Vera Kempe
@vkempe.bsky.social
Chair of Psychology of Language Learning at Abertay University. Here for language & politics. IRL also tango.
Reposted by Vera Kempe
The US funds the bulk of biomedical research globally by far. It's not like other countries can simply take up the slack. The more likely: people leave research, new people don't become researchers. There is no happy ending. www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
Top researchers consider leaving U.S. amid funding cuts: 'The science world is ending'
A poll from the journal Nature found that 75% of researchers in the U.S. are considering leaving the country. That includes a man who’s been dubbed the "Mozart of Math." Stephanie Sy examines what’s b...
www.pbs.org
November 1, 2025 at 8:15 PM
The US funds the bulk of biomedical research globally by far. It's not like other countries can simply take up the slack. The more likely: people leave research, new people don't become researchers. There is no happy ending. www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
Would love to see some concrete ideas on how to start implementing community-based volunteer-driven science publishing. Maybe start by federating all existing diamond OA journals?
November 1, 2025 at 7:39 PM
Would love to see some concrete ideas on how to start implementing community-based volunteer-driven science publishing. Maybe start by federating all existing diamond OA journals?
Reposted by Vera Kempe
Congratulations to Chiara Pompei, Serena Lecce, Paola Del Sette, Elena Didoni, Luca Bischetti & Valentina Bambini on publication of The Role of Metaphor in Children's Persuasive Communication in the LDR Special Issue on Development of Metaphor Comprehension. ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu/article/id/8...
October 30, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Congratulations to Chiara Pompei, Serena Lecce, Paola Del Sette, Elena Didoni, Luca Bischetti & Valentina Bambini on publication of The Role of Metaphor in Children's Persuasive Communication in the LDR Special Issue on Development of Metaphor Comprehension. ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu/article/id/8...
Reposted by Vera Kempe
New paper out today with Zhian Chen.
We argue that modern intensive parenting is not only exhausting for parents, but in some cases disrupts healthy child development.
What is 'overparenting'? And can evolutionary theory help us understand how we got here?
academic.oup.com/emph/advance...
We argue that modern intensive parenting is not only exhausting for parents, but in some cases disrupts healthy child development.
What is 'overparenting'? And can evolutionary theory help us understand how we got here?
academic.oup.com/emph/advance...
When parental care hurts: Extended parental care and the evolution of overparenting
Abstract. In recent years, childrearing in high-income countries has become described as ‘relentless’ in its demands on parents. In response to growing del
academic.oup.com
October 21, 2025 at 6:53 PM
New paper out today with Zhian Chen.
We argue that modern intensive parenting is not only exhausting for parents, but in some cases disrupts healthy child development.
What is 'overparenting'? And can evolutionary theory help us understand how we got here?
academic.oup.com/emph/advance...
We argue that modern intensive parenting is not only exhausting for parents, but in some cases disrupts healthy child development.
What is 'overparenting'? And can evolutionary theory help us understand how we got here?
academic.oup.com/emph/advance...
Reposted by Vera Kempe
Reposted by Vera Kempe
New blog post!
Let's say you have two measures meant to capture the same confounder. They're highly correlated. Can you still proceed with your regression analysis?
(I admit, the title is a bit of a spoiler)
www.the100.ci/2025/10/13/i...
Let's say you have two measures meant to capture the same confounder. They're highly correlated. Can you still proceed with your regression analysis?
(I admit, the title is a bit of a spoiler)
www.the100.ci/2025/10/13/i...
If you have two measures of the same confounder, you can just include both of them in your regression model
Sometimes, researchers worry about multicollinearity in situations where it’s actually a non-issue. Here’s one such scenario.
Imagine a situation where you are interested in the effect of X on Y (X...
www.the100.ci
October 13, 2025 at 1:14 PM
New blog post!
Let's say you have two measures meant to capture the same confounder. They're highly correlated. Can you still proceed with your regression analysis?
(I admit, the title is a bit of a spoiler)
www.the100.ci/2025/10/13/i...
Let's say you have two measures meant to capture the same confounder. They're highly correlated. Can you still proceed with your regression analysis?
(I admit, the title is a bit of a spoiler)
www.the100.ci/2025/10/13/i...
No. There are no results. The paper is sloppy and laced with errors. For a rebuttal listen here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/n...
October 1, 2025 at 8:31 AM
No. There are no results. The paper is sloppy and laced with errors. For a rebuttal listen here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/n...
Do these idiots really want their GPs, consultants and professors to go do volunteering work rather than focus on their jobs? Trying to picture my breast surgeon steaming clothes at the charity shop…
Just fuck off with this. How about start the conversation by highlighting how much immigrants contribute to the UK - not least by propping up the NHS and social care system!
