Jae-Young Son
@jaeyoungson.bsky.social
Postdoc at Brown University. Social neuroscientist researching how we make memories of networks; cognitive neuroscientist researching how we make networks of memories.
Misadventurer; reluctant optimist; amor fati.
https://jaeyoungson.com/
Misadventurer; reluctant optimist; amor fati.
https://jaeyoungson.com/
This 4th of July, I read an excellent book about the 1963 civil rights campaign in Birmingham — I saw so much of today’s evil world reflected in the horrifying racism of 1960s Birmingham, and I am reminded of the necessity of hope for action. Excellent book, highly recommended
July 4, 2025 at 10:26 PM
This 4th of July, I read an excellent book about the 1963 civil rights campaign in Birmingham — I saw so much of today’s evil world reflected in the horrifying racism of 1960s Birmingham, and I am reminded of the necessity of hope for action. Excellent book, highly recommended
so nice for the MBTA to have retooled its fare validation kiosks into digital art installations
November 24, 2024 at 12:48 AM
so nice for the MBTA to have retooled its fare validation kiosks into digital art installations
somehow landed on an "internal server error 500" page on the MBTA's website – which is unexpectedly quite charming
November 15, 2024 at 6:57 PM
somehow landed on an "internal server error 500" page on the MBTA's website – which is unexpectedly quite charming
I received two things in the mail yesterday: my PhD diploma, and a celebratory basketball jersey (a gift from Dr. Malik Boykin). No takebacks now – I am Dr. Jae!
October 25, 2024 at 10:46 PM
I received two things in the mail yesterday: my PhD diploma, and a celebratory basketball jersey (a gift from Dr. Malik Boykin). No takebacks now – I am Dr. Jae!
millennial above the sea of fog
October 13, 2024 at 11:02 PM
millennial above the sea of fog
every state but Oklahoma
October 9, 2024 at 1:23 AM
every state but Oklahoma
Incredible set from Charly Bliss tonight in Boston
September 7, 2024 at 2:08 AM
Incredible set from Charly Bliss tonight in Boston
Like, buddy, you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here!!
August 15, 2024 at 3:01 AM
Like, buddy, you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here!!
I’m feeling grateful and happy that I was able to celebrate becoming DOCTOR Son with so many of the friends, family, and faculty whose support made this PhD possible.
“You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”
“You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”
August 2, 2024 at 11:34 AM
I’m feeling grateful and happy that I was able to celebrate becoming DOCTOR Son with so many of the friends, family, and faculty whose support made this PhD possible.
“You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”
“You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”
In fact, we find that greater abstraction after overnight rest is associated with improved navigation for the longer-range navigation problems, but not short-range problems
December 20, 2023 at 11:33 PM
In fact, we find that greater abstraction after overnight rest is associated with improved navigation for the longer-range navigation problems, but not short-range problems
Lo and behold, people achieved greater navigation accuracy after overnight sleep! We'd never given them feedback, so it's not just improvement from trial-and-error learning
Instead, our computational modeling points to increased abstraction – consistent w/ a replay-like mechanism
Instead, our computational modeling points to increased abstraction – consistent w/ a replay-like mechanism
December 20, 2023 at 11:32 PM
Lo and behold, people achieved greater navigation accuracy after overnight sleep! We'd never given them feedback, so it's not just improvement from trial-and-error learning
Instead, our computational modeling points to increased abstraction – consistent w/ a replay-like mechanism
Instead, our computational modeling points to increased abstraction – consistent w/ a replay-like mechanism
How did people accomplish this? Using computational modeling, we found that social navigation is best explained by a model of abstraction, where you represent individuals as the integrated weighted sum of their multistep connections (friends, friends-of-friends, ...)
(abstraction=SR in the figure)
(abstraction=SR in the figure)
December 20, 2023 at 11:31 PM
How did people accomplish this? Using computational modeling, we found that social navigation is best explained by a model of abstraction, where you represent individuals as the integrated weighted sum of their multistep connections (friends, friends-of-friends, ...)
(abstraction=SR in the figure)
(abstraction=SR in the figure)
Subjects were really good at this! They achieved above-chance accuracy right after learning about a novel social network, even for problems involving sending a letter to a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend (phew!)
December 20, 2023 at 11:29 PM
Subjects were really good at this! They achieved above-chance accuracy right after learning about a novel social network, even for problems involving sending a letter to a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend (phew!)
To find out, we developed an experimental task for measuring social navigation in the lab: as in Milgram's study, subjects were tasked with picking the best network members for delivering a letter to a target
December 20, 2023 at 11:28 PM
To find out, we developed an experimental task for measuring social navigation in the lab: as in Milgram's study, subjects were tasked with picking the best network members for delivering a letter to a target