Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jessica Sommerville @jessicas.bsky.social · 27d

📣📣📣 Hi Everyone! I'm accepting PhD students for the Fall 2026 cycle! Our lab topics include the developmental origins and elaboration of moral cognition/prosocial behavior, persistence, and optimism. More info below!!

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Reposted by Jessica Sommerville

International Congress of Infant Studies @infantstudies.bsky.social · Jul 31

Lazarus et al. (2025): A simple act with a lasting impact: Holding babies skin-to-skin in the NICU helped support their development and reduced differences linked to family income. Early touch can be a powerful way to promote equity from the very start #infancypapers doi.org/10.1111/infa...

doi.org

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Reposted by Jessica Sommerville

Kiley Hamlin @jkileyhamlin.bsky.social · Jul 8

New paper! Here (in Nature Communications) we (Ale Geraci, Luca Surian, Lucia Gabriella Tina, & I; work led/run by Ale) show that 5-day-old newborns selectively attend to two distinct forms of prosocial over antisocial action: approaching versus avoiding and helping versus hindering.
rdcu.be/evorW

Human newborns spontaneously attend to prosocial interactions

Nature Communications - Abilities to distinguish between prosocial and antisocial actions are crucial for sustaining cooperative systems. Here, the authors show that human newborns with just 5 days...

rdcu.be

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Reposted by Jessica Sommerville

Annie Wertz @anniewertz.bsky.social · Jul 2

I'm hiring a full-time #labmanager for my new Lab for Infant Learning and Cognition (LILAC) at UCSB! The start date is flexible, but could be as early as August 1, 2025. Application review begins July 17th and will continue until the position is filled 👶🪴

recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02992

#academicjobs

Junior Specialist-Lab for Infant Learning And Cognition (LILAC), Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences

University of California Santa Barbara is hiring. Apply now!

recruit.ap.ucsb.edu

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Jessica Sommerville @jessicas.bsky.social · Jun 26

Ah, thank you Andrea!!

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Jessica Sommerville @jessicas.bsky.social · Jun 26

🚨 Postdoc Opportunity!!!
The Toronto Early Cognition Lab (@UofT) is hiring a postdoc to study early optimism in infants & young children.
Work w/ multi-method approach, amazing undergrads & grads.
Start: Fall 2025 or later.
Details: [email protected]
RTs appreciated 💫

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Jessica Sommerville @jessicas.bsky.social · Jun 26

Wow this is cool!!

Science X / Phys.org @sciencex.bsky.social · Jun 25

Eight-month-old infants demonstrate the ability to flexibly adapt their learning strategies in response to changing environments, suggesting early cognitive flexibility. doi.org/g9rc8x

Eight-month-old babies can adapt their learning style to changing situations

Babies as young as eight months old can adapt their learning style to changing situations, according to research by Francesco Poli of the Donders Institute at Radboud University.

medicalxpress.com

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Reposted by Jessica Sommerville

Dr Veena D Dwivedi @vddwivedi.bsky.social · Jun 19

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PnO...
Check out this 1 min clip where I describe why it's impossible for AI to 'understand' language.
based on @theconversation.com article lnkd.in/gh97_cbW
#Neuroscience @brocku.ca

Veena Dwivedi discusses limits to AI’s ability to ‘understand’ like a human brain

YouTube video by Brock University

www.youtube.com

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Jessica Sommerville @jessicas.bsky.social · Jun 9

looking forward to reading it!

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Reposted by Jessica Sommerville

Dr Veena D Dwivedi @vddwivedi.bsky.social · Jun 5

Check out my new article in The Conversation Canada, based on my research in #Neuroscience at @brocku.ca theconversation.com/a-neuroscien...

A neuroscientist explains why it’s impossible for AI to ‘understand’ language

Describing artificial intelligence as having neural networks and understanding language has implications for how we understand both AI and the human brain.

theconversation.com

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Reposted by Jessica Sommerville

Melissa Kline Struhl @mekline.bsky.social · May 29

Just had the chance to present on an @infantstudies.bsky.social panel about inexpensive methods for data collection with children - if you're curious about how Children Helping Science works/the kinds of studies you can run, this slide deck is a good place to start!

docs.google.com/presentation...

