Neil Cohn
@neilcohn.bsky.social
Comics creating cognitive (neuro)scientist at Tilburg University studying language, brains, comics, emoji & multimodality (he/him). 😮💨🫠🫥🥹🫨
www.visuallanguagelab.com
www.visuallanguagelab.com
Pinned
Neil Cohn
@neilcohn.bsky.social
· Jul 8
My book has a cover and the final copyedited pages are submitted… my graphic novel "Speaking in Pictures: A Vision of Language” about language, cognition, and graphic communication will be out in February 2026! www.visuallanguagelab.com/sip
Here's yet another paper using eye tracking on comics, here recording lots of participants while reading a page from Watchmen. I've seen more eye tracking studies of comics this year than almost the last 5 to 10 years combined, so hopefully this trend continues www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
How readers navigate comic book pages: evidence from eye movements
While a z-path is intrinsically part of how typically formatted text is read, it is less clear that this same approach is used when reading comics. Previous evidence for the z-path is limited to se...
www.tandfonline.com
November 26, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Here's yet another paper using eye tracking on comics, here recording lots of participants while reading a page from Watchmen. I've seen more eye tracking studies of comics this year than almost the last 5 to 10 years combined, so hopefully this trend continues www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Neil Cohn
New paper from the lab, "Perceiving Event Structure in Brief Actions," now out in Cognitive Psychology :)
Led by the inimitable Zekun Sun
This was my lab's first foray into event cognition
gift link: sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Led by the inimitable Zekun Sun
This was my lab's first foray into event cognition
gift link: sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
November 25, 2025 at 3:40 PM
New paper from the lab, "Perceiving Event Structure in Brief Actions," now out in Cognitive Psychology :)
Led by the inimitable Zekun Sun
This was my lab's first foray into event cognition
gift link: sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Led by the inimitable Zekun Sun
This was my lab's first foray into event cognition
gift link: sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Neil Cohn
My publisher @bloomsburyling.bsky.social is having their winter sale with up to 30% off on all my titles, including 10% off preorders of...
my now-in-paperback Multimodal Language Faculty! www.bloomsbury.com/us/multimoda...
my graphic novel Speaking in Pictures! www.bloomsbury.com/us/speaking-...
my now-in-paperback Multimodal Language Faculty! www.bloomsbury.com/us/multimoda...
my graphic novel Speaking in Pictures! www.bloomsbury.com/us/speaking-...
November 17, 2025 at 9:14 PM
My publisher @bloomsburyling.bsky.social is having their winter sale with up to 30% off on all my titles, including 10% off preorders of...
my now-in-paperback Multimodal Language Faculty! www.bloomsbury.com/us/multimoda...
my graphic novel Speaking in Pictures! www.bloomsbury.com/us/speaking-...
my now-in-paperback Multimodal Language Faculty! www.bloomsbury.com/us/multimoda...
my graphic novel Speaking in Pictures! www.bloomsbury.com/us/speaking-...
Here's an interesting new study on comics that uses eye tracking to ask how much people use their peripheral vision while reading comics using a technique from reading studies with a "perceptual window" that revealed panels when people moved their eyes to them onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Coming Up Next: The Extent of the Perceptual Window in Comic Reading
Recent models of sequential narratives suggest that readers form predictions about upcoming panels as they read. However, previous work has considered these predictions only in terms of currently vie...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Here's an interesting new study on comics that uses eye tracking to ask how much people use their peripheral vision while reading comics using a technique from reading studies with a "perceptual window" that revealed panels when people moved their eyes to them onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Neil Cohn
Going to be so useful!
November 20, 2025 at 1:18 AM
Going to be so useful!
Reposted by Neil Cohn
I am intrigued. Have you told the story of the Fight Cloud somewhere?
(Other correspondents: Please do not post your joke about the First Rule Of Fight Cloud in this thread.)
At a glance, I thought "we already have explosions," but now I see the spirit of Beetle Bailey & Sgt Snorkel in your emoji.
(Other correspondents: Please do not post your joke about the First Rule Of Fight Cloud in this thread.)
At a glance, I thought "we already have explosions," but now I see the spirit of Beetle Bailey & Sgt Snorkel in your emoji.
November 20, 2025 at 7:46 AM
I am intrigued. Have you told the story of the Fight Cloud somewhere?
