Dr Suzy J Styles
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suzyjstyles.bsky.social
Dr Suzy J Styles
@suzyjstyles.bsky.social
460 followers 640 following 160 posts
Developmental Psycholinguist. How do languages get into a person? And how do they make a difference? Brain Language and Intersensory Perception (BLIP Lab) at NTU Singapore.
Teach: Cog Psych, An Ape’s Guide to Human Language, Lang in Perception & Thought
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suzyjstyles.bsky.social
Who wouldn’t be delighted to stumble across this while marking
Exam booklet with pencil-drawn cartoon of jolly mermaid. Ver cutes. Other distinguishing marks removed form pic.
May 14, 2025 at 4:33 AM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
In my psycholinguistics Lab class I quickly learned that I have to start with class on what I call the 4 Ps of language:

Power, Prestige, Politics and Prejudice

Otherwise all my students regurgitate the idea that ‘formal language’ is correct and everything else is … not even language 🤷🏻‍♀️
Prof notes: The Four "P"s of Language. A language is a way of communicating meaning through a shared set of symbols and rules. Natural languages are realtime systems of communication (spoken or signed) created by groups of people. Babies learn these systems simply through observing others interact. By contrast, writing is a technology used to capture real-time natural languages (more or less accurately), and convey meaning over space and time. Babies do not learn writing without explicit instruction on how the system works. A communication system does not need writing to be considered a 'language' - there are many unwritten languages in the word today! Languages that have been written for a long time can become very conservative — very change-resistant — because you are able to read usage of long-dead people. Spoken languages change faster. *There's no meaningful distinction between a 'language' and a 'dialect', other than the idea of official status, recognised by a group with authority. This means we should think about POWER when we ask who decides what is a 'language'? * Official languages are usually derived from the spoken variety with the most PRESTIGE. This can mean the variety with the most wealth, the most influence, or the most prestigious history given the current power structure (nation, state etc). *Official status is enacted and maintained through formal education in line with local education policies. These policies are determined by the group in power in a nation state or region, meaning that these decisions are grounded in POLITICS. *Once a particular variety has prestige, many people may believe it is 'better', leading to linguistic PREJUDICE.
April 3, 2025 at 12:55 PM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
Here’s an example of ask or answer a question:

Students do a no-stakes quiz. and swap papers a few times.

I have everyone’s name on stick. I draw at random, and students can give the answer on the paper they are holding, their own answer or ask for explanations. (I mark the ‘absent’ sticks)
a table covered in paddle-pop sticks. Each has an orange stamp of a monkey and stamped text: “An Ape’s Guide to Human Language”
February 12, 2025 at 10:27 AM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
Here’s an example of pseudonymous responding.

I asked students to show where ‘arm’ and ‘leg’ stop in languages they speak, as part of a Linguistic Relativity module.

Everyone in the class has a playing card as their identifier (they pick a random card from a deck in day 1, and I know who is who)
A digital pinboard showing pictures of body outlines with colourful outlines or coloured in limbs. Each post is named as a playing card, e.g., 6 diamonds. some languages have the hands and feet coloured in, others don’t. Some posts include knees and elbows, others don’t.
February 12, 2025 at 10:13 AM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
In an alarming new twist, husbo has started asking “did you actually write this?” after consulting AI agents about my pubs

Styles & Gawne (2017) ‘When can you TICKLE the CAR? The semantics of object-sound metaphors in English’ is the most on-brand paper @superlinguo.bsky.social and I never wrote!
screenshot of ai generated paper citation. containing the following text: 17:58 ＝ ChatGPT 4o mini v 3. Styles, S. J., & Gawne, L. (2017) Title: When can you TICKLE the CAR? The semantics of object-sound metaphors in English Source: Journal of Child Language, 44(3), 637- 668. Key Points: • Focuses on how children (and adults) interpret playful or "illogical" metaphors (e.g., "tickle the car"). • Provides insight into children's developing semantic and pragmatic skills.
February 11, 2025 at 9:02 AM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
200 undergraduates. The question - “Describe an experience you have had where you repeated a complex action until it became routine, and no longer took up so much of your attention.”

I coded the answers because Of Course I have 🙄 What can we learn about them?

