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Deon T. Benton

@deontbenton.bsky.social

3.7K followers 920 following 430 posts

Developmental cognitive scientist. Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University. Co-host of The It's Innate! Podcast. PI of the Computational Cognitive Development Lab. Dad. Husband. Human. (he/him/his)

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Deon T. Benton @deontbenton.bsky.social · Nov 10

A brief bio, given that this is my permanent home.

I'm a developmental cognitive scientist and assistant prof at Vanderbilt University. I study how infants learn about causality & to evaluate others. I use experiments and computational (artificial neural networks) models to address these questions.

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Reposted by Deon T. Benton

Lisa Fazio @lkfazio.bsky.social · 1d

New from me and @brendannyhan.bsky.social

Why Trump's "Compact for Academic Excellence" is a devil's bargain and should be rejected in all forms

www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Trump sent a 'compact' to our universities. They should reject this devil's bargain.

Any institution that yields to these broad and intrusive demands would forever be subservient to the whims of the government.

www.msnbc.com

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Reposted by Deon T. Benton

Lisa Fazio @lkfazio.bsky.social · Dec 19

Out now - National Academies consensus report on Understanding and Addressing Misinformation About Science 🧪

It was a privilege to serve as one of the 15 committee members from a wide range of scientific disciplines who put this report together. Quick 🧵1/

www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/und...

Cover of the report - it's in a blue/purple color scheme and shows an abstract illustration of a molecule and the title of the report "Understanding and Addressing Misinformation About Science Consensus Study Report"

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Deon T. Benton @deontbenton.bsky.social · 8d

Looks interesting. Can't wait to dig in.

Mike Frank @mcxfrank.bsky.social · 9d

Ever wonder how habituation works? Here's our attempt to understand:

A stimulus-computable rational model of visual habituation in infants and adults doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

This is the thesis of two wonderful students: @anjiecao.bsky.social @galraz.bsky.social, w/ @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social

conceptual schema for different habituation models

Reposted by Deon T. Benton

Tim Verstynen @tdverstynen.bsky.social · 21d

The Democratic Party leadership is so woefully unprepared for the current moment that it appears they are deaf and blind to what is happening around them.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 21d

Government funding is the one card congressional Democrats have to play, and one they could and should use to push back against Trump's authoritarianism.

What's their big demand?

RFK Jr's resignation? Reforms in ICE? Stand down of National Guard?

NOPE.

"Obamacare enhanced premium tax credits"

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Reposted by Deon T. Benton

Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) @epthepod.bsky.social · Aug 26

This week, @anniewertz.bsky.social talks about her ground-breaking work exploring what infants know, and come prepared to learn, about 🌱plants🌿! (Annie gets credit for all plant-based puns in this episode).

youtu.be/bMbDieccEtc

www.podbean.com/eas/pb-67k8k...

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Plants, Infants, and the Evolution of Social Learning with Annie Wertz

YouTube video by Evolutionary Psychology (The Podcast)

youtu.be

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Deon T. Benton @deontbenton.bsky.social · Aug 24

precisely. I couldn't be more disappointed in Hakeem

Michael Israel @subcontrarian.bsky.social · Aug 24

Why is Jeffries out here telling people that Trump is unpopular (which, duh) when he could be helping the American people understand this moment by eloquently denouncing the crass and disgusting performative fascism that is making Trump so unpopular? Show some disgust, dude!

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Aug 24

Jeffries on Trump planning a military crackdown in Chicago: "We should continue to support local law enforcement and not simply allow Donald Trump to play games with the lives of the American people as part of his effort to manufacture a crisis and create a distraction because he's deeply unpopular"

Reposted by Deon T. Benton

Justin Zimmerman @jztidecat.bsky.social · Aug 20

It scares me that we have citizens that all you have to do is give them a technical term like posse comitatus, and they’ll go along with anything, no questions asked. A country of dipshits.

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Deon T. Benton @deontbenton.bsky.social · Aug 16

despite being unrelated to my own work, i stumbled on this absolutely fantastic and fascinating talk looking at how different types of learning (e.g., social learning and individuals learning) might evolve*

*if i were a nativist, this is absolutely the route I'd go

youtu.be/phF3qiX8hkY?...

"A neural network model for the evolution of reconstructive social learning" by Jacob Chisausky

YouTube video by Michael Levin's Academic Content

youtu.be

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Reposted by Deon T. Benton

Tomás Ryan @tjryan.bsky.social · Aug 15

The cost of remembering: engram competition as a flexible mechanism of forgetting.

Our new perspective piece in @cp-trendsneuro.bsky.social, lead by Ryan Lab alumni, Livia Autore. Also with Michael Drew from @utaustin.bsky.social

Trends in Neurosciences www.cell.com/trends/neuro...

