Roger Watt
@rjwatt42.bsky.social
Emeritus Professor of Psych at
Stirling University
Trumpet player
Statistic-ist
Grandpa
Stirling University
Trumpet player
Statistic-ist
Grandpa
The word you want is scunnered
November 20, 2025 at 10:49 PM
The word you want is scunnered
Music has been a Watt family thing for 150 years.
November 20, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Music has been a Watt family thing for 150 years.
Is there just a possibility that autism could cause unicorns in return? That would be a brilliant world to live in.
November 20, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Is there just a possibility that autism could cause unicorns in return? That would be a brilliant world to live in.
Hurrah for unicorns.
November 20, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Hurrah for unicorns.
OK. That is better - and quite close to model fitting.
November 18, 2025 at 9:02 AM
OK. That is better - and quite close to model fitting.
Andrew is still doing that work - I think he's probably right.
November 18, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Andrew is still doing that work - I think he's probably right.
Yes, bringing the top and bottom rows closer to the middle one. The lines group vertically.
That's a helpful comment, I should try Perception.
Marr was never very explicit about spatial representation but he seemed to think in terms of pixel locations being a manifold on which sketches were drawn.
That's a helpful comment, I should try Perception.
Marr was never very explicit about spatial representation but he seemed to think in terms of pixel locations being a manifold on which sketches were drawn.
November 18, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Yes, bringing the top and bottom rows closer to the middle one. The lines group vertically.
That's a helpful comment, I should try Perception.
Marr was never very explicit about spatial representation but he seemed to think in terms of pixel locations being a manifold on which sketches were drawn.
That's a helpful comment, I should try Perception.
Marr was never very explicit about spatial representation but he seemed to think in terms of pixel locations being a manifold on which sketches were drawn.
Data exploring the wrinkle in the previous data.
This phenomenon here has obsessed me. Not least because it started in my mind as a theory - that visual space is only adjacency relations. But how do you publish something for which there is no previous data - only a theory?
bsky.app/profile/rjwa...
This phenomenon here has obsessed me. Not least because it started in my mind as a theory - that visual space is only adjacency relations. But how do you publish something for which there is no previous data - only a theory?
bsky.app/profile/rjwa...
#PsychSciSky
The middle row contains the same regularly spaced lines as the outer two, and yet it takes some considerable effort to see this. It is because we can only "see" the spatial relations between adjacent items.
Sat on this for years - can you write a paper with just 1 fig and 2 sentences?
The middle row contains the same regularly spaced lines as the outer two, and yet it takes some considerable effort to see this. It is because we can only "see" the spatial relations between adjacent items.
Sat on this for years - can you write a paper with just 1 fig and 2 sentences?
November 17, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Data exploring the wrinkle in the previous data.
This phenomenon here has obsessed me. Not least because it started in my mind as a theory - that visual space is only adjacency relations. But how do you publish something for which there is no previous data - only a theory?
bsky.app/profile/rjwa...
This phenomenon here has obsessed me. Not least because it started in my mind as a theory - that visual space is only adjacency relations. But how do you publish something for which there is no previous data - only a theory?
bsky.app/profile/rjwa...
We didn’t need more data for the theories we had at that time. But we needed better theory and then more data.
November 17, 2025 at 8:37 PM
We didn’t need more data for the theories we had at that time. But we needed better theory and then more data.
My PhD supervisor said something similar to me at the start of my phd. That we probably had all the data needed to understand the human visual system already. That was 1977.
I think he was deeply wrong but superficially right.
I think he was deeply wrong but superficially right.
November 17, 2025 at 8:37 PM
My PhD supervisor said something similar to me at the start of my phd. That we probably had all the data needed to understand the human visual system already. That was 1977.
I think he was deeply wrong but superficially right.
I think he was deeply wrong but superficially right.
The wild cherry, gean, is my own favourite.
bsky.app/profile/rjwa...
bsky.app/profile/rjwa...
November 17, 2025 at 8:04 PM
The wild cherry, gean, is my own favourite.
bsky.app/profile/rjwa...
bsky.app/profile/rjwa...
** So, for example, a not-null as the alternative hypothesis requires that the relative frequencies of all the non-zero effects are specified.
November 17, 2025 at 7:50 PM
** So, for example, a not-null as the alternative hypothesis requires that the relative frequencies of all the non-zero effects are specified.
Thanks. This is however deeply problematical and is exactly the issue Fisher was avoiding. You can't (i) compute a p-value for the alternative hypothesis with out specifying it exactly** and you can't then (ii) compare those p-values without using a prior on the null and alternative hypotheses.
November 17, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Thanks. This is however deeply problematical and is exactly the issue Fisher was avoiding. You can't (i) compute a p-value for the alternative hypothesis with out specifying it exactly** and you can't then (ii) compare those p-values without using a prior on the null and alternative hypotheses.
I've been thinking about this again. I'm wondering why the word significance. If I've got Fisher's caution about it right, then there are better words, like 'implausible' that capture the gradation rather more explicitly.
November 17, 2025 at 1:50 PM
I've been thinking about this again. I'm wondering why the word significance. If I've got Fisher's caution about it right, then there are better words, like 'implausible' that capture the gradation rather more explicitly.
Brilliant. The endless fascination of moving water.
That will be Cramond way by the looks of it. Mine is Port Logan on the west.
That will be Cramond way by the looks of it. Mine is Port Logan on the west.
November 17, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Brilliant. The endless fascination of moving water.
That will be Cramond way by the looks of it. Mine is Port Logan on the west.
That will be Cramond way by the looks of it. Mine is Port Logan on the west.
...that diversity is normal and beneficial...
November 17, 2025 at 9:41 AM
...that diversity is normal and beneficial...
Yes. I imagine readers (and writers) of a popular science books will fail to see that nuance and will understand it to mean at a minimum stronger evidence for the hypothesis in question - which it doesn't.
November 14, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Yes. I imagine readers (and writers) of a popular science books will fail to see that nuance and will understand it to mean at a minimum stronger evidence for the hypothesis in question - which it doesn't.
Currently reading a popular book about nature and well-being. Riddled with statements about "highly significant" results as if that meant "large effect".
In some ways this usage is equally problematical.
In some ways this usage is equally problematical.
November 14, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Currently reading a popular book about nature and well-being. Riddled with statements about "highly significant" results as if that meant "large effect".
In some ways this usage is equally problematical.
In some ways this usage is equally problematical.
"a terrible line manager" puts you in the top 10% of managerial ability amongst academics, you know?
November 12, 2025 at 5:11 PM
"a terrible line manager" puts you in the top 10% of managerial ability amongst academics, you know?
Looking back, I think my own colour/saturation of ND was an enormous benefit to me.
November 12, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Looking back, I think my own colour/saturation of ND was an enormous benefit to me.
In the old days, I think that not going for promotion was sensible - pay and work satisfaction were both high without it. Not so sure today.
November 12, 2025 at 10:42 AM
In the old days, I think that not going for promotion was sensible - pay and work satisfaction were both high without it. Not so sure today.
Oh and also ffs, I just hijacked Katie and Olivia's very interesting conversation. Sincere apologies. I'm still hoping to learn how to be a good sm person...
November 12, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Oh and also ffs, I just hijacked Katie and Olivia's very interesting conversation. Sincere apologies. I'm still hoping to learn how to be a good sm person...