Jonathan F. Kominsky
@jfkominsky.bsky.social
(he/him) Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science at Central European University in Vienna, PI of the CEU Causal Cognition Lab (https://ccl.ceu.edu) #CogSci #PsychSciSky #SciSky
Personal site: https://www.jfkominsky.com
Personal site: https://www.jfkominsky.com
Pinned
Causal Cognition Lab
ccl.ceu.edu
#HiSciSky I study the cognitive science of causality: How we identify cause-and-effect in the world and how we think and reason about it. I'm the PI of the CEU Causal Cognition Lab in Vienna, Austria. (ccl.ceu.edu)
#CogSci #PsySci #DevSci
#CogSci #PsySci #DevSci
Reposted by Jonathan F. Kominsky
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!🙏
I got a request in a recent review to insert a large number of wholly irrelevant citations.
I complained to the editor immediately, and that review was simply removed.
Blocking this kind of nonsense is an editor's responsibility, make them do it. (And I'm saying that as an editor myself!)
I complained to the editor immediately, and that review was simply removed.
Blocking this kind of nonsense is an editor's responsibility, make them do it. (And I'm saying that as an editor myself!)
Except that the net result is that the paper is retracted and has to be re-reviewed. At least the publisher notes this is not the fault of authors, but it sucks for them all the same.
November 12, 2025 at 10:29 AM
I got a request in a recent review to insert a large number of wholly irrelevant citations.
I complained to the editor immediately, and that review was simply removed.
Blocking this kind of nonsense is an editor's responsibility, make them do it. (And I'm saying that as an editor myself!)
I complained to the editor immediately, and that review was simply removed.
Blocking this kind of nonsense is an editor's responsibility, make them do it. (And I'm saying that as an editor myself!)
Reposted by Jonathan F. Kominsky
BlueSky is automatically hiding posts with cuss words in them.
You may want to adjust your settings:
You may want to adjust your settings:
Wondering why no one likes your posts anymore, even among your friends? It's because @jay.bsky.team and team have decided to hide a huge amount of content from all of our feeds by default.
Here's how to turn it off.
First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
Here's how to turn it off.
First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
November 7, 2025 at 3:03 AM
BlueSky is automatically hiding posts with cuss words in them.
You may want to adjust your settings:
You may want to adjust your settings:
Reposted by Jonathan F. Kominsky
i set these all to "warn" because i was wondering what it was catching (and I actually don't like to see language wishing violence, as people who have tried it in my mentions have found out) ....and immediately saw warnings on posts with phrases like "give a shit"
Wondering why no one likes your posts anymore, even among your friends? It's because @jay.bsky.team and team have decided to hide a huge amount of content from all of our feeds by default.
Here's how to turn it off.
First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
Here's how to turn it off.
First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner
November 6, 2025 at 9:44 PM
i set these all to "warn" because i was wondering what it was catching (and I actually don't like to see language wishing violence, as people who have tried it in my mentions have found out) ....and immediately saw warnings on posts with phrases like "give a shit"
Reposted by Jonathan F. Kominsky
German train life
I hope my connecting train is delayed at about the same rate as my current train so that I can dash between platforms
😐
I hope my connecting train is delayed at about the same rate as my current train so that I can dash between platforms
😐
October 22, 2025 at 6:48 AM
German train life
I hope my connecting train is delayed at about the same rate as my current train so that I can dash between platforms
😐
I hope my connecting train is delayed at about the same rate as my current train so that I can dash between platforms
😐
I recently asked a class of undergrads what they actually use Siri/voice assistants for.
The list had one item: Setting timers, usually for cooking because their hands were dirty.
That was *it*
This whole branch of tech seems to be a dead end.
The list had one item: Setting timers, usually for cooking because their hands were dirty.
That was *it*
This whole branch of tech seems to be a dead end.
It's so funny how long companies have been trying to sell the '.... control computers... but with your voice' thing, which mostly seems to be a fantasy that seems to exist because it was the easiest way to present computers in sci-fi stories.
October 17, 2025 at 3:18 AM
I recently asked a class of undergrads what they actually use Siri/voice assistants for.