2025 - CHS (ICIS Webinar)

Conducting developmental studies online with Children Helping Science Melissa Kline Struhl ICIS Webinar 05/29/2025 1 1 Children Helping Science

docs.google.com

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Jessica Sommerville @jessicas.bsky.social · May 10

congratulations!!!

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Jessica Sommerville @jessicas.bsky.social · May 4

My ICIS blog post about some of our lab's recent work:
infantstudies.org/to-try-or-no...

To try or not to try: That is the (developmental) question - The International Congress of Infant Studies

infantstudies.org

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Reposted by Jessica Sommerville

Mia Radovanovic @radovanovic.bsky.social · May 1

#SRCD2025 come check out the Toronto Early Cognition Lab (@jessicas.bsky.social)! @elainewang.bsky.social will also be presenting work with @julia-a-leonard.bsky.social that we got to collaborate on :)

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Jessica Sommerville @jessicas.bsky.social · Apr 29

Congratulations!!!

Reposted by Jessica Sommerville

The New York Times @nytimes.com · Apr 29

Breaking News: Canada’s Liberal Party is projected to win, electing Mark Carney, who ran on an anti-Trump platform, as prime minister. nyti.ms/4308UmS

Mark Carney is pictured in a suit and tie speaking into a microphone. Headline reads: "Mark Carney Wins Full Term as Canada’s Prime Minister on Anti-Trump Platform." Photo credit: Cole Burston for The New York Times.

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Jessica Sommerville @jessicas.bsky.social · Apr 29

Phew!!!!!!

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Jessica Sommerville @jessicas.bsky.social · Apr 21

totally despicable!! (I think you mean the reverse for the male/female %s)

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Jessica Sommerville @jessicas.bsky.social · Apr 19

I'm so sorry. this is completely awful!!

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Jessica Sommerville @jessicas.bsky.social · Apr 16

🤣😅

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Jessica Sommerville @jessicas.bsky.social · Apr 15

Canadian Academics!: I'm seeing that CAUT just issued a travel advisory warning against non-essential travel to the US. I'm curious to know how folks are feeling about this and whether it will affect plans to attend upcoming conferences?
www.thestar.com/news/canada/...

Canadian academics warned to halt non-essential travel to the U.S. amid Trump’s crackdown, border tensions

The Canadian Association of University Teachers has issued a travel advisory for its members amid Trump’s crackdown and border fears.

www.thestar.com

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Jessica Sommerville @jessicas.bsky.social · Apr 9

So exciting!! Congrats to you both!

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Reposted by Jessica Sommerville

University of Toronto Psychology @uoftpsychology.bsky.social · Mar 20

Research led by Psychology PhD candidate @radovanovic.bsky.social & Prof. @jessicas.bsky.social is investigating how people-pleasing socialization influences how children solve problems.

💡 www.psych.utoronto.ca/news/people-...

People-pleasing linked to gender differences in problem-solving: Study

A new study found that, on average, girls excel at replicating the teacher’s instructions in the classroom — even when those instructions are wrong.

www.psych.utoronto.ca

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Reposted by Jessica Sommerville

Robson Fletcher @robsonfletcher.com · Mar 18

One of the wildest polling-related charts I've seen in my lifetime.

via @338canada.bsky.social:

338Canada Odds of Winning The Most Seats. A line chart showing the Conservative Party of Canada with a virtually 100% chance and the Liberal Party of Canada a 0% for more than a year, then a sudden collapse in the CPC odds, falling to 15% in the span of 5 weeks, while the LPC odds shoot up to 85%. Two dashed vertical lines indicate the dates of notable events on the chart: 'Trudeau resigns' and 'Carney LPC Leader'

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Jessica Sommerville @jessicas.bsky.social · Mar 16

Congrats to all of you!

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