2/
A flow diagram showing around half of the responses in a category “hobbies”, around one third in a category “textbook” and the remainder spread between “daily” “job” and “other”. Each category is broken down further into types.
February 10, 2025 at 1:56 PM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
Last week I asked cognitive psychology students to share something they learned that had a high cognitive load at first, but after practice, became more routine, allowing them to pay attention to other things…

Friends, their answers were delightful - I learned so much about this fabulous cohort
🧵
Lecture slide featuring the Zac Galifiankis math meme - a man is frowning while formuli flash in front of his eyes. The meme is above a canonical Stroop Task with colour words written in different coloured ink. Subtitle reads “more cognitive effort, less remaining capacity”. Next to it is a closeup of Kiki resting on the grass, from Ghibli studio’s 魔女の宅急便 ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’. The relaxed screenshot is above a modified version of the Stroop task with coloured blocks. Subtitle reads “Less cognitive effort, more remaining capacity”
February 10, 2025 at 1:48 PM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
Because I can’t help myself let’s have one more shot of #Reflections for #BlueskyArtShow

#CityScape #Abstract
Lights reflected on inky water. A narrow rivulet of pale blue light traces a cursive path into the distance on the slack water’s surface - a glossy signature of the city.
February 9, 2025 at 1:22 PM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
Same-same but different - also a gorgeous day in august

Merdeka 118 in Kuala Lumpur

#BlueskyArtShow #Reflections
puffy cumulus clouds stand out against a bold blue sky. in the middle of it, a shiny tower with an unusual angular shape reflects the sky. At the base, run-down low floor buildings make a surprising contrast.
February 9, 2025 at 12:27 PM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
#BlueSkyArtShow The theme is #Reflections

Inside Lindy Lee’s Auroboros at NGA
An abstract shot from the inside of Lindy Lee’s entrancing walk-in sculptural instalation made of highly polished chrome, perforated with thousands of perfectly circular holes.
February 9, 2025 at 11:59 AM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
here to help😅🕷️ 🖤
Spiders Georg looks very disappointed with his life choices, sitting on a rock, in a cave eating a giant bowl of spiders with spoon.
February 7, 2025 at 3:20 AM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
Tag yourself! What kind of research burger are you?

@academic-chatter.bsky.social

Link to main thread:
bsky.app/profile/suzy...
The Conference Abstract (a slider with all the main parts of a burger) The Press Release (the bun is replaced with Context-Cake, and the filling is mostly Cheesy implications) The Grant Application (less meat, lots of novelty tomatoes and sassy jalapeño methods, large slice of cheese, some methods, no results, all on an archive focaccia) The Family Gathering (the bun is replaced with Toast of Necessity and Toast of Hope. There is no meat, only some nutritious predictions and cautious lettuce of optimist. bit of cheese) The File Drawer (No buns, just meat: methods patty, one burnt results-patty, two inconsistent results patties and one failed-to-replicate patty) The Guest Lecture: (The bun is replaced with Wry-Rye. There is a HUGE slice of onions of discontent, a methods patty and a mountain of results) The Preregistration (no bun, methods-pattie, nutritious predictions and a stack of analysis-plan pickles) The Geek Out in the Pub After work (huge slice of onions, mainly methods patty and predictions) The Preregistration (onions of discontent, slim methods patty. house pile of analysis plan pickles) The Registered Report (a full research burger with empty space for the results and conclusions) The Doctoral Dissertation (a gigantic multilayered burger with around five layers of patties)
January 29, 2025 at 6:29 AM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
👉 Once you and your students share this model, it makes it easier to discuss different kinds of research outputs
Why Research Burgers? The Research Burger can help you recognise different elements in a research report, so you can figure out which bits are critical for your current needs. You can use the model to critique your own work (hmmm... have I got enough impact tomato? is there too much cheese?), or decide which parts of an article to focus on when you are reading (hmmm... maybe I'll skip to the meat). With a bit of practice, you'll also be able to recognize different kinds of Research Burger when you spot them in the wild! The conference abstract (a slider with all the main parts of a burger) The Grant Application (less meat, lots of novelty tomatoes and sassy jalapeño methods, large slice of cheese, some methods, no results, all on an archive focaccia) The Preregistration (no bun, methods-pattie, nutritious predictions and a stack of analysis-plan pickles) The Registered Report (a full research burger with empty space for the results and conclusions)
January 29, 2025 at 6:13 AM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
👉Our undergrads often have lots of experience writing essays, so when it comes to writing research reports they often spend too much time working on their intro and run out of time to cook the meat well! I recommend starting with the meat!
How to write a research burger 1. complain constructively • seeds of inspiration • onions of discontent • nutritious predictions • analysis plan 2. Cook your Meat • Methods Patty • Results Patty 3. Fluff up your Dough •Introduct-bun • Discuss-bun 4. Add the sass • novelty tomato • cautious lettuce of eptimism • cheesy implications • meaningful mayo 5. Garnish • acknowledge mints • abstract
January 29, 2025 at 6:03 AM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
👉Our undergrads don’t necessarily know that working researchers often don’t read articles all the way from start to finish. Often we want to get straight to the meat without wading through all the fluffy bread of the intro and the cheesy implications.
How to read a research burger 1. Swallow the Overview 2. Chew the Meaty Bits 3. Sample the Methods 4. Nibble the Intro 5. Inspect the base
January 29, 2025 at 5:55 AM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
👉 I’ve been using this metaphor with my students for years and years. Finally decided to illustrate it, and make a handout!

