We're seeking the next Director of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics! Lead cutting-edge research in language & cognition. Nominations (incl. self) due 19 Dec 2025. mpi.nl/career-education/vacancies/vacancy/nominations-and-self-nominations-sought-position-director-max

Done! Daria successfully defended her PhD thesis! And that in front of an incredible jury who are the absolute top on this topic: @annaborghi.bsky.social , @pennypexman.bsky.social , @gabriellavigliocco.bsky.social So proud of her! bravo of course also to Jo Ziegler and Núria Gala!

This morning, we connected over breakfast with Western Research staff, followed by updates from @pennypexman.bsky.social and a panel on AI in Research with Joanna Redden, Lyle Muller and @cribravo.bsky.social, moderated by @jamesshelley.com. Thanks, everyone, for a great start to the school year!

#WesternU’s new Pathogen Research Centre will position #LdnOnt as a national leader in virus transmission research and the development of vaccines and treatments for a range of diseases. @schulichmeddent.bsky.social

Call for Papers for a new Special Issue of Cortex on Concept Knowledge The editors, Penny Pexman, Richard Binney, Veronica Diveica, and Emiko Muraki welcome original empirical research articles, as well as reviews and perspectives. The last date for submissions will be March 10th 2026.

How does the sound of names bias hiring decisions? From @westernu.ca Vice-President (Research) @pennypexman.bsky.social and her @carleton.ca colleague, @davidmsidhu.bsky.social in @ca.theconversation.com: theconversation.com/whats-in-a-n...

Really looking forward to #AMLAP2025 in Prague this week. Big Data morning with @aggieerin.bsky.social and Emmanuel Keuleers looks 🔥 Full program here: amlap2025.ff.cuni.cz/program/

What’s in a name? How the sound of names can bias hiring decisions

We are proud to share that @westernu.ca continues its collaboration with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) through the Academic Partnership Program. (1/2) #CNL #AECL #Nuclear #Innovation #Research

✨️Excited to share my first paper is out in Behavior Research Methods with @rjbinney.bsky.social and @pennypexman.bsky.social! We quantified the association of a word's meaning with reward, showing that it is a dimension relevant to semantic processing. 📄🔗Link: rdcu.be/eyqvn

🧠 Just out with @pennypexman.bsky.social “Simulation in the ‘Blind’ Mind”. We found that even without conscious imagery (aphantasia), people still simulate sensorimotor info when processing language. 💭🔤

Registration for the second Symposium on Individual Differences in Cognition (SIDIC), scheduled for the Thursday of the next Psychonomics Annual Meeting (in Denver) is now open. Please register as soon as possible to help us plan. Abstracts due August 1. caliberlab.wixsite.com/sidic2025/re...

So privileged to have been your supervisor @emij.bsky.social. You are a star. 🌟

🚨 New preprint! With @lehtorituomo.bsky.social, Matti Laine, & @pennypexman.bsky.social 🔍 We analyzed data from two eye-tracking studies to explore individual differences in how #children process and comprehend written #irony. We showed that empathy and working memory mattered — gender didn't.

🚨📄 New paper! Abstract words are hard to acquire: Does social relevance help? We tested if social experience helps children learn words—analyzing >4,000 words by socialness, valence, and concreteness. 👬 More social words were learned earlier 💭 Socialness particularly helped abstract words, but…

Excited to announce a call for papers for a new virtual special issue in Cortex on Concept Knowledge. Our opening editorial, plus further information and guidance for authors can be found here: www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...

Come to Prague in September!

🚨 New paper out in Human Brain Mapping! 🚨 with @pennypexman.bsky.social and @rjbinney.bsky.social 🧠 We show that the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) semantic hub supports abstract verb processing—with distinct activity patterns for: • Emotional verbs • Mental verbs • Non-embodied verbs

🚨New paper alert!🚨 Name sound symbolism, personality, and job ads! We found that the sounds in a name affected which candidate participants chose as the best fit for a job ad. With @pennypexman.bsky.social, Josh Bourdage and Tim Wingate. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🧵 Thread below!

New content: Muraki, E. J., Born, S., & Pexman, P. M. (2025). Grasping Variance in Word Norms: Individual Differences in Motor Imagery and Semantic Ratings. Journal of Cognition, 8(1): 12, pp. 1–10. DOI: doi.org/10.5334/joc.... #psychscisky

📢 Big news! Our 2025 Annual Meeting will be a collab with @wicseurope.bsky.social, during the Joint @exppsychsoc.bsky.social/CSBBCS Conference in Dundee, Scotland on ⭐July 8⭐, and will feature a panel on international collaboration. Questions for the panel? Share here: forms.gle/DTYpGh27etgq...

We are excited to launch a new program for postdoctoral scholars at #WesternU - the Western Research Scholar Awards, which provide an additional $30K over two years to postdoctoral scholars who have secured a position through a Tri-Agency fellowship program. Learn more: uwo.ca/research/fun...

ICYMI: The Western Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is accepting applications for the 2025 cohort! This fellowship offers a competitive stipend package over two years - learn more about the program on our website: uwo.ca/research/fun...

We’re really looking forward to celebrating #WesternU researchers, scholars and artists at our annual awards celebration tonight. Congratulations to all of this year’s recipients!

