Tom Wallis
@tsawallis.bsky.social
Vision scientist. Professor at the Centre for Cognitive Science, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. 🇦🇺🇩🇪. pronoun.is/he
https://www.psychologie.tu-darmstadt.de/perception
https://www.psychologie.tu-darmstadt.de/perception
Pinned
Tom Wallis
@tsawallis.bsky.social
· Nov 10
Perception
Perception – Somehow, our minds make sense of sensory data in a way that eludes current machine vision systems. We study visual perception in humans using psychophysics and computational models. A sec...
www.psychologie.tu-darmstadt.de
Welcome new followers (X-iles, Swifties, ... all except Nazis are welcome on my timeline)!
I'm a vision / cognitive scientist studying visual perception in humans and sometimes machines. You can find out more about my lab's work here: www.psychologie.tu-darmstadt.de/perception/h...
#visionscience
I'm a vision / cognitive scientist studying visual perception in humans and sometimes machines. You can find out more about my lab's work here: www.psychologie.tu-darmstadt.de/perception/h...
#visionscience
Reposted by Tom Wallis
Wow, hello Bluesky! We're the Brisbane Experimental Psychology Student Initiative (BEPSI)
We host monthly meetings with fresh research (cog, dev, comp, clin, neuro, forensic, psychophys) followed by wholesome networking (summer lawn bowls, so good)
1st meeting Weds 27th Feb 4pm - more soon! 🧠🤗
We host monthly meetings with fresh research (cog, dev, comp, clin, neuro, forensic, psychophys) followed by wholesome networking (summer lawn bowls, so good)
1st meeting Weds 27th Feb 4pm - more soon! 🧠🤗
February 16, 2026 at 6:24 AM
Wow, hello Bluesky! We're the Brisbane Experimental Psychology Student Initiative (BEPSI)
We host monthly meetings with fresh research (cog, dev, comp, clin, neuro, forensic, psychophys) followed by wholesome networking (summer lawn bowls, so good)
1st meeting Weds 27th Feb 4pm - more soon! 🧠🤗
We host monthly meetings with fresh research (cog, dev, comp, clin, neuro, forensic, psychophys) followed by wholesome networking (summer lawn bowls, so good)
1st meeting Weds 27th Feb 4pm - more soon! 🧠🤗
Reposted by Tom Wallis
Introducing @brisepsi.bsky.social - we're an experimental psychology initiative run by grad students in Brisbane (Meanjin) across UQ & QUT 🧠
We host a monthly dose of freshly baked research (students, ECRs, & bigwigs) followed by social goodness. Help us grow with a follow! 🤗 #neuroskyence
We host a monthly dose of freshly baked research (students, ECRs, & bigwigs) followed by social goodness. Help us grow with a follow! 🤗 #neuroskyence
February 16, 2026 at 5:58 AM
Introducing @brisepsi.bsky.social - we're an experimental psychology initiative run by grad students in Brisbane (Meanjin) across UQ & QUT 🧠
We host a monthly dose of freshly baked research (students, ECRs, & bigwigs) followed by social goodness. Help us grow with a follow! 🤗 #neuroskyence
We host a monthly dose of freshly baked research (students, ECRs, & bigwigs) followed by social goodness. Help us grow with a follow! 🤗 #neuroskyence
Reposted by Tom Wallis
How many times, in how many contexts, in how many ways am I going to have to say that this is what "AI" does— what it fundamentally *is*— before it sinks in? That all Bullshit engines do is statistically correlate training data & inputs via their weights to produce outputs you are likely to accept…
February 15, 2026 at 3:57 AM
How many times, in how many contexts, in how many ways am I going to have to say that this is what "AI" does— what it fundamentally *is*— before it sinks in? That all Bullshit engines do is statistically correlate training data & inputs via their weights to produce outputs you are likely to accept…
Reposted by Tom Wallis
Wow AI is so amazing we should use it for all our scientific diagrams
February 12, 2026 at 11:44 PM
Wow AI is so amazing we should use it for all our scientific diagrams
Reposted by Tom Wallis
Phonetics nerds will love this. Henry Higgins has competition
February 12, 2026 at 6:15 AM
Phonetics nerds will love this. Henry Higgins has competition
Reposted by Tom Wallis
Happy #WomenInScience day - I've had the privilege of working with many brilliant women during my career, and am always acutely aware that they often have to work harder, be smarter, and do better to be taken equally seriously. Hopefully, we can keep doing better moving forward.