👉while lots of our students are familiar with the structure of a scientific research article, they often put more weight on intro and conclusion than on the MEAT of an article
Construction of a Research Burger METHODS-PATTY RESULTS-PATTY THE MEAT The only FACTS in a research burger! As a reader, you should focus most of your attention here. As a writer, it's generally efficient to nail this first. 1. What was done (the Methods Patty) 2. What was observed (the Results Patty) A Results-Patty usually includes statistics that summarize data or test for patterns in the results. The best Results-Patties include figures so you can see the detailed data and understand the patterns for yourself. seeds of inspiration INTRODUCT-BUN DISCUSS-BUN THE CARBS This fluffy bun provides context for the meaty bits. Without it, the meat can be nutritious, but unsatisfying. The Introduct-bun tells us why the study was conducted, and explains what we already knew before the research began. The Seeds of Inspiration are where you tag other researchers to show where the ideas come from. The top and the bottom are like a matched pair: every question raised in the Introduct-Bun should be returned to in the Discuss-bun, with the juices from the meat providing evidence. Tip! Tagging other researchers as Seeds of Inspiration shows how great your feed is, and makes sure your work will appear in their mentions! oniens of distontent Impact tomato cheesy implications THE FLAVOURS While the meat and the carbs will keep you fed, the ingredients on the upper deck give you the flavour you need to care about the work. Zesty onions explain gaps in the existing literature. Zingy tomatoes explain what is new, and why the topic is important. Lettuce isn't very flavourful, but it gives a little crispness to the storytelling - suggesting that this study might help to solve the problem introduced by the onions. Spicy jalapenos sell the methods as exciting and use buzz words to spark interest in hot topics. The cheese layer is an optional extra, and sometimes appears in different places in the burger. It often goes beyond the true implications of the study. As a writer, its best to go easy on the cheese, as it can be bad for your reader's health. As a reader, remember that although the cheese is delicious, the only facts in a burger are the meat! THE NUTRITIOUS VEGGIES Packed with nutrients, these ingredients make a burger healthy, and help to ensure that a research report is a true reflection of what was done. Burgers with lots of pickles show their readers that all of that the plans were preserved before the current burger was constructed - although they don't suit every kind of burger. At the moment, there aren't widely accepted minimum health standards for burgers, so you won't find these elements in every burger you eat. THE ABSTRACT A teensy slice of the main ingredients, presented as a garnish on top of the burger. Abstracts are designed to help you get an overview of the dish before diving into the main meal in detail. It's often covered in sauce to make it extra exciting, but it isn't a true reflection of the dish as a whole. As a reader, you can use the abstract to decide whether or not an article is relevant to your interests. As a writer, save this until the very end, so you can effectively summarize each ingredient after you have finished cooking.
January 29, 2025 at 5:50 AM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
Start of term - let’s share academic resources!

How about the Research Burger!
🧵

osf.io/sj3mz/
Cartoon of a burger Title: Research Burger Labels layers of the burger: seeds of inspiration INTRODUCT-BUN onions of discontent novelty tomato / impact tomato cautious lettuce of optimism sassy jalapeno / buzz words / hot methods cheesy implications METHODS-PATTY sauce nutritious predictions sauce analysis plan / data pipeline RESULTS-PATTY meaningful mayo DISCUSS-BUN Chef de Jour: sjs
January 29, 2025 at 5:42 AM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
I am trying to inoculate my students against this stuff rn.

It’s an uphill battle because outputs can seem “truthy” due to their adherence to norms of linguistic prestige, and overall air of confidence.

