Cognition
@cognitionjournal.bsky.social
EiC team: Johan Wagemans, Ian Dobbins, Ori Friedman, and Katrien Segaert
Reposted by Cognition
⚠️ New paper! Why do words sound so similar? In an agent-based model + communication game, we show that production/comprehension pressures trade off to shape lexicon structure.
In @cognitionjournal.bsky.social w/ @simonkirby.bsky.social & Jenny Culbertson.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
In @cognitionjournal.bsky.social w/ @simonkirby.bsky.social & Jenny Culbertson.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The lexicon adapts to competing communicative pressures: Explaining patterns of word similarity
Cross-linguistically, lexicons tend to be more phonetically clustered than required by the phonotactics of the language; that is, words within a langu…
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November 10, 2025 at 11:59 AM
⚠️ New paper! Why do words sound so similar? In an agent-based model + communication game, we show that production/comprehension pressures trade off to shape lexicon structure.
In @cognitionjournal.bsky.social w/ @simonkirby.bsky.social & Jenny Culbertson.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
In @cognitionjournal.bsky.social w/ @simonkirby.bsky.social & Jenny Culbertson.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
New evidence for linguistic relativity: Across English and Dutch, we find that English grammar obliges speakers to use more low-certainty modals (may, might) and, in turn, discount future rewards more steeply.
November 10, 2025 at 6:29 PM
New evidence for linguistic relativity: Across English and Dutch, we find that English grammar obliges speakers to use more low-certainty modals (may, might) and, in turn, discount future rewards more steeply.
New in Cognition: Episodic Recall after VR navigation with naturalistic leg/head movement (immersive) vs handheld joystick (restricted). Sabharwal-Siddiqi et al. (sameerss.bsky.social adekstreme.bsky.social) tests the dependence of episodic memory on body movement and spatiotemporal encoding.
November 7, 2025 at 6:06 PM
New in Cognition: Episodic Recall after VR navigation with naturalistic leg/head movement (immersive) vs handheld joystick (restricted). Sabharwal-Siddiqi et al. (sameerss.bsky.social adekstreme.bsky.social) tests the dependence of episodic memory on body movement and spatiotemporal encoding.
When we detect a behaviorally relevant target, our memory for concurrent information improves—a phenomenon known as the Attentional Boost Effect (ABE).
October 31, 2025 at 6:18 PM
When we detect a behaviorally relevant target, our memory for concurrent information improves—a phenomenon known as the Attentional Boost Effect (ABE).
Reposted by Cognition
Just in: @drbarner.bsky.social & I find that blind adults and children who have symbols for large numbers, and use 1:1 correspondence to count, do not extend a similar 1:1 strategy to a set-matching task, which assesses their knowledge of Hume’s principle. A 🧵:
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Exact numerical reasoning in blind children and adults
What is the origin of exact numerical reasoning in humans? Previous studies report that innumerate humans are unable to recognize that two sets placed…
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October 26, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Just in: @drbarner.bsky.social & I find that blind adults and children who have symbols for large numbers, and use 1:1 correspondence to count, do not extend a similar 1:1 strategy to a set-matching task, which assesses their knowledge of Hume’s principle. A 🧵:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
In a new paper in Cognition, @marshallgreen.bsky.social and Michael Pratte examine how perceptual confidence is derived from our internal representations. #CognitiveScience #Perception #Metacognition
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www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
October 30, 2025 at 1:30 PM
In a new paper in Cognition, @marshallgreen.bsky.social and Michael Pratte examine how perceptual confidence is derived from our internal representations. #CognitiveScience #Perception #Metacognition
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www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Cognition
Our experience of time is powerfully shaped by boundaries between events (i.e., going from one meeting to the next). But what about time *within an event*? In new work, we find reliable distortions of time based on internal event structure (e.g., beginnings, middles, and ends)! tinyurl.com/n8mn2sn7
Unfolding event structure distorts subjective time
Our experience of time is often distorted in striking ways. Although prior work has shown that boundaries between events can shape temporal perception…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 29, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Our experience of time is powerfully shaped by boundaries between events (i.e., going from one meeting to the next). But what about time *within an event*? In new work, we find reliable distortions of time based on internal event structure (e.g., beginnings, middles, and ends)! tinyurl.com/n8mn2sn7
Even when emotions aren’t relevant to a task, they still guide our focus. Using a Posner cueing task for exogenous attention orientation —a paradigm designed to isolate reflexive attention— we discovered the TEASC effect:
October 20, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Even when emotions aren’t relevant to a task, they still guide our focus. Using a Posner cueing task for exogenous attention orientation —a paradigm designed to isolate reflexive attention— we discovered the TEASC effect:
We think about others’ thoughts about our thoughts to navigate romance, sarcasm, gossip, and nuclear standoffs. But recursive mentalizing is hard. In a model contest, I show that under pressure our inner vision goes blurry, not blind. #TheoryOfMind
October 11, 2025 at 4:23 PM
We think about others’ thoughts about our thoughts to navigate romance, sarcasm, gossip, and nuclear standoffs. But recursive mentalizing is hard. In a model contest, I show that under pressure our inner vision goes blurry, not blind. #TheoryOfMind
In our study, we investigated how people evaluate everyday socio-political arguments in the context of their prior beliefs about the topics being discussed.