(Other correspondents: Please do not post your joke about the First Rule Of Fight Cloud in this thread.)
At a glance, I thought "we already have explosions," but now I see the spirit of Beetle Bailey & Sgt Snorkel in your emoji.
(Other correspondents: Please do not post your joke about the First Rule Of Fight Cloud in this thread.)
At a glance, I thought "we already have explosions," but now I see the spirit of Beetle Bailey & Sgt Snorkel in your emoji.
Not sure how I missed this, but the next round of emoji includes the fight cloud which I proposed with @jenniferdaniel.bsky.social! So excited to see it will be joining keyboards soon!
Happy Unicode 17.0 Day!
Includes seven new emoji that are rolling out on your phones and computers in the coming year:
treasure chest, trombone, avalanche, big foot, bulging face, fight cloud, orca
@jenniferdaniel.bsky.social has the lowdown:
jenniferdaniel.substack.com/p/tomorrows-...
Includes seven new emoji that are rolling out on your phones and computers in the coming year:
treasure chest, trombone, avalanche, big foot, bulging face, fight cloud, orca
@jenniferdaniel.bsky.social has the lowdown:
jenniferdaniel.substack.com/p/tomorrows-...
November 19, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Not sure how I missed this, but the next round of emoji includes the fight cloud which I proposed with @jenniferdaniel.bsky.social! So excited to see it will be joining keyboards soon!
Reposted by Neil Cohn
Happy Unicode 17.0 Day!
Includes seven new emoji that are rolling out on your phones and computers in the coming year:
treasure chest, trombone, avalanche, big foot, bulging face, fight cloud, orca
@jenniferdaniel.bsky.social has the lowdown:
jenniferdaniel.substack.com/p/tomorrows-...
Includes seven new emoji that are rolling out on your phones and computers in the coming year:
treasure chest, trombone, avalanche, big foot, bulging face, fight cloud, orca
@jenniferdaniel.bsky.social has the lowdown:
jenniferdaniel.substack.com/p/tomorrows-...
September 10, 2025 at 3:22 AM
Happy Unicode 17.0 Day!
Includes seven new emoji that are rolling out on your phones and computers in the coming year:
treasure chest, trombone, avalanche, big foot, bulging face, fight cloud, orca
@jenniferdaniel.bsky.social has the lowdown:
jenniferdaniel.substack.com/p/tomorrows-...
Includes seven new emoji that are rolling out on your phones and computers in the coming year:
treasure chest, trombone, avalanche, big foot, bulging face, fight cloud, orca
@jenniferdaniel.bsky.social has the lowdown:
jenniferdaniel.substack.com/p/tomorrows-...
Reposted by Neil Cohn
I don't think this science communication resource gets enough love.
OpenMoji offers 4,000+ free, #opensource emojis (CC BY-SA 4.0), with categories for healthcare, climate, UI...
Challenge: find Greta Thunberg and a Viennese coffee house. ☕
🔗 openmoji.org #SciComm #Design
OpenMoji offers 4,000+ free, #opensource emojis (CC BY-SA 4.0), with categories for healthcare, climate, UI...
Challenge: find Greta Thunberg and a Viennese coffee house. ☕
🔗 openmoji.org #SciComm #Design
November 18, 2025 at 10:41 AM
I don't think this science communication resource gets enough love.
OpenMoji offers 4,000+ free, #opensource emojis (CC BY-SA 4.0), with categories for healthcare, climate, UI...
Challenge: find Greta Thunberg and a Viennese coffee house. ☕
🔗 openmoji.org #SciComm #Design
OpenMoji offers 4,000+ free, #opensource emojis (CC BY-SA 4.0), with categories for healthcare, climate, UI...
Challenge: find Greta Thunberg and a Viennese coffee house. ☕
🔗 openmoji.org #SciComm #Design
My publisher @bloomsburyling.bsky.social is having their winter sale with up to 30% off on all my titles, including 10% off preorders of...
my now-in-paperback Multimodal Language Faculty! www.bloomsbury.com/us/multimoda...
my graphic novel Speaking in Pictures! www.bloomsbury.com/us/speaking-...
my now-in-paperback Multimodal Language Faculty! www.bloomsbury.com/us/multimoda...
my graphic novel Speaking in Pictures! www.bloomsbury.com/us/speaking-...