The list had one item: Setting timers, usually for cooking because their hands were dirty.
That was *it*
This whole branch of tech seems to be a dead end.
The list had one item: Setting timers, usually for cooking because their hands were dirty.
That was *it*
This whole branch of tech seems to be a dead end.
Reposted by Jonathan F. Kominsky
eh, It wasn't that high up... and 4-year-olds can take it. 😜
But if you're looking for other good moments in the paper... I also recommend reading the acknowledgments closely.
But if you're looking for other good moments in the paper... I also recommend reading the acknowledgments closely.
October 15, 2025 at 11:49 AM
eh, It wasn't that high up... and 4-year-olds can take it. 😜
But if you're looking for other good moments in the paper... I also recommend reading the acknowledgments closely.
But if you're looking for other good moments in the paper... I also recommend reading the acknowledgments closely.
Reposted by Jonathan F. Kominsky
Exciting news: My lab has published our first paper! Here, we review the literature on early social evaluation, and we make recommendations about how to best study social evaluation in infants and toddlers.
direct.mit.edu/opmi/article...
direct.mit.edu/opmi/article...
The Study of Early Social Evaluation: Contextualizing Failures to Replicate and Looking Forward
Abstract. In classic research, Hamlin et al. (2007) found that infants preferentially reach to agents who help others over agents who hinder others. These early findings provided evidence that infants...
direct.mit.edu
October 14, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Exciting news: My lab has published our first paper! Here, we review the literature on early social evaluation, and we make recommendations about how to best study social evaluation in infants and toddlers.
direct.mit.edu/opmi/article...
direct.mit.edu/opmi/article...
Reposted by Jonathan F. Kominsky
Notably this problem is also solved 100% without any AI and instead, at zero cost, by journals adopting format-agnostic initial submissions (as many journals have already done)
Finally, someone has solved a real problem with AI! No more having to take a paper in the format for a journal that rejected you, and reformat it for a new journal. Well done!! formatmypaper.com
October 15, 2025 at 6:58 AM
Notably this problem is also solved 100% without any AI and instead, at zero cost, by journals adopting format-agnostic initial submissions (as many journals have already done)
Reposted by Jonathan F. Kominsky
If you're wondering whether or not to get a flu shot, I didn't get one in time, and I just had a fever dream where I was in the Drew Carey Show because several days ago I was on the Wikipedia page for the Drew Carey Show. You don't have to do this to yourself.
October 13, 2025 at 11:00 PM
If you're wondering whether or not to get a flu shot, I didn't get one in time, and I just had a fever dream where I was in the Drew Carey Show because several days ago I was on the Wikipedia page for the Drew Carey Show. You don't have to do this to yourself.
This is something I've been thinking about a lot recently. I noted that there are some disconnects between the causal perception literature and the core cognition literature on causality in a recent paper onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
October 10, 2025 at 7:26 AM
This is something I've been thinking about a lot recently. I noted that there are some disconnects between the causal perception literature and the core cognition literature on causality in a recent paper onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Jonathan F. Kominsky
Help! Do you know some great resources for teaching (grad or UG thesis) students how to manage their projects?
October 9, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Help! Do you know some great resources for teaching (grad or UG thesis) students how to manage their projects?
Reposted by Jonathan F. Kominsky
Whether it’s Joe Biden attending weekly mass or Donald Trump’s ICE agents shooting a priest in the face with a pepper ball, presidents of both sides have directly engaged with the Catholic faith.
October 9, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Whether it’s Joe Biden attending weekly mass or Donald Trump’s ICE agents shooting a priest in the face with a pepper ball, presidents of both sides have directly engaged with the Catholic faith.
Reposted by Jonathan F. Kominsky
When the Yankees get eliminated
October 9, 2025 at 2:44 AM
When the Yankees get eliminated
Reposted by Jonathan F. Kominsky
I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.
October 7, 2025 at 11:29 PM
I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.
Reposted by Jonathan F. Kominsky
A wild exchange with Gemini Pro 2.5. In preparing some examples for my seminar (cogsci-llms.netlify.app) I remembered @randomwalker.bsky.social old tweet about playing Rock paper scissors with LLMs. Decided to see what it's like now ....
