🚨New dataset just dropped🚨 Introducing Places in the Wild: 67,000 RAW-format photographs (45 mpix) densely sampled from 810 places (260 basic-level categories). This is 11x the number of pixels in ImageNet! Preprint is here: arxiv.org/abs/2606.02481 1/

How would you categorise these images? What features would you use? Preprint just went live looking at how we make sense of things we’ve never seen before (i.e., drawings just like these!). If that sounds interesting, read on or check out the preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/

📢 Rare academic 💎 alert 📢 We’re hiring a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer (Level B/C) in Psychology & Cognitive Neuroscience @ Swinburne (Melbourne). Teach a brand‑new degree + access MRI, MEG, EEG & TMS/tDCS. ⏰ Apply by 17 May 2026, 11 pm 🔗 swinjobs.nga.net.au/cp/index.cfm... Reach out for more info.

My first foray into explicitly trying to bridge Marr’s levels, with @bealebrains.bsky.social. Inspired by Hahn and Wei’s models (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38360947/), we wondered how the brain could instantiate sensory inference with efficient /decoding/ properties. 1/

Had the privilege of being Will's first PhD student and can confirm the 3.5 years of supervisor training I put him through were highly successful. Couldn’t recommend this opportunity enough

10 PhD positions at JLU Giessen in the new Research Training Group "PIMON"! We will explore how humans perceive and interact with materials and objects in natural environments. More information on the project, the PIs, and how to apply here: www.uni-giessen.de/de/ueber-uns... Please share!

Why do children struggle to recognise objects in cluttered scenes more than adults? Our new paper looks at the development of visual acuity and crowding across childhood, and the way the visual system fine tunes our ability to see detail: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

**Postdoc position in human category learning** @thecharleywu.bsky.social, Frank Jäkel and I are seeking a postdoctoral fellow to lead a joint project on human category learning at the Centre for Cognitive Science @tuda.bsky.social. www.career.tu-darmstadt.de/tu-darmstadt...

Wow, hello Bluesky! We're the Brisbane Experimental Psychology Student Initiative (BEPSI) We host monthly meetings with fresh research (cog, dev, comp, clin, neuro, forensic, psychophys) followed by wholesome networking (summer lawn bowls, so good) 1st meeting Weds 27th Feb 4pm - more soon! 🧠🤗

📢 Workshop announcement. We are super excited to announce the workshop Perceptual Inferences, from philosophy to neuroscience, organized by Alexander Schütz and Daniel Kaiser. 📍 Rauischholzhausen Castle, near Marburg, Germany 🗓️ June 8 to 10, 2026. 1/4

Check out our latest preprint: In naturalistic (virtual) scenes, we tested how spatial (proximity to anchor) and cognitive (scene semantics) factors influence allocentric representations of local target objects in a memory-guided placement task: 👇 osf.io/preprints/ps...

Super happy to announce that our Research Training Group "PIMON" is funded by the @dfg.de ! Starting in