Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
@laurasn.bsky.social
Cognitive scientist, postdoc at iSearch lab (TU Munich), studying how children figure out other people. i have a kid & i like cooking & queer stuff. she/her
Pinned
Do kids prefer to play with helpers? Our paper on children's trait attribution and partner choice is out! doi.org/10.1111/cdev... We wanted to know if kids, after observing other agents' behaviors, spontaneously (!) interpret them in terms of traits and choose cooperation partners accordingly. 🧵...
Reposted by Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
Officially out in the current issue of Trends in Cognitive Sciences:
"Physics versus graphics as an organizing dichotomy in cognition"
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
"Physics versus graphics as an organizing dichotomy in cognition"
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
November 17, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Officially out in the current issue of Trends in Cognitive Sciences:
"Physics versus graphics as an organizing dichotomy in cognition"
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
"Physics versus graphics as an organizing dichotomy in cognition"
www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
Reposted by Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
Do you teach #rstats? Do your students complain about how lame and old-fashioned dplyr is? Don't worry: I have the solution for you: github.com/hadley/genzp....
genzplyr is dplyr, but bussin fr fr no cap.
genzplyr is dplyr, but bussin fr fr no cap.
GitHub - hadley/genzplyr: dplyr but make it bussin fr fr no cap
dplyr but make it bussin fr fr no cap. Contribute to hadley/genzplyr development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Do you teach #rstats? Do your students complain about how lame and old-fashioned dplyr is? Don't worry: I have the solution for you: github.com/hadley/genzp....
genzplyr is dplyr, but bussin fr fr no cap.
genzplyr is dplyr, but bussin fr fr no cap.
Reposted by Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
It’s grad school application season, and I wanted to give some public advice.
Caveats:
-*-*-*-*
> These are my opinions, based on my experiences, they are not secret tricks or guarantees
> They are general guidelines, not meant to cover a host of idiosyncrasies and special cases
Caveats:
-*-*-*-*
> These are my opinions, based on my experiences, they are not secret tricks or guarantees
> They are general guidelines, not meant to cover a host of idiosyncrasies and special cases
November 6, 2025 at 2:55 PM
It’s grad school application season, and I wanted to give some public advice.
Caveats:
-*-*-*-*
> These are my opinions, based on my experiences, they are not secret tricks or guarantees
> They are general guidelines, not meant to cover a host of idiosyncrasies and special cases
Caveats:
-*-*-*-*
> These are my opinions, based on my experiences, they are not secret tricks or guarantees
> They are general guidelines, not meant to cover a host of idiosyncrasies and special cases
Reposted by Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
🧠 New paper alert! Can people infer others’ values not from what they choose, but simply from what comes to mind? Across four studies, we show they can—drawing on an intuitive theory of how options are generated.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2025.106238
👇
doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2025.106238
👇
Redirecting
doi.org
November 5, 2025 at 7:31 PM
🧠 New paper alert! Can people infer others’ values not from what they choose, but simply from what comes to mind? Across four studies, we show they can—drawing on an intuitive theory of how options are generated.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2025.106238
👇
doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2025.106238
👇
Reposted by Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
"Intuitions of mathematical curves in young children's drawings"
In this new paper from the lab, Lorenzo Ciccione, Marie Lubineau, Theo Morfoisse and I show that 5 and 6 year olds already possess intuitions of linearity, curvature, period and compositionality.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
In this new paper from the lab, Lorenzo Ciccione, Marie Lubineau, Theo Morfoisse and I show that 5 and 6 year olds already possess intuitions of linearity, curvature, period and compositionality.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 1, 2025 at 1:51 PM
"Intuitions of mathematical curves in young children's drawings"
In this new paper from the lab, Lorenzo Ciccione, Marie Lubineau, Theo Morfoisse and I show that 5 and 6 year olds already possess intuitions of linearity, curvature, period and compositionality.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
In this new paper from the lab, Lorenzo Ciccione, Marie Lubineau, Theo Morfoisse and I show that 5 and 6 year olds already possess intuitions of linearity, curvature, period and compositionality.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
Are humans really the only rational animals? Our NEW PAPER 🎉 out in @science.org suggests otherwise! In a large collaboration led with my joint first author @hanna-schleihauf.bsky.social, we show that “Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs” 🧵
Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs
The selective revision of beliefs in light of new evidence has been considered one of the hallmarks of human-level rationality. However, tests of this ability in other species are lacking. We examined...
www.science.org
October 30, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Are humans really the only rational animals? Our NEW PAPER 🎉 out in @science.org suggests otherwise! In a large collaboration led with my joint first author @hanna-schleihauf.bsky.social, we show that “Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs” 🧵
We have an open position for a PhD student or postdoc in our group (iSearch Lab with Azzurra Ruggeri at TU Munich): portal.mytum.de/jobs/wissens... Application deadline is Nov 23, start date early next year.
