Benjamin Gagl
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benjamingagl.bsky.social
Benjamin Gagl
@benjamingagl.bsky.social
Assistant Professor for Self Learning Systems @UniCologne
#Reading #NeuroCognition #ComputationalModels

https://selflearningsystems.uni-koeln.de/
Pinned
🚨Now out in *Open Mind* 🚨

"Can we utilize Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate useful linguistic corpora? A case study of the word frequency effect in young German readers"

direct.mit.edu/opmi/article...

with
@jobschepens.bsky.social @hannawoloszyn.bsky.social @nicolekmarx.bsky.social
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
TODAY! In case you are interested ;)
Coming up next in our November's Journal Club meeting: We have happy to have Dr. Cosimo Iaia talk about the concreteness effect in representational alignment between human and language models. All are welcome to join us! Please share 😊

Registration link: forms.gle/8W6Xu9VK31df...
November 21, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
🚨Now out in *Open Mind* 🚨

"Can we utilize Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate useful linguistic corpora? A case study of the word frequency effect in young German readers"

direct.mit.edu/opmi/article...

with
@jobschepens.bsky.social @hannawoloszyn.bsky.social @nicolekmarx.bsky.social
November 13, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
Professor Dr Pamela Perniss, Chair of Sign Language Interpreting: German Sign Language - German, talks about her love for her research and educational work and the special contribution sign language makes to people's inclusion in society, education and life👇
andhowaboutyou.podigee.io/28-pamela-pe...
Meaningful Work with Sign Language and Other Factors for Job Satisfaction - Pamela Perniss
Professor Dr Pamela Perniss, Chair of Sign Language Interpreting: German Sign Language - German, talks about her love for her research and educational work, her colleagues and students and the special...
andhowaboutyou.podigee.io
May 2, 2025 at 10:40 AM
🚨Now out in *Open Mind* 🚨

"Can we utilize Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate useful linguistic corpora? A case study of the word frequency effect in young German readers"

direct.mit.edu/opmi/article...

with
@jobschepens.bsky.social @hannawoloszyn.bsky.social @nicolekmarx.bsky.social
November 13, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
In the contribution by Elif Ecem Çalışkan, we compare human ratings for semantic variables to those produced by LLMs in the Turkish language, which has not been studied a lot to date.
"Language Models as Tools for Psycholinguistics” Speakers: Fritz Günther (HU Berlin), Cosimo Iaia (Goethe University Frankfurt), Elif Ecem Çalışkan (LMU München), @jobschepens.bsky.social (University of Cologne), and @mariakna.bsky.social (Royal Holloway London)
November 12, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
Looking forward to being part of this symposium at TeaP2026. I will present our TRUST guidelines for reading research and the German Lexicon Project (GLP)
"Neuro-cognitive advances in visual word recognition research.” Speakers: @ahaugg.bsky.social (University of Zurich), Sabrina Turker (University of Vienna), @janahasenacker.bsky.social (University of Erfurt), @benjamingagl.bsky.social (University of Cologne), Harald Baayen (University of Tuebingen)
November 12, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
Congratulations to our #GeWoNN members on their accepted symposia at the #teap2026 Conference! 

See titles below:
November 12, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
Welcome to join our upcoming Journal Club meetings in Oct & Nov! Happy to have @cyhsieh.bsky.social & Dr. Cosimo Iaia as our guest speakers!

Register to get the Zoom link or sign up as our next guest speaker:
forms.gle/TY6Cuxut87Ej...

More exciting talks coming up. Please share & see you there!
October 2, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
This 2021 paper by @benjamingagl.bsky.social and colleagues is full of important findings and ideas about the temporal structure of reading and speech. I keep coming back to these data.

Eye movements during text reading align with the rate of speech production
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Eye movements during text reading align with the rate of speech production - Nature Human Behaviour
Speech is produced and perceived at a rate of 4–5 Hz. Gagl et al. show that the temporal structure of our eye movements during reading is similar (3.9–5.2 Hz), suggesting a temporal link between readi...
www.nature.com
August 29, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
Binz et al. (in press, Nature) developed an LLM called Centaur that better predicts human responses in 159 of 160 behavioural experiments compared to existing cognitive models. See: arxiv.org/abs/2410.20268
June 26, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
Wir brauchen ein sofortiges #Waffenverbot für Privatpersonen – damit sich eine schreckliche Tat wie #Graz nicht wiederholen kann. Jetzt Appell an Innenminister Karner und die Bundesregierung unterzeichnen: actions.aufstehn.at/waffenverbot...
Privates Waffenverbot jetzt!
Der Amoklauf an einer Grazer Schule zeigt, dass das Waffengesetz in Österreich viel zu locker ist. Das muss sich ändern! Fordere jetzt mit uns ein Waffenverbot für Privatpersonen.
actions.aufstehn.at
June 11, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Wir brauchen ein sofortiges #Waffenverbot für Privatpersonen – damit sich eine schreckliche Tat wie #Graz nicht wiederholen kann. Jetzt Appell an Innenminister Karner und die Bundesregierung unterzeichnen: actions.aufstehn.at/waffenverbot...
Privates Waffenverbot jetzt!
Der Amoklauf an einer Grazer Schule zeigt, dass das Waffengesetz in Österreich viel zu locker ist. Das muss sich ändern! Fordere jetzt mit uns ein Waffenverbot für Privatpersonen.
actions.aufstehn.at
June 11, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
We're happy to share a new preprint by our members, @jnpauli.bsky.social & @benjamingagl.bsky.social: "Understanding the Neuro-Cognitive Mechanisms of Orthographic Learning in Humans and Baboons: A Comparative Study Using Domain-Specific Mechanistic and Domain-General Connectionist Models"!
Understanding the Neuro-Cognitive Mechanisms of Orthographic Learning in Humans and Baboons: A Comparative Study Using Domain-Specific Mechanistic and Domain-General Connectionist Models
Script is a key technology for humans, as mastering reading is essential for successful social participation. Hence, understanding the neuro-cognitive mechanisms underpinning the processes of learning...
www.biorxiv.org
May 27, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
🧠✍️ How do humans and baboons learn orthography?