February 11, 2026 at 10:17 AM
Happy #WomenInScience day - I've had the privilege of working with many brilliant women during my career, and am always acutely aware that they often have to work harder, be smarter, and do better to be taken equally seriously. Hopefully, we can keep doing better moving forward.
Reposted by Tom Wallis
Our paper is out in @natneuro.nature.com!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We develop a geometric theory of how neural populations support generalization across many tasks.
@zuckermanbrain.bsky.social
@flatironinstitute.org
@kempnerinstitute.bsky.social
1/14
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We develop a geometric theory of how neural populations support generalization across many tasks.
@zuckermanbrain.bsky.social
@flatironinstitute.org
@kempnerinstitute.bsky.social
1/14
February 10, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Our paper is out in @natneuro.nature.com!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We develop a geometric theory of how neural populations support generalization across many tasks.
@zuckermanbrain.bsky.social
@flatironinstitute.org
@kempnerinstitute.bsky.social
1/14
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We develop a geometric theory of how neural populations support generalization across many tasks.
@zuckermanbrain.bsky.social
@flatironinstitute.org
@kempnerinstitute.bsky.social
1/14
Reposted by Tom Wallis
📢 Workshop announcement.
We are super excited to announce the workshop Perceptual Inferences, from philosophy to neuroscience, organized by Alexander Schütz and Daniel Kaiser.
📍 Rauischholzhausen Castle, near Marburg, Germany
🗓️ June 8 to 10, 2026.
1/4
We are super excited to announce the workshop Perceptual Inferences, from philosophy to neuroscience, organized by Alexander Schütz and Daniel Kaiser.
📍 Rauischholzhausen Castle, near Marburg, Germany
🗓️ June 8 to 10, 2026.
1/4
February 10, 2026 at 9:00 AM
📢 Workshop announcement.
We are super excited to announce the workshop Perceptual Inferences, from philosophy to neuroscience, organized by Alexander Schütz and Daniel Kaiser.
📍 Rauischholzhausen Castle, near Marburg, Germany
🗓️ June 8 to 10, 2026.
1/4
We are super excited to announce the workshop Perceptual Inferences, from philosophy to neuroscience, organized by Alexander Schütz and Daniel Kaiser.
📍 Rauischholzhausen Castle, near Marburg, Germany
🗓️ June 8 to 10, 2026.
1/4
Reposted by Tom Wallis
I'm convinced AI is our generation's radium - a discovery with genuinely useful applications in specific, controlled circumstances that we stupidly put in everything from kid's toys to toothpaste until we realised the harm far too late where future generations will ask if we were out of our minds.
February 8, 2026 at 10:23 PM
I'm convinced AI is our generation's radium - a discovery with genuinely useful applications in specific, controlled circumstances that we stupidly put in everything from kid's toys to toothpaste until we realised the harm far too late where future generations will ask if we were out of our minds.
Reposted by Tom Wallis
Preparing for class and remembering how brilliant this essay is: persci.mit.edu/pub_pdfs/sha... - "The perception of shading and reflectance" (Adelson & Pentland, 1996). Early and beautiful description of Bayesian perception theories.
February 10, 2026 at 5:35 AM
Preparing for class and remembering how brilliant this essay is: persci.mit.edu/pub_pdfs/sha... - "The perception of shading and reflectance" (Adelson & Pentland, 1996). Early and beautiful description of Bayesian perception theories.
Reposted by Tom Wallis
neuroAI comparisons of ANNs to brains do have a range of problems. Even more than I had realized. And I was worried before: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
February 9, 2026 at 2:13 PM
neuroAI comparisons of ANNs to brains do have a range of problems. Even more than I had realized. And I was worried before: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Tom Wallis
Our latest paper, “Visual language models show widespread visual deficits on neuropsychological tests”, is now out in Nature Machine Intelligence: www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Non-paywalled version:
arxiv.org/abs/2504.10786
Tweet thread below from first author @genetang.bsky.social...
Non-paywalled version:
arxiv.org/abs/2504.10786
Tweet thread below from first author @genetang.bsky.social...
