Our paper on context-dependent learning is now out in iScience! 👀 👇 www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

Spontaneous emergence of context-dependent statistical learning in humans and neural networks

biological sciences; psychology; cognitive neuroscience; computational bioinformatics; neural networks

cell.com

Jesse Rissman@rissman.bsky.social · 5mo ago

🚨NEW PREPRINT (w/ Fleming Peck & Hongjing Lu) "Spontaneous emergence of context-dependent statistical learning in humans and neural networks" We are constantly predicting what will happen next. Yet the same cue can lead to different predictions depending on context. How might this work...? 🧵1/8

On the off chance you're relying on OSF to store your data; put copies of it somewhere safe ASAP. I like to think they've got the runway to keep storing things like they suggest, but it wouldn't be the first time something like this went dark on the internet. www.cos.io/osf-changes

OSF Changes | Center for Open Science

We are preparing substantial changes to OSF that will reduce its functionality, focus OSF on its unique strengths, and move toward an integrated model with complementary services. As part of that shif...

cos.io

i feel seen

Jin X. Goh | 吴晋勋@jinxungoh.bsky.social · 6d ago

🧠🧵 New paper accepted at @jocn.bsky.social! Led by @amyqixx.bsky.social We found that memory traces carry an "echo" of how they were last accessed: the way you retrieve a concept leaves a measurable signature in the brain the next time you recognize it. doi.org/10.1162/JOCN... 1/9

Memory Traces Reflect How They Were Last Accessed

Abstract. Episodic memories are known to change with each act of retrieval. We hypothesize that accessing semantic knowledge in different ways during episodic retrieval—from unique perceptual features...

doi.org

Over the next several months, we will phase out some popular OSF features. These changes do not affect current public content, which remains safe and accessible. We have prepared support material to help users adapt. I am very sorry for the disruption to your work. Please read this post for details.

OSF Changes | Center for Open Science

We are preparing substantial changes to OSF that will reduce its functionality, focus OSF on its unique strengths, and move toward an integrated model with complementary services. As part of that shif...

cos.io

Representation researchers: I think you definitely should check out this thought-provoking review by: @initself.bsky.social @rowansommers.bsky.social @adriendoerig.bsky.social @timkietzmann.bsky.social The Umwelt Representation Hypothesis: rethinking Universality pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42570893/

The Umwelt Representation Hypothesis: rethinking Universality - PubMed

Recent studies reveal striking representational alignment between artificial neural networks (ANNs) and biological brains, leading to proposals that all sufficiently capable systems converge on univer...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

TL;DR THREAD – Properties of personal semantics ⏳ (link.springer.com/article/10.3...) The backstory. In previous work, we observed a gradient of hippocampal activity 🍤 : general semantic knowledge < personal semantic knowledge < episodic memory 📈 (elifesciences.org/articles/83645)

The properties of personal semantics - Memory & Cognition

Recent cognitive neuroscience research has uncovered some similarities and some differences between general semantic memory (GS; e.g., knowledge about family in general) and personal semantic memory (...

link.springer.com

I understand that funding bodies want to go all in on AI as the shiny new innovation thing. But if all the grants start going to AI at the expense of everything else then the research sector is going to end up looking like a farm with dozens of threshers hacking away in a field with no wheat.

this would be a huge blow to US biomedical science. the K99/R00 program has historically played a key role in recruiting top international post-docs to stay in the US to start their own labs.

anil oza@aniloza.bsky.social · last wk.

NIH is planning on revoking eligibility for international students on visas for the K99/R00 pathway, a key program that supports postdocs in establishing their own labs www.statnews.com/2026/08/07/n...

🚨Out now in J Neurosci! 🧠 Using fMRI and EEG, we mapped where and when contextual knowledge of real-world objects emerges within the visual system - even when those objects are viewed in isolation. @dkaiserlab.bsky.social @peelen.bsky.social www.jneurosci.org/content/46/1...

Spatiotemporal Representations of Contextual Associations for Real-World Objects

In the real world, objects always appear in context. Many objects are reliably associated with a certain scene context (e.g., pots appear in kitchens) and other objects that appear in the same context...

jneurosci.org

Check out the new preprint from the amazing @adamjcurtis.bsky.social! Memory Benefits for Schematically Incongruent Sequences Depend on the Type of Violation #neuroskyence #psychscisky #cognition 🧪

Adam Curtis@adamjcurtis.bsky.social · 3w ago

📢 New preprint with @aidanhorner.bsky.social and @marwimber.bsky.social investigating how schematic violations shape memory for sequences of events. Memory Benefits for Schematically Incongruent Sequences Depend on the Type of Violation osf.io/preprints/ps...

A study by Dr. @danipalombo.bsky.social, Dr. Connor Kerns, and Dr. Veronica Dudarev explored how memory can be impacted by what we pay attention to and whether a situation involved social cues. Via @VCHResearch.bsky.social Read more: www.vchri.ca/stories/2026...

