Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · 6d

Very cool paper!

Yang Xiang @yangxiang.bsky.social · 21d

Now out in Cognition, work with the great @gershbrain.bsky.social @tobigerstenberg.bsky.social on formalizing self-handicapping as rational signaling!
📃 authors.elsevier.com/a/1lo8f2Hx2-...

2

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · Jul 10

"Depressed? Anxious? Insecure? Don’t worry about it. As long as you produce good science, you don’t have to be happy about it. We’ll be happy for you." 🙃

Daniel Lakens @lakens.bsky.social · Jul 10

As I am going over old blog posts, here is a nice blog by @bwroberts.bsky.social on qualities in graduate students that, in his opinion, lead to a successful career in academia. Still very good advice. pigee.wordpress.com/2012/11/08/a...

A Lay Theory of the Successful Graduate Student/Academic

Just recently, the Chronicle of Higher Education ran a piece on what it takes to be successful in an academic career. It was a pleasant essay, which emphasized some of the usual suspects like indu…

pigee.wordpress.com

2

Reposted by Marius Mercier

The Cognitations podcast @cognitations.bsky.social · Jun 27

🎙️ EP #17

Most of us struggle w/ work-life balance. Long before the existence of long commutes and busy calendars, our ancestors lived as hunter-gatherers (HGs). Do HGs have more free time? @adigitaltanay.bsky.social discusses this & much more with Mark Dyble

tinyurl.com/y6hd8ur5

(1/2)

EP #17 | The Anthropology of Leisure Time | Mark Dyble

Cognitations · Episode

tinyurl.com

1 3 3

Reposted by Marius Mercier

The Cognitations podcast @cognitations.bsky.social · Jun 26

Over the years, a lot of our guests have recommended various books and/or media relating to various aspects of cognitive science.

A 🧵

EP #1 | @hugoreasoning.bsky.social recommends

1 3 7

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · Jun 25

Nice pop science article on insight:

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Eureka! The brain science behind lightbulb moments

Experiences of insight come with a burst of brain activity — and a memory boost.

www.nature.com

2

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · Jun 16

Hi! I'm attending #SBDM2025 conference over the next few days. Come find me at Poster #61 if you're interested in computational models of social cognition!

Looking forward to discussing and meeting new people :)

5

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · Jun 11

Wow, beautiful posters!

1 1

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · Jun 2

I presented this paper at the Explaining Culture Conference last week, and I couldn't resist creating a new plot specifically for the talk.

It's definitely not a good time management strategy to create new plot for each talk, but it's a lot of fun!

1

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · Jun 2

Very interesting feature of our social cognition!

Edgar Dubourg @edgardubourg.bsky.social · Jun 2

We often have to judge who is knowledgeable—precisely when we are not. Can humans really do that? Our new paper in Psychological Science shows that, surprisingly, we can. drive.google.com/file/d/1b15E...

2

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · May 30

My first podcast interview is out!

We had the chance to speak with a fascinating guest, and I was especially intrigued by our discussion on the hidden challenges the brain creates when designing hearing aids.

Give it a listen, it’s accessible to non-specialists!

The Cognitations podcast @cognitations.bsky.social · May 30

🎙️ EP #16

Two people can hear different things when listening to the same sound (see 🧵): how does our auditory system really work? Cindy & @mariusmercier.bsky.social discuss this and much more with Daniel Pressnitzer

shorturl.at/w6Y0w

EP #16 | What do Auditory Illusions Reveal about the Brain? | Daniel Pressnitzer

Cognitations · Episode

shorturl.at

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · May 12

"Such “drumming” allows chimps to communicate across long distances. Now, two studies show the animals also drum to a distinct beat, which varies across chimp societies."

www.science.org/content/arti...

Chimpanzee drumming may give clues to the roots of rhythm

Behavior is more complex than scientists realized, could reveal origins of musicality

www.science.org

3

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · May 8

Very interesting! Congrats Amanda

1

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · May 8

Thanks for sharing this!

I believe the link for JPSP submission guidelines is wrong. It redirects toward the Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology and not the Journal of Personality & Social Psychology :)

4

Reposted by Marius Mercier

tadegquillien.bsky.social @tadegquillien.bsky.social · Apr 29

Our #CogSci2025 paper led by Madeleine Horner (with Adam Moore) explores people's lay conception of empathy.

Main finding: people have a robust expectation that agents who feel empathy are more likely to help, especially when helping is costly.
quillienlab.github.io/Horner%20et%...

1 2 10

Reposted by Marius Mercier

Edgar Dubourg @edgardubourg.bsky.social · Apr 29

The full paper is open access, for those who want to dive deeper into methods, robustness checks, and open datasets. Thanks for reading. Thanks to my co-authors! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Charting the rise of imaginary worlds in history - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications - Charting the rise of imaginary worlds in history

www.nature.com

3 4 10

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · Apr 29

Congrats Edgar !!

2

Reposted by Marius Mercier

Edgar Dubourg @edgardubourg.bsky.social · Apr 29

Imaginary worlds like Star Wars and Game of Thrones dominate global culture. Are they really a recent phenomenon, or have they always been central to storytelling? In our latest paper, we investigate the historical trajectory of imaginary worlds with new large-scale data.

5 14 31

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · Apr 24

Oh wow! That's beautiful

1

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · Apr 23

I find it fascinating how the way of inducing insight changes based on the culture!

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · Apr 23

Very cool idea, we didn't consider the string figures but I would love to talk more about it!

If you're interested, the review is in the supplementary materials (sadly, we couldn't put it in the main article): supp.apa.org/psycarticles...

supp.apa.org

1

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · Apr 22

Our paper contributes to a growing literature in which a content's cultural success can be explained by its ability to tap into specific cognitive mechanisms.

Huge thanks to my co‑authors @hugoreasoning.bsky.social and Alexis Garsmeur.

And the answer to the riddle is: humans!

tinyurl.com/29vtsr6w

APA PsycNet

tinyurl.com

1

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · Apr 22

But there’s more in this paper:

We built a new database from eHRAF World Cultures containing every ethnographic record of riddles we could find.

Surprisingly, after seeing the solution, participants who failed to solve the riddles reported stronger insight than those who'd solved it!

1 1 4

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · Apr 22

And it works! Participants exposed to high‑insight stimuli wanted to read more riddles & whodunits, and were even more interested in sharing them.

We speculate that the larger effect on sharing is probably because passing on clever content boosts your reputation.

1 2

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · Apr 22

We focus on two popular cultural products: riddles (cross-cultural), and whodunits (Agatha Christie is the best selling author ever).

In 5 studies, we manipulated feelings of insight to test their impact on people's willingness to share and consume these materials.

1 1

Marius Mercier @mariusmercier.bsky.social · Apr 22

"What goes on four feet in the morning, two feet at midday, and three feet in the evening?"

This riddle is thousands of years old, but why does it stick with us?

In our new paper, we argue that the feeling of insight might explain the lasting success of some cultural products: tinyurl.com/4j756h9a

2 13 35