Dirk Wulff
@dirkwulff.bsky.social
Cognitive and decision science at MPI for Human Development & Uni Basel | Data science at therbootcamp.github.io | R, language models, and sustainability (text2sdg.io).
How can LLMs advance the cognitive sciences?
@ruimata.bsky.social and I put together a review on how LLMs can help us address five long-standing problems in cognitive science (e.g., disciplinary silos or lack of generalizability).
🔗 arxiv.org/2511.00206
@ruimata.bsky.social and I put together a review on how LLMs can help us address five long-standing problems in cognitive science (e.g., disciplinary silos or lack of generalizability).
🔗 arxiv.org/2511.00206
November 7, 2025 at 7:46 AM
How can LLMs advance the cognitive sciences?
@ruimata.bsky.social and I put together a review on how LLMs can help us address five long-standing problems in cognitive science (e.g., disciplinary silos or lack of generalizability).
🔗 arxiv.org/2511.00206
@ruimata.bsky.social and I put together a review on how LLMs can help us address five long-standing problems in cognitive science (e.g., disciplinary silos or lack of generalizability).
🔗 arxiv.org/2511.00206
Reposted by Dirk Wulff
🚨 New preprint - Advancing Cognitive Science with LLMs
Excited to share this new preprint together with Rui Mata. We review how 🤖 LLMs can help address long-standing problems in cognitive science, highlighting opportunities and pitfalls.
🔗 Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2511.00206
Excited to share this new preprint together with Rui Mata. We review how 🤖 LLMs can help address long-standing problems in cognitive science, highlighting opportunities and pitfalls.
🔗 Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2511.00206
November 4, 2025 at 10:19 AM
🚨 New preprint - Advancing Cognitive Science with LLMs
Excited to share this new preprint together with Rui Mata. We review how 🤖 LLMs can help address long-standing problems in cognitive science, highlighting opportunities and pitfalls.
🔗 Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2511.00206
Excited to share this new preprint together with Rui Mata. We review how 🤖 LLMs can help address long-standing problems in cognitive science, highlighting opportunities and pitfalls.
🔗 Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2511.00206
🚨 New preprint - Advancing Cognitive Science with LLMs
Excited to share this new preprint together with Rui Mata. We review how 🤖 LLMs can help address long-standing problems in cognitive science, highlighting opportunities and pitfalls.
🔗 Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2511.00206
Excited to share this new preprint together with Rui Mata. We review how 🤖 LLMs can help address long-standing problems in cognitive science, highlighting opportunities and pitfalls.
🔗 Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2511.00206
November 4, 2025 at 10:19 AM
🚨 New preprint - Advancing Cognitive Science with LLMs
Excited to share this new preprint together with Rui Mata. We review how 🤖 LLMs can help address long-standing problems in cognitive science, highlighting opportunities and pitfalls.
🔗 Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2511.00206
Excited to share this new preprint together with Rui Mata. We review how 🤖 LLMs can help address long-standing problems in cognitive science, highlighting opportunities and pitfalls.
🔗 Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2511.00206
Reposted by Dirk Wulff
We have a new preprint: osf.io/preprints/so...
What have we learned about social media - the constantly moving target of empirical research - over the past decade?
What have we learned about social media - the constantly moving target of empirical research - over the past decade?
October 30, 2025 at 10:53 AM
We have a new preprint: osf.io/preprints/so...
What have we learned about social media - the constantly moving target of empirical research - over the past decade?
What have we learned about social media - the constantly moving target of empirical research - over the past decade?
Reposted by Dirk Wulff
Join one of Europe’s largest and best psychology departments in one of the world’s most liveable cities. We offer competitive conditions. Further information: jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Tenure-T... (deadline for applications: December 12, 2025)
Tenure-Track Professorship in Psychology of digitalization
Tenure-Track Professorship in Psychology of digitalization
jobs.univie.ac.at
October 29, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Join one of Europe’s largest and best psychology departments in one of the world’s most liveable cities. We offer competitive conditions. Further information: jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Tenure-T... (deadline for applications: December 12, 2025)
🚨 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...
🚨 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...
🚨 New preprint and online tool 🚨
Thrilled to share new work, mapping the 🗺️ landscape of behavioral reinforcement learning using an 🤖 LLM-powered bibliometric approach.
We built an online tool so you can explore the landscape yourself.
