Cat Hicks
@grimalkina.bsky.social
Psychologist for the humans of tech. Author of The Psychology of Software Teams (2026). Founder: Catharsis Consulting (strategy * science). she/her 🏳️🌈 https://www.drcathicks.com/
Host at: https://www.changetechnically.fyi/
Host at: https://www.changetechnically.fyi/
And then people think (erroneously!!!) that good cultures don't "win" when it's actually like damn if we just brought the full force of rigor to looking at it, these choices win all the time!!!!
November 10, 2025 at 10:35 PM
And then people think (erroneously!!!) that good cultures don't "win" when it's actually like damn if we just brought the full force of rigor to looking at it, these choices win all the time!!!!
riiiiiiiight? Like the way people fighting for good cultures constantly choose to self-sabotage on strategically using data is actually going to take years off my life
If you want to fight for something
Use all the tools
If you want to fight for something
Use all the tools
November 10, 2025 at 10:34 PM
riiiiiiiight? Like the way people fighting for good cultures constantly choose to self-sabotage on strategically using data is actually going to take years off my life
If you want to fight for something
Use all the tools
If you want to fight for something
Use all the tools
Reviewers need to start pre-registering their rejection criteria so they can be held accountable for it I stg
November 10, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Reviewers need to start pre-registering their rejection criteria so they can be held accountable for it I stg
Anyway this paper is going in my "Gender Delusions" bookmark folder which is a folder I think everyone needs
November 10, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Anyway this paper is going in my "Gender Delusions" bookmark folder which is a folder I think everyone needs
I'm extremely over online reactions to social science these days
November 10, 2025 at 10:11 PM
I'm extremely over online reactions to social science these days
(I know I'm preaching to the choir just massively saddening how weak the theories are for actually helping people here)
November 10, 2025 at 8:37 PM
(I know I'm preaching to the choir just massively saddening how weak the theories are for actually helping people here)
I am perfectly willing to accept that an 80 year old doing some challenging games will have some attention management effects compared to an 80 year old not doing anything like that but that doesn't mean the best most valuable answers to the suffering of post viral conditions lies in that realm!
November 10, 2025 at 8:37 PM
I am perfectly willing to accept that an 80 year old doing some challenging games will have some attention management effects compared to an 80 year old not doing anything like that but that doesn't mean the best most valuable answers to the suffering of post viral conditions lies in that realm!
There's a new/or ongoing wave of it though, tons of studies with this app in particular. They really got into certain medical circles I am guessing
November 10, 2025 at 8:35 PM
There's a new/or ongoing wave of it though, tons of studies with this app in particular. They really got into certain medical circles I am guessing
It just gives me the ick to be trying to understand what we learned from a publicly funded covid study and be met with this
November 10, 2025 at 8:30 PM
It just gives me the ick to be trying to understand what we learned from a publicly funded covid study and be met with this
I'm not saying it's not involved in real research because it clearly is. But why is this the right target for our money?
November 10, 2025 at 8:21 PM
I'm not saying it's not involved in real research because it clearly is. But why is this the right target for our money?
But their content is not giving me a lot of confidence. Why this over a program specifically designed for patients? Why is a clinical trial basically doing free product designing testing? This product has a wholllllllle lot of infiltration into science. Why?
www.npr.org/2025/10/22/n...
www.npr.org/2025/10/22/n...
Mental exercise can reverse a brain change linked to aging, study finds
Scientists have found the first compelling evidence that cognitive training can boost levels of a brain chemical that typically declines as people age.
www.npr.org
November 10, 2025 at 8:20 PM
But their content is not giving me a lot of confidence. Why this over a program specifically designed for patients? Why is a clinical trial basically doing free product designing testing? This product has a wholllllllle lot of infiltration into science. Why?
www.npr.org/2025/10/22/n...
www.npr.org/2025/10/22/n...
I see this BrainHQ place has a ton of content about how neuroscience they are, and links out to studies like this one so they must have a whole cycle going with being the app of choice or something when there's a need for a cognitive training program
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
A Cognitive Training Program Based on Principles of Brain Plasticity: Results from the Improvement in Memory with Plasticity-based Adaptive Cognitive Training (IMPACT) Study
To investigate the efficacy of a novel brain plasticity–based computerized cognitive training program in older adults and to evaluate the effect on untrained measures of memory and attention and participant-reported outcomes. Multisite randomized ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
November 10, 2025 at 8:16 PM
I see this BrainHQ place has a ton of content about how neuroscience they are, and links out to studies like this one so they must have a whole cycle going with being the app of choice or something when there's a need for a cognitive training program
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Anyway hopefully these unpromising results can at least forestall other wasted efforts but idk, I don't have a lot of hope with this. At least doctors *believe* in long covid now which I found in 2022 they mostly did not. So maybe 5-10 years from now they'll believe it happens in your body too
November 10, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Anyway hopefully these unpromising results can at least forestall other wasted efforts but idk, I don't have a lot of hope with this. At least doctors *believe* in long covid now which I found in 2022 they mostly did not. So maybe 5-10 years from now they'll believe it happens in your body too
Something baffling is going on with long covid research where these elite institutions have these people with neurology of aging experience or loads of experience with dementia getting pulled into this, but that's not necessarily the match for what's actually needed in interventions
November 10, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Something baffling is going on with long covid research where these elite institutions have these people with neurology of aging experience or loads of experience with dementia getting pulled into this, but that's not necessarily the match for what's actually needed in interventions
I have read a lot - a LOT - of medical research over the last six years and my pov as a researcher is that MDs have way too much study design power.
November 10, 2025 at 8:08 PM
I have read a lot - a LOT - of medical research over the last six years and my pov as a researcher is that MDs have way too much study design power.
I believe in cognitive interventions *under the right circumstances,* just like I believe in helping people via talk therapy for anxiety but also that if someone is anxious because they're in danger of being run over by a train you should get them off the train tracks before talking about it
November 10, 2025 at 8:06 PM
I believe in cognitive interventions *under the right circumstances,* just like I believe in helping people via talk therapy for anxiety but also that if someone is anxious because they're in danger of being run over by a train you should get them off the train tracks before talking about it
I am darkly suspicious that this just hit enough of the right buzzwords for people: NEUROSCIENTISTS MUST HOLD THE TRUTH ABOUT EVERYTHING. ADDRESS MEMORY ISSUES WITH AN APP. jfc
November 10, 2025 at 8:04 PM
I am darkly suspicious that this just hit enough of the right buzzwords for people: NEUROSCIENTISTS MUST HOLD THE TRUTH ABOUT EVERYTHING. ADDRESS MEMORY ISSUES WITH AN APP. jfc
Lord almighty I do not want to criticize the NIH and funding science right now, but this?? Is an infuriating choice of targets and every patient community said so years ago
November 10, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Lord almighty I do not want to criticize the NIH and funding science right now, but this?? Is an infuriating choice of targets and every patient community said so years ago
There's an amazing field research project lurking in the rental car datasets and their interface choices
November 10, 2025 at 5:59 PM
There's an amazing field research project lurking in the rental car datasets and their interface choices
I'm requesting that you stop replying because I'm finding it stressful, not because I don't understand what you're saying. Instead of replying with more instructions for others, just listen to what a human being is telling you.
November 9, 2025 at 8:27 PM
I'm requesting that you stop replying because I'm finding it stressful, not because I don't understand what you're saying. Instead of replying with more instructions for others, just listen to what a human being is telling you.
I am allowed to express that, and I'd like you to stop litigating in my replies.
November 9, 2025 at 8:10 PM
I am allowed to express that, and I'd like you to stop litigating in my replies.