The cost of remembering: engram competition as a flexible mechanism of forgetting

The retention and use of long-term memories is crucial for adaptive behavior. While stable memories help organisms anticipate outcomes, they may become maladaptive if not updated to reflect new condit...

www.cell.com

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Deon T. Benton @deontbenton.bsky.social · Aug 15

my yearly reminder that I just need to start using zotero

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Deon T. Benton @deontbenton.bsky.social · Aug 15

would be nice if Google Scholar's handy reference generator thing included DOIs

k have a nice day

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Deon T. Benton @deontbenton.bsky.social · Aug 14

anyone else’s mind always three or four sentences ahead such that you find yourself working on the current sentence but also writing fragments of those later ones so you don’t lose the thought? just me? ok.

Deon T. Benton @deontbenton.bsky.social · Aug 13

excited to be chatting with a fellow CMU'er

The It's Innate! Podcast @theitsinnatepc.bsky.social · Aug 13

We're ecstatic to be talking today with Dr. Vlad Ayzenberg (‪@vayzenb.bsky.social‬) about his recent paper in Science Advances exploring the mechanisms that underpin object recognition in young children and adults. Stay tuned!

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Reposted by Deon T. Benton

Pooja K. Agarwal @retrievelearn.bsky.social · Aug 12

Last chance to register for our workshop THIS THURSDAY, August 14! 5 cognitive scientists, 50+ teachers, informal discussion, and back-to-school teaching tips. Group discount (5 or more): 15% off! @veronicayan.bsky.social @lkfazio.bsky.social #EduSky scienceoflearningworkshop.eventbrite.com

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Deon T. Benton @deontbenton.bsky.social · Aug 12

am I that guy? I AM THAT GUY NOW! NOO!

Deon T. Benton @deontbenton.bsky.social · Aug 10

If ChatGPT 5 was a PhD, it would respond with more of a comment than an answer

tj ♏️ahr @tjmahr.com · Aug 10

If ChatGPT 5 was a PhD, it would tell you all the uncertainty and limitations about its answers

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Deon T. Benton @deontbenton.bsky.social · Aug 10

not even my area but I can appreciate how cool this work is! 🤯

Damien Fair @drdamienfair.bsky.social · Aug 10

I still get chills

Meet Mike
*30+ years severe depression
*first hospitalized @ 13y
*20 meds
*3 rounds of ECT
*2 near-fatal suicide attempts

Mike felt joy for the first time in decades after we turned on his new brain pacemaker or PACE

see videos, read paper, follow thread
doi.org/10.31234/osf...

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Reposted by Deon T. Benton

The It's Innate! Podcast @theitsinnatepc.bsky.social · Aug 8

🚨 New ep! We talk w/ Professor Kiley Hamlin (@jkileyhamlin.bsky.social‬) about her dev sci path, training w/ legends (Woodward, Wynn, Bloom, Santos), & her Nature Comms paper showing 5-day-olds prefer helpers over hinderers. Plus: reconciling ManyBabies & replication woes.

itsinnate.fireside.fm/31

Moral kombat (with Kiley Hamlin)

itsinnate.fireside.fm

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Deon T. Benton @deontbenton.bsky.social · Aug 8

sadly, yes

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · Aug 8

we all know that the proof for the administration that an institution is not implementing affirmative action will be the percentage of nonwhite admits. the lower the better. any more than a smattering of black and Hispanic students will be evidence of illegal discrimination (against whites)

NBC News @nbcnews.com · Aug 8

President Trump is expected to sign a directive mandating universities provide admissions data to prove they are not implementing affirmative action policies, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posts on X.

Reposted by Deon T. Benton

Mark Thornton @markthornton.bsky.social · Aug 7

(Preprint here: osf.io/preprints/ps...)

OSF

osf.io

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Deon T. Benton @deontbenton.bsky.social · Aug 6

happy—no, excited—wait, elated!

The It's Innate! Podcast @theitsinnatepc.bsky.social · Aug 6

Want to know what makes today so special?!

We get to chat with the inimitable Professor Kiley Hamlin (@jkileyhamlin.bsky.social‬) about her science journey, her recent paper in Nature Communications showing that sociomoral evaluation may be innate, and more!

Stay tuned for the episode!

Deon T. Benton @deontbenton.bsky.social · Aug 4

reference: www.axios.com/2025/08/04/t...

States that boycott Israeli companies will lose disaster relief funds, DHS says

At least 34 states passed anti-BDS laws between 2014 and 2023.

www.axios.com

Deon T. Benton @deontbenton.bsky.social · Aug 4

so you can deny service to US citizens who are members of the LGBTQIA community but don't dare deny services to or boycott Israel 🤬

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Deon T. Benton @deontbenton.bsky.social · Aug 2

And the irony is 258K+1.

Deon T. Benton @deontbenton.bsky.social · Jul 31

why does my version of Word hate the phrase "In particular"? I don't wanna say "specifically" dammit