TUM - Doctoral Candidate or Postdoctoral Researcher (iSearch Lab)
Studierenden- und Mitarbeiterportal der Technische Universität München
portal.mytum.de
October 30, 2025 at 10:32 AM
We have an open position for a PhD student or postdoc in our group (iSearch Lab with Azzurra Ruggeri at TU Munich): portal.mytum.de/jobs/wissens... Application deadline is Nov 23, start date early next year.
Recently gabe a lab talk with the kiddo next to me - thanks to @dkampis.bsky.social for having us & thanks to Bluey for making this happen 🙌
October 27, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Recently gabe a lab talk with the kiddo next to me - thanks to @dkampis.bsky.social for having us & thanks to Bluey for making this happen 🙌
Reposted by Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
🚨New Preprint: We develop a novel task that probes counterfactual thinking without using counterfactual language, and that teases apart genuine counterfactual thinking from related forms of thinking. Using this task, we find that the ability for counterfactual thinking emerges around 5 years of age.
October 13, 2025 at 7:58 PM
🚨New Preprint: We develop a novel task that probes counterfactual thinking without using counterfactual language, and that teases apart genuine counterfactual thinking from related forms of thinking. Using this task, we find that the ability for counterfactual thinking emerges around 5 years of age.
Reposted by Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
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 Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
Our paper in annual review of dev psych is out! It's a big-picture look at the development of social cognition from a computational perspective: compdevlab.yale.edu/docs/2025/an...
compdevlab.yale.edu
October 9, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Our paper in annual review of dev psych is out! It's a big-picture look at the development of social cognition from a computational perspective: compdevlab.yale.edu/docs/2025/an...
Reposted by Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
Happy to share that our BBS target article has been accepted: “Core Perception”: Re-imagining Precocious Reasoning as Sophisticated Perceiving
With Alon Hafri, @veroniqueizard.bsky.social, @chazfirestone.bsky.social & Brent Strickland
Read it here: doi.org/10.1017/S014...
A short thread [1/5]👇
With Alon Hafri, @veroniqueizard.bsky.social, @chazfirestone.bsky.social & Brent Strickland
Read it here: doi.org/10.1017/S014...
A short thread [1/5]👇
October 9, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Happy to share that our BBS target article has been accepted: “Core Perception”: Re-imagining Precocious Reasoning as Sophisticated Perceiving
With Alon Hafri, @veroniqueizard.bsky.social, @chazfirestone.bsky.social & Brent Strickland
Read it here: doi.org/10.1017/S014...
A short thread [1/5]👇
With Alon Hafri, @veroniqueizard.bsky.social, @chazfirestone.bsky.social & Brent Strickland
Read it here: doi.org/10.1017/S014...
A short thread [1/5]👇
Reposted by Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
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 Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
💖This paper has been ~11 years in the making - and probably my favorite project of all time. Thrilled to see it in @pnas.org! I'm so lucky that Zach decided to do a second PhD and join my lab @psychillinois.bsky.social back in 2014 - a fabulous scientist & human being! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
September 22, 2025 at 2:27 PM
💖This paper has been ~11 years in the making - and probably my favorite project of all time. Thrilled to see it in @pnas.org! I'm so lucky that Zach decided to do a second PhD and join my lab @psychillinois.bsky.social back in 2014 - a fabulous scientist & human being! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
Can reasoned arguments shift moral behavior? In a new preprint, @eschwitz.bsky.social, Jason Nemirow, @fierycushman.bsky.social and I explore this question in the context of charitable donation. (1/10)
September 22, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Can reasoned arguments shift moral behavior? In a new preprint, @eschwitz.bsky.social, Jason Nemirow, @fierycushman.bsky.social and I explore this question in the context of charitable donation. (1/10)
Reposted by Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
🚨New paper out w/ @gershbrain.bsky.social & @fierycushman.bsky.social from my time @Harvard!
Humans are capable of sophisticated theory of mind, but when do we use it?
We formalize & document a new cognitive shortcut: belief neglect — inferring others' preferences, as if their beliefs are correct🧵
Humans are capable of sophisticated theory of mind, but when do we use it?
We formalize & document a new cognitive shortcut: belief neglect — inferring others' preferences, as if their beliefs are correct🧵
September 17, 2025 at 12:58 AM
🚨New paper out w/ @gershbrain.bsky.social & @fierycushman.bsky.social from my time @Harvard!
Humans are capable of sophisticated theory of mind, but when do we use it?
