New job alert 💫 We’re hiring a 3-year postdoc for the NEPTUNE project to study the causal mechanisms of paranoia and social learning. Work with us on experimental psychopharmacology (THC), social cognition, and psychosis 🧑‍🔬 Apply here: lnkd.in/gQqnNvjR](my.corehr.com/pls/kclrecru...) Please RT :)

Curious why we sometimes see minds where there are none? 🧠 Join us to uncover the foundations of attributed agency. Fully funded PhD for next year as part of DRIVE-Health, working with me, Adam Hampshire & @stefansarkadi.bsky.social Deadline: 12/1/26 Reach out for an informal chat!

Reminder that this is happening tomorrow! Looking forward to seeing some of you there :)

I am pleased to announce that @davidschultner.bsky.social will be our next guest as part of the SoCR Lab's Invited Talk Series. Dr. Schultner will present recent work that offers evidence for a parsimonious and mechanistic explanation of human social learning strategies via reward learning!

New from us, led by the fantastic @elisavetpappa.bsky.social: Who Are People with Psychosis Delusional about? A Study of Social Agents in the Phenomenology of Delusions karger.com/psp/article/...

Proudly published with @andreaeyleen.bsky.social: A metatheory of classical and modern connectionism. doi.org/10.1037/rev0... We touch on what has been up with connectionism as a framework for computational modelling — & for everything it seems these days with AI and LLMs — pre-2010 vs post. 1/n

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity. 1/n

Confederate flag in plain sight in affluent Britain…. 2025!

What a fantastic opportunity, consider applying!

This is a complete dereliction of responsibility from all involved. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

This is happening right now!

This is happening in two days! Cannot wait for this talk, please consider joining us

Successful British acculturation is seeing an Adrian Chiles headline and thinking « I see where he’s coming from »

Next week, we have the distinct pleasure of (e-)hosting the fantastic @hayleydorfman.bsky.social at the SoCR Lab's Invited Talk Series. Dr Dorfman will presenting some of her recent work on agency-modulated reinforcement learning 🧵👇

"Assuming that functional specialisation necessarily implies an ‘encapsulated module’ is a widely recognised error even in evolutionary accounts."

What a brilliant group of people to work with! Looking forward to expanding some of the crucial ideas only touched upon here. Feel free to share your thoughts, insights, etc.

📖 Our letter of reply to 'pseudosocial' cognition is now out in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Led by the talented @srazavi.bsky.social + written with @vaughanbell.bsky.social, Peter Dayan, @nicholaraihani.bsky.social, Michael Moutoussis #NeuroPsychSky

🧠 We're hiring a computational postdoc! 3+ years with me & @mitulamehta.bsky.social on @wellcometrust.bsky.social funded social cognition/paranoia research at the IoPPN. Lead & develop computational work, collaborate with experimentalists on psychosis/THC data. DM for details! lnkd.in/eCMy9Jf5

Just a reminder that this is happening tomorrow :) Feel free to reach out to me or better yet @joebarnby.com for a link!

My father, Manès Sperber, told me a story that terribly resonnates today: In 1420, at a time of persecution known as the "Vienna Gesera", Jews were banned from the city. Many were killed. Others were placed on rudderless boats on the Danube River and left starving.

It is such a pleasure to kick off the SoCR Lab 2025-2026 talk series with Dr. Ismail Guennouni. His work with @maartenspeek.bsky.social was an early and significant inspiration. Reach out to @joebarnby.com or comment here for a link. Stay tuned as we will be organising monthly talks :) 🧵

Spelling error aside what is ‘beyond ignites curiosity’ supposed to mean?