Fortunately, introducing the concept of “bullshit” makes the discussion spicy!
A lecture slide. Top. Questions for ChatGPT. Q: “What is ai for in education?” A: an audio icon with pull quotes: personalized! effective! accessible’. Comment: hype! Q: What is an ai hallucination? A: an audio icon with pull quotes: inaccurate! non-sensical! fabricated! Comment: fake facts! Bottom. Photo of a white woman with a large parrot on her shoulder. quote: “It’s always doing the same thing; it’s just that sometimes it corresponds to something we take to be true and sometimes it doesn’t.” Reference: Photos of three white men. Quote: “You are bullshitting if you are speaking without caring about the truth of what you say” Quote: “minimally [LLMs] are soft bullshitters or they are bullshit machines”. Photo of a woman of colour. Quote: “The end goal [of ai tools in ed.] … is not to educate your kids. it is to get as much data as possible” References: 1. Emily Bender https://soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm/98-helping-computers- decode-sentences-interview-with-emily-m-bender Lingthusiasm with Lauren Gawne. 2. Hicks, Humphries & Slater https://www.iheart.com/podcast/139-better-offline- 150284547/episode/the-academics-that-think-chatgpt-is-197136144/ Better Offline 3. Adrienne Williams https://www.buzzsprout.com/2126417/episodes Mystery AI Hype Theatre 3000
January 28, 2025 at 10:11 AM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
Current listening:
fantastic @kensycoop.bsky.social interview with Nicola Allen, talking about the molecular neuroscience of glial cells!

Good thing I prepped my Brain Cells colouring page in advance 😉

manyminds.libsyn.com/the-other-ha...
A cartoon illustration of different brain cells.
January 28, 2025 at 2:51 AM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
My favourite version of the Müller-Lyer illusion is this gif:

This demonstration of the effect seems very low-level to me 🤔
Illustration show a series of vertical parallel lines in red and blue. At the terminals of the lines are short line making ‘arrowheads’. If the gif is playing correctly, the arrowheads should kind of flap - sometimes they are angled up (away from line) and then rotating to point down (towards line). As this happens an illusion of a wave passes along the red and blue lines making them seem to change length - longer when arms are angled away, and shorter when angled towards line. by giannisarcone.com
January 27, 2025 at 5:19 AM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
And because I am a complete nOOb here on bsky, I broke the whole thread 😮‍💨

The accidentally deleted first post:
bsky.app/profile/suzy...

the correct link to ‘ChatGPT is bullshit’:
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

and the correct link to the infographic and reading list:
doi.org/10.6084/m9.f...
Cartoon infographic with some mountains and a deep pit into to the earth. THE CIRCLES OF SCIENTIFIC HELL PEAK PERFORMANCE (mountain tops) GATES OF HELL (at the lower foothills) **UPPER HELL** VESTIBULE OF WASTED TIME PROCRASTINATION LIMBO: LIMBO •RUSHED / SLOPPY / LATE CIRCLE OF PANIC: AI OFFLOADING • CONSULT AI 'SUMMARIES' • PARAPHRASE AI 'SAMPLES' • PATCHWORK OF AI PROMPTS **LOWER HELL** PLAGIARISM TOWN MISREPRESENTING AUTHORSHIP •PRESENTING WORK OF ANOTHER AS OWN • PRESENTING WORK OF AI AS OWN BESPOKE CHEATING • ESSAY FARMS / PAID 'TUTORING' 'EXAMPLES' THE GREAT WATERFALL OF BULLSHIT • SUBMITTING AI BULLSHIT FOR PUBLICATION • PURCHASING AUTHORSHIP ON BULLSHIT PAPERS LAX PEER-REVIEW ON BULLSHIT • SUSPICIOUSLY FAST PEER REVIEW ON BULLSHIT • BULLSHIT EDITORIAL ACCEPTANCE RINGS • BULLSHIT AUTHOR LISTS • CITING BULLSHIT • DEFENDING BULLSHIT • FAILING TO RETRACT BULLSHIT THE WELL OF PROFITEERING • SELLING COURSE MATERIALS/ ANSWER KEYS / ESSAYS • EXAM ANSWER TRADES / DOPPELGANCER FOR HIRE • PREDATORY JOURNALS / PREDATORY CONFERENCES • AUTHORSHIP SERVICES FOR SALE / SELLING AUTHOR "SLOTS' FRAUD: •FAKE DATA / FABRICATED RESULTS / MANIPULATED IMAGES PIT OF HELL: •HARMUL UNETHICAL RESEARCH / NAZIS Suzy J Styles 2025
January 22, 2025 at 1:22 PM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
Start of term - time for the Circles of Scientific Hell

(reposted with correct link. doi.org/10.6084/m9.f...

