Marius Mercier
@mariusmercier.bsky.social
PhD student in Computational Cognitive Sciences | ENS-PSL. Currently working on the dynamics of impression formation, reputation management, and how it impacts our behavior. https://mariusmercier.github.io
New paper with @tadegquillien.bsky.social and Azzurra Ruggeri: "Children seek out observations that can reveal a partner's generosity". Out in @humbehevosoc.bsky.social EHB: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🧵
Children seek out observations that can reveal a partner’s generosity
Humans face the adaptive challenge of assessing how much other people value them. Evidence suggests that the human mind is well-equipped for this task…
sciencedirect.com
Just arrived in Rio for #CogSci2026! I will be participating in poster sessions 1 & 4 (P1-C-19, P4-C-13) to talk about Bayesian models of social cognition. Happy to chat and connect :)
Research by @mariusmercier.bsky.social et al suggests people can predict, with broad accuracy, from the (rarity of) conspiracy theories someone endorses/rejects what other conspiracy theories they would endorse/reject, and infer related personality traits: buff.ly/kAkhRl2
New paper accepted as a proceedings of the Cognitive Science Society: "Inferring arithmetic skills from speed and accuracy”! We tested whether people were optimal in their inference of others' math skills. doi.org/10.31234/osf...
Happy to have presented at @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social the work we did with Mia Karabegovic & @hugoreasoning.bsky.social on the moral psychology of intellectual property : moral intuitions about IP are less about protecting ideas, and more about protecting accurate reputation attribution.
Our new paper with @maxtaylordavies.bsky.social introduces a resource-rational model of Theory of Mind. The model can explain many of the successes and failures of mindreading in human adults and children, and non-human primates. 🧵 royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...
Factive mindreading reflects the optimal use of limited cognitive resources
Abstract. The capacity to represent the mental states of other individuals, known as ‘mindreading’ or ‘theory of mind’, is key to successful social predict
royalsocietypublishing.org
Next week, I will be presenting this work and some extensions at #HBES2026 in Rabat, Morocco. Happy to connect!
Marius Mercier@mariusmercier.bsky.social · 4mo agoThrilled to share that our new paper is now out in @cognitionjournal.bsky.social: "Who knows what? Bayesian Competence Inference guides Knowledge Attribution and Information Search," with @oliviermorin.bsky.social , @hugoreasoning.bsky.social & @tadegquillien.bsky.social! Link: tinyurl.com/ykyhxcc6
Substack has proven to be a source of interesting read recently. Imo, it’s a nice alternative to social networks where I find the signal/noise ratio quite low. (This days, I really enjoy reading @paulbloomatyale.bsky.social’s small potatoes.) Any recommendations of good Substack to follow?
Do you ever actually check the GitHub repo of a paper you’re reading? I try to keep my profile up to date and the repos clean and reproducible, but I’m genuinely curious whether anyone looks.
Nice to see a pop science article about our paper on why riddles and whodunits are so satisfying :) www.templeton.org/news/riddles...
Great paper!
Cognition@cognitionjournal.bsky.social · 3mo agoA computational theory of Aha! moments! New paper explaining why Aha! moments occur & why they feel so good. TLDR: They are a form of meta-cognitive prediction errors i.e. they occur when we surprise ourselves about our own abilities! @rachitdubey.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
One of my favorites paper got published 🤓 It covers a lot of ground and it’s the best summary of my views on misinformation and what to do about it. Give it a read :) 🔓 osf.io/preprints/ps... 👉 doi.org/10.1177/1461...
New preprint out today (osf.io/preprints/ps...). We tested whether AI agents are actually infiltrating online surveys. Spoiler alert: they aren't Thread 🧵 [1/9]
OSF
osf.io
Thrilled to share that our new paper is now out in @cognitionjournal.bsky.social: "Who knows what? Bayesian Competence Inference guides Knowledge Attribution and Information Search," with @oliviermorin.bsky.social , @hugoreasoning.bsky.social & @tadegquillien.bsky.social! Link: tinyurl.com/ykyhxcc6
The World Happiness Report 2026 theme is social media and adolescent wellbeing, so I tried to have a read. It feels a mixed bag to me. They gave prominence to the view of Jonathan Haidt and Zach Rausch, which tells about the framing, but there are also clearly more nuanced chapters.