October 1, 2025 at 3:14 PM
In our study, we investigated how people evaluate everyday socio-political arguments in the context of their prior beliefs about the topics being discussed.
Reposted by Cognition
"Learning to be confident: How agents learn confidence based on prediction errors"! Now out in @cognitionjournal.bsky.social led by @pierreledenmat.bsky.social
Paper: desenderlab.com/wp-content/u... Thread ↓↓↓
#AcademicSky #PsychSciSky #Neuroscience #Neuroskyence
Paper: desenderlab.com/wp-content/u... Thread ↓↓↓
#AcademicSky #PsychSciSky #Neuroscience #Neuroskyence
September 25, 2025 at 8:44 AM
"Learning to be confident: How agents learn confidence based on prediction errors"! Now out in @cognitionjournal.bsky.social led by @pierreledenmat.bsky.social
Paper: desenderlab.com/wp-content/u... Thread ↓↓↓
#AcademicSky #PsychSciSky #Neuroscience #Neuroskyence
Paper: desenderlab.com/wp-content/u... Thread ↓↓↓
#AcademicSky #PsychSciSky #Neuroscience #Neuroskyence
"How to show that a cruel prank is worse than a war crime: Shifting scales and missing benchmarks in the study of moral judgment"
📢New paper from: @vladchituc.bsky.social, @mjcrockett.bsky.social, & Brian Scholl
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
📢New paper from: @vladchituc.bsky.social, @mjcrockett.bsky.social, & Brian Scholl
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Thrilled to announce a new paper out this weekend in
@cognitionjournal.bsky.social.
Moral psychologists almost always use self-report scales to study moral judgment. But there's a problem: the meaning of these scales is inherently relative.
A 2 min demo (and a short thread):
1/7
@cognitionjournal.bsky.social.
Moral psychologists almost always use self-report scales to study moral judgment. But there's a problem: the meaning of these scales is inherently relative.
A 2 min demo (and a short thread):
1/7
September 29, 2025 at 1:15 PM
"How to show that a cruel prank is worse than a war crime: Shifting scales and missing benchmarks in the study of moral judgment"
📢New paper from: @vladchituc.bsky.social, @mjcrockett.bsky.social, & Brian Scholl
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
📢New paper from: @vladchituc.bsky.social, @mjcrockett.bsky.social, & Brian Scholl
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
We often argue about what’s true, without ever asking what we mean by ”truth”. Different ideas of truth can derail a debate long before facts are discussed. In this work, we use conceptual scaling to explore how people understand truth.
(1/7)
(1/7)
September 23, 2025 at 2:20 PM
We often argue about what’s true, without ever asking what we mean by ”truth”. Different ideas of truth can derail a debate long before facts are discussed. In this work, we use conceptual scaling to explore how people understand truth.
(1/7)
(1/7)
When do people self-handicap? We model self-handicapping in terms of rational signaling, showing how it depends on assumptions about whether observers are naive or sophisticated. More in thread!
September 22, 2025 at 2:06 PM
When do people self-handicap? We model self-handicapping in terms of rational signaling, showing how it depends on assumptions about whether observers are naive or sophisticated. More in thread!
Reposted by Cognition
(1/7)📢 New paper by Vera Hoorens, felixhermans.bsky.social, and Susanne Bruckmüller in @cognitionjournal.bsky.social : “Why Boys Cry and Don’t Cry. The Contextual-Statistical (ConStat) Approach to the Perceived Validity of Generics”. A small 🧵and link to the paper below!
September 19, 2025 at 11:30 AM
(1/7)📢 New paper by Vera Hoorens, felixhermans.bsky.social, and Susanne Bruckmüller in @cognitionjournal.bsky.social : “Why Boys Cry and Don’t Cry. The Contextual-Statistical (ConStat) Approach to the Perceived Validity of Generics”. A small 🧵and link to the paper below!
How do background voices derail our thoughts? Our study shows that distracting words disrupt deliberate memory retrieval not necessarily by grabbing attention, but because they are processed incidentally, forcing us to suppress their meaning.
September 16, 2025 at 2:12 PM
How do background voices derail our thoughts? Our study shows that distracting words disrupt deliberate memory retrieval not necessarily by grabbing attention, but because they are processed incidentally, forcing us to suppress their meaning.
