Alejandro Pérez Velilla
@apvelilla.bsky.social
anthropologist & cognitive scientist
PhD candidate @ UCM CIS
merging cultural evolution with decision-making under uncertainty and risk
anthrocult.org
PhD candidate @ UCM CIS
merging cultural evolution with decision-making under uncertainty and risk
anthrocult.org
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
This week we talk to @babeheim.bsky.social about culture, change, modeling, running red lights, and the game of go.
youtu.be/nqTkSK-qtJM
www.podbean.com/eas/pb-hrn9v...
youtu.be/nqTkSK-qtJM
www.podbean.com/eas/pb-hrn9v...
Cultural Dynamics with Bret Breheim
YouTube video by Evolutionary Psychology (The Podcast)
youtu.be
November 4, 2025 at 2:59 PM
This week we talk to @babeheim.bsky.social about culture, change, modeling, running red lights, and the game of go.
youtu.be/nqTkSK-qtJM
www.podbean.com/eas/pb-hrn9v...
youtu.be/nqTkSK-qtJM
www.podbean.com/eas/pb-hrn9v...
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
Happy to see this work published in Psych Review. It's an impressive and important bit of theory/modeling about how we learn about decision-making under risk. Here's a slide with the super-coarse-grained summary of our results. Read the paper for (much) more. osf.io/preprints/so...
September 30, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Happy to see this work published in Psych Review. It's an impressive and important bit of theory/modeling about how we learn about decision-making under risk. Here's a slide with the super-coarse-grained summary of our results. Read the paper for (much) more. osf.io/preprints/so...
I am happy to announce that our project on risk and social learning is now in press at Psychological Review. Several new additions and revisions thanks to detailed feedback from colleagues and anonymous reviewers. osf.io/preprints/so...
@psmaldino.bsky.social @babeheim.bsky.social
@psmaldino.bsky.social @babeheim.bsky.social
September 27, 2025 at 12:14 AM
I am happy to announce that our project on risk and social learning is now in press at Psychological Review. Several new additions and revisions thanks to detailed feedback from colleagues and anonymous reviewers. osf.io/preprints/so...
@psmaldino.bsky.social @babeheim.bsky.social
@psmaldino.bsky.social @babeheim.bsky.social
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
How to quantify the impact of AI on long-run cultural evolution? Published today, I give it a go!
400+ years of strategic dynamics in the game of Go (Baduk/Weiqi), from feudalism to AlphaGo!
400+ years of strategic dynamics in the game of Go (Baduk/Weiqi), from feudalism to AlphaGo!
September 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM
How to quantify the impact of AI on long-run cultural evolution? Published today, I give it a go!
400+ years of strategic dynamics in the game of Go (Baduk/Weiqi), from feudalism to AlphaGo!
400+ years of strategic dynamics in the game of Go (Baduk/Weiqi), from feudalism to AlphaGo!
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
📣 Job alert! *Assistant Prof in Computational Social Science*. We're a friendly department, with sharp students, at a great institution, in a lovely city. We have real strengths in computational social science & are looking for a colleague to build this further. Share and reach out with quesions!
We're hiring an Assistant Professor in Computational Social Science ❗
📚 jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...
Apply before 26 October to join an internationally outstanding group of social science methodologists 🌎
📚 jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...
Apply before 26 October to join an internationally outstanding group of social science methodologists 🌎
September 18, 2025 at 3:50 PM
📣 Job alert! *Assistant Prof in Computational Social Science*. We're a friendly department, with sharp students, at a great institution, in a lovely city. We have real strengths in computational social science & are looking for a colleague to build this further. Share and reach out with quesions!
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
📢 Apply to our (2-year) research fellowships at @iast.fr
Join a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and indisciplinary group of scholars in Toulouse, walkable/cyclable pink city of chocolatines in the South of France.
Deadline: November 15, 2025.
www.iast.fr/research-fel...
Join a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and indisciplinary group of scholars in Toulouse, walkable/cyclable pink city of chocolatines in the South of France.
Deadline: November 15, 2025.
www.iast.fr/research-fel...