Lilit, a trans human rights defender, was detained in Dubai, denied her rights, and humiliated – all during a layover. Emirates won’t investigate. Demand justice and accountability now. Sign and share! ✈️🏳️‍⚧️✊ a.allout.org/s/PyeDM/

Boiling here at home in Cyprus but I put the finishing touches a couple of days ago on this preprint: What Does 'Human-Centred AI' Mean? doi.org/10.48550/arX... Wherein I analyse HCAI & demonstrate through 3 triplets my new tripartite definition of AI (Table 1) that properly centres the human. 1/n

In the context of the Sycamore Gap tree sentencing today, I've written a short opinion piece for @lbc.co.uk on the role of landmarks in shaping place identity and connectedness. Find it here: www.lbc.co.uk/opinion/view... 🧠🌎 @rhulpsychology.bsky.social

If you’re at CPC come hang out with the star of the show @gjcooper.bsky.social

Having severe fomo not being able to attend #cpconf2025 this year but make sure to check out @gjcooper.bsky.social’s poster #50 today on making comp modelling scalable and intuitive to use 🖐️ ! Also say hi and buy phd student @srazavi.bsky.social a beer 🍺 to celebrate his first cpc

We are reading this fascinating book by @ufeest.bsky.social over the next two months for our cogsci/philsci reading group. Let me know if you are interested in joining us online!

What a timely release, will be heavily annotating my digital copy :)

We are looking forward to exploring some of the thoughts touched here in a longer, more substantial piece. Your comments and feedback would be much appreciated!

We are looking forward to exploring some of the thoughts touched here in a longer, more substantial piece. Your comments and feedback would be much appreciated!

A recently proposed «pseudosocial cognition approach» aims at our previous work on the social dimension of paranoia. The shortcomings of their article raise important questions on how we all connect behavioural models to neural data. Our letter of response: osf.io/preprints/ps... summary 🧵👇

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Finishing your PhD or under 2 years out of your PhD? Apply to a Forrest PostDoc Fellowship in sunny Perth 🏖️ Very generous salary (~$108K/~£51K) + additional living expenses, research funding + travel allowance DM me to chat about projects or process 🧠 forrestresearch.org.au/fellowships/

📢 Bühler Talks – Summer 2025 🧠 Jill O’Reilly (Univ. Oxford, UK) 🗣 “The representation, use and updating of priors in the human brain” 🕔 May 28, 5pm Zoom: tu-dresden.zoom-x.de/j/6464455404... @tudresden.bsky.social #BühlerTalks #TUdresden

We're very excited to share the proceedings from our #ToM4AI2025 workshop @realaaai.bsky.social ⭐ 28 works on how cog sci, phil. of mind, and computer science can inform Theory of Mind in AI! arxiv.org/abs/2505.03770 @nitalon.bsky.social l @reuth-mirsky.bsky.social [email protected]

Very proud to be part of this. As a philosopher I relished the challenge to define a familiar but fuzzy untheorised and value-laden concept, then line up an ideal of measurement fit for it. I wish everyone such satisfying interdisciplinary work. Hope we are heard!

Pylyshyn on his debt to Fodor and Newell

Just spotted a fox sunbathing (!!???)

Out this week @cogscisociety.bsky.social! @samhforbes.bsky.social & I ”urge extreme caution in the use of LLMs in classrooms lest we further normalize: pupils losing their privacy, reducing contact between learner and educator, deskilling teachers & polluting the environment” doi.org/10.1111/cogs...

Fascinating reivew, Gestalt psychologists were on to something with the law of Prägnanz

In hindsight the content of the letter could only ever make its signatories sound terminally uncool

Small announcement. Book 2 (which is not yet complete) has a title. THE THINKING ANIMAL: What Other Minds Reveal About Our Own Writing is picking up speed (finally). I’m psyched about it - can’t wait to share more. 📚 🤓 🧠

happy Persian new year~

Spring is right around the corner

Today is the day! Our workshop (sites.google.com/view/theory-...) on Theory of Mind in AI kicks off in Philadelphia, and we are lucky enough to have @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social opening the day with a comprehensive overview of how we (un)successfully measure Theory of Mind @nitalon.bsky.social

Tired but happy to say this is out w @andreaeyleen.bsky.social: Are Neurocognitive Representations 'Small Cakes'? philsci-archive.pitt.edu/24834/ We analyse cog neuro theories showing how vicious regress, e.g. the homunculus fallacy, is (sadly) alive and well — and importantly how to avoid it. 1/

happy to share work from some time ago that just got published :) link.springer.com/article/10.1...