Highlighting “women and children” as victim is ubiquitous, but what psychological consequences does this phrase have? Across 6 experiments with over 3000 participants, we show that “women and children” amplifies moral outrage and explore why.
September 15, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Highlighting “women and children” as victim is ubiquitous, but what psychological consequences does this phrase have? Across 6 experiments with over 3000 participants, we show that “women and children” amplifies moral outrage and explore why.
What makes an event memorable? Obviously its content is decisive – reading a novel is probably more memorable than watching paint dry. But is there something beyond the specific elements of an event that might predict how likely we are to recall it?
🧵👇
🧵👇
September 15, 2025 at 3:36 PM
What makes an event memorable? Obviously its content is decisive – reading a novel is probably more memorable than watching paint dry. But is there something beyond the specific elements of an event that might predict how likely we are to recall it?
🧵👇
🧵👇
Did this study uncover a new fountain of youth?
By investigating semantic memory networks across the lifespan, it was found that creativity helps preserve memory organization & retrieval process flexibility in older adults.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@sergioagnoli.bsky.social
By investigating semantic memory networks across the lifespan, it was found that creativity helps preserve memory organization & retrieval process flexibility in older adults.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@sergioagnoli.bsky.social
September 13, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Did this study uncover a new fountain of youth?
By investigating semantic memory networks across the lifespan, it was found that creativity helps preserve memory organization & retrieval process flexibility in older adults.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@sergioagnoli.bsky.social
By investigating semantic memory networks across the lifespan, it was found that creativity helps preserve memory organization & retrieval process flexibility in older adults.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@sergioagnoli.bsky.social
"Learn what is detectable, detect what is useful: acquisition of German plural as a classification problem"
📢New paper from: Sergei Monakhov, Holger Diessel, & Brisca Balthes
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
📢New paper from: Sergei Monakhov, Holger Diessel, & Brisca Balthes
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
September 2, 2025 at 7:42 PM
"Learn what is detectable, detect what is useful: acquisition of German plural as a classification problem"
📢New paper from: Sergei Monakhov, Holger Diessel, & Brisca Balthes
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
📢New paper from: Sergei Monakhov, Holger Diessel, & Brisca Balthes
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Cognition
Visual adaptation is viewed as a test of whether a feature is represented by the visual system.
In a new paper, Sam Clarke and I push the limits of this test. We show spatially selective, putatively "visual" adaptation to a clearly non-visual dimension: Value!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
In a new paper, Sam Clarke and I push the limits of this test. We show spatially selective, putatively "visual" adaptation to a clearly non-visual dimension: Value!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Can we “see” value? Spatiotopic “visual” adaptation to an imperceptible dimension
In much recent philosophy of mind and cognitive science, repulsive adaptation effects are considered a litmus test — a crucial marker, that distinguis…
www.sciencedirect.com
August 28, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Visual adaptation is viewed as a test of whether a feature is represented by the visual system.
In a new paper, Sam Clarke and I push the limits of this test. We show spatially selective, putatively "visual" adaptation to a clearly non-visual dimension: Value!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
In a new paper, Sam Clarke and I push the limits of this test. We show spatially selective, putatively "visual" adaptation to a clearly non-visual dimension: Value!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Why do we stick with our goals, even when better alternatives appear? Our new paper shows that self-commitment, even in individual tasks, carries an intrinsic social dimension.
August 28, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Why do we stick with our goals, even when better alternatives appear? Our new paper shows that self-commitment, even in individual tasks, carries an intrinsic social dimension.
Pareidolia is the perception of meaningful structure in meaningless visual patterns; for example, you might see a human face in a tree trunk.
August 27, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Pareidolia is the perception of meaningful structure in meaningless visual patterns; for example, you might see a human face in a tree trunk.
In written language, demonstratives such as 'this' and 'that' allow writers to produce coherent texts and readers to build up a consistent mental model of the message that is conveyed. But what makes a writer decide to use one demonstrative (e.g., this) over another (e.g., that)?
August 26, 2025 at 6:53 PM
In written language, demonstratives such as 'this' and 'that' allow writers to produce coherent texts and readers to build up a consistent mental model of the message that is conveyed. But what makes a writer decide to use one demonstrative (e.g., this) over another (e.g., that)?
What happens after an event boundary? We find worse memory for post-boundary items, but better source memory—a cost-benefit pattern explained by shifts in attention allocation. Our work expands Event Segmentation Theory to the start of new events.
August 26, 2025 at 3:09 PM
What happens after an event boundary? We find worse memory for post-boundary items, but better source memory—a cost-benefit pattern explained by shifts in attention allocation. Our work expands Event Segmentation Theory to the start of new events.