We simulated their orthographic learning using CNNs (CORnet-Z, ResNet-18) vs. neuro-cognitive model (Speechless reader model, SLR).

🔍 SLR not only outperformed CNNs—it revealed how both species learned to differentiate between learned and novel words
Understanding the Neuro-Cognitive Mechanisms of Orthographic Learning in Humans and Baboons: A Comparative Study Using Domain-Specific Mechanistic and Domain-General Connectionist Models https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.16.654419v1
May 21, 2025 at 5:58 PM
🧠✍️ How do humans and baboons learn orthography?

We simulated their orthographic learning using CNNs (CORnet-Z, ResNet-18) vs. neuro-cognitive model (Speechless reader model, SLR).

🔍 SLR not only outperformed CNNs—it revealed how both species learned to differentiate between learned and novel words
Understanding the Neuro-Cognitive Mechanisms of Orthographic Learning in Humans and Baboons: A Comparative Study Using Domain-Specific Mechanistic and Domain-General Connectionist Models https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.16.654419v1
May 21, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
To protect an individual's #privacy, facial features are removed before data-sharing of human #neuroimaging data. @oesteban.bsky.social &co show that this procedure affects the quality ratings given by human raters but not automated image quality metrics @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3Gtr3lo
May 1, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
Some time ago, I asked ChatGPT for a title for my paper. It suggested a title containing 'Unveiling'—a word I didn’t know but liked. Title found! A few weeks later, I came across another paper with 'Unveiling' in the title. A doubt crossed my mind… I checked and found this:
March 17, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
Join us on site and if to far away from Cologne online!
🚨 TRUST Open Lecture – Join Us! 🚨

Is #standardisation in research boosting #replicability or slowing scientific progress? 🤔

📅 March 31 (Mon), 2025
⏰ 16:00–18:00 CET
📍 Hörsaal H112, IBW-Gebäude, University of Cologne

💻 Live-stream available! Registration info here:
sites.google.com/view/gewonn/...
March 24, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
Science is under threat in the US. @elife.bsky.social have commissioned a series of articles discussing the implications and what we can do. The first three articles are now live. More to follow:
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
elifesciences.org/articles/106...
Science Under Threat in the United States: How scientists and institutions should respond
Individual researchers and university leaders need to make the case for science to their elected representatives and to the public at large.
elifesciences.org
March 25, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Join us on site and if to far away from Cologne online!
🚨 TRUST Open Lecture – Join Us! 🚨

Is #standardisation in research boosting #replicability or slowing scientific progress? 🤔

📅 March 31 (Mon), 2025
⏰ 16:00–18:00 CET
📍 Hörsaal H112, IBW-Gebäude, University of Cologne

💻 Live-stream available! Registration info here:
sites.google.com/view/gewonn/...
March 24, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
🚨 TRUST Open Lecture – Join Us! 🚨

Is #standardisation in research boosting #replicability or slowing scientific progress? 🤔

📅 March 31 (Mon), 2025
⏰ 16:00–18:00 CET
📍 Hörsaal H112, IBW-Gebäude, University of Cologne

💻 Live-stream available! Registration info here:
sites.google.com/view/gewonn/...
March 24, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
Yes, #TeaP2025 was great this year, thanks to the organizers!
Just left the #Teap2025 conference with a contribution to the „From retina to word form“ symposium, which I was lucky to co-organize with @jacketaylor.bsky.social.
Super interesting contributions by all attendees!
@benjamingagl.bsky.social , @Aakash Agrawal, @merferlo.bsky.social
March 12, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
Come join our symposium at #teap2025! 😊

Topic: From Babies to Semantics: Leveraging #LanguageModels for #Psycholinguistic Research

March 10 | 11:00 - 12:30

Chair: @benjamingagl.bsky.social
Speakers: Fritz Günther, Katharina Menn, @hannawoloszyn.bsky.social, @boevesam.bsky.social, Marco Marelli
March 7, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Reposted by Benjamin Gagl
Welcome to join our open lecture on #standardisation & #replicability in Cologne on March 31, organised by the #TRUSTNetwork, led by @benjamingagl.bsky.social, @janahasenacker.bsky.social, @troembke.bsky.social & @xeniaschmalz.bsky.social!

See 🧵below for details 👇...
Hey everyone, we have organized a lecture and panel discussion on the topic "Standardization in Research: Increasing Replicability or Stalling Scientific Progress?" in Cologne on March 31st: sites.google.com/view/gewonn/... @gewonnofficial.bsky.social @unicologne.bsky.social
TRUST Open Lecture
Interested in Scientific Standardisation & Replicability? Come join us in Cologne on 31st March 2025!
sites.google.com
March 6, 2025 at 9:47 AM