When we lie to others, even if we can justify it, we know full well we are lying. Lying to ourselves is different, new research suggests—the line between self-persuasion and self-deception is not so clear, writes @swhitbo: buff.ly/DrVwFtG

We have a predicting brain—also for language: it anticipates what will come next when others speak. But is that like an LLM? Not quite, new research suggests. We take into account a larger linguistic structure, rather than statistics: buff.ly/ISg767u

No, you don’t use just 10% of your brain, bigger brains are not necessarily better brains, and you don’t have a lizard brain or an inner comp hidden deep inside. @nicholaraihani.bsky.social combats three persistent brain myths that need to die: buff.ly/xl5f2Mz

“The [Ford]Edsel, named after Henry Ford’s son, almost 70 years ago, is widely viewed as the greatest automotive flop of all time. Tesla’s Cybertruck may now be well on its way to claiming that title,” writes Barry @ritholtz.bsky.social: buff.ly/4xRBVwW

Prof Matt Grawitch relates his chatbot journey: from despair at hallucinations and sycophancy, via the dwindling efficacy of catching students’ unauthorized use, to the aha! moment—why not teach them how to use them responsibly?—and an accidental book: buff.ly/sObz4IX

If you want people to buy your stuff, you must first catch their attention. An effective approach is to focus on contrast, writes @neuroscienceof.bsky.social: buff.ly/SoCxPbb

Anticipating trumps remembering Research in the Netherlands by Nawijn et al suggests holidaymakers are happier than non-vacationers… at least *before* their vacation; afterwards there’s no statistically significant happiness difference between them: buff.ly/YshTZAD

New paper argues that there’s more to human cognition than abstract, symbolic information processing in the brain. It also relies on an embodied "grip" through which we engage with the real world in real-time: buff.ly/Dk90pWq

Planning when to die? “We find some evidence that there is a small death elasticity, although we cannot rule out that what we have uncovered is ex post doctoring of the reported date of death.”—research by Kopczuk & Slemrod: buff.ly/9NPNyjb

Investments produce a better medium-to-long term return than savings. But many people are reluctant to put their nest egg at risk, and lose out. The finance industry spotted the opportunity and gave us all the chance to be Gamblers up to a point: buff.ly/9UnDT6M

Topkok Marco Pierre White was intrinsiek gedreven om een almaar betere kok te worden, en werd de jongste ooit die drie Michelin-sterren verzamelde. En toen stopte hij. Is dat niet vreemd? De warme gloed van intrinsieke motivatie heeft brandstof nodig: buff.ly/sKPeIWt

When hamsters are running in their wheel in the middle of the night, they may not be bored or neurotic, but instead having a grand old time, new research suggests: buff.ly/00lzpyJ

Research using brain connectivity mapping suggests the wiring of an infant’s brain predicts the individual’s intelligence scores years later, implying that foundations of cognitive ability are established in early infancy: buff.ly/wFlWWgI

Are we terminally risk-averse for throwing away a 50% chance of winning £1 million (with an expected value of £500,000) in return for a puny £50k? No, we’re not. We are all gamblers up to a point, and we sensibly decide where that point is: buff.ly/9UnDT6M

George Akerlof’s classic “Market for Lemons” paper, showing how incompletely informed buyers, who offer an average price for all products irrespective of their (actual, yet unknown to them) quality, can cause market collapse—annotated by Fermat's Library: buff.ly/VAew7hl

Nieuw inhaalstukje, net gepubliceerd op Is dat niet vreemd? Het idee dat intrinsieke motivatie nobel is, en niet mag worden besmet met materieel gewin, is misplaatst. We verlangen naar erkenning, ook wanneer onze motivatie intrinsiek is: buff.ly/1SW7OhR

The mindfuck of inflation—it distorts your thinking, and can lead you to nod when you should shake. @justinwolfers.bsky.social’s user guide to living with inflation: buff.ly/REVvH0w

Data, facts and figures are necessary but to make people take notice you need Impact, Communication and Persuasion they’re of little use, writes Dave Trott—and for that, you need visuals. The lady with the lamp showed the way: buff.ly/R1fF2Gc

Research by Poulidis et al on decision making in chess suggests chatbots’ action signals (=recommendations) substitute for human thinking *now*, while attention signals (=reminders) act as complements into the future: buff.ly/rBBt48I TL;DR: buff.ly/kZR5e8W

The cognitive stimulation of learning a complex, new skill may help slow down brain ageing, research suggests, and learning to play a musical instrument is a good way to contribute to this: buff.ly/vrFZOVm

Toxic nature Plant-induced itches and insect-originated painful stings are among the perils of an otherwise pleasant late summer walk. Two toxicologists explain a couple of examples of nature’s chemical warfare—poison ivy and bee stings: buff.ly/vo0n1A8

Some TikTok adverts are more engaging than others. A new study identifies and rates 4 distinguishing characteristics (informality of speech, rise and fall of sound, colourfulness, and visual prominence), and examined the link with user engagement: buff.ly/855Q8P0

Historical records suggest teenagers have been grumpy, moody, and self-absorbed for 1000s of years, and current research suggests a genuine, temporary personality shift in teens. That is evolution at play, argues Anthony Volk: buff.ly/sIdFzdl

Does a career in Philosophy trump a career in politics? Quintus Sextius has second thoughts: buff.ly/P5Bu8wS

AI seems abundant, but that is because we don’t see the resources and energy used to answer queries, whether seeking a cure for cancer or creating a cat video. What are the hard limits on AI use, and how will tradeoffs be made? New research explores: buff.ly/ZetDZfl

Research by Guido et al suggests face and pareidolian adverts attract greater attention than others—when exposure times are short, people instinctively seek faces in advertising, but attention wanes for longer exposure times: buff.ly/nzUy8sU

Are we too risk averse by rejecting gambles with a superior expected value? Or do we, on the contrary, cleverly use informed intuition to make the right call (for us)? Here’s why we are Gamblers up to a point: buff.ly/OqTwnqz

Mirror neurons fire both when we (and other animals) perform an action and when watching someone else do the same. New research suggests they track the dynamics of the action, not just—as was previously assumed—the (abstract) end goal: buff.ly/KGBWlhd via @psypost.bsky.social

AIs may be sycophantic, but that doesn’t stop them nudging users away from initial polarized leanings in decisions across moral/non-moral, objective/subjective, strategic non-strategic, and complex/simple tasks, research by Conlon & Schwardmann suggests: buff.ly/xka8VX2

We kunnen best wel een en ander uitrekenen (soms met wat mechanische hulp 😎), maar als het erop aankomt te kiezen tussen een gok wagen of veilig spelen, dan gebruiken we onze intuïtie. Is dat niet vreemd? ICYMI, Gokkers tot op zekere hoogte: buff.ly/T2iA7tj