Research Fellowships
Each year, IAST invites applications for post-doctoral Research Fellowships, which offer candidates an opportunity to devote themselves full-time to their research at the start of their careers. Fello...
www.iast.fr
September 22, 2025 at 7:44 AM
📢 Apply to our (2-year) research fellowships at @iast.fr
Join a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and indisciplinary group of scholars in Toulouse, walkable/cyclable pink city of chocolatines in the South of France.
Deadline: November 15, 2025.
www.iast.fr/research-fel...
Join a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and indisciplinary group of scholars in Toulouse, walkable/cyclable pink city of chocolatines in the South of France.
Deadline: November 15, 2025.
www.iast.fr/research-fel...
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
💙New paper!💙
How is knowledge transmitted across generations in a foraging society?
With @danielredhead.bsky.social
we found: In BaYaka foragers, long-term skills pass in smaller, sparser networks, while short-term food info circulates broadly & reciprocally
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
How is knowledge transmitted across generations in a foraging society?
With @danielredhead.bsky.social
we found: In BaYaka foragers, long-term skills pass in smaller, sparser networks, while short-term food info circulates broadly & reciprocally
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Transmission networks of long-term and short-term knowledge in a foraging society
Abstract. Cultural transmission across generations is key to cumulative cultural evolution. While several mechanisms—such as vertical, horizontal, and obli
academic.oup.com
September 14, 2025 at 7:52 AM
💙New paper!💙
How is knowledge transmitted across generations in a foraging society?
With @danielredhead.bsky.social
we found: In BaYaka foragers, long-term skills pass in smaller, sparser networks, while short-term food info circulates broadly & reciprocally
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
How is knowledge transmitted across generations in a foraging society?
With @danielredhead.bsky.social
we found: In BaYaka foragers, long-term skills pass in smaller, sparser networks, while short-term food info circulates broadly & reciprocally
academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
New preprint w/ Nathan Gabriel & @avbell.bsky.social: The Evolution of Identity Signals for Coordination in Diverse Societies
The model tackles multiple nested/overlapping identities and complex signaling structure. Recovers lots of old results and adds several new ones osf.io/preprints/so...
The model tackles multiple nested/overlapping identities and complex signaling structure. Recovers lots of old results and adds several new ones osf.io/preprints/so...
July 1, 2025 at 2:58 PM
New preprint w/ Nathan Gabriel & @avbell.bsky.social: The Evolution of Identity Signals for Coordination in Diverse Societies
The model tackles multiple nested/overlapping identities and complex signaling structure. Recovers lots of old results and adds several new ones osf.io/preprints/so...
The model tackles multiple nested/overlapping identities and complex signaling structure. Recovers lots of old results and adds several new ones osf.io/preprints/so...
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
Job announcement 🚨: paid fieldwork opportunity with Sanguatsiniq research project! Details in thread ⬇️ Please share!
May 7, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Job announcement 🚨: paid fieldwork opportunity with Sanguatsiniq research project! Details in thread ⬇️ Please share!
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
As grant money starts drying up, it's more important than ever not to waste it on paying publishers' open access "article processing fees" when we can host PDFs for free. Tom Morgan and I wrote a paper on this, forthcoming at Science and Public Policy. Accepted draft here: osf.io/preprints/os...
May 9, 2025 at 5:26 PM
As grant money starts drying up, it's more important than ever not to waste it on paying publishers' open access "article processing fees" when we can host PDFs for free. Tom Morgan and I wrote a paper on this, forthcoming at Science and Public Policy. Accepted draft here: osf.io/preprints/os...
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
🚨 New preprint! 🚨
I looked at 400+ years of cumulative cultural evolution in the Game of Go from feudalism to superhuman AI. Did AlphaGo etc. completely disrupt human play? No! More like human-machine convergence, rather than revolution.
Check out these decision trees!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
I looked at 400+ years of cumulative cultural evolution in the Game of Go from feudalism to superhuman AI. Did AlphaGo etc. completely disrupt human play? No! More like human-machine convergence, rather than revolution.
Check out these decision trees!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
April 9, 2025 at 5:35 PM
🚨 New preprint! 🚨
I looked at 400+ years of cumulative cultural evolution in the Game of Go from feudalism to superhuman AI. Did AlphaGo etc. completely disrupt human play? No! More like human-machine convergence, rather than revolution.
