Milena Rmus

@milenamr7.bsky.social

an aspiring human doing AI/cogsci research most of the time learning how to tattoo some of the time https://milenaccnlab.github.io/

What influences whether people have fun with a task? Our paper “Leveling up fun: learning progress, expectations and success influence enjoyment in video games” with @thecharleywu.bsky.social and @ericschulz.bsky.social now in Scientific Reports! rdcu.be/eI069 Paper summary below 1/4

Leveling up fun: learning progress, expectations, and success influence enjoyment in video games

Scientific Reports - Leveling up fun: learning progress, expectations, and success influence enjoyment in video games

rdcu.be

🚨 New in Nature Human Behavior! 🚨 Binary climate data visuals amplify perceived impact of climate change. Both graphs in this image reflect equivalent climate change trends over time, yet people consistently perceive climate change as having a greater impact in the right plot than the left. 👇1/n

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The DOGE firings have nothing to do with “efficiency” or “cutting waste.” They’re a direct push to weaken federal agencies perceived as liberal. This was evident from the start, and now the data confirms it: targeted agencies overwhelmingly those seen as more left-leaning. 🧵⬇️

Scatterplot titled “Empirical Evidence of Ideological Targeting in Federal Layoffs: Agencies seen as liberal are significantly more likely to face DOGE layoffs.”
	•	The x-axis represents Perceived Ideological Leaning of federal agencies, ranging from -2 (Most Liberal) to +2 (Most Conservative), based on survey responses from over 1,500 federal executives.
	•	The y-axis shows Agency Size (Number of Staff) on a logarithmic scale from 1,000 to 1,000,000.

Each point represents a federal agency:
	•	Red dots indicate agencies that experienced DOGE layoffs.
	•	Gray dots indicate agencies with no layoffs.

Key Observations:
	•	Liberal-leaning agencies (left side of the plot) are disproportionately represented among red dots, indicating higher layoff rates.
	•	Notable targeted agencies include:
	•	HHS (Health & Human Services)
	•	EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
	•	NIH (National Institutes of Health)
	•	CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
	•	Dept. of Education
	•	USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development)
	•	The National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE), despite its conservative leaning (+1 on the scale), is an exception among targeted agencies.
	•	A notable outlier: the Department of Veterans Affairs (moderately conservative) also faced layoffs despite its size.

Takeaway:

The figure visually demonstrates that DOGE layoffs disproportionately targeted liberal-leaning agencies, supporting claims of ideological bias. The pattern reveals that layoffs were not driven by agency size or budget alone but were strongly associated with perceived ideology.

Source: Richardson, Clinton, & Lewis (2018). Elite Perceptions of Agency Ideology and Workforce Skill. The Journal of Politics, 80(1).
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Hi new followers! 👋 My lab has lots of projects underway studying why *mental behavior* goes off the rails — leading to thinking patterns like rumination and worry 🌀 — and how we can make it more effective. * Sketch of our approach: tinyurl.com/r3tvmbn9 * Lab website: www.translational-lab.com

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The Translational Lab focuses on when and why decision-making goes awry in depression and anxiety disorders and on developing potent and scalable interventions to improve it. We leverage careful expe...

translational-lab.com

I don't use this app to post contemplative things, but... since the application deadlines for graduate school are approaching (some might have already passed?) here are some musings that have been churning in my noggin for years now that I would like to dump somewhere