Online tool: mpib.berlin/vFVqU
Preprint: osf.io/6c2va_v1
Thrilled to share new work, mapping the 🗺️ landscape of behavioral reinforcement learning using an 🤖 LLM-powered bibliometric approach.
We built an online tool so you can explore the landscape yourself.
Online tool: mpib.berlin/vFVqU
Preprint: osf.io/6c2va_v1
October 17, 2025 at 7:59 AM
🚨 New preprint and online tool 🚨
Thrilled to share new work, mapping the 🗺️ landscape of behavioral reinforcement learning using an 🤖 LLM-powered bibliometric approach.
We built an online tool so you can explore the landscape yourself.
Online tool: mpib.berlin/vFVqU
Preprint: osf.io/6c2va_v1
Thrilled to share new work, mapping the 🗺️ landscape of behavioral reinforcement learning using an 🤖 LLM-powered bibliometric approach.
We built an online tool so you can explore the landscape yourself.
Online tool: mpib.berlin/vFVqU
Preprint: osf.io/6c2va_v1
Reposted by Dirk Wulff
🚨 New preprint: What does the research landscape of behavioral reinforcement learning look like 🌍?
We developed an LLM-powered bibliometric analysis to characterize article clusters, investigate their connections, and examine the distribution of topics across the landscape.
osf.io/6c2va_v1
We developed an LLM-powered bibliometric analysis to characterize article clusters, investigate their connections, and examine the distribution of topics across the landscape.
osf.io/6c2va_v1
OSF
osf.io
October 17, 2025 at 7:25 AM
🚨 New preprint: What does the research landscape of behavioral reinforcement learning look like 🌍?
We developed an LLM-powered bibliometric analysis to characterize article clusters, investigate their connections, and examine the distribution of topics across the landscape.
osf.io/6c2va_v1
We developed an LLM-powered bibliometric analysis to characterize article clusters, investigate their connections, and examine the distribution of topics across the landscape.
osf.io/6c2va_v1
🚨 New preprint 🚨
Analyzing the academic trajectories of 78,216 psychology researchers, we demonstrate a persistent gender attrition gap, with women psychologists dropping out of academia at consistently higher rates than men psychologists.
Preprint: arxiv.org/pdf/2510.13273
Analyzing the academic trajectories of 78,216 psychology researchers, we demonstrate a persistent gender attrition gap, with women psychologists dropping out of academia at consistently higher rates than men psychologists.
Preprint: arxiv.org/pdf/2510.13273
October 16, 2025 at 9:38 AM
🚨 New preprint 🚨
Analyzing the academic trajectories of 78,216 psychology researchers, we demonstrate a persistent gender attrition gap, with women psychologists dropping out of academia at consistently higher rates than men psychologists.
Preprint: arxiv.org/pdf/2510.13273
Analyzing the academic trajectories of 78,216 psychology researchers, we demonstrate a persistent gender attrition gap, with women psychologists dropping out of academia at consistently higher rates than men psychologists.
Preprint: arxiv.org/pdf/2510.13273
🚨 Doctoral positions 🚨
The IMPRS LIFE is looking to fill up to three PhD positions.
If you’re interested in working at @arc-mpib.bsky.social with me on topics related to large language models, semantic networks, and aging, please reach out!
Apply by Nov 30: www.imprs-life.mpg.de/11840/how-to...
The IMPRS LIFE is looking to fill up to three PhD positions.
If you’re interested in working at @arc-mpib.bsky.social with me on topics related to large language models, semantic networks, and aging, please reach out!
Apply by Nov 30: www.imprs-life.mpg.de/11840/how-to...
October 15, 2025 at 12:55 PM
🚨 Doctoral positions 🚨
The IMPRS LIFE is looking to fill up to three PhD positions.
If you’re interested in working at @arc-mpib.bsky.social with me on topics related to large language models, semantic networks, and aging, please reach out!
Apply by Nov 30: www.imprs-life.mpg.de/11840/how-to...
The IMPRS LIFE is looking to fill up to three PhD positions.
If you’re interested in working at @arc-mpib.bsky.social with me on topics related to large language models, semantic networks, and aging, please reach out!
Apply by Nov 30: www.imprs-life.mpg.de/11840/how-to...
🚨 New article 🚨
Excited to share this article, presenting a full tutorial on mouse tracking and other movement tracking techniques in psychological research, with examples from our R package mousetrap.