November 17, 2025 at 9:14 PM
My publisher @bloomsburyling.bsky.social is having their winter sale with up to 30% off on all my titles, including 10% off preorders of...
my now-in-paperback Multimodal Language Faculty! www.bloomsbury.com/us/multimoda...
my graphic novel Speaking in Pictures! www.bloomsbury.com/us/speaking-...
my now-in-paperback Multimodal Language Faculty! www.bloomsbury.com/us/multimoda...
my graphic novel Speaking in Pictures! www.bloomsbury.com/us/speaking-...
My grandparents had this book on their coffee table and a Rockwell print in their living room, so his paintings were a fixture of my childhood, including his later work. The Rockwell museum is also highly recommended
I know it's odd, but Rockwell was an inspiration. I got this book on closeout at the mall when I was in junior high and studied it until it fell apart. He wasn't an influence of course, but I admired his skill & and his political awakening. Sure, he'd already made his legend, but it was a risk.
November 15, 2025 at 7:36 PM
My grandparents had this book on their coffee table and a Rockwell print in their living room, so his paintings were a fixture of my childhood, including his later work. The Rockwell museum is also highly recommended
Reposted by Neil Cohn
Oooh! Had no idea there were bits on sign language and deaf language acquisition in the book—now I'm doubly excited. ❤️
Hey @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social - you should fly me to Tilburg University so I can interview Neil.
Hey @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social - you should fly me to Tilburg University so I can interview Neil.
November 12, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Oooh! Had no idea there were bits on sign language and deaf language acquisition in the book—now I'm doubly excited. ❤️
Hey @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social - you should fly me to Tilburg University so I can interview Neil.
Hey @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social - you should fly me to Tilburg University so I can interview Neil.
Reposted by Neil Cohn
Congrats, Neil! Looks incredible.
November 11, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Congrats, Neil! Looks incredible.
Reposted by Neil Cohn
I'm starting a comics club at my son's school, so I'm excited to learn more about comics' formal visual language and to see how #deafkids in particular engage with it.
November 11, 2025 at 9:27 PM
I'm starting a comics club at my son's school, so I'm excited to learn more about comics' formal visual language and to see how #deafkids in particular engage with it.
Reposted by Neil Cohn
OK, I need to get my hands on this. <3
November 11, 2025 at 3:29 AM
OK, I need to get my hands on this. <3
Reposted by Neil Cohn
1/2 An activity you can try! I do a brief discussion of unclear compositions: sharing these from Jungle Comics, a bit from @neilcohn.bsky.social's studies on layout readability, then students draw intentionally "Bad" layouts - where reading order isn't clear from design & 2nd student tries to solve!
November 10, 2025 at 11:41 PM
1/2 An activity you can try! I do a brief discussion of unclear compositions: sharing these from Jungle Comics, a bit from @neilcohn.bsky.social's studies on layout readability, then students draw intentionally "Bad" layouts - where reading order isn't clear from design & 2nd student tries to solve!
One of our local shopping centers is a converted textile factory, so they made a comic to describe the history of the building and its conversion!
November 9, 2025 at 3:18 PM
One of our local shopping centers is a converted textile factory, so they made a comic to describe the history of the building and its conversion!
More praise for Speaking with Pictures, my upcoming graphic novel on language, cognition, and visual communication. I'm counting down the days until this finally gets out and I can't wait...👀 visuallanguagelab.com/sip
November 7, 2025 at 2:08 PM
More praise for Speaking with Pictures, my upcoming graphic novel on language, cognition, and visual communication. I'm counting down the days until this finally gets out and I can't wait...👀 visuallanguagelab.com/sip
Reposted by Neil Cohn
And yet LLMs have been let loose in government and education.
Here's an interesting new study exploring whether LLMs are able to understand the narrative sequencing of comics and... even the best AI models are *terrible* at it for pretty much all tasks that were analyzed aclanthology.org/2025.finding...
Beyond Single Frames: Can LMMs Comprehend Implicit Narratives in Comic Strip?
Xiaochen Wang, Heming Xia, Jialin Song, Longyu Guan, Qingxiu Dong, Rui Li, Yixin Yang, Yifan Pu, Weiyao Luo, Yiru Wang, Xiangdi Meng, Wenjie Li, Zhifang Sui. Findings of the Association for Computatio...
aclanthology.org
November 5, 2025 at 6:37 PM
And yet LLMs have been let loose in government and education.
