Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Nicole McNeil @nicolemmcneil.bsky.social · 2d

NCLB 2002!

Reposted by Nicole McNeil

Mike Frank @mcxfrank.bsky.social · 8d

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

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Reposted by Nicole McNeil

Berna Devezer @devezer.bsky.social · 10d

Me: How much rice to fill 16 peppers for dolma?
Google AI: 12 peppers usually take 1 cup of rice. So for 16 peppers, you would need about 3-3.5 cups.
AI bros: AI will wipe out jobs!

Go eat at AI-run restaurants, you MFers!

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Reposted by Nicole McNeil

Andrew Perfors @andyperfors.bsky.social · 28d

Therapist: So, what are you doing with your one wild and precious life?

Me: Apparently, email. Also meetings

Therapist: That's not really...

Me: Tidying as well

Therapist:

Therapist: um

Me: Doomscrolling? What answer are you looking for

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Reposted by Nicole McNeil

Brad Postle @bradpostle.bsky.social · 28d

The Dept. of Psychology at the U. Wisconsin–Madison has an opening for an Assistant Professor in the area of Computational Neuroscience and/or Cognitive Science, with an emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI).

Domain of behavior or cognition is open. Details at jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/assista...

Assistant Professor of Psychology - Madison, Wisconsin, United States

Current Employees: If you are currently employed at any of the Universities of Wisconsin, log in to Workday to apply through the internal application process.Job Category:FacultyEmployment Type:Regula...

jobs.wisc.edu

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Reposted by Nicole McNeil

Allie Sinclair @asinclair.bsky.social · Sep 8

🌟 Excited to share that I'm recruiting PhD students in Psychology for my new lab at Rice University this cycle (Signal boost appreciated!)

To learn more, check out the Learning & Behavior Change Lab website:
www.sinclairlab-rice.com

Applications are due Dec 1st: psychology.rice.edu/graduate/pro...

Sinclair Lab

The Learning & Behavior Change Lab at Rice University, directed by Dr. Sinclair

www.sinclairlab-rice.com

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Nicole McNeil @nicolemmcneil.bsky.social · 28d

"[Many psychologists] only care about what’s published in psychology journals. This might not be a bad career move... but... it's intellectually... disappointing."

Paul Bloom @paulbloomatyale.bsky.social · Sep 8

smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net/p/the-only-i...

The only interdisciplinary conversations worth having

(This is a niche post of interest to a relatively narrow community of scholars.

smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net

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Reposted by Nicole McNeil

Akira Miyake @amiyake.bsky.social · Sep 7

ANSWER: 0 (yes, ZERO!)

This is a result of an analysis done by a student in my grad seminar, using a large dataset (N=307,313).

What this result might mean: Nobody's personality is truly "average," and people's personality profiles (at least Big 5) might be more "jagged" than we think.

(🧵 1/5)

Akira Miyake @amiyake.bsky.social · Sep 6

Imagine you have Big 5 personality scores from over 300,000 people. You designate the scores in the "mean +/- 0.25 SDs" range for each trait (~20%) as the average range.

QUESTION: How many people in this >300K sample do you think fall in the average range for ALL 5 TRAITS?

What's your answer?

A figure from Simply Psychology illustrating Big Five personality traits: agreeableness, extraversion, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience.

This figure comes from:
https://www.simplypsychology.org/big-five-personality.html

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Nicole McNeil @nicolemmcneil.bsky.social · Sep 3

There's a teacher shortage in US classrooms. Andrew Kwok will be at Notre Dame to share how to strengthen the educator pipeline. He'll discuss how early teaching exposure can attract diverse, high-achieving prospective educators.

Join us, September 12, 1pm, Remick Commons. Open to the public.

Ad for Era Speaker Series at Notre Dame. Speaker: Andrew Kwok, Ph.D. Title: The Teacher Preparation Pipeline. Friday, Sept 12, 1-2 pm in Remick Commons. Photo of Andrew Kwok, Ph.D.

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Reposted by Nicole McNeil

Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · Aug 25

Ever stared at a table of regression coefficients & wondered what you're doing with your life?

Very excited to share this gentle introduction to another way of making sense of statistical models (w @vincentab.bsky.social)
Preprint: doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Website: j-rohrer.github.io/marginal-psy...

