—— Open Mind is MIT Press’s Diamond Open Access Cognitive Science journal. We now have our first Impact Factor: 2.9 as of June 2026 Submit your papers to Open Mind direct.mit.edu/opmi

We make flexible choices in new situations by knitting together information from separate relevant memories. But what governs which memories are retrieved and when? In a new preprint, we captured how people build decision variables from different memories by tracking their gaze on a blank screen.

Flexible decisions arise from resource-rational memory sampling

Flexible decision making depends on retrieving and recombining memories. Yet because this process unfolds covertly, its governing principles remain unknown. Here we use gaze reinstatement to uncover t...

biorxiv.org

Check out @jonathannicholas.bsky.social 's new preprint measuring eye movements to infer individual memory retrievals during decision making, plus a cool RNN modelof that process. Can't express how excited I am about this new technique!

Jonathan Nicholas@jonathannicholas.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We make flexible choices in new situations by knitting together information from separate relevant memories. But what governs which memories are retrieved and when? In a new preprint, we captured how people build decision variables from different memories by tracking their gaze on a blank screen.

I am looking for a postdoctoral researcher to join my lab at Sabancı University in Istanbul for a 2-year TÜBİTAK-funded position, with possible extension. Interested candidates can email me with a CV and a brief note about their research interests. More details on gunselilab.com soon.

Excited to share our new paper on how distraction affects memory retrieval. Using a continuous report paradigm, we show that distraction reduces whether memories are accessed but not how precisely they are represented. link.springer.com/article/10.3...

Our new review with Berna Güler (@bernaguler.bsky.social) is out! We ask a basic but under-specified question: What shapes the segmented nature of episodic memories?

Bazen neden duygularımızı kontrol edemiyoruz? Neden bazı çocuklar durmadan soru sorar? Aynı anda hem plan yapıp hem esnek kalmak neden bu kadar zor? Jestlerimiz gerçekten düşünme biçimimizi etkiler mi? Duygularımızı, düşüncelerimizi, tepkilerimizi nasıl yönetiriz? 🧠👇

How does prior knowledge affect the way we experience the world? In our new paper, we show that prior knowledge can both increase and decrease how often experience is segmented into events. link.springer.com/article/10.3...

Ignorance is bliss: Exploring the dual role of knowledge in event segmentation - Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

Episodic memories are segmented. This study explores the dual role of prior knowledge in event segmentation, hypothesizing that knowledge leads to coarser segmentation when experiences align with it, ...

link.springer.com

New preprint on how working memory (WM) supports event segmentation. Using load-sensitive EEG markers, we test whether WM accumulates information within events or instead reactivates prior event information at boundaries. osf.io/preprints/ps...

Berna Güler@bernaguler.bsky.social · 8mo ago

New preprint alert! 📢 Event segmentation allows us to parse continuous experience into meaningful events. Working memory (WM) is suggested to play a key role in this process, but how? osf.io/preprints/ps...

We recently published a theoretical review about how compositional and generative mechanisms in working memory provide a flexible engine for creative perception and imagery. Pre-print: osf.io/preprints/ps... Paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Is WM a gateway to LTM? In this registered report we find that higher WM load rarely impairs LTM encoding - suggesting WM capacity is not a bottleneck for forming LTM traces. @as-souza.bsky.social @edamizrak.bsky.social @cognition-zurich.bsky.social psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-... [1/3]

New paper out on value-based prioritization in visual WM. We used hDDM to account for speed/accuracy tradeoffs and isolate memory benefits from perceptual/motor benefits. We see perceptual/motor contributions suggesting that prioritization benefits are not purely mnemonic. Link: rdcu.be/eTUIm

Our new preprint is out! Using a continuous-report paradigm, we show that divided attention reliably disrupts long-term memory retrieval by reducing accessibility—not precision. Two experiments + mixture modeling + TCC. Link: osf.io/preprints/ps...

We just published a new paper in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review examining what drives how people segment continuous experience into distinct memory events. The takeaway: contextual stability, not prediction error, is the main driver.🧵https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-025-02723-4

New Preprint with @edamizrak.bsky.social! Performance in immediate memory tasks reflects a flexible mixture of contributions of #workingmemory and LTM. Distraction disrupts WM, while PI impairs retrieval from LTM; when both are in play, performance depends on the relative reliability of each system

PsyArXivBot@psyarxivbot.bsky.social · last yr.

Interactions of Working and Long-term Memory - Evidence from Proactive Interference in the Brown-Peterson Task: https://osf.io/zemkw

Our study using layer fMRI to study the direction of communication between the hippocampus and cortex during perceptual predictions is finally out in Science Advances! Predicted-but-omitted shapes are represented in CA2/3 and correlate specifically with deep layers of PHC, suggesting feedback. 🧠🟦

Communication of perceptual predictions from the hippocampus to the deep layers of the parahippocampal cortex

High-resolution neuroimaging reveals stimulus-specific predictions sent from hippocampus to the neocortex during perception.

science.org

3 more talks from our lab at #VSS2025: 1) Yaren on how trial ratios between memory and search tasks affect attentional capture 2) Eren (on behalf of Yakup) on how anticipating extra working memory (WM) load influences reliance on long-term memory 3) Şahcan on how action plans shape WM updating

Eren Günseli@erengunseli.bsky.social · last yr.