In poverty, do people take more or less risk? Some theories contend that they avoid risk out of caution. Others that they take risks (e.g. crime) out of desperation. In our new paper in BBS, we show that they are the two sides of the same coin: the desperation threshold. Peer commentary call soon!
Explaining the paradoxical effects of poverty on risk taking: The Desperation Threshold Model | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge Core
Explaining the paradoxical effects of poverty on risk taking: The Desperation Threshold Model
cambridge.org
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
🎉 Our paper is out in Communications Psychology: a perspective on behavioural public policies & the psychology of poverty. Core idea: poverty can shift psychology, so the same intervention won’t work the same for everyone. Thread 🧵
Rhea and I have been tracking our @nytimes.com word games (Wordle, Connections and the Mini) for the past two years. I decided to analyze our 4,200 gameplays with #rstats to determine a winner and made some festively embroidered charts with ggplot. Have a read. #dataviz aman.bh/blog/2025/tw...
It takes 225 million years or so for the Solar System to make one orbit around the galaxy. Sharks evolved long enough ago that they’ve done it twice.
Colin Dickey@colindickey.com · 9mo agoMan, everything is so bleak, anyone got a fun fact or little bit of trivia they want to share
🎉 New preprint: Bayesian Competence Inference guides Knowledge Attribution and Information search If someone knows that Venus is the only planet in the Solar System that rotates clockwise, will they also know what Earth’s only natural satellite is? What about which planets have no moons at all?
Nice to see our research featured on the eHRAF Academic Quarterly! I also discovered some interesting papers that I missed :)
Human Relations Area Files at Yale University@hraf755.bsky.social · last yr.If you enjoy riddles, keep reading to find out why “whodunits” captivate us ... 🧵 hraf.yale.edu/hraf-academi...
Help us strengthen trust in climate scientists in the US! Join our megastudy 👇
"Depressed? Anxious? Insecure? Don’t worry about it. As long as you produce good science, you don’t have to be happy about it. We’ll be happy for you." 🙃
Daniel Lakens@lakens.bsky.social · last yr.As I am going over old blog posts, here is a nice blog by @bwroberts.bsky.social on qualities in graduate students that, in his opinion, lead to a successful career in academia. Still very good advice. pigee.wordpress.com/2012/11/08/a...
🎙️ EP #17 Most of us struggle w/ work-life balance. Long before the existence of long commutes and busy calendars, our ancestors lived as hunter-gatherers (HGs). Do HGs have more free time? @adigitaltanay.bsky.social discusses this & much more with Mark Dyble tinyurl.com/y6hd8ur5 (1/2)
EP #17 | The Anthropology of Leisure Time | Mark Dyble
Cognitations · Episode
tinyurl.com
Over the years, a lot of our guests have recommended various books and/or media relating to various aspects of cognitive science. A 🧵 EP #1 | @hugoreasoning.bsky.social recommends
Hi! I'm attending #SBDM2025 conference over the next few days. Come find me at Poster #61 if you're interested in computational models of social cognition! Looking forward to discussing and meeting new people :)
I presented this paper at the Explaining Culture Conference last week, and I couldn't resist creating a new plot specifically for the talk. It's definitely not a good time management strategy to create new plot for each talk, but it's a lot of fun!
Marius Mercier@mariusmercier.bsky.social · last yr."What goes on four feet in the morning, two feet at midday, and three feet in the evening?" This riddle is thousands of years old, but why does it stick with us? In our new paper, we argue that the feeling of insight might explain the lasting success of some cultural products: tinyurl.com/4j756h9a