Visual language models show widespread visual deficits on neuropsychological tests - Nature Machine Intelligence
Tangtartharakul and Storrs use standardized neuropsychological tests to compare human visual abilities with those of visual language models (VLMs). They report that while VLMs excel in high-level obje...
www.nature.com
February 9, 2026 at 2:40 AM
Our latest paper, “Visual language models show widespread visual deficits on neuropsychological tests”, is now out in Nature Machine Intelligence: www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Non-paywalled version:
arxiv.org/abs/2504.10786
Tweet thread below from first author @genetang.bsky.social...
Non-paywalled version:
arxiv.org/abs/2504.10786
Tweet thread below from first author @genetang.bsky.social...
Retina peeps: is there evidence of motion selectivity in primate retinas? Came across www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... this fascinating paper. I'm aware of motion selectivity in mice, salamander, rabbit, etc, but afaik the consensus was maybe not in primates? Do I need to update my knowledge?
www.biorxiv.org
February 9, 2026 at 9:25 AM
Retina peeps: is there evidence of motion selectivity in primate retinas? Came across www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... this fascinating paper. I'm aware of motion selectivity in mice, salamander, rabbit, etc, but afaik the consensus was maybe not in primates? Do I need to update my knowledge?
Reposted by Tom Wallis
GM: Charisma check.
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
February 7, 2026 at 5:01 AM
GM: Charisma check.
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
Mamdani: [rolls natural 20]
GM: that’s a d6 how did you
Mamdani: [direct to camera] Did you know you can check out board games at your local public library? 😊
Reposted by Tom Wallis
still one of the most incredible videos of all time. wellness influencers doing woo encountering an indigenous shaman in the jungles of ecuador and he's like "I need your medicine, the tiger balm" and the guy is just like "no you need to get fucking penicillin moron"
www.youtube.com/shorts/ecOsp...
www.youtube.com/shorts/ecOsp...
Indigenous jungle shaman tells us we need antibiotics…?!
YouTube video by Xiaomanyc 小马在纽约
www.youtube.com
February 7, 2026 at 4:45 AM
still one of the most incredible videos of all time. wellness influencers doing woo encountering an indigenous shaman in the jungles of ecuador and he's like "I need your medicine, the tiger balm" and the guy is just like "no you need to get fucking penicillin moron"
www.youtube.com/shorts/ecOsp...
www.youtube.com/shorts/ecOsp...
Reposted by Tom Wallis
There have been increasingly shrill accusations against the EU over its digital legislation, based on accusations of "censorship" by defenders of "free speech" -- including, so it appears, the right to peddle an AI app that seemingly produces child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
1/9
1/9
February 5, 2026 at 7:21 PM
There have been increasingly shrill accusations against the EU over its digital legislation, based on accusations of "censorship" by defenders of "free speech" -- including, so it appears, the right to peddle an AI app that seemingly produces child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
1/9
1/9
Reposted by Tom Wallis
While reporting this, I had something happen that's never happened. A comms rep for one of the co's disputed my reporting and said what I was telling them was untrue because it was not in Grok, xAI's chatbot.
I was looking directly at the files. And this person was using AI to challenge the truth.
I was looking directly at the files. And this person was using AI to challenge the truth.
Epstein had many known connections to Silicon Valley CEOs, but less known was how he made money from those relationships.
We did a deep dive into how he got dealflow in Silicon Valley, giving him shots to invest in Coinbase, Palantir, SpaceX and other companies.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/b...
We did a deep dive into how he got dealflow in Silicon Valley, giving him shots to invest in Coinbase, Palantir, SpaceX and other companies.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/b...
Jeffrey Epstein’s Money Mingled With Silicon Valley Start-Ups
www.nytimes.com
February 5, 2026 at 5:38 PM
While reporting this, I had something happen that's never happened. A comms rep for one of the co's disputed my reporting and said what I was telling them was untrue because it was not in Grok, xAI's chatbot.
I was looking directly at the files. And this person was using AI to challenge the truth.
I was looking directly at the files. And this person was using AI to challenge the truth.
Reposted by Tom Wallis
I’m sharing Aliya’s entire opening statement. We owe it to her, and those who no longer have a voice, to watch. youtu.be/zrcW8SZtYpI?...