Reposted by Neil Cohn
Today in AI sucks, stop using it
Here's an interesting new study exploring whether LLMs are able to understand the narrative sequencing of comics and... even the best AI models are *terrible* at it for pretty much all tasks that were analyzed aclanthology.org/2025.finding...
Beyond Single Frames: Can LMMs Comprehend Implicit Narratives in Comic Strip?
Xiaochen Wang, Heming Xia, Jialin Song, Longyu Guan, Qingxiu Dong, Rui Li, Yixin Yang, Yifan Pu, Weiyao Luo, Yiru Wang, Xiangdi Meng, Wenjie Li, Zhifang Sui. Findings of the Association for Computatio...
aclanthology.org
November 5, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Today in AI sucks, stop using it
Reposted by Neil Cohn
Our university is in the process of allowing AI use in assessment, a supposedly pragmatic response to its ubiquity. This means I can't ban it on my comics course. This might bolster students' desire to avoid it.
November 5, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Our university is in the process of allowing AI use in assessment, a supposedly pragmatic response to its ubiquity. This means I can't ban it on my comics course. This might bolster students' desire to avoid it.
Reposted by Neil Cohn
I kind of want to go back and edit all of my master's essays to add that comics are not only a legitimate form of literature but that we now have evidence proving they are an innately human one.
November 5, 2025 at 4:32 PM
I kind of want to go back and edit all of my master's essays to add that comics are not only a legitimate form of literature but that we now have evidence proving they are an innately human one.
Reposted by Neil Cohn
The least shocking thing. But don't worry, linear story telling is only a feature of comics!! /s
Here's an interesting new study exploring whether LLMs are able to understand the narrative sequencing of comics and... even the best AI models are *terrible* at it for pretty much all tasks that were analyzed aclanthology.org/2025.finding...
Beyond Single Frames: Can LMMs Comprehend Implicit Narratives in Comic Strip?
Xiaochen Wang, Heming Xia, Jialin Song, Longyu Guan, Qingxiu Dong, Rui Li, Yixin Yang, Yifan Pu, Weiyao Luo, Yiru Wang, Xiangdi Meng, Wenjie Li, Zhifang Sui. Findings of the Association for Computatio...
aclanthology.org
November 5, 2025 at 2:07 PM
The least shocking thing. But don't worry, linear story telling is only a feature of comics!! /s
Reposted by Neil Cohn
Considering that I’ve demonstrated LLMs can’t handle any of the subtextual engines in prose, this isn’t surprising, but it remains shocking how not good at it the technology is. The Future!
Here's an interesting new study exploring whether LLMs are able to understand the narrative sequencing of comics and... even the best AI models are *terrible* at it for pretty much all tasks that were analyzed aclanthology.org/2025.finding...
Beyond Single Frames: Can LMMs Comprehend Implicit Narratives in Comic Strip?
Xiaochen Wang, Heming Xia, Jialin Song, Longyu Guan, Qingxiu Dong, Rui Li, Yixin Yang, Yifan Pu, Weiyao Luo, Yiru Wang, Xiangdi Meng, Wenjie Li, Zhifang Sui. Findings of the Association for Computatio...
aclanthology.org
November 5, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Considering that I’ve demonstrated LLMs can’t handle any of the subtextual engines in prose, this isn’t surprising, but it remains shocking how not good at it the technology is. The Future!
Reposted by Neil Cohn
Narrative and spatial relationships are two fundamental aspects of human cognition. LLMs are consistently terrible at both and have no obvious path to improving.
Here's an interesting new study exploring whether LLMs are able to understand the narrative sequencing of comics and... even the best AI models are *terrible* at it for pretty much all tasks that were analyzed aclanthology.org/2025.finding...
Beyond Single Frames: Can LMMs Comprehend Implicit Narratives in Comic Strip?
Xiaochen Wang, Heming Xia, Jialin Song, Longyu Guan, Qingxiu Dong, Rui Li, Yixin Yang, Yifan Pu, Weiyao Luo, Yiru Wang, Xiangdi Meng, Wenjie Li, Zhifang Sui. Findings of the Association for Computatio...
aclanthology.org
November 5, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Narrative and spatial relationships are two fundamental aspects of human cognition. LLMs are consistently terrible at both and have no obvious path to improving.