October 1, 2025 at 4:31 AM
A wild exchange with Gemini Pro 2.5. In preparing some examples for my seminar (cogsci-llms.netlify.app) I remembered @randomwalker.bsky.social old tweet about playing Rock paper scissors with LLMs. Decided to see what it's like now ....
Reposted by Jonathan F. Kominsky
kids these days just don’t understand their computer’s filesystem. gotta organise your files into folders, not just rely on cloud and search!
i don't want to hear your most boomer complaint. what's your most millennial complaint?
September 20, 2025 at 2:17 AM
kids these days just don’t understand their computer’s filesystem. gotta organise your files into folders, not just rely on cloud and search!
Reposted by Jonathan F. Kominsky
Nothing. I use it for nothing at all because AI is good at zero of the tasks I do regularly
Honestly I don't even know what its web address is, is it like a 2000s style ChatGPT.com or something funkier like chat.g.pt
Honestly I don't even know what its web address is, is it like a 2000s style ChatGPT.com or something funkier like chat.g.pt
September 17, 2025 at 4:37 AM
Nothing. I use it for nothing at all because AI is good at zero of the tasks I do regularly
Honestly I don't even know what its web address is, is it like a 2000s style ChatGPT.com or something funkier like chat.g.pt
Honestly I don't even know what its web address is, is it like a 2000s style ChatGPT.com or something funkier like chat.g.pt
Reposting for the morning crowd (and with proper tags this time): My Ph.D. student's first paper, on how causal coherence affects our episodic memory.
#CogSci #PsychSciSky
#CogSci #PsychSciSky
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 17, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Reposting for the morning crowd (and with proper tags this time): My Ph.D. student's first paper, on how causal coherence affects our episodic memory.
#CogSci #PsychSciSky
#CogSci #PsychSciSky
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)
I didn't announce it here, but our first child was born just over three weeks ago.
Sleepy as I am, watching his development from day to day has been amazing. It’s humbling to see how *rich* human development actually is, and how little we as scientists can actually capture of it.
Sleepy as I am, watching his development from day to day has been amazing. It’s humbling to see how *rich* human development actually is, and how little we as scientists can actually capture of it.
September 14, 2025 at 6:44 AM
I didn't announce it here, but our first child was born just over three weeks ago.
Sleepy as I am, watching his development from day to day has been amazing. It’s humbling to see how *rich* human development actually is, and how little we as scientists can actually capture of it.
Sleepy as I am, watching his development from day to day has been amazing. It’s humbling to see how *rich* human development actually is, and how little we as scientists can actually capture of it.
Reposted by Jonathan F. Kominsky
I had an illuminating interaction with a colleague who said that they try to find time to do a few paper reviews per year. It made me realize that different researchers have widely varying expectations about reviewing, probably because there are no public norms.
September 5, 2025 at 9:54 AM
I had an illuminating interaction with a colleague who said that they try to find time to do a few paper reviews per year. It made me realize that different researchers have widely varying expectations about reviewing, probably because there are no public norms.
Reposted by Jonathan F. Kominsky
Our new paper explores an analogy between representations of objects and representations of events, finding that similar illusions arise for both! Check it out 👇
September 4, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Our new paper explores an analogy between representations of objects and representations of events, finding that similar illusions arise for both! Check it out 👇
Reposted by Jonathan F. Kominsky
You’ll never guess the way this thread ends (at least I didn’t) but it’s incredible
It's seven years since we posted on Twitter about how kids kept coming into the library asking if we had any books about FORTNITE. We didn't back then, and we'd never heard of it so we tried asking what it was.
September 3, 2025 at 5:07 PM
You’ll never guess the way this thread ends (at least I didn’t) but it’s incredible
The sheer joy is fun to watch
I enjoyed this. And what an infectious laugh. ❤️
"Reporter left speechless after witnessing Japan's new $70 million Maglev train in action at 310 mph"
"Reporter left speechless after witnessing Japan's new $70 million Maglev train in action at 310 mph"
September 3, 2025 at 2:15 AM
The sheer joy is fun to watch