Also - forced volunteering is not volunteering, it's unpaid labour.
Also - forced volunteering is not volunteering, it's unpaid labour.
September 29, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Do these idiots really want their GPs, consultants and professors to go do volunteering work rather than focus on their jobs? Trying to picture my breast surgeon steaming clothes at the charity shop…
Reposted by Vera Kempe
"Living through the rise of a dictatorship just means inhabiting a space that is gradually shrinking. There’s no point in resisting, not at first. You just make do with whatever breathing room you still have—until you lose that too."
Read Gisela Salim-Peyer:
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Read Gisela Salim-Peyer:
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Authoritarianism Feels Surprisingly Normal—Until It Doesn’t
Life in Venezuela was deceptively mundane. Then everything collapsed.
www.theatlantic.com
September 27, 2025 at 2:13 PM
"Living through the rise of a dictatorship just means inhabiting a space that is gradually shrinking. There’s no point in resisting, not at first. You just make do with whatever breathing room you still have—until you lose that too."
Read Gisela Salim-Peyer:
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Read Gisela Salim-Peyer:
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Reposted by Vera Kempe
💡 The idea that children drive language change is widely accepted — but does it hold up?
New research co-authored by Dr Vera Kempe challenges this view, showing little evidence that child-led innovations spread through communities.
Read more: www.mpi.nl/publications...
New research co-authored by Dr Vera Kempe challenges this view, showing little evidence that child-led innovations spread through communities.
Read more: www.mpi.nl/publications...
September 9, 2025 at 8:35 AM
💡 The idea that children drive language change is widely accepted — but does it hold up?
New research co-authored by Dr Vera Kempe challenges this view, showing little evidence that child-led innovations spread through communities.
Read more: www.mpi.nl/publications...
New research co-authored by Dr Vera Kempe challenges this view, showing little evidence that child-led innovations spread through communities.
Read more: www.mpi.nl/publications...
Reposted by Vera Kempe
Super proud of this work and very grateful for all the amazing people who provided valuable feedback along the way @remivantrijp.bsky.social @sheinalew.bsky.social @cedricboeckx.bsky.social @inbalarnon.bsky.social ❤️❤️❤️🙏
Children are not the main agents of language change. New paper by @limorraviv.bsky.social @damianblasi.bsky.social & @vkempe.bsky.social.
psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/...
www.mpi.nl/publications...
psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/...
www.mpi.nl/publications...
September 9, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Super proud of this work and very grateful for all the amazing people who provided valuable feedback along the way @remivantrijp.bsky.social @sheinalew.bsky.social @cedricboeckx.bsky.social @inbalarnon.bsky.social ❤️❤️❤️🙏
So rewarding to work with these two brilliant people to check whether the existing evidence supports the persistent claim that children's simplifying errors drive language change. It doesn't. psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?d...
@limorraviv.bsky.social @damianblasi.bsky.social
@limorraviv.bsky.social @damianblasi.bsky.social
September 9, 2025 at 8:00 AM
So rewarding to work with these two brilliant people to check whether the existing evidence supports the persistent claim that children's simplifying errors drive language change. It doesn't. psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?d...
@limorraviv.bsky.social @damianblasi.bsky.social
@limorraviv.bsky.social @damianblasi.bsky.social
I remember the great kindness with which Wietske welcomed us into the scientific community when a bunch of us clueless ECRs crawled out from behind the Iron Curtain in the early 90s. RIP Wietske Vonk www.mpi.nl/news/wietske...
Wietske Vonk passed away | Max Planck Institute
www.mpi.nl
September 9, 2025 at 7:44 AM
I remember the great kindness with which Wietske welcomed us into the scientific community when a bunch of us clueless ECRs crawled out from behind the Iron Curtain in the early 90s. RIP Wietske Vonk www.mpi.nl/news/wietske...
Reposted by Vera Kempe
The Item Response Warehouse is a new data resource for psychometricians interested in developing methods using bigger and more diverse sets of instruments: itemresponsewarehouse.org
New paper out now at BRM: doi.org/10.3758/s134...
New paper out now at BRM: doi.org/10.3758/s134...
September 8, 2025 at 3:28 AM
The Item Response Warehouse is a new data resource for psychometricians interested in developing methods using bigger and more diverse sets of instruments: itemresponsewarehouse.org
New paper out now at BRM: doi.org/10.3758/s134...
New paper out now at BRM: doi.org/10.3758/s134...
