out my new article in The Conversation Canada, based on my research in #Neuroscience at @brocku.ca theconversation.com/a-neuroscien...
A neuroscientist explains why it’s impossible for AI to ‘understand’ language
Describing artificial intelligence as having neural networks and understanding language has implications for how we understand both AI and the human brain.
theconversation.com
June 5, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Reposted by Jessica Sommerville
mekline.bsky.social
Just had the chance to present on an @infantstudies.bsky.social panel about inexpensive methods for data collection with children - if you're curious about how Children Helping Science works/the kinds of studies you can run, this slide deck is a good place to start!

docs.google.com/presentation...
2025 - CHS (ICIS Webinar)
Conducting developmental studies online with Children Helping Science Melissa Kline Struhl ICIS Webinar 05/29/2025 1 1 Children Helping Science
docs.google.com
May 29, 2025 at 5:25 PM
jessicas.bsky.social
My ICIS blog post about some of our lab's recent work:
infantstudies.org/to-try-or-no...
To try or not to try: That is the (developmental) question - The International Congress of Infant Studies
infantstudies.org
May 4, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Reposted by Jessica Sommerville
radovanovic.bsky.social
#SRCD2025 come check out the Toronto Early Cognition Lab (@jessicas.bsky.social)! @elainewang.bsky.social will also be presenting work with @julia-a-leonard.bsky.social that we got to collaborate on :)
May 1, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Jessica Sommerville
nytimes.com
Breaking News: Canada’s Liberal Party is projected to win, electing Mark Carney, who ran on an anti-Trump platform, as prime minister. nyti.ms/4308UmS
Mark Carney is pictured in a suit and tie speaking into a microphone. Headline reads: "Mark Carney Wins Full Term as Canada’s Prime Minister on Anti-Trump Platform." Photo credit: Cole Burston for The New York Times.
April 29, 2025 at 2:35 AM
jessicas.bsky.social
Canadian Academics!: I'm seeing that CAUT just issued a travel advisory warning against non-essential travel to the US. I'm curious to know how folks are feeling about this and whether it will affect plans to attend upcoming conferences?
www.thestar.com/news/canada/...
Canadian academics warned to halt non-essential travel to the U.S. amid Trump’s crackdown, border tensions
The Canadian Association of University Teachers has issued a travel advisory for its members amid Trump’s crackdown and border fears.
www.thestar.com
April 15, 2025 at 8:00 PM