Check out these decision trees!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
I looked at 400+ years of cumulative cultural evolution in the Game of Go from feudalism to superhuman AI. Did AlphaGo etc. completely disrupt human play? No! More like human-machine convergence, rather than revolution.
Check out these decision trees!
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
Merced River, Yosemite National Park
February 24, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Merced River, Yosemite National Park
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
Week 7 of my Bayes stats course, now deep in multilevel models, correlated effects, centered and non-centered parameterizations, diag(σ)LZ ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn (link to lectures: github.com/rmcelreath/s...)
February 21, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Week 7 of my Bayes stats course, now deep in multilevel models, correlated effects, centered and non-centered parameterizations, diag(σ)LZ ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn (link to lectures: github.com/rmcelreath/s...)
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
We are gutting EIS and our general capacity to respond to novel infectious threats right as bird flu is ramping up. What could possibly go wrong?
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Bird Flu Is a Big Threat. The US Needs to Start Acting Like It.
Scientists suspect a new strain is spreading via dust from bird droppings, carried by the wind.
www.bloomberg.com
February 14, 2025 at 9:29 PM
We are gutting EIS and our general capacity to respond to novel infectious threats right as bird flu is ramping up. What could possibly go wrong?
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
In game theory, we often assume that people only interact in one game at a time. In a new paper, we explore theoretically and experimentally how people cooperate when they engage in two games concurrently, either with the same partner or with different partners, www.nature.com/articles/s41...
February 12, 2025 at 2:32 AM
In game theory, we often assume that people only interact in one game at a time. In a new paper, we explore theoretically and experimentally how people cooperate when they engage in two games concurrently, either with the same partner or with different partners, www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
Where do moralizing religions come from? Useless cognitive by-products?Cultural group selection for complex societies?
Our Psych Review paper argues: neither. Let’s rethink their cognitive & evolutionary origins🧵
w/ @manvir.bsky.social @nbaumard @jbaptistandre.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1037/rev0...
Our Psych Review paper argues: neither. Let’s rethink their cognitive & evolutionary origins🧵
w/ @manvir.bsky.social @nbaumard @jbaptistandre.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1037/rev0...
February 11, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Where do moralizing religions come from? Useless cognitive by-products?Cultural group selection for complex societies?
Our Psych Review paper argues: neither. Let’s rethink their cognitive & evolutionary origins🧵
w/ @manvir.bsky.social @nbaumard @jbaptistandre.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1037/rev0...
Our Psych Review paper argues: neither. Let’s rethink their cognitive & evolutionary origins🧵
w/ @manvir.bsky.social @nbaumard @jbaptistandre.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1037/rev0...
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
Looking for a first intro to theoretical models in cultural evolution? For yourself or your students? 🔍
In our chapter for an upcoming @ehbea.bsky.social textbook, we outline what models are for, what questions they address, and how they can be coded in R!
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
In our chapter for an upcoming @ehbea.bsky.social textbook, we outline what models are for, what questions they address, and how they can be coded in R!
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Doing violence to reality: Theoretical models of cultural evolution: http://osf.io/9j65p_v1/
February 6, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Looking for a first intro to theoretical models in cultural evolution? For yourself or your students? 🔍
In our chapter for an upcoming @ehbea.bsky.social textbook, we outline what models are for, what questions they address, and how they can be coded in R!
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
In our chapter for an upcoming @ehbea.bsky.social textbook, we outline what models are for, what questions they address, and how they can be coded in R!
Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
Postdoc position available in our team!
We are testing a computational model explaining the decision-making process during in normative/moral situations while incorporating the formative role of culture in this process.
www.muni.cz/en/about-us/...
#socialpsyc
#PsychSciSky
#cogpsyc
We are testing a computational model explaining the decision-making process during in normative/moral situations while incorporating the formative role of culture in this process.
www.muni.cz/en/about-us/...
#socialpsyc
#PsychSciSky
#cogpsyc
Postdoctoral researcher in social cognition | Masaryk University
www.muni.cz
February 6, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Postdoc position available in our team!
We are testing a computational model explaining the decision-making process during in normative/moral situations while incorporating the formative role of culture in this process.
www.muni.cz/en/about-us/...
#socialpsyc
#PsychSciSky
#cogpsyc
We are testing a computational model explaining the decision-making process during in normative/moral situations while incorporating the formative role of culture in this process.
www.muni.cz/en/about-us/...