Reposted by Vera Kempe
Staying with me after yesterday's #uklvc15 poster session is Schaeffler et al.'s point that Child-Directed Speech was different in soviet East Germany than in the West. Less influence on individualism influences CDS phonetic features!
#acquisition #linguistics #sociolinguistics #contextmatters
#acquisition #linguistics #sociolinguistics #contextmatters
September 3, 2025 at 6:34 AM
Staying with me after yesterday's #uklvc15 poster session is Schaeffler et al.'s point that Child-Directed Speech was different in soviet East Germany than in the West. Less influence on individualism influences CDS phonetic features!
#acquisition #linguistics #sociolinguistics #contextmatters
#acquisition #linguistics #sociolinguistics #contextmatters
Reposted by Vera Kempe
No evidence for generational differences in the conventionalisation of face emojis. New paper by Kempe and @limorraviv.bsky.social.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ch...
doi.org/10.1016/j.ch...
Redirecting
doi.org
August 26, 2025 at 12:41 PM
No evidence for generational differences in the conventionalisation of face emojis. New paper by Kempe and @limorraviv.bsky.social.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ch...
doi.org/10.1016/j.ch...
🤔Compared to GenX/Boomers or Millennials, do GenZ have larger online social networks and, as a result, greater agreement with their peers on what emojis mean? Find the answer in this fun little paper with @limorraviv.bsky.social ⬇️:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
No evidence for generational differences in the conventionalisation of face emojis
Despite strong popular beliefs that older users misunderstand emojis, empirical evidence is equivocal. Here we propose that different generations of u…
www.sciencedirect.com
August 23, 2025 at 7:39 PM
🤔Compared to GenX/Boomers or Millennials, do GenZ have larger online social networks and, as a result, greater agreement with their peers on what emojis mean? Find the answer in this fun little paper with @limorraviv.bsky.social ⬇️:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Read and repost: open.substack.com/pub/christin...
Grand Designs: the loss of American freedom
Exactly seven months into Trump's second term, we have reached 1000 authoritarian actions. Here I lay out the enormity of what has happened.
open.substack.com
August 22, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Read and repost: open.substack.com/pub/christin...
@alastaircampbell2.bsky.social Seriously?
August 21, 2025 at 12:03 PM
@alastaircampbell2.bsky.social Seriously?
Reposted by Vera Kempe
An abbreviation (ABB) in a journal article (JA) or Grant Application (GA) is rarely worth the words it saves. Every ABB requires cognitive resources (CR) and at my age by the time I'm halfway through a JA or GA I no longer have the CR to remember what your ABB stood for.
August 15, 2025 at 9:39 AM
An abbreviation (ABB) in a journal article (JA) or Grant Application (GA) is rarely worth the words it saves. Every ABB requires cognitive resources (CR) and at my age by the time I'm halfway through a JA or GA I no longer have the CR to remember what your ABB stood for.
Reposted by Vera Kempe
This is an incredibly informative resource for anyone following the depredations of the orange, mapped against five broad areas of authoritarianism in the US today. It's hard to keep up with the daily outrages.👇🏼
August 11, 2025 at 6:38 PM
This is an incredibly informative resource for anyone following the depredations of the orange, mapped against five broad areas of authoritarianism in the US today. It's hard to keep up with the daily outrages.👇🏼
Reposted by Vera Kempe
Congrats to Marisa Casillas, @ruthefoushee.bsky.social, Humbertina Gómez Pérez, Juan Méndez Girón, Gilles Polian, Kennedy Casey & Penelope Brown on their work adapting the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories for Tseltal, out today in LDR ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu/article/id/8...
August 2, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Congrats to Marisa Casillas, @ruthefoushee.bsky.social, Humbertina Gómez Pérez, Juan Méndez Girón, Gilles Polian, Kennedy Casey & Penelope Brown on their work adapting the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories for Tseltal, out today in LDR ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu/article/id/8...
Reposted by Vera Kempe
Read new work by Pelin Küçükerdoğan and Deniz Tahiroğlu on children's metaphor comprehension in Language Development Research! ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu/article/id/8...
July 25, 2025 at 5:29 AM
Read new work by Pelin Küçükerdoğan and Deniz Tahiroğlu on children's metaphor comprehension in Language Development Research! ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu/article/id/8...
Not sure who wants to know this but after a year of interacting with ChatGPT 4o with memory I asked it to score my personality on all the models (Big5, HEXACO, Dark+Light Triad). All I can say - it knows me very well.
July 17, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Not sure who wants to know this but after a year of interacting with ChatGPT 4o with memory I asked it to score my personality on all the models (Big5, HEXACO, Dark+Light Triad). All I can say - it knows me very well.