Models as Prediction Machines: How to Convert Confusing Coefficients into Clear Quantities

Abstract
Psychological researchers usually make sense of regression models by interpreting coefficient estimates directly. This works well enough for simple linear models, but is more challenging for more complex models with, for example, categorical variables, interactions, non-linearities, and hierarchical structures. Here, we introduce an alternative approach to making sense of statistical models. The central idea is to abstract away from the mechanics of estimation, and to treat models as “counterfactual prediction machines,” which are subsequently queried to estimate quantities and conduct tests that matter substantively. This workflow is model-agnostic; it can be applied in a consistent fashion to draw causal or descriptive inference from a wide range of models. We illustrate how to implement this workflow with the marginaleffects package, which supports over 100 different classes of models in R and Python, and present two worked examples. These examples show how the workflow can be applied across designs (e.g., observational study, randomized experiment) to answer different research questions (e.g., associations, causal effects, effect heterogeneity) while facing various challenges (e.g., controlling for confounders in a flexible manner, modelling ordinal outcomes, and interpreting non-linear models).

Figure illustrating model predictions. On the X-axis the predictor, annual gross income in Euro. On the Y-axis the outcome, predicted life satisfaction. A solid line marks the curve of predictions on which individual data points are marked as model-implied outcomes at incomes of interest. Comparing two such predictions gives us a comparison. We can also fit a tangent to the line of predictions, which illustrates the slope at any given point of the curve.

A figure illustrating various ways to include age as a predictor in a model. On the x-axis age (predictor), on the y-axis the outcome (model-implied importance of friends, including confidence intervals).

Illustrated are
1. age as a categorical predictor, resultings in the predictions bouncing around a lot with wide confidence intervals
2. age as a linear predictor, which forces a straight line through the data points that has a very tight confidence band and
3. age splines, which lies somewhere in between as it smoothly follows the data but has more uncertainty than the straight line.

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Reposted by Nicole McNeil

Sarah Powell @sarahpowellphd.bsky.social · Aug 20

Learn more about how keywords are not helpful for solving math word problems! ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

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Reposted by Nicole McNeil

Protzko @protzko.bsky.social · Aug 14

Kids These Days...behavior problems aren't changing.

In over 418,000 children from nationally-representative samples, child behavior problems are pretty similar as in the 1980s, with most changes being improvements, not declines.

Our work led by Zsofia Takacs
#psych #phdsky

osf.io/63egm_v1/dow...

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Reposted by Nicole McNeil

Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · Aug 19

“Public support for science, and for public television, makes it possible… This isn’t a partisan issue. Because science doesn’t just live in D.C. or Silicon Valley. It lives here too, in small-town Southwestern Pennsylvania, in our families and our futures.”

Nicole McNeil @nicolemmcneil.bsky.social · Aug 18

Science belongs to all of us! Check out this piece Clarissa Thompson and I wrote for a small town paper in southwestern PA as part of the brilliant Science Homecoming @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social series by @cantlonlab.bsky.social and @spiantado.bsky.social. www.dailycourier.com/opinion/why-...

Why science belongs to all of us

Growing up in our small towns outside Pittsburgh in the 1980s, we never knew science and math weren’t “for us.” We counted from 1-12 with Sesame Street’s jazzy “Pinball Number

www.dailycourier.com

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Reposted by Nicole McNeil

Ann loves Science and History @ann-fiction-scied.bsky.social · Aug 19

Science is absolutely for everyone! And it's important to expose all kids to science at a young age. Thanks so much to the authors for this article. @scienceiselemental.bsky.social

Nicole McNeil @nicolemmcneil.bsky.social · Aug 18

Science belongs to all of us! Check out this piece Clarissa Thompson and I wrote for a small town paper in southwestern PA as part of the brilliant Science Homecoming @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social series by @cantlonlab.bsky.social and @spiantado.bsky.social. www.dailycourier.com/opinion/why-...

Why science belongs to all of us

Growing up in our small towns outside Pittsburgh in the 1980s, we never knew science and math weren’t “for us.” We counted from 1-12 with Sesame Street’s jazzy “Pinball Number

www.dailycourier.com

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Reposted by Nicole McNeil

Science Homecoming @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social · Aug 18

A clear message about the value of science for Pennsylvania 🧪🏠

Nicole McNeil @nicolemmcneil.bsky.social · Aug 18

Science belongs to all of us! Check out this piece Clarissa Thompson and I wrote for a small town paper in southwestern PA as part of the brilliant Science Homecoming @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social series by @cantlonlab.bsky.social and @spiantado.bsky.social. www.dailycourier.com/opinion/why-...

