📣 I'm hiring! Two positions (PhD student & Postdoc) in my ERC project Macroevolution of European Literature. Let's study the cultural evolution of literature using massive data 📚📈 📍Frankfurt | Apply by August 15 Details: www.aesthetics.mpg.de/en/career/jo... Please repost to help spread the word!

Scandinavian Mesolithic hunter-gatherers abstractly engraved bones & other materials. What can we learn from their visual complexity? New paper w @ll-herskind.bsky.social , @helenamiton.bsky.social & @felixthehauskat.bsky.social . (doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...). 1/

As someone who has been working with Olivier for quite a few years now, this is a really awesome opportunity for someone interested in the evolution of graphic codes. And you get to do great science in Paris!

Olivier Morin@oliviermorin.bsky.social · 6mo ago

CALL: a PhD grant (3 years) to do a PhD with me at @cognitionens.bsky.social on the evolution of graphic codes. euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/410213

CALL: a PhD grant (3 years) to do a PhD with me at @cognitionens.bsky.social on the evolution of graphic codes. euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/410213

PhD student grant (3 years) on the evolution of written communication

My team recruits a PhD student to work under the supervision of Olivier Morin on the evolution of written communication, within a project jointly led by Olivier Morin, Hugo Mercier, and Marc Allassonn...

euraxess.ec.europa.eu

Putting together this whole special issue has been an adventure, but one of the most rewarding parts has been the opportunity to write with one of my very favorite cognitive anthropologists - I'll let @schrisomalis.bsky.social sell it for us below!

Stephen Chrisomalis@schrisomalis.bsky.social · 9mo ago

At last, the final publication in 'Cognitive Technologies and their Histories': the editorial introduction to the issue in TopiCS, by myself and @helenamiton.bsky.social. 4.5 years since our initial @cogscisociety.bsky.social panel. Free access! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

🚨 New paper alert! (slightly belated) We (with @joshcjackson.bsky.social) suggest that complex technologies, as they need several (often many) people to use them, require innovations that distribute cognition to help regulate cognitive load and coordinate. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Complex technology requires cultural innovations for distributing cognition

Over the last decade, new research has shown how human collectives can develop technologies that no single individual could discover on their own. How…

sciencedirect.com

@helenamiton.bsky.social and I have a new paper out: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Past theories focus on how we evolve complex technologies (jet engines), but neglect cultural innovations that help us operate these technologies (pilot checklist) Paper has tons of examples and new theory!

Check out this excellent new article by Ekstrom et al., "The Phoneme as a Cognitive Tool", in the special issue of Topics in Cognitive Science, "Cognitive Technologies and their Histories", which I'm co-editing with @helenamiton.bsky.social. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

The Phoneme as a Cognitive Tool

Phonemes—the basic sound units of language—function as cognitive tools that shape and extend human thinking. This article explores how phonemes are biologically grounded yet culturally variable, play...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Check out Penelope Scott's great new article, "Medical Recipes in Early Medieval English" part of the special issue I'm co-editing with @helenamiton.bsky.social in Topics in Cognitive Science, "Cognitive Technologies and their Histories". onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Medical Recipes in Early Medieval English: A Cultural Linguistic Perspective on the Cognition of Health and Illness

An exploration of an Early Medieval English medical text, Bald's Leechbook, from a Cultural Linguistic perspective. An overview of cultural schemas for medical ailments and recipes, including those w...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

In 'Cosmovision as cognitive technology', @helendecruz.net and Johan de Smedt analyze the Cruz-Badianus (Nahua / Aztec) herbarium as a tool to scaffold knowledge of a distinctive cosmology of the body. 3/3 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Cosmovision as Cognitive Technology: The Case of Mesoamerican Medicinal Knowledge

We examine the use of cognitive technologies in botanical knowledge for medicinal purposes in the Nahua (Aztec) Cruz-Badianus codex. The Mesoamerican cosmovision, especially the association of human ...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

In 'Time Tools', @kensycoop.bsky.social investigates the concepts, practices, and artifacts we use to concretize, coordinate, and measure time. 2/3 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Time Tools

Humans understand time in a way no other animal does. This is not because of our evolved biology, however—it is because we have developed a diverse and powerful toolkit of ideas, practices, and artif...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Two new articles came out this week in the special issue of Topics in Cognitive Science "Cognitive Technologies and their Histories", edited by @helenamiton.bsky.social and me: 1/3

🚨Job alert! Two-year postdoc to join the Rep2SI project at @lsemethodology.bsky.social! We're looking for a modeller to join our team of ethnographers & experimentalists studying the role of reputation and reputational concern in perpetuating social inequality. Apply by 4 May: tinyurl.com/yjccd3vv

The CultureLab at PSL, Paris, is recruiting a research engineer in #dh, computational social sciences and cultural evolution. We're looking for skills in data science, machine learning and programming. 4 years position. euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/323661

Ingénieur de recherches en sciences humaines et sociales computationnelles

Project context and objectives:

euraxess.ec.europa.eu

I'm hiring a new lab manager! Deadline to apply is April 1st. More details here: www.chicagobooth.edu/-/media/facu... I formed some of my deepest and most impactful partnerships as a lab manager, and it's a position that I highly value. If you are a PI, please circulate to possible applicants!