#socialpsyc
#PsychSciSky
#cogpsyc
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
💥Two 💥 post-doc positions open in my @erc.europa.eu ERC-funded group. In an interdisciplinary, collaborative setting, we use different types of modeling (e.g., reinforcement learning) and human experiments to understand social learning and cultural evolution. Get in touch if you have any questions!
February 7, 2025 at 7:56 AM
💥Two 💥 post-doc positions open in my @erc.europa.eu ERC-funded group. In an interdisciplinary, collaborative setting, we use different types of modeling (e.g., reinforcement learning) and human experiments to understand social learning and cultural evolution. Get in touch if you have any questions!
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
Does poverty lead to risk taking or risk avoidance? Turns out, to both. Our new paper (with D. Nettle & W. Frankenhuis) in @royalsocietypublishing.org explains why, and conducts preregistered tests of our ‘desperation threshold’ model.
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
A 🧵
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
A 🧵
February 7, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Does poverty lead to risk taking or risk avoidance? Turns out, to both. Our new paper (with D. Nettle & W. Frankenhuis) in @royalsocietypublishing.org explains why, and conducts preregistered tests of our ‘desperation threshold’ model.
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
A 🧵
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
A 🧵
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
Andy Whiten and I wrote a @science.org perspective about a cool new study from @inbalarnon.bsky.social @simonkirby.bsky.social @ellengarland.bsky.social et al! They found humpback whale song has language-like statistical structure, using methods inspired by infant language learning 🐋🎶 Links below ⬇️
February 6, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Andy Whiten and I wrote a @science.org perspective about a cool new study from @inbalarnon.bsky.social @simonkirby.bsky.social @ellengarland.bsky.social et al! They found humpback whale song has language-like statistical structure, using methods inspired by infant language learning 🐋🎶 Links below ⬇️
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
We're hiring! Are you a cultural evolutionary modeller who wants to understand how and why children's peer cultures evolve? Here's a postdoc position for you! @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social @durhampsych.bsky.social @ehbea.bsky.social @eslr.bsky.social
Apply here: durham.taleo.net/careersectio...
Apply here: durham.taleo.net/careersectio...
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Click the link provided to see the complete job description.
durham.taleo.net
January 14, 2025 at 12:38 PM
We're hiring! Are you a cultural evolutionary modeller who wants to understand how and why children's peer cultures evolve? Here's a postdoc position for you! @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social @durhampsych.bsky.social @ehbea.bsky.social @eslr.bsky.social
Apply here: durham.taleo.net/careersectio...
Apply here: durham.taleo.net/careersectio...
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
Lovely blog post about our recent paper in Ornithology (@amornith.bsky.social)! We applied agent-based models and machine learning to 36 yrs of mourning warbler song, and found evidence that males have a learning bias for more complex syllables: americanornithology.org/cultural-evo...
Cultural evolution in song of Geothlypis philadelphia (Mourning Warbler) - American Ornithological Society
We used a long-term database of songs recorded over 36 years from throughout the breeding range of Geothlypis philadelphia (Mourning Warbler) to answer questions about the current and historical patte...
americanornithology.org
December 19, 2024 at 3:23 PM
Lovely blog post about our recent paper in Ornithology (@amornith.bsky.social)! We applied agent-based models and machine learning to 36 yrs of mourning warbler song, and found evidence that males have a learning bias for more complex syllables: americanornithology.org/cultural-evo...
Reposted by Alejandro Pérez Velilla
Do whales optimize their vocalizations for efficiency, just like human language? 🐋🎶 My latest study in
Science Advances (@science.org) suggests they do—following linguistic laws seen in human speech. 🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Science Advances (@science.org) suggests they do—following linguistic laws seen in human speech. 🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Language-like efficiency in whale communication
Whale vocalizations follow efficiency rules seen in human language, revealing striking similarities in communication systems.
www.science.org
February 5, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Do whales optimize their vocalizations for efficiency, just like human language? 🐋🎶 My latest study in
Science Advances (@science.org) suggests they do—following linguistic laws seen in human speech. 🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Science Advances (@science.org) suggests they do—following linguistic laws seen in human speech. 🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...