WATCH: Minneapolis resident and U.S. citizen Aliya Rahman describes being detained by ICE
YouTube video by PBS NewsHour
youtu.be
February 4, 2026 at 3:44 AM
I’m sharing Aliya’s entire opening statement. We owe it to her, and those who no longer have a voice, to watch. youtu.be/zrcW8SZtYpI?...
“Unlike human reviewers, who care about knowledge, LLMs have no stake in whether a finding is true, a method convincing or a theory illuminating. They have not helped build the edifice of knowledge. They belong to no epistemic community. They cannot be embarrassed to be wrong.”
'to treat peer review as a throughput problem is to misunderstand what is at stake. Review is not simply a production stage in the research pipeline; it is one of the few remaining spaces where the scientific community talks to itself.' 1/3
AI is not a peer, so it can’t do peer review
If we still believe that science is a vocation grounded in argument, curiosity and care, we can’t delegate judgement to machines, says Akhil Bhardwaj
www.timeshighereducation.com
February 4, 2026 at 6:31 AM
“Unlike human reviewers, who care about knowledge, LLMs have no stake in whether a finding is true, a method convincing or a theory illuminating. They have not helped build the edifice of knowledge. They belong to no epistemic community. They cannot be embarrassed to be wrong.”
Reposted by Tom Wallis
New Paper: Pupillary responses are not a reliable index of differences in imagery vividness.
Our search for more reliable metrics of imagery continues...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Our search for more reliable metrics of imagery continues...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Imagery modulates the pupillary response, but this does not reliably index differences in imagery vividness.
Most people report that they can imagine seeing things in their mind’s eye. But there are large individual differences. A small proportion of people r…
www.sciencedirect.com
February 4, 2026 at 5:20 AM
New Paper: Pupillary responses are not a reliable index of differences in imagery vividness.
Our search for more reliable metrics of imagery continues...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Our search for more reliable metrics of imagery continues...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Tom Wallis
And they conveniently ignore that most of Cog Sci wrote off the Imitation Game (Turing Test) as the wrong benchmark *at least* as early as 2013, if not before, when it was (ostensibly) passed, the first time.
They make valid points about some of the criticisms, but we're not at AGI, yet. Not close.
They make valid points about some of the criticisms, but we're not at AGI, yet. Not close.
February 3, 2026 at 4:58 AM
And they conveniently ignore that most of Cog Sci wrote off the Imitation Game (Turing Test) as the wrong benchmark *at least* as early as 2013, if not before, when it was (ostensibly) passed, the first time.
They make valid points about some of the criticisms, but we're not at AGI, yet. Not close.
They make valid points about some of the criticisms, but we're not at AGI, yet. Not close.
Reposted by Tom Wallis
Exciting to see this launch. Been in the works for a long time, with dozens or possibly hundreds of journals involved, and major library institutions, banding together for sustained support of free to read, free to publish in, open access journals. #openaccess
We've officially launched! With our new #DiamondOpenAccess investment campaign to help libraries build a sustainable, community‑led future for scholarly publishing & support journals flipping away from costly subscription models. Read the Press release here drive.google.com/file/d/10Hgf...
January 29, 2026 at 7:24 PM
Exciting to see this launch. Been in the works for a long time, with dozens or possibly hundreds of journals involved, and major library institutions, banding together for sustained support of free to read, free to publish in, open access journals. #openaccess
Reposted by Tom Wallis
Three days left to submit symposium, workshop, and satellite ideas for EPC-APCV in Auckland in July.
Symposia will run alongside talk sessions during the conference, and workshops/satellites will run on the first day, before the welcome ceremony.
Symposia will run alongside talk sessions during the conference, and workshops/satellites will run on the first day, before the welcome ceremony.
January 27, 2026 at 6:52 PM
Three days left to submit symposium, workshop, and satellite ideas for EPC-APCV in Auckland in July.
Symposia will run alongside talk sessions during the conference, and workshops/satellites will run on the first day, before the welcome ceremony.
Symposia will run alongside talk sessions during the conference, and workshops/satellites will run on the first day, before the welcome ceremony.
Reposted by Tom Wallis
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
Stay free
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be
January 28, 2026 at 5:02 PM
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
Stay free
Reposted by Tom Wallis
Truly a classic. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL_-...
Chicken chicken chicken
YouTube video by Yoram Bauman
www.youtube.com
January 28, 2026 at 3:41 AM
Truly a classic. www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL_-...