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Reposted by Stefano Palminteri

Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · 9h

New (revised) preprint with @thecharleywu.bsky.social
We rethink how to assess machine consciousness: not by code or circuitry, but by behavioral inference—as in cognitive science.
Extraordinary claims still need extraordinary evidence.
👉 osf.io/preprints/ps...
#AI #Consciousness #LLM

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Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · 9h

New (revised) preprint with @thecharleywu.bsky.social
We rethink how to assess machine consciousness: not by code or circuitry, but by behavioral inference—as in cognitive science.
Extraordinary claims still need extraordinary evidence.
👉 osf.io/preprints/ps...
#AI #Consciousness #LLM

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Reposted by Stefano Palminteri

Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · 7d

This book by @anilananth.bsky.social is great — perfect for those, like me, who have an intuitive and geometric grasp of math but unfortunately no formal training. Highly recommended!

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Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · 7d

This book by @anilananth.bsky.social is great — perfect for those, like me, who have an intuitive and geometric grasp of math but unfortunately no formal training. Highly recommended!

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Reposted by Stefano Palminteri

Ondrej Zika @ondrejzika.bsky.social · 7d

W3 Professorship in Computational Psychiatry at Uni Bochum

www.researchgate.net/job/1032595_...

PROFESSORSHIP FOR RESEARCH ON COMPUTATIONAL PSYCHIATRY (W3) (M/F/D) at Ruhr University Bochum in Bochum, GERMANY

Sep 29, 2025 | The Ruhr area, one of Europe’s largest metropolitan regions, offers attractive career opportunities for excellent scientists and scholars from... | NEW JOB

www.researchgate.net

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Reposted by Stefano Palminteri

Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · Mar 25

Preprint alert! Navigating Inflationary and Deflationary Claims Concerning Large Language Models Avoiding Cognitive Biases.
Very fun and efficient collaboration with @giadapistilli.com
To help cognitively bounded humans balancing hype and dismall of LLMs capabilities
osf.io/preprints/ps...

OSF

osf.io

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Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · 22d

Check out @bcdavidson.bsky.social's preprint (w/ @georgiaturner.bsky.social @orbenamy.bsky.social @livia-tomova.bsky.social and co.) about the (computational) consequences of social isolation in social media use during covid!

Brandon C Davidson @bcdavidson.bsky.social · 22d

🚨 New Preprint 🚨

Prolonged Isolation is associated with an increased behavioural sensitivity to ‘Likes’ on social media.

🧵

Social media rewards are inherently social—but does posting change during social isolation, when in-person social rewards are limited?

It turns out, yes!

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Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · 27d

mesmerizing www.braitenberg.world

Braitenberg Vehicles

www.braitenberg.world

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Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · 27d

Braitenberg's Vehicles arrived yesterday and I'm already halfway through it. An amazingly funny, clear, and lucid treatment of the question of attributing higher cognitive functions to artificial systems. Obviously very timely for current debates in AI

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Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · 29d

This is the link to the previous study that served to the bases for our recent @pnas.org study on the optimality of choice-confirmation bias and perseveration.

"Choice-Confirmation Bias and Gradual Perseveration in Human Reinforcement Learning"

Open here:
www.researchgate.net/publication/...

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Reposted by Stefano Palminteri

Communications Psychology @commspsychol.nature.com · Sep 8

Following social isolation, adolescents show increased sensitivity to rewards during effort-based decision making and reward learning.
@livia-tomova.bsky.social @sjblakemore.bsky.social @emilyanntowner.bsky.social @stepalminteri.bsky.social @lei-zhang.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Acute isolation is associated with increased reward seeking and reward learning in human adolescents - Communications Psychology

This study shows that, following social isolation, adolescents show increased sensitivity to rewards during effort-based decision making and reward learning. Access to virtual social interactions duri...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Stefano Palminteri

Prof Sarah-Jayne Blakemore @sjblakemore.bsky.social · Sep 5

New paper! By @livia-tomova.bsky.social,
@emilyanntowner.bsky.social, Kirsten Thomas,
@stepalminteri.bsky.social, @l32zhang.bsky.social

Acute isolation is associated with increased reward seeking and reward learning in human adolescents.

www.nature.com/articles/s44...

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Reposted by Stefano Palminteri

Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · Sep 3

New paper our in @pnas.org, lead by @isabellehoxha.bsky.social with Léo Sperber. We use evolutionary simulation to assess and compare the adaptive value of positivity bias and gradual perseveration in reinforcement learning. Follow the thread below (and Isabelle!) for more details!