A correction for our #VSS2025 presentations: Berna's poster on the role of working memory in the temporal structuring of episodic memories is tomorrow morning at 8:30 in Pavilion. Here is the corrected list of our posters.

A correction for our #VSS2025 presentations: Berna's poster on the role of working memory in the temporal structuring of episodic memories is tomorrow morning at 8:30 in Pavilion. Here is the corrected list of our posters.

Eren Günseli@erengunseli.bsky.social · last yr.

Dear #VSS2025 attendees! Our lab will be presenting 5 posters over the next two days. We’re excited to share our work: Come visit us!

Dear #VSS2025 attendees! Our lab will be presenting 5 posters over the next two days. We’re excited to share our work: Come visit us!

Our revised preprint demonstrates event boundaries are formed by transitions across stable contexts. Moreover, we show that prediction errors do not affect event segmentation as previously suggested. osf.io/preprints/ps...

Berna Güler@bernaguler.bsky.social · last yr.

Preprint update! We tested roles of contextual stability and prediction error in event segmentation, independently manipulating each factor in 4 experiments. We found contextual stability as the primary driver - challenging the event segmentation theory osf.io/preprints/ps...

Undergrads seeking hands-on research experience: Join one of our two cognitive psychology projects! Participate in data collection, attend meetings, interpret results, and engage in discussions. Free accommodation provided; selected students will also receive flight tickets...1/2

Active Projects | PURE

Sabancı Üniversitesi, Orta Mahalle, Üniversite Caddesi No:27 Tuzla, 34956 İstanbul  +90 216 483 90 00  +90 (216) 483 9005

pure.sabanciuniv.edu

We make about 3-4 fast eye movements a second, yet our world appears stable. How is this possible? In a preprint led by @lucakaemmer.bsky.social we test the intriguing idea that anticipatory signals in the fovea may explain visual stability. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

a woman in a white shirt is standing in front of a refrigerator in a store .

ALT: a woman in a white shirt is standing in front of a refrigerator in a store .

media.tenor.com

Exciting new preprint with former lab member @sahcan.bsky.social and his supervisor, Daniel Schneider. Şahcan's work reveals how action correspondence influences working memory gating, increasing atraction bias toward distractors that share action plans with working memory items.

Şahcan Özdemir@sahcan.bsky.social · last yr.

Preprint Alert!! In our latest study, we describe a novel relationship between action planning and working memory. Our results show that action-item associations affect how working memory maintains the fidelity of sensory information during a task. Check it out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Yeni kitabımız yayında!😊Dikkatimizi nasıl yönlendiririz, anıları nasıl seçer ve unuturuz, ve sosyal etkileşimlerdeki otomatik davranışlarımız nasıl şekillenir? Amaca yönelik bilişin bu dinamik yönlerini keşfedin. www.nobelyayin.com/bilissel-isl...

AP&P is looking for its next Editor-in-Chief to follow in the footsteps of the great Sarah Shomstein! If you're interested or know someone who might be, check out the details. The deadline for nominations is Feb 15, 2025! www.psychonomic.org/page/2025app...

2025 Editor Search for Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics

psychonomic.org

Joey Saito@jsaito25.bsky.social · 2y ago

We are currently seeking nominations for a new Editor-in-Chief at @psychonomicsociety.bsky.social journal, AP&P, whether it be you or a colleague you'd like to nominate! For details, see our announcement at www.psychonomic.org/page/2025app...

This evening, Berna Güler (@bernaguler.bsky.social) will present her poster exploring how context transitions—not prediction errors—trigger event segmentation. Come to discuss our findings at the Psychonomic Society Meeting! Poster #4056 | Time: 7:45-9:15 pm

Thanks to the organizers of the 10th International Symposium on Brain and Cognitive Science for a fun meeting. Burhan Bağlar, Sinem Subaşı, and Yaren Kaynar did a wonderful job presenting their work despite being swamped with final projects and presentations. Well done! See our posters below.

New paper alert! 🙌 In our new replication study led by @sjiang.bsky.social, we found no effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on visual working memory! Out in Communications Psychology: www.nature.com/articles/s44... #workingmemory

TDCS over PPC or DLPFC does not improve visual working memory capacity - Communications Psychology

In contrast to recent findings, a replication study shows no effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on visual working memory.

nature.com

Dear BrainProducts EEG users. Two of our bundles are unusable due to water leakage inside the black box that cables are connected. Any suggestions to overcome this would be appreciated. Covering the box with stretch film and silica gel or sponge is one option. Elegant, huh?

Our latest paper reveals overlapping neural mechanisms for encoded and updated (internally transformed) spatial working memory representations, traced through alpha-band power topography in EEG. Full paper here: www.cell.com/iscience/ful...