"Information Architectures: A Framework for Understanding Socio-Technical Systems" is in press at npj Complexity. Normally I might wait until publication to share, but given the relevance to our rapidly-changing world, it seemed worth sharing now. osf.io/preprints/so...

🚨 New paper alert! 🚨 If you use a writing system and/or a language with sounds (which, come on, if you're reading this, you do!), and are curious to learn more about how these systems encode information (you should be), please enjoy our latest paper - fresh off the press!

Olivier Morin@oliviermorin.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨 New paper! 🚨 by Yoolim Kim, @helenamiton.bsky.social, Marc Allassonnière Tang, & myself, in Journal of Memory and Language. We tried to do for letter shapes what phonologists did for speech sounds. doi.org/10.1016/j.jm... A 🧵 (1/14)

Alberto said it all - it's a pretty fantastic opportunity for a Junior researcher in Computational Social Sciences, go apply! Deadline is March 20th, 2025.

Alberto Acerbi@acerbialberto.com · 2y ago

PSL CultureLab "Chaire d’excellence" - five years Junior research fellow in Computational Social Sciences in Paris. Fantastic position, research still ongoing, the new deadline is March 20, 2025. More info at: cognition.ens.fr/en/job/junio...

💥Postdoc Opening! 💥We (@lucasmolleman.bsky.social & Piet van den Berg) seek a postdoc to study social learning and cultural evolution. We are looking for someone with math/computational modeling skills & interest in human behavior. Get in touch if you have any questions! shorturl.at/W6Qsb

Postdoktor i beräkningspsykologi/kognitionsvetenskap med fokus på social inlärning och kulturell evolution

Vill du bidra till medicinsk forskning av toppkvalitet? Gruppen Mechanisms of Social Behavior vid Karolinska Institutet i Stockholm söker en högt kvalificerad postdoktoral forskare för att ingå i

ki.varbi.com

For our junior colleagues in the US looking for opportunities, Europe is a great place to do science 🧪 We have a #postdoc call open right now! #complexity csh.ac.at/education/po...

PostDoc Program * Complexity Science Hub

Education

csh.ac.at

🏰 PhD position on computational modelling | collective dynamics | cultural evolution 🏰 Get in touch with any questions you might have and join me in beautiful Marburg! stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de/jobposting/c... (Deutsch) stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de/jobposting/3... (English)

Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛@rmcelreath.bsky.social · 2y ago

My former PhD @dominikdeffner.bsky.social is now a professor and is looking for a PhD student. Know someone who would fit? stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de/jobposting/3...

So it's hard to believe, but it has been 10 years (!) since my first scientific publication - on the cultural success of bloodletting with @hugoreasoning.bsky.social and Nicolas Claidière. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Universal cognitive mechanisms explain the cultural success of bloodletting

Bloodletting—the practice of letting blood out to cure a patient—was for centuries one of the main therapies in the west. We lay out three potential e…

sciencedirect.com

We're hiring! Are you a cultural evolutionary modeller who wants to understand how and why children's peer cultures evolve? Here's a postdoc position for you! @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social @durhampsych.bsky.social @ehbea.bsky.social @eslr.bsky.social Apply here: durham.taleo.net/careersectio...

Major JOB ALERT! I and close colleagues have 4 (!) positions open. So if you're looking for a postdoc or PhD, do read on:

New article in our special issue 'Cognitive Technologies and their Histories': Ottaviano et al., "Metaphors and the invention of writing" onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Metaphors and the Invention of Writing

Metaphor, including its sub-categories pars pro toto and metonymy, plays a crucial role in the formation of the earliest invented scripts in Mesopotamia, Egypt and China, yet it has been understudied...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

@schrisomalis.bsky.social already said it better than I will, but @antiquethought.bsky.social's article on memory palaces is exemplary in how to explore what "dead minds" did. And if it's your jam, stay tuned! We have more cool stuff coming up in this special issue :)

What Kind of Cognitive Technology Is the “Memory House”?

Ancient Roman “technical memory” is not (as much of the modern specialist literature would have it) a generative technology of association, but a specialized tool for precise serial recall. While the...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Stephen Chrisomalis@schrisomalis.bsky.social · 2y ago

In this fantastic new article, @antiquethought.bsky.social talks about ancient Roman 'memory palace' practices in light of modern cognitive science research on memory. (This is the first article in a special issue on historical cognitive technologies, edited by @helenamiton.bsky.social and me.)

In this fantastic new article, @antiquethought.bsky.social talks about ancient Roman 'memory palace' practices in light of modern cognitive science research on memory. (This is the first article in a special issue on historical cognitive technologies, edited by @helenamiton.bsky.social and me.)

What Kind of Cognitive Technology Is the “Memory House”?

Ancient Roman “technical memory” is not (as much of the modern specialist literature would have it) a generative technology of association, but a specialized tool for precise serial recall. While the....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

For folks who have had to navigate early career stages with an unstable personal/romantic life/heartbreak(s), especially if they are far geographically from most of their support system, do you have any advice on how to do it? Does it ever get easier?

So cool to meet all these fantastic scholars in person for the first time after interacting (collaborating, reviewing, debating, etc) only virtually for many years @masonyoungblood.bsky.social @babeheim.bsky.social @helenamiton.bsky.social

Information Architectures: A Framework for Understanding Socio-Technical Systems New paper that came out of a workshop I co-organized at @sfiscience.bsky.social in May 2023 with a large interdisciplinary group. osf.io/preprints/so...