Know someone who is a fantastic mentor to 🇨🇦 women in cognitive science? Nominate them for the @wicscanada.bsky.social 2025 Mentorship Award: wicsc.ca/wp-content/u...

Are you a 🇨🇦 ECR (graduate student, postdoc) in Cognitive Science looking for a small grant to support a new collaborative research project? Apply for the @wicscanada.bsky.social Small Grant for Jr Scientists: wicsc.ca/wp-content/u...

More good news for #postdoctoral researchers @westernu.bsky.social: The Western Research Scholar Awards provide $30,000 over 2 years to postdocs who have secured an externally funded fellowship (e.g., a fellowship from NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR) to work with a Western researcher. uwo.ca/research/fun...

Delighted to announce that the Western University Postdoctoral Fellowships Program is open for 2025 applications. The 2-year Fellowships now include annual stipends of $70,000 plus benefits, plus a $5,000 research allowance. We expect to make up to 19 awards. Details: uwo.ca/research/fun...

🚨 NEW PAPER 🚨
We show that concrete (e.g., FLAG) and abstract (e.g., DEMOCRACY) concepts differ not just in the info they contain (e.g., sensorimotor, affective, social, linguistic) but in how these conceptual dimensions interrelate. 🔗 Link: rdcu.be/eb53b

Gains made, but still underrepresented: Women in Canadian universities from 1970 to 2022 universityaffairs.ca/features/wom...

For kids, irony is hard. But training helps. @holkoniemi.bsky.social lead this work and showed that a quick classroom session can be effective. #OA here: doi.org/10.1017/S030...

An absolutely scorching OpEd by Harold Varmus, Nobel laureate, on Trump's destruction of the vaunted US scientific & biomedical enterprise & on Trump's kooky picks to lead the US health & science agencies Gift link to share far & wide www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/o...

Today we celebrate the 10th anniversary of @unesco.org's International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and I wanted to share some important facts about how far we've come and how far we need to go. 🧵(1/7) #WomenInScience

Are you a 2024 or 2025 CSBBCS member? If so, check your member-affiliated inbox for a ballot to renew WiCSC+ for another 5 years. See our activities at wicsc.ca; follow us at @wicscanada.bsky.social, & check out our European colleagues at @wicseurope.bsky.social.. #cognition

In the face of #AI, "Scientists need to become high-level drivers of connection, collaboration and strategy" -- Op-Ed from my @westernu.bsky.social colleague Mark Daley and #NSERC Pres. Alejandro Adem in today's @thestar.com www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

So I just read this yesterday. Wonderful study that robustly explores the relationship between what language kids hear and what they learn. My take homes 1/

Today is @unesconow.bsky.social International Day of Education, which celebrates the role of education for peace and development and reminds us that Education is a human right, a public good and a public responsibility. #EducationDay 🧵 (1/6)

We “grasp” word meanings: Evidence that individual differences in motor imagery are related to judgments of word meaning, in this new paper lead by Emiko Muraki:

Looking forward to being part of this...

🚨 Preprint Friday! 🚨Pleased to share this novel and exciting work led by Irina Giurgea in collaboration with Penny Pexman. "An unprecedented, large-scale word ratings study of associations with motivation." Mini -🧵 below... Link to Preprint:

Eleanor Maguire, who died 4 January at age 54, pioneered the famous London taxi-driver study and naturalistic approaches for studying spatial and episodic memory in people. By @callimcflurry.bsky.social www.thetransmitter.org/memory/remem...

Want to learn more about the new, narrative-style tri-agency CV? Join our webinar on January 21 from 1 – 2 p.m., where we will guide you through the process of writing a compelling narrative CV that highlights your research achievements, skills, and impact: westernuniversity.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Starting off 2025 with a family spin class. Happy New Year! 🥳🎉🕺

It's been a great year for research, scholarship and creative activity at Western. We are excited to share our inaugural Western Research Annual Report, which highlights some of the ways our researchers, scholars and artists are having impact on our world: uwo.ca/research/ann...

2024 has been a remarkable year for research @westernu.bsky.social, and I'm pleased to share those achievements in my first Western Research Annual Report. Proud of our research community, and the momentum we are building: www.uwo.ca/research/ann...

I made a starter pack of Iconicity Researchers! Please message me if you’d like to be added, or have suggestions for anyone else who should be added! go.bsky.app/C2F5iKC

Are you a #Canadian #cognitive scientist who is looking for resources to promote #equity in our discipline? Check out the resource page at the Women in Cognitive Science Canada+ website (wicsc.ca/resources/), and follow us here (@wicscanada.bsky.social)

The Times and Sunday Times science books of the year list is out! @thetimes.com Featuring: @richarddawkins.bsky.social @sophieyeo.bsky.social Lisa Kaltenagger @charan-neuro.bsky.social Rahul Jandial Matt Parker Venki Ramakrishnan Rob Jackson www.thetimes.com/culture/book...

Want to review for #CogSci2025? Click this thing. @cogscisociety.bsky.social docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

New preprint with @holkoniemi.bsky.social, on why verbal irony is challenging for children, and what we can learn from the fact that training helps: