Stefano Palminteri
@stepalminteri.bsky.social
Computational cognitive scientist interested in learning and decision-making in human and machiches
Research director of the Human Reinforcement Learning team
Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS)
Institut National de la Santé et Recherche Médicale (INSERM)
Research director of the Human Reinforcement Learning team
Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS)
Institut National de la Santé et Recherche Médicale (INSERM)
Pinned
🚨Friends, we’re happy to share that our book is available for pre-order! 🎉
We aimed to cover all the foundations of the topic in an accessible manner for a large audience.
It could help set up a bachelor-level curriculum on the topic.
Pre-orders are very key for the fate of books: shorturl.at/Dxbif
We aimed to cover all the foundations of the topic in an accessible manner for a large audience.
It could help set up a bachelor-level curriculum on the topic.
Pre-orders are very key for the fate of books: shorturl.at/Dxbif
Reposted by Stefano Palminteri
🚨 New preprint 🚨
We present the decisions-from-experience database (DfE-DB), including data from 168 studies.
The data are currently shared with the original authors and made public upon publication.
🔗 Database: github.com/dwulff/dfe-db
🔗 Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We present the decisions-from-experience database (DfE-DB), including data from 168 studies.
The data are currently shared with the original authors and made public upon publication.
🔗 Database: github.com/dwulff/dfe-db
🔗 Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
December 19, 2025 at 10:56 AM
🚨 New preprint 🚨
We present the decisions-from-experience database (DfE-DB), including data from 168 studies.
The data are currently shared with the original authors and made public upon publication.
🔗 Database: github.com/dwulff/dfe-db
🔗 Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We present the decisions-from-experience database (DfE-DB), including data from 168 studies.
The data are currently shared with the original authors and made public upon publication.
🔗 Database: github.com/dwulff/dfe-db
🔗 Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Here is the link to (freely) sign-up for our symposium!
Humans and Artificial Minds: Mutual influences, for better and for worse
www.eventbrite.com/e/humans-and...
Humans and Artificial Minds: Mutual influences, for better and for worse
www.eventbrite.com/e/humans-and...
December 15, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Here is the link to (freely) sign-up for our symposium!
Humans and Artificial Minds: Mutual influences, for better and for worse
www.eventbrite.com/e/humans-and...
Humans and Artificial Minds: Mutual influences, for better and for worse
www.eventbrite.com/e/humans-and...
Excited to announce our symposium on how AI and humans shape each other
“Humans and Artificial Minds: Mutual Influences”
9 Jan at ENS Paris.
Talks by @smfleming.bsky.social, Valeria Giardino, Silvia Tulli, @thecharleywu.bsky.social, Laurence Devillers & @summerfieldlab.bsky.social .
Program ↓
“Humans and Artificial Minds: Mutual Influences”
9 Jan at ENS Paris.
Talks by @smfleming.bsky.social, Valeria Giardino, Silvia Tulli, @thecharleywu.bsky.social, Laurence Devillers & @summerfieldlab.bsky.social .
Program ↓
December 10, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Excited to announce our symposium on how AI and humans shape each other
“Humans and Artificial Minds: Mutual Influences”
9 Jan at ENS Paris.
Talks by @smfleming.bsky.social, Valeria Giardino, Silvia Tulli, @thecharleywu.bsky.social, Laurence Devillers & @summerfieldlab.bsky.social .
Program ↓
“Humans and Artificial Minds: Mutual Influences”
9 Jan at ENS Paris.
Talks by @smfleming.bsky.social, Valeria Giardino, Silvia Tulli, @thecharleywu.bsky.social, Laurence Devillers & @summerfieldlab.bsky.social .
Program ↓
Reposted by Stefano Palminteri
In a recent thought-provoking study, @benjwagner.bsky.social & co claim that behavioural signatures attributed to context-dependent RL “are very well explained by habit-like action repetition”.
I obviously disagree and this thread explains what evidence backs my belief (thread 👇) 1/n
I obviously disagree and this thread explains what evidence backs my belief (thread 👇) 1/n
Very happy that this is out www.nature.com/articles/s44.... Together with @stefankiebel.bsky.social we show that decision biases in context-dependent decision making, previously attributed to different forms of value normalization, are very well explained by habit-like action repetition.
Action repetition biases choice in context-dependent decision-making - Communications Psychology
This study shows that decision biases previously attributed to value normalization (e.g. relative value learning or range normalization) are better explained by action repetition. Repeating an action ...
www.nature.com
December 7, 2025 at 10:51 AM
In a recent thought-provoking study, @benjwagner.bsky.social & co claim that behavioural signatures attributed to context-dependent RL “are very well explained by habit-like action repetition”.
I obviously disagree and this thread explains what evidence backs my belief (thread 👇) 1/n
I obviously disagree and this thread explains what evidence backs my belief (thread 👇) 1/n
Reposted by Stefano Palminteri
Prakhar, in a recent thought-provoking paper and thread, boldly claimed that the learning-rate biases may be mere “statistical ghosts” of decaying learning rates
We took up the challenge and put this claim to the test. Here are our findings (w/ @romanececchi.bsky.social). 1/n
osf.io/preprints/ps...
We took up the challenge and put this claim to the test. Here are our findings (w/ @romanececchi.bsky.social). 1/n
osf.io/preprints/ps...
December 7, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Prakhar, in a recent thought-provoking paper and thread, boldly claimed that the learning-rate biases may be mere “statistical ghosts” of decaying learning rates
We took up the challenge and put this claim to the test. Here are our findings (w/ @romanececchi.bsky.social). 1/n
osf.io/preprints/ps...
We took up the challenge and put this claim to the test. Here are our findings (w/ @romanececchi.bsky.social). 1/n
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Prakhar, in a recent thought-provoking paper and thread, boldly claimed that the learning-rate biases may be mere “statistical ghosts” of decaying learning rates
We took up the challenge and put this claim to the test. Here are our findings (w/ @romanececchi.bsky.social). 1/n
osf.io/preprints/ps...
We took up the challenge and put this claim to the test. Here are our findings (w/ @romanececchi.bsky.social). 1/n
osf.io/preprints/ps...
December 7, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Prakhar, in a recent thought-provoking paper and thread, boldly claimed that the learning-rate biases may be mere “statistical ghosts” of decaying learning rates
We took up the challenge and put this claim to the test. Here are our findings (w/ @romanececchi.bsky.social). 1/n
osf.io/preprints/ps...
We took up the challenge and put this claim to the test. Here are our findings (w/ @romanececchi.bsky.social). 1/n
osf.io/preprints/ps...
In a recent thought-provoking study, @benjwagner.bsky.social & co claim that behavioural signatures attributed to context-dependent RL “are very well explained by habit-like action repetition”.
I obviously disagree and this thread explains what evidence backs my belief (thread 👇) 1/n
I obviously disagree and this thread explains what evidence backs my belief (thread 👇) 1/n
Very happy that this is out www.nature.com/articles/s44.... Together with @stefankiebel.bsky.social we show that decision biases in context-dependent decision making, previously attributed to different forms of value normalization, are very well explained by habit-like action repetition.
Action repetition biases choice in context-dependent decision-making - Communications Psychology
This study shows that decision biases previously attributed to value normalization (e.g. relative value learning or range normalization) are better explained by action repetition. Repeating an action ...
www.nature.com
December 7, 2025 at 10:51 AM
In a recent thought-provoking study, @benjwagner.bsky.social & co claim that behavioural signatures attributed to context-dependent RL “are very well explained by habit-like action repetition”.
I obviously disagree and this thread explains what evidence backs my belief (thread 👇) 1/n
I obviously disagree and this thread explains what evidence backs my belief (thread 👇) 1/n
Reposted by Stefano Palminteri
I’m happy to share a short opinion piece I’ve just finished, where I revisit the famous Skinner vs. Chomsky exchange on how language is learned through the lens of today’s large language models (before getting mad read the rest) 1/n
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
December 3, 2025 at 10:22 AM
I’m happy to share a short opinion piece I’ve just finished, where I revisit the famous Skinner vs. Chomsky exchange on how language is learned through the lens of today’s large language models (before getting mad read the rest) 1/n
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
I’m happy to share a short opinion piece I’ve just finished, where I revisit the famous Skinner vs. Chomsky exchange on how language is learned through the lens of today’s large language models (before getting mad read the rest) 1/n
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
December 3, 2025 at 10:22 AM
I’m happy to share a short opinion piece I’ve just finished, where I revisit the famous Skinner vs. Chomsky exchange on how language is learned through the lens of today’s large language models (before getting mad read the rest) 1/n
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Stefano Palminteri
🚨Friends, we’re happy to share that our book is available for pre-order! 🎉
We aimed to cover all the foundations of the topic in an accessible manner for a large audience.
It could help set up a bachelor-level curriculum on the topic.
Pre-orders are very key for the fate of books: shorturl.at/Dxbif
We aimed to cover all the foundations of the topic in an accessible manner for a large audience.
It could help set up a bachelor-level curriculum on the topic.
Pre-orders are very key for the fate of books: shorturl.at/Dxbif
November 26, 2025 at 11:38 AM
🚨Friends, we’re happy to share that our book is available for pre-order! 🎉
We aimed to cover all the foundations of the topic in an accessible manner for a large audience.
It could help set up a bachelor-level curriculum on the topic.
Pre-orders are very key for the fate of books: shorturl.at/Dxbif
We aimed to cover all the foundations of the topic in an accessible manner for a large audience.
It could help set up a bachelor-level curriculum on the topic.
Pre-orders are very key for the fate of books: shorturl.at/Dxbif
Wow — thanks to this amazing community (you! 🥰 ), our book is now #1 among Amazon’s “Hot New Releases” in Medical Cognitive Psychology! 🙏🤩
Pre-order here: shorturl.at/Dxbif
Pre-order here: shorturl.at/Dxbif
November 27, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Wow — thanks to this amazing community (you! 🥰 ), our book is now #1 among Amazon’s “Hot New Releases” in Medical Cognitive Psychology! 🙏🤩
Pre-order here: shorturl.at/Dxbif
Pre-order here: shorturl.at/Dxbif
🚨Friends, we’re happy to share that our book is available for pre-order! 🎉
We aimed to cover all the foundations of the topic in an accessible manner for a large audience.
It could help set up a bachelor-level curriculum on the topic.
Pre-orders are very key for the fate of books: shorturl.at/Dxbif
We aimed to cover all the foundations of the topic in an accessible manner for a large audience.
It could help set up a bachelor-level curriculum on the topic.
Pre-orders are very key for the fate of books: shorturl.at/Dxbif
November 26, 2025 at 11:38 AM
🚨Friends, we’re happy to share that our book is available for pre-order! 🎉
We aimed to cover all the foundations of the topic in an accessible manner for a large audience.
It could help set up a bachelor-level curriculum on the topic.
Pre-orders are very key for the fate of books: shorturl.at/Dxbif
We aimed to cover all the foundations of the topic in an accessible manner for a large audience.
It could help set up a bachelor-level curriculum on the topic.
Pre-orders are very key for the fate of books: shorturl.at/Dxbif
Reposted by Stefano Palminteri
Our latest preprint where we show (among other things!) that the main effect of complete feedback information is increase risk (not performance) in experience-based show. We also show that the description experience gap is not due to sampling issue
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
November 18, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Our latest preprint where we show (among other things!) that the main effect of complete feedback information is increase risk (not performance) in experience-based show. We also show that the description experience gap is not due to sampling issue
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Stefano Palminteri
"Adaptive biases in the wild: Advancing our understanding of the nature of biases"
The introduction (by Jochen Reb, Natalia Karelaia & Tomás Lejarraga )to the "Mind and Society" special issue on "adaptive biases" I had the pleasure to contribute to
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
The introduction (by Jochen Reb, Natalia Karelaia & Tomás Lejarraga )to the "Mind and Society" special issue on "adaptive biases" I had the pleasure to contribute to
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Adaptive biases in the wild: Advancing our understanding of the nature of biases - Mind & Society
Bias is most often seen as a flaw: people are said to “suffer” from biases and need to be “debiased.” Yet a bias, defined simply as a systematic deviation from a norm or standard, can in principle hav...
link.springer.com
November 18, 2025 at 8:44 AM
"Adaptive biases in the wild: Advancing our understanding of the nature of biases"
The introduction (by Jochen Reb, Natalia Karelaia & Tomás Lejarraga )to the "Mind and Society" special issue on "adaptive biases" I had the pleasure to contribute to
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
The introduction (by Jochen Reb, Natalia Karelaia & Tomás Lejarraga )to the "Mind and Society" special issue on "adaptive biases" I had the pleasure to contribute to
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
"Adaptive biases in the wild: Advancing our understanding of the nature of biases"
The introduction (by Jochen Reb, Natalia Karelaia & Tomás Lejarraga )to the "Mind and Society" special issue on "adaptive biases" I had the pleasure to contribute to
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
The introduction (by Jochen Reb, Natalia Karelaia & Tomás Lejarraga )to the "Mind and Society" special issue on "adaptive biases" I had the pleasure to contribute to
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Adaptive biases in the wild: Advancing our understanding of the nature of biases - Mind & Society
Bias is most often seen as a flaw: people are said to “suffer” from biases and need to be “debiased.” Yet a bias, defined simply as a systematic deviation from a norm or standard, can in principle hav...
link.springer.com
November 18, 2025 at 8:44 AM
"Adaptive biases in the wild: Advancing our understanding of the nature of biases"
The introduction (by Jochen Reb, Natalia Karelaia & Tomás Lejarraga )to the "Mind and Society" special issue on "adaptive biases" I had the pleasure to contribute to
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
The introduction (by Jochen Reb, Natalia Karelaia & Tomás Lejarraga )to the "Mind and Society" special issue on "adaptive biases" I had the pleasure to contribute to
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Our latest preprint where we show (among other things!) that the main effect of complete feedback information is increase risk (not performance) in experience-based show. We also show that the description experience gap is not due to sampling issue
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
November 18, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Our latest preprint where we show (among other things!) that the main effect of complete feedback information is increase risk (not performance) in experience-based show. We also show that the description experience gap is not due to sampling issue
osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io/preprints/ps...
The winner’s curse — Behavioral economics anomalies, then and now.
The presentation of Richard Thaler's (Chicago Booth) latest book, followed by a roundtable discussion, organized by the "An integrated approach of economic decisions" project.
www.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/en/events/th...
The presentation of Richard Thaler's (Chicago Booth) latest book, followed by a roundtable discussion, organized by the "An integrated approach of economic decisions" project.
www.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/en/events/th...
www.parisschoolofeconomics.eu
November 13, 2025 at 8:13 PM
The winner’s curse — Behavioral economics anomalies, then and now.
The presentation of Richard Thaler's (Chicago Booth) latest book, followed by a roundtable discussion, organized by the "An integrated approach of economic decisions" project.
www.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/en/events/th...
The presentation of Richard Thaler's (Chicago Booth) latest book, followed by a roundtable discussion, organized by the "An integrated approach of economic decisions" project.
www.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/en/events/th...
Also found in the old sci-fi stash recently purchased in Bologna
The plot’s crux is an illustration of the alignment problem (an all-powerful AI with wildly misaligned goals). Basically, the paperclip maximiser has gone rogue.
(but do not expect great writing and depth of reflection)
The plot’s crux is an illustration of the alignment problem (an all-powerful AI with wildly misaligned goals). Basically, the paperclip maximiser has gone rogue.
(but do not expect great writing and depth of reflection)
November 10, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Also found in the old sci-fi stash recently purchased in Bologna
The plot’s crux is an illustration of the alignment problem (an all-powerful AI with wildly misaligned goals). Basically, the paperclip maximiser has gone rogue.
(but do not expect great writing and depth of reflection)
The plot’s crux is an illustration of the alignment problem (an all-powerful AI with wildly misaligned goals). Basically, the paperclip maximiser has gone rogue.
(but do not expect great writing and depth of reflection)
Reposted by Stefano Palminteri
🚨 New preprint 🚨
Are reinforcement learning models complete accounts of decisions from experience if they ignore explicit memory?
In this new preprint, we show that people indeed form robust explicit memory representations that flexibly guide later decisions.
🔗 Preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Are reinforcement learning models complete accounts of decisions from experience if they ignore explicit memory?
In this new preprint, we show that people indeed form robust explicit memory representations that flexibly guide later decisions.
🔗 Preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
October 29, 2025 at 8:24 AM
🚨 New preprint 🚨
Are reinforcement learning models complete accounts of decisions from experience if they ignore explicit memory?
In this new preprint, we show that people indeed form robust explicit memory representations that flexibly guide later decisions.
🔗 Preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Are reinforcement learning models complete accounts of decisions from experience if they ignore explicit memory?
In this new preprint, we show that people indeed form robust explicit memory representations that flexibly guide later decisions.
🔗 Preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reposted by Stefano Palminteri
🇪🇺 I am a bit late for this, but is important:
R.I.P. Sofia Corradi (1934 – 2025), the beautiful mind behind the ERASMUS project, one of the most successful and beloved EU programme.
It has changed the life (and mind) of ~15 million Europeans (including mine).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofia_C...
R.I.P. Sofia Corradi (1934 – 2025), the beautiful mind behind the ERASMUS project, one of the most successful and beloved EU programme.
It has changed the life (and mind) of ~15 million Europeans (including mine).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofia_C...
October 27, 2025 at 8:17 PM
🇪🇺 I am a bit late for this, but is important:
R.I.P. Sofia Corradi (1934 – 2025), the beautiful mind behind the ERASMUS project, one of the most successful and beloved EU programme.