Thread continues here:

bsky.app/profile/suzy...
Cartoon infographic with some mountains and a deep pit into to the earth. THE CIRCLES OF SCIENTIFIC HELL PEAK PERFORMANCE (mountain tops) GATES OF HELL (at the lower foothills) **UPPER HELL** VESTIBULE OF WASTED TIME PROCRASTINATION LIMBO: LIMBO •RUSHED / SLOPPY / LATE CIRCLE OF PANIC: AI OFFLOADING • CONSULT AI 'SUMMARIES' • PARAPHRASE AI 'SAMPLES' • PATCHWORK OF AI PROMPTS **LOWER HELL** PLAGIARISM TOWN MISREPRESENTING AUTHORSHIP •PRESENTING WORK OF ANOTHER AS OWN • PRESENTING WORK OF AI AS OWN BESPOKE CHEATING • ESSAY FARMS / PAID 'TUTORING' 'EXAMPLES' THE GREAT WATTERFALL OF BULLSHIT • SUBMITTING AI BULLSHIT FOR PUBLICATION • PURCHASING AUTHORSHIP ON BULLSHIT PAPERS LAX PEER-REVIEW ON BULLSHIT • SUSPICIOUSLY FAST PEER REVIEW ON BULLSHIT • BULLSHIT EDITORIAL ACCEPTANCE RINGS • BULLSHIT AUTHOR LISTS • CITING BULLSHIT • DEPENDING BULLSHIT • FAILING TO RETRACT BULLSHIT THE WELL OF PROFITEERING • SELLING COURSE MATERIALS/ ANSWER KEYS / ESSAYS • EXAM ANSWER TRADES / DOPPELGANCER FOR HIRE • PREDATORY JOURNALS / PREDATORY CONFERENCES • AUTHORSHIP SERVICES FOR SALE / SELLING AUTHOR "SLOTS' FRAUD: •FAKE DATA / FABRICATED RESULTS / MANIPULATED IMAGES PIT OF HELL: •HARMUL UNETHICAL RESEARCH / NAZIS Suzy J Styles 2025
January 22, 2025 at 11:03 AM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
There’s a fabulous flowchart by UNESCO (liberally edited to phrase in terms of bullshit) about when it is safe to use genAI in research.

I like the focus on expertise (are you able to evaluate output accuracy?) and responsibility for checking

Original: unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/p...
Flow chart (all paths described) Start Does it matter if it's bullshit? NO Safe to use Start Does it matter if it's bullshit? YES Do you have expertse to verify that the output is accurate? NO Unsafe to use ChatGPT Start Does it matter if it's bullshit? YES Do you have expertse to verify that the output is accurate? YES Are you able and willing to take full responsibility (legal, moral, etc.) for missed inacuracies? NO Unsafe to use ChatGPT Start Does it matter if it's bullshit? YES Do you have expertse to verify that the output is accurate? YES Are you able and willing to take full responsibility (legal, moral, etc.) for missed inacuracies? YES Possible to use ChatGPT* *but be sure to verify each output word and sentence for accuracy and common sense
January 22, 2025 at 5:36 AM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
As an educator who grades student work, I have been thinking about this concept for over 10 years 😅
A central illustration shows a man in torment, surrounded by speech bubbles. The illustration is cited as: Gustav Dore, illustration for Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno How should I respond to this!? Is paraphrasing plagiarism? Is this worse than that? Oh no! You cited Wikipedia! Is my response fair? The problem as I see it: When confronted with bad academic practice, it is the marker who is bound in torment! sjs 2013
January 22, 2025 at 4:23 AM
suzyjstyles.bsky.social
I love that we seem to be such a consistent species - whether it is hand-prints or other kinds of culturally relevant mark making, humans gonna hume 😅

I was lucky enough to visit some ancient sites in the Grampians not too long ago and they were absolutely wonderful.
Photograph of ancient aboriginal cave art in a rocky overhang. Red ochre hand/prints, made with the spray method can be seen in various locations, including one way up high in a very inaccessible spot. Photograph of ancient aboriginal cave art in a rocky overhang. White ochre painted figures of people and animals can be seen in a row along a vertical surface. They are schematic line drawings a little like stick figures
January 21, 2025 at 10:34 AM