Paper: link.springer.com/article/10.3...
R package: pascalkieslich.github.io/mousetrap/in...
Excited to share this article, presenting a full tutorial on mouse tracking and other movement tracking techniques in psychological research, with examples from our R package mousetrap.
Paper: link.springer.com/article/10.3...
R package: pascalkieslich.github.io/mousetrap/in...
October 9, 2025 at 7:38 AM
🚨 New article 🚨
Excited to share this article, presenting a full tutorial on mouse tracking and other movement tracking techniques in psychological research, with examples from our R package mousetrap.
Paper: link.springer.com/article/10.3...
R package: pascalkieslich.github.io/mousetrap/in...
Excited to share this article, presenting a full tutorial on mouse tracking and other movement tracking techniques in psychological research, with examples from our R package mousetrap.
Paper: link.springer.com/article/10.3...
R package: pascalkieslich.github.io/mousetrap/in...
Reposted by Dirk Wulff
Keynote speakers: @tuckerdrob.bsky.social @foswald.bsky.social Ellen Hamaker
Hands-on workshops by:
@tedmond.bsky.social & @ukuvainik.bsky.social (genomic analyses)
@dirkwulff.bsky.social (LLMs in personality research)
www.ecp22edinburgh.org/programme
Hands-on workshops by:
@tedmond.bsky.social & @ukuvainik.bsky.social (genomic analyses)
@dirkwulff.bsky.social (LLMs in personality research)
www.ecp22edinburgh.org/programme
September 18, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Keynote speakers: @tuckerdrob.bsky.social @foswald.bsky.social Ellen Hamaker
Hands-on workshops by:
@tedmond.bsky.social & @ukuvainik.bsky.social (genomic analyses)
@dirkwulff.bsky.social (LLMs in personality research)
www.ecp22edinburgh.org/programme
Hands-on workshops by:
@tedmond.bsky.social & @ukuvainik.bsky.social (genomic analyses)
@dirkwulff.bsky.social (LLMs in personality research)
www.ecp22edinburgh.org/programme
🚨 New preprint 🚨
What are the reasons underlying human choice in the face of risk?
Excited to share new work with Kamil Fulawka and Ralph Hertwig, establishing #LLMs as a scalable solution to uncovering the reasons behind people's choices from free text reports.
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
What are the reasons underlying human choice in the face of risk?
Excited to share new work with Kamil Fulawka and Ralph Hertwig, establishing #LLMs as a scalable solution to uncovering the reasons behind people's choices from free text reports.
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
August 28, 2025 at 9:12 AM
🚨 New preprint 🚨
What are the reasons underlying human choice in the face of risk?
Excited to share new work with Kamil Fulawka and Ralph Hertwig, establishing #LLMs as a scalable solution to uncovering the reasons behind people's choices from free text reports.
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
What are the reasons underlying human choice in the face of risk?
Excited to share new work with Kamil Fulawka and Ralph Hertwig, establishing #LLMs as a scalable solution to uncovering the reasons behind people's choices from free text reports.
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
🚨 New article 🚨
How to measure semantic #networks of individuals reliably?
Excited to share this article, led by @aeschbach.bsky.social and with @ruimata.bsky.social. Based on simulations, we provide recommendations on designing and interpreting behavioral studies.
Article: lnkd.in/dhWiwEBU
How to measure semantic #networks of individuals reliably?
Excited to share this article, led by @aeschbach.bsky.social and with @ruimata.bsky.social. Based on simulations, we provide recommendations on designing and interpreting behavioral studies.
Article: lnkd.in/dhWiwEBU
August 13, 2025 at 9:52 AM
🚨 New article 🚨
How to measure semantic #networks of individuals reliably?
Excited to share this article, led by @aeschbach.bsky.social and with @ruimata.bsky.social. Based on simulations, we provide recommendations on designing and interpreting behavioral studies.
Article: lnkd.in/dhWiwEBU
How to measure semantic #networks of individuals reliably?
Excited to share this article, led by @aeschbach.bsky.social and with @ruimata.bsky.social. Based on simulations, we provide recommendations on designing and interpreting behavioral studies.
Article: lnkd.in/dhWiwEBU
Reposted by Dirk Wulff
New semantic network paper in @plosone.org with @ruimata.bsky.social at @unibas.ch and @dirkwulff.bsky.social at @arc-mpib.bsky.social!