Why science belongs to all of us

Growing up in our small towns outside Pittsburgh in the 1980s, we never knew science and math weren’t “for us.” We counted from 1-12 with Sesame Street’s jazzy “Pinball Number

www.dailycourier.com

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Nicole McNeil @nicolemmcneil.bsky.social · Aug 18

Science belongs to all of us! Check out this piece Clarissa Thompson and I wrote for a small town paper in southwestern PA as part of the brilliant Science Homecoming @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social series by @cantlonlab.bsky.social and @spiantado.bsky.social. www.dailycourier.com/opinion/why-...

Why science belongs to all of us

Growing up in our small towns outside Pittsburgh in the 1980s, we never knew science and math weren’t “for us.” We counted from 1-12 with Sesame Street’s jazzy “Pinball Number

www.dailycourier.com

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Reposted by Nicole McNeil

Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · Aug 12

AI slop and the destruction of knowledge irisvanrooijcogsci.com/2025/08/12/a...

AI slop and the destruction of knowledge

This week I was looking for info on what cognitive scientists mean when they speak of ‘domain-general’ cognition. I was curious, because the nuances are relevant for something I am researching at t…

irisvanrooijcogsci.com

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Reposted by Nicole McNeil

American Sociological Association @asanews.bsky.social · Aug 7

Learn about the Department of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame ‪@notredame.bsky.social‬ & other sociology depts in the 2025 ASA Guide to Graduate Departments of Sociology. Now completely online and free for ASA members. Also available for a fee to nonmembers. https://bit.ly/ASAGradGuide‬‬‬‬

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Reposted by Nicole McNeil

samuel mehr @mehr.nz · Aug 9

music lessons don't make kids smarter, but many people have assumed that music lessons would have near-transfer effects, e.g. improving aspects of auditory perception

big new study led by Andrew Oxenham says "nope".

music lessons make kids better at music & that's good enough reason to do 'em !

Large-scale multi-site study shows no association between musical training and early auditory neural sound encoding - Nature Communications

Widely cited studies have claimed that musical training is associated with enhanced neural encoding for sound at early stages of the auditory system. Results from this large-scale multisite study do n...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Nicole McNeil

Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · Aug 4

Was looking into what Cognitive Scientists mean by ‘domain-general’ cognition, and then hit upon this. This is definitely NOT how we use that term.

Tip: read the last sentence to understand what went wrong here.

Sigh.

Domain-General Cognitive Ability
In subject area: Psychology
Domain-general cognitive abilities refer to cognitive skills that are not unique to humans but are present across various primate species and potentially other mammals and birds, indicating a general factor underlying cognitive performance that correlates with brain size and is associated with selective attention and working memory capacity.
AI generated definition based on: Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2012

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Nicole McNeil @nicolemmcneil.bsky.social · Aug 5

Yikes!

Reposted by Nicole McNeil

samuel mehr @mehr.nz · Aug 3

honestly this should be reason enough to not submit papers to Cognition or Cog Psych - is there any tangible increase in reach or readership for those journals relative to Cognitive Science, Open Mind, or other ones that either directly fund the field, or are non-profit

(PS i enjoyed your talk!)

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Reposted by Nicole McNeil

Prof Dynarski @dynarski.bsky.social · Aug 2

A Matter of Time? Measuring Effects of Public Schooling Expansions on Families

Gibbs, Chloe R., Jocelyn Wikle, and Riley Wilson

Uses CPS to understand how public pre-k allows moms to work

static1.squarespace.com/static/563b9...

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Reposted by Nicole McNeil

Mike Frank @mcxfrank.bsky.social · Aug 1

Cogsci and AI: two different approaches as articulated by Josh Tenenbaum #cogsci2025

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Reposted by Nicole McNeil

Natalia Vélez @natvelali.bsky.social · Aug 1

Notes from @noranewcombe.bsky.social 's beautiful Rumelhart Prize "tasting menu" - congratulations Nora!!! #CogSci2025

Sketchnote of Nora Newcombe's Rumelhart Prize Talk, posing three questions and case studies for cognitive science: (1) innateness (with the geometric module as a case study), (2) representations (featuring cognitive maps vs. graphs), and (3) embodiment (featuring mental rotation)

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