Isabelle Hoxha @isabellehoxha.bsky.social · Sep 3

Ever wondered why you keep going to that restaurant with stale fries? Is it because you went often in the past (perseveration) or because you remember past good experiences better (positivity bias)? Our study out in PNAS investigates the normative basis for these biases www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Evolving choice hysteresis in reinforcement learning: Comparing the adaptive value of positivity bias and gradual perseveration | PNAS

The tendency to repeat past choices more often than expected from the history of outcomes has been repeatedly empirically observed in reinforcement...

www.pnas.org

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Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · Sep 3

New paper our in @pnas.org, lead by @isabellehoxha.bsky.social with Léo Sperber. We use evolutionary simulation to assess and compare the adaptive value of positivity bias and gradual perseveration in reinforcement learning. Follow the thread below (and Isabelle!) for more details!

Isabelle Hoxha @isabellehoxha.bsky.social · Sep 3

Ever wondered why you keep going to that restaurant with stale fries? Is it because you went often in the past (perseveration) or because you remember past good experiences better (positivity bias)? Our study out in PNAS investigates the normative basis for these biases www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Evolving choice hysteresis in reinforcement learning: Comparing the adaptive value of positivity bias and gradual perseveration | PNAS

The tendency to repeat past choices more often than expected from the history of outcomes has been repeatedly empirically observed in reinforcement...

www.pnas.org

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Reposted by Stefano Palminteri

Isabelle Hoxha @isabellehoxha.bsky.social · Sep 3

Ever wondered why you keep going to that restaurant with stale fries? Is it because you went often in the past (perseveration) or because you remember past good experiences better (positivity bias)? Our study out in PNAS investigates the normative basis for these biases www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Evolving choice hysteresis in reinforcement learning: Comparing the adaptive value of positivity bias and gradual perseveration | PNAS

The tendency to repeat past choices more often than expected from the history of outcomes has been repeatedly empirically observed in reinforcement...

www.pnas.org

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Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · Aug 26

After 6 wonderful years together, it’s time to say goodbye. Farewell to Magdalena Soukupova – brilliant scientist, pillar of the HRL team, and amazing human being (sic.). Whatever lab you join next will be very lucky to have you

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Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · Aug 20

Sehr cool, schön, Bravo

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Reposted by Stefano Palminteri

Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · Aug 12

🚨 New paper out in Mind & Society!
Human reinforcement learning processes and biases: computational characterization and possible applications to behavioral public policy
🔗 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

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Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · Aug 12

The takeaway:

RL offers a powerful, generalizable way to teach, shape, and sustain behavior.

Its biases are not just flaws — they may be adaptations we can harness.

We should give RL a bigger seat at the policy table.

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Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · Aug 12

5/
🏛 Part 3 – RL in public policy
Despite being central in education, therapy & even marketing, RL is oddly underused in behavioral public policy compared to “nudges” or “boosts.”
We argue history & misconceptions are partly to blame.

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Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · Aug 12

🎯 Part 2 – Reinforcement learning in depth
From the basics of action–outcome learning to the fine details of biases like:

Relative valuation (context-dependent outcome encoding)

Positivity bias (learning more from good than bad news)

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Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · Aug 12

🧠 Part 1 – What’s a cognitive bias?
We propose a computational, value-free definition of bias — not as “errors” but as systematic deviations between reality and internal representation, which can sometimes help decision-making.
We also propose a Taxonomy for biases with the RL framework

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Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · Aug 12

This paper is a bit of a chimera 🧬 — combining three strands that rarely meet in one place:

A general, operational presentation of bias

A detailed look at reinforcement learning (RL) and its biases at the computational level

A historical perspective on RL in behavioral public policy

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Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · Aug 12

🚨 New paper out in Mind & Society!
Human reinforcement learning processes and biases: computational characterization and possible applications to behavioral public policy
🔗 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

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Stefano Palminteri @stepalminteri.bsky.social · Aug 11

if you are already at #CCN2025 go check @nicolasyax.bsky.social work where we try to teach meta-cognition to LLMs in a very cool satellite symposium.

luciecharlesneuro.bsky.social @luciecharlesneuro.bsky.social · Aug 11

Super excited to kickstart our Metacognitive science satellite meeting, just before the CCN conference in Amsterdam! Organised with @dobyrahnev.bsky.social @meganakpeters.bsky.social and @stvemillertime.bsky.social

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