We ran large-scale simulations to test how well common behavioral tasks measure a person's semantic network.
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
We ran large-scale simulations to test how well common behavioral tasks measure a person's semantic network.
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
Measuring individual semantic networks: A simulation study
Accurately capturing individual differences in semantic networks is fundamental to advancing our mechanistic understanding of semantic memory. Past empirical attempts to construct individual-level sem...
doi.org
August 12, 2025 at 8:56 AM
New semantic network paper in @plosone.org with @ruimata.bsky.social at @unibas.ch and @dirkwulff.bsky.social at @arc-mpib.bsky.social!
We ran large-scale simulations to test how well common behavioral tasks measure a person's semantic network.
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
We ran large-scale simulations to test how well common behavioral tasks measure a person's semantic network.
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
🚨 New publication 🚨
Excited to see this published in Findings of #ACL2025, led by @zakashussain.bsky.social.
We critically evaluate claims that #LLMs are "just next token predictors" or "just machines" and call for a more measured discussion on LLM cognition.
aclanthology.org/2025.finding...
Excited to see this published in Findings of #ACL2025, led by @zakashussain.bsky.social.
We critically evaluate claims that #LLMs are "just next token predictors" or "just machines" and call for a more measured discussion on LLM cognition.
aclanthology.org/2025.finding...
July 23, 2025 at 3:14 PM
🚨 New publication 🚨
Excited to see this published in Findings of #ACL2025, led by @zakashussain.bsky.social.
We critically evaluate claims that #LLMs are "just next token predictors" or "just machines" and call for a more measured discussion on LLM cognition.
aclanthology.org/2025.finding...
Excited to see this published in Findings of #ACL2025, led by @zakashussain.bsky.social.
We critically evaluate claims that #LLMs are "just next token predictors" or "just machines" and call for a more measured discussion on LLM cognition.
aclanthology.org/2025.finding...
Reposted by Dirk Wulff
Excited to see our Centaur project out in @nature.com.
TL;DR: Centaur is a computational model that predicts and simulates human behavior for any experiment described in natural language.
TL;DR: Centaur is a computational model that predicts and simulates human behavior for any experiment described in natural language.
July 2, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Excited to see our Centaur project out in @nature.com.
TL;DR: Centaur is a computational model that predicts and simulates human behavior for any experiment described in natural language.
TL;DR: Centaur is a computational model that predicts and simulates human behavior for any experiment described in natural language.
Reposted by Dirk Wulff
🚨 PhD position (75%, TV-L E13) at LMU Munich!
Join our DFG funded META REP project on heterogeneity & replicability in psychology.
Work on meta analysis, simulations, modeling in R/Python.
📅 Apply by July 15
🔗 shorturl.at/939tP
🔗 shorturl.at/2bRLD
👇🧵
Join our DFG funded META REP project on heterogeneity & replicability in psychology.
Work on meta analysis, simulations, modeling in R/Python.
📅 Apply by July 15
🔗 shorturl.at/939tP
🔗 shorturl.at/2bRLD
👇🧵
Research Associate (m/f/x)
shorturl.at
June 27, 2025 at 7:07 PM
🚨 PhD position (75%, TV-L E13) at LMU Munich!
Join our DFG funded META REP project on heterogeneity & replicability in psychology.
Work on meta analysis, simulations, modeling in R/Python.
📅 Apply by July 15
🔗 shorturl.at/939tP
🔗 shorturl.at/2bRLD
👇🧵
Join our DFG funded META REP project on heterogeneity & replicability in psychology.
Work on meta analysis, simulations, modeling in R/Python.
📅 Apply by July 15
🔗 shorturl.at/939tP
🔗 shorturl.at/2bRLD
👇🧵
Happy to have concluded another iteration of our 5-day open LLMs course, together with @zakashussain.bsky.social.
If you are interested in LLMs for behavioral and social sciences, check out our...
Tutorial: doi.org/10.3758/s134...
Open materials: github.com/zak-Hussain/...
If you are interested in LLMs for behavioral and social sciences, check out our...
Tutorial: doi.org/10.3758/s134...
Open materials: github.com/zak-Hussain/...
June 23, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Happy to have concluded another iteration of our 5-day open LLMs course, together with @zakashussain.bsky.social.
If you are interested in LLMs for behavioral and social sciences, check out our...