We formalize & document a new cognitive shortcut: belief neglect — inferring others' preferences, as if their beliefs are correct🧵
Humans are capable of sophisticated theory of mind, but when do we use it?
We formalize & document a new cognitive shortcut: belief neglect — inferring others' preferences, as if their beliefs are correct🧵
Reposted by Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
Now out in Cognition, work with the great @gershbrain.bsky.social @tobigerstenberg.bsky.social on formalizing self-handicapping as rational signaling!
📃 authors.elsevier.com/a/1lo8f2Hx2-...
📃 authors.elsevier.com/a/1lo8f2Hx2-...
September 19, 2025 at 3:46 AM
Now out in Cognition, work with the great @gershbrain.bsky.social @tobigerstenberg.bsky.social on formalizing self-handicapping as rational signaling!
📃 authors.elsevier.com/a/1lo8f2Hx2-...
📃 authors.elsevier.com/a/1lo8f2Hx2-...
Reposted by Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
🚨 NEW PREPRINT: Multimodal inference through mental simulation.
We examine how people figure out what happened by combining visual and auditory evidence through mental simulation.
Paper: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Code: github.com/cicl-stanfor...
We examine how people figure out what happened by combining visual and auditory evidence through mental simulation.
Paper: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Code: github.com/cicl-stanfor...
September 16, 2025 at 7:04 PM
🚨 NEW PREPRINT: Multimodal inference through mental simulation.
We examine how people figure out what happened by combining visual and auditory evidence through mental simulation.
Paper: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Code: github.com/cicl-stanfor...
We examine how people figure out what happened by combining visual and auditory evidence through mental simulation.
Paper: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Code: github.com/cicl-stanfor...
Reposted by Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
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 Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
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 Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
🚨 Call for Submissions! 🚨
The 16th annual BCCCD meeting (Budapest, Hungary, Jan 15–17, 2026) is accepting submissions for symposia, talks & posters.
⏰ Deadline: Sept 5, 2025
Share your work & be part of the conversation! #CogSci #PsychSciSky #BCCCD
bcccd.org/submission.htm
The 16th annual BCCCD meeting (Budapest, Hungary, Jan 15–17, 2026) is accepting submissions for symposia, talks & posters.
⏰ Deadline: Sept 5, 2025
Share your work & be part of the conversation! #CogSci #PsychSciSky #BCCCD
bcccd.org/submission.htm
BCCCD 2026 :: Submission
BCCCD26<br>Budapest CEU Conference on Cognitive Development
bcccd.org
August 27, 2025 at 1:45 PM
🚨 Call for Submissions! 🚨
The 16th annual BCCCD meeting (Budapest, Hungary, Jan 15–17, 2026) is accepting submissions for symposia, talks & posters.
⏰ Deadline: Sept 5, 2025
Share your work & be part of the conversation! #CogSci #PsychSciSky #BCCCD
bcccd.org/submission.htm
The 16th annual BCCCD meeting (Budapest, Hungary, Jan 15–17, 2026) is accepting submissions for symposia, talks & posters.
⏰ Deadline: Sept 5, 2025
Share your work & be part of the conversation! #CogSci #PsychSciSky #BCCCD
bcccd.org/submission.htm
Reposted by Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
🔔 New paper out on Social evaluation of skill and competence in primates
@mariehirel.bsky.social, @williamohearn.bsky.social and @julxf.bsky.social made this happen
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@mariehirel.bsky.social, @williamohearn.bsky.social and @julxf.bsky.social made this happen
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Social evaluation of skill and competence in primates
Social life is a continuous interplay of observing and interacting with conspecifics, predicting their behavior, and responding to their actions. This…
www.sciencedirect.com
August 24, 2025 at 6:40 PM
🔔 New paper out on Social evaluation of skill and competence in primates
@mariehirel.bsky.social, @williamohearn.bsky.social and @julxf.bsky.social made this happen
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@mariehirel.bsky.social, @williamohearn.bsky.social and @julxf.bsky.social made this happen
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
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 Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
generating examples for my fall undergrad Perception students on why they should not use LLMs as study aides...
August 15, 2025 at 4:12 PM
generating examples for my fall undergrad Perception students on why they should not use LLMs as study aides...
Reposted by Laura Schlingloff-Nemecz
AI slop and the destruction of knowledge irisvanrooijcogsci.com/2025/08/12/a...
AI slop and the destruction of knowledge
This week I was looking for info on what cognitive scientists mean when they speak of ‘domain-general’ cognition. I was curious, because the nuances are relevant for something I am researching at t…
irisvanrooijcogsci.com
August 12, 2025 at 10:12 PM
AI slop and the destruction of knowledge irisvanrooijcogsci.com/2025/08/12/a...