There are not "math people" and "not math people." School math represents a sliver of mathematics as a discipline, and there is a lot more in there that the so called "not math people" could really dig and be good at.

⭐️ Congratulations to the newest class of APS Rising Stars ⭐️ www.psychologicalscience.org/members/awar...

Is mental imagery a single process? Our meta-analysis of 46 fMRI studies suggests not. We find a key divide between object imagery (visualizing an object in rich detail) and spatial imagery (mentally transforming objects). This split mirrors the ventral and dorsal streams of vision

Happy to share this new entry on numerical cognition for the OECS. Thanks to @hbaum.bsky.social and @mcxfrank.bsky.social for making this happen! Apologies if your work isn’t cited! Had to limit cites!!! oecs.mit.edu/pub/rek9756r...

Hello #MCLS2026 !☘️ We are delighted to announce the dates for our upcoming conference in Padua, Italy! 🇮🇹 Thanks to the local organisers at Università di Padova S. Caviola, R. Rugani, M. Ranzini, and others @mcls-official.bsky.social @mclstrainee.bsky.social #neuroskyence #cogsci #edusky #devpsy

🚀 Exciting news: I’m accepting new graduate students in the McGill Faculty of Education Learning Sciences! If you’re passionate about educational technology, games, AI, and learning sciences, this is your chance to join a dynamic and interdisciplinary research program.

Such a pleasure to work with @boldinsights.bsky.social to put this piece together. Always happy to discuss the role of spatial thinking in STEM learning and beyond

Such a pleasure to work with @boldinsights.bsky.social to put this piece together. Always happy to discuss the role of spatial thinking in STEM learning and beyond

“Spatial thinking is a fundamental, yet often neglected, aspect of human cognition.” @zackhawes.bsky.social tells Aisha Schnellmann how central spatial thinking is to STEM learning. #EdChat boldscience.org/the-psycholo...

Children build math skills on a “cognitive bridge” between space & number. But where does it come from? Our new study finds monkeys transfer learning and abstractions across geometry & numerosity, revealing the evolutionary roots of basic math development. 🧪🧠 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

What a fantastic accomplishment -- and what a fantastic story! www.quantamagazine.org/at-17-hannah...

Huge congratulations to the brilliant Nora Newcombe, recipient of the 2025 David E. Rumelhart Prize! 🏅#CogSci2025

🚨New article🚨 in Computers & Education We created and validated a measure of how teachers scaffold game-based learning. Turns out, teachers are great at cheering students on and keeping them on task—but need more support/resources to guide deeper thinking during games. Full study link below.

New personal record of desk rejects 🥳 I am taking a note of journals that take over a month for the desk 📖 It is also a unusual situation where pretty much everything has been already reviewed at eLife on our Neuro paper (click for open reviews), now the sample size is just substantially larger.

📚 At the #JRF annual meeting, our Research Fellows engaged in three days of structured exchange, sharing research, building interdisciplinary connections, and advancing ideas to improve learning outcomes for children worldwide. Meet the fellows 👥 bit.ly/4kQMPij #Education #Research #Fellows

Thrilled to see this registered report published. It's been a long time in the making and a nice little example (we think!) of how language influences mathematical cognition. How might you answer: What's 1/2 of 1/2? vs. What's 1/2 x 1/2? Does 'of' vs. 'x' make a difference? See paper below

Super fun to do! Thanks @theitsinnatepc.bsky.social

Interesting data coming out of a national survey of adults and what they think about math. www.edweek.org/teaching-lea...

Very honoured to be awarded the Developmental Psychology Section Impact and Engagement Award by The British Psychological Society. The award is for my work on the importance of spatial reasoning for mathematics. www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Finally our editorial for the "What makes a good theory?" special issue is out (co-edited with @irisvanrooij.bsky.social, @jcskewes.bsky.social, Sashank Varma, and Todd Wareham). It's an interdisciplinary issue and the contents are transdisciplinary. #philsci #metasci #cogsci #ai #psych 🧪

#TodayinHistory #dataviz #Onthisday #OTD 📊 🎂Nov 30, 1756 Ernest Florens Friedrich Chladni born in Wittenberg, Germany 🇩🇪 1787: Visualization of vibration patterns (by spreading a uniform layer of sand on a disk, and observing displacement when vibration is applied)

"Humans have an incredible ability to think and reason about things they’ve never experienced." Even very young children are capable of sophisticated reasoning and problem-solving, says @romanfeiman.bsky.social. #Reasoning #ProblemSolving boldscience.org/the-cognitiv...

stories.surrey.ac.uk/YoungMindsFo... Spatial reasoning is the ability to understand the spatial properties of objects such as their size and location, and to visualise objects and problems in the mind. Training children to think and work spatially leads to improvement in mathematics.

The Raincloud Quartet (new pre-print) All N = 111, M = 0.04, SD = 0.27. One-sided t-tests vs. 0 yield: t(110) = 1.67, p = .049. Only raincloud plots reveal the qualitative differences, preventing the drawing of inappropriate conclusions. How did we create the quartet? Where are data & code? 🧵👇

The strain on scientific publishing: we set out to characterise the remarkable growth of the scientific literature in the last few years, in spite of declining growth in total scientists. What is going on? direct.mit.edu/qss/article/... A 🧵 1/n #AcademicSky #PhDchat #ScientificPublishing #SciPub

Announcing the launch of the Open Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science: oecs.mit.edu! OECS is a freely-available, growing collection of peer-reviewed articles introducing key topics in cogsci to a broad audience of students and scholars.

🌍 We have just released a NEW global top 100 list of scientist and science communicators on Bluesky. @lassehjorthmadsen.bsky.social and I map out the new emerging community: How are the research fields clustered? All likes, reshares, and love 😍 is appreciated! mikeyoungacademy.dk/bluesky-is-e...

Issue 60, Volume 11 is now out for Developmental Psychology! psycnet.apa.org/PsycARTICLES... Special issue: Revisiting Jerome Kagan and his research legacy: An introduction to a special issue of Developmental Psychology. 1/22

We are in the final phases of preparing a new update of JASP (@jaspstats.bsky.social). I'm creating examples for the completely revamped Meta-Analysis module - check out how stunning forest and funnel plots can be created with only a couple of mouse clicks! #meta-analysis

Looking for developmental cognitive scientists? Look no further. go.bsky.app/MdqXgMy

Updated Spatial & Numerical Cognition pack — still looking for more junior scientists 🔭🧪 go.bsky.app/4CXmSZM

Please Share! 📢 I'm recruiting a PhD student for Fall 2025 at UC Berkeley! I'm particularly interested in students interested in early math learning (kindergarten - 3rd grade), working memory, and inequities in early childhood using quantitative methods. Deadline is Dec 3rd!

See our new resources for educators and policymakers about spatial reasoning and maths ⬇️

Feeling extremely grateful to be awarded a Jacobs Fellowship. Thanks to all my mentors/colleagues/students who helped me along the way. Looking forward to forging new collaborations and continuing to study the role of spatial thinking in learning math jacobsfoundation.org/fellows/jaco...

Happy to share our lab's latest publication. Shout out to Hannah Whitehead for taking the lead on this one. Part of a special issue on Spatial Intelligence and Learning www.mdpi.com/2079-3200/11...

The call for applications for the Jacobs Foundation Research Fellowship Program is now open! 🎉 For more information about the eligibility criteria and how to apply, click here: bit.ly/3t0QB2F