Tutorial: doi.org/10.3758/s134...
Open materials: github.com/zak-Hussain/...
If you are interested in LLMs for behavioral and social sciences, check out our...
Tutorial: doi.org/10.3758/s134...
Open materials: github.com/zak-Hussain/...
🚨 New preprint 🚨
How to improve risk communication?
In this new piece, spearheaded by @kevinetiede.bsky.social, we argue that traditional risk communication often fails to convey experiential dimensions of risk, and that experiential simulations can help fill this gap.
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
How to improve risk communication?
In this new piece, spearheaded by @kevinetiede.bsky.social, we argue that traditional risk communication often fails to convey experiential dimensions of risk, and that experiential simulations can help fill this gap.
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
June 20, 2025 at 2:34 PM
🚨 New preprint 🚨
How to improve risk communication?
In this new piece, spearheaded by @kevinetiede.bsky.social, we argue that traditional risk communication often fails to convey experiential dimensions of risk, and that experiential simulations can help fill this gap.
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
How to improve risk communication?
In this new piece, spearheaded by @kevinetiede.bsky.social, we argue that traditional risk communication often fails to convey experiential dimensions of risk, and that experiential simulations can help fill this gap.
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
🚨 Postdoc position in India 🚨
Work with Kavitha Ranganathan and me to explore the potential of LLMs for improving risk communication. The position (Senior Research Fellow) includes a research stay and affiliation with@arc-mpib.bsky.social at @mpib-berlin.bsky.social.
Work with Kavitha Ranganathan and me to explore the potential of LLMs for improving risk communication. The position (Senior Research Fellow) includes a research stay and affiliation with@arc-mpib.bsky.social at @mpib-berlin.bsky.social.
May 29, 2025 at 12:49 PM
🚨 Postdoc position in India 🚨
Work with Kavitha Ranganathan and me to explore the potential of LLMs for improving risk communication. The position (Senior Research Fellow) includes a research stay and affiliation with@arc-mpib.bsky.social at @mpib-berlin.bsky.social.
Work with Kavitha Ranganathan and me to explore the potential of LLMs for improving risk communication. The position (Senior Research Fellow) includes a research stay and affiliation with@arc-mpib.bsky.social at @mpib-berlin.bsky.social.
🚨 New preprint 🚨
Excited to share this work with Dorothée Bentz, where we map the landscape of contamination OCD triggers and analyze individual differences in trigger importance and relatedness.
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Excited to share this work with Dorothée Bentz, where we map the landscape of contamination OCD triggers and analyze individual differences in trigger importance and relatedness.
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
May 15, 2025 at 3:54 PM
🚨 New preprint 🚨
Excited to share this work with Dorothée Bentz, where we map the landscape of contamination OCD triggers and analyze individual differences in trigger importance and relatedness.
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Excited to share this work with Dorothée Bentz, where we map the landscape of contamination OCD triggers and analyze individual differences in trigger importance and relatedness.
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Dirk Wulff
We still have 2 slots available for contributed talks at our CounseLLMe workshop for @hhaiconference.bsky.social :
sites.google.com/unitn.it/cou...
Join us in Pisa, deadline May 6!
sites.google.com/unitn.it/cou...
Join us in Pisa, deadline May 6!
CounseLLMe
CounseLLMe: Investigating Human-Large Language Model conversations under the lens of cognitive science and complex systems
SATELLITE WORKSHOP FOR HHAI2025
Submit Abstracts -> HERE
sites.google.com
April 30, 2025 at 2:57 PM
We still have 2 slots available for contributed talks at our CounseLLMe workshop for @hhaiconference.bsky.social :
sites.google.com/unitn.it/cou...
Join us in Pisa, deadline May 6!
sites.google.com/unitn.it/cou...
Join us in Pisa, deadline May 6!
How to improve conceptual clarity in psychology?
Excited to share a new preprint with @ruimata.bsky.social, discussing approaches based on large language models as possible solutions.
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Excited to share a new preprint with @ruimata.bsky.social, discussing approaches based on large language models as possible solutions.
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
April 30, 2025 at 2:08 PM
How to improve conceptual clarity in psychology?
Excited to share a new preprint with @ruimata.bsky.social, discussing approaches based on large language models as possible solutions.
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Excited to share a new preprint with @ruimata.bsky.social, discussing approaches based on large language models as possible solutions.
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...