The influence of social situations on memory

Most days, we encounter people and things that we either do or do not like. But why are some events and details more memorable than others? A study led by Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute ...

vchri.ca

The Cognition Group in the Psychology dept at Exeter are at risk of redundancy because "basic cognitive psychology research does not align with the current priorities of funding bodies" If you think this is overtly wrong and misguided, please sign this open letter docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Open Letter in Support of the Cognition Group, University of Exeter

To Executive members of the University of Exeter, including Vice Chancellor Prof. Lisa Roberts, Senior Vice-President and Provost Prof. Dan Charman, Pro Vice Chancellor and Executive Dean Prof. Sallie...

docs.google.com

Some artificial neural networks contain units that closely match the activity of neurons in brains doing the same task. But there's a "striking asymmetry" - those same models often contain other units that don't correspond to anything in the brain! www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Starting September, international students will be limited to four years of study. With most PhD programs lasting 5 or 6 years, this is a huge blow - to the International students themselves and to our ability to recruit the best students we can. This is not how the U.S. remains competitive.

Trump administration tightens visa rules for foreign students

Students will need federal permission to stay longer than four years in the US and universities will lose the power to extend visas.

bbc.com

Interested in memory updating, exploration, structure learning, & reward? @hannahtarder-stoll.bsky.social & I are looking for candidates to apply for a Connected Minds Postdoctoral Fellowship at York University, with the opportunity to work at Rice too. Contact Hannah or me for details! #PsychJobs

Proprietary LLMs impede scientific transparency and reproducibility Comment by Killian L. McLoughlin, Alexis Palmer, J. Nathan Matias & M. J. Crockett Web: go.nature.com/4wDYqGI PDF: rdcu.be/ftzkM

"There won’t be more discoveries, and we’ll just stop at what we already know." @cantlonlab.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/c...

She Studied Ways to Make People Smarter. Then Her Grant Was Cut.

Jessica Cantlon had a grant with the U.S. Navy to explore whether people could improve spatial problem-solving skills through training. Then the program was cut.

nytimes.com

Just submitted my comment on the new OMB rules for federal grants. Thanks to @fabbs.org for all the helpful resources. 🧪 You still have time to make your voice heard! The comment deadline is Monday July 13th at 11:59pm. fabbs.org/fabbs-omb-co...

FABBS OMB COMMENT TOOLKIT – FABBS

On May 29, 2026, OMB published a proposed rule to update the Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance, which are government-wide policies and requirements rela

fabbs.org

Dear peer reviewers everywhere: sometimes we feel pressure to find issues with a submission as a demonstration of diligence. But we have to recognise this is a mistake: picking random and sometimes incoherent holes in research add confusion, generates unnecessary work and encourages defensive

lol

How do people build new ideas from existing knowledge? By tracking Wikipedia searches, we found that novel ideas emerged when people balanced exploration with exploitation—alternating between distant topics and deep dives into related information.

New paper 🧵! There's a lot of interest in how brain regions represent information in fMRI. One popular approach uses searchlights that roam across the brain to decode conditions. We built a method to uncover the sub-networks within searchlight maps.

New lab paper ! "Shared neural geometries for bilingual semantic representations in human hippocampal neurons" led by @xinyuanyan.bsky.social. 🧵 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Shared neural geometries for bilingual semantic representations in human hippocampal neurons

The human brain has the remarkable ability to comprehend and express similar concepts in multiple languages. To understand how it does so, we examined…

sciencedirect.com

Exclusive: The National Science Foundation is trimming this year’s budgets for hundreds of its traditional basic science programs by roughly 20% to 30%, even though its overall budget is down just 3%. https://scim.ag/4xY2KCm

Exclusive: NSF slashes research programs to support new tech initiative, insiders say

Unexpected shift in funds has meant sharp drop in grants this fiscal year

science.org

🚨University of Pennsylvania will be re-instating the GRE as a requirement for Psychology PhD admissions for the coming cycle 🚨

APA no longer shows me the actual paper, authors, abstract etc when I click on a paper in a search engine. Everything gated now, including basic paper info. Screenshots: (1) search hit (2) resulting APA site. Tried for a few papers now. What on Earth.

"Prior knowledge biases episodic memory by filling in the gaps in imprecise memories: Simulating aging effects in younger adults" New paper from @michelleramey.bsky.social Read more here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

✨ VERY excited to share our new paper led by Holly Bowen (SMU) & former ugrad Kyle Thurmann "Effects of reward anticipation on memory encoding and cognitive control outcomes: A meta-analysis" finally in press @ Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 💵🧠 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Thread 1/n

Effects of reward anticipation on memory encoding and cognitive control outcomes: A meta-analysis

Extensive evidence suggests that cognitive performance is typically enhanced under increased motivation, often in the form of reward anticipation. Whi…

sciencedirect.com

After noticing another (significant!) drop in data quality this morning, I saw that Prolific is now recommending that participants be paid $48/hr

Sami Yousif@samiyousif.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Recently, (recommended) prices at @joinprolific.bsky.social have doubled. Simultaneously, data quality and collection speed seem to have gone down noticeably (especially speed). Are others having this experience? These changes make the platform significantly less viable for our lab.