It has changed the life (and mind) of ~15 million Europeans (including mine).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofia_C...
R.I.P. Sofia Corradi (1934 – 2025), the beautiful mind behind the ERASMUS project, one of the most successful and beloved EU programme.
It has changed the life (and mind) of ~15 million Europeans (including mine).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofia_C...
🇪🇺 I am a bit late for this, but is important:
R.I.P. Sofia Corradi (1934 – 2025), the beautiful mind behind the ERASMUS project, one of the most successful and beloved EU programme.
It has changed the life (and mind) of ~15 million Europeans (including mine).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofia_C...
R.I.P. Sofia Corradi (1934 – 2025), the beautiful mind behind the ERASMUS project, one of the most successful and beloved EU programme.
It has changed the life (and mind) of ~15 million Europeans (including mine).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofia_C...
October 27, 2025 at 8:17 PM
🇪🇺 I am a bit late for this, but is important:
R.I.P. Sofia Corradi (1934 – 2025), the beautiful mind behind the ERASMUS project, one of the most successful and beloved EU programme.
It has changed the life (and mind) of ~15 million Europeans (including mine).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofia_C...
R.I.P. Sofia Corradi (1934 – 2025), the beautiful mind behind the ERASMUS project, one of the most successful and beloved EU programme.
It has changed the life (and mind) of ~15 million Europeans (including mine).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofia_C...
Just read this old-school sci-fi gem I found in a vintage bookstore in Bologna, where a Practical Philosopher Corps is deployed across the galaxy to assess sentience and cognition in alien species.
I guess the dream job for @birchlse.bsky.social @petergs.bsky.social
I guess the dream job for @birchlse.bsky.social @petergs.bsky.social
October 26, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Just read this old-school sci-fi gem I found in a vintage bookstore in Bologna, where a Practical Philosopher Corps is deployed across the galaxy to assess sentience and cognition in alien species.
I guess the dream job for @birchlse.bsky.social @petergs.bsky.social
I guess the dream job for @birchlse.bsky.social @petergs.bsky.social
At a time when prominent thinkers like @anilseth.bsky.social Seth and Ned Block advocate a "strategic withdrawal" toward biologism in considering consciousness beyond the human case, our contrarian proposal is a methodological behaviourist computationalism.
www.linkedin.com/posts/stefan...
www.linkedin.com/posts/stefan...
October 26, 2025 at 1:22 PM
At a time when prominent thinkers like @anilseth.bsky.social Seth and Ned Block advocate a "strategic withdrawal" toward biologism in considering consciousness beyond the human case, our contrarian proposal is a methodological behaviourist computationalism.
www.linkedin.com/posts/stefan...
www.linkedin.com/posts/stefan...
Reposted by Stefano Palminteri
🚨 New publication: How to improve conceptual clarity in psychological science?
Thrilled to see this article with @ruimata.bsky.social out. We discuss how LLMs can be leveraged to map, clarify, and generate psychological measures and constructs.
Open access article: doi.org/10.1177/0963...
Thrilled to see this article with @ruimata.bsky.social out. We discuss how LLMs can be leveraged to map, clarify, and generate psychological measures and constructs.
Open access article: doi.org/10.1177/0963...
October 23, 2025 at 7:27 AM
🚨 New publication: How to improve conceptual clarity in psychological science?
Thrilled to see this article with @ruimata.bsky.social out. We discuss how LLMs can be leveraged to map, clarify, and generate psychological measures and constructs.
Open access article: doi.org/10.1177/0963...
Thrilled to see this article with @ruimata.bsky.social out. We discuss how LLMs can be leveraged to map, clarify, and generate psychological measures and constructs.
Open access article: doi.org/10.1177/0963...
Reposted by Stefano Palminteri
Very thought-provoking post by @prakhargodara.bsky.social. Is confirmation bias/positivity bias a statistical "ghost" of model specification? Specifically not including temporally decaying learning rates? The evidence suggests this is not the case and here is why (1/n)
Is confirmation bias a real cognitive flaw, or a statistical ghost created by our models? My new PNAS paper shows a startling result: fitting Q-learning models to behavior in bandit tasks detect a bias, even from the behavior of a perfectly rational Bayesian learner.
October 19, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Very thought-provoking post by @prakhargodara.bsky.social. Is confirmation bias/positivity bias a statistical "ghost" of model specification? Specifically not including temporally decaying learning rates? The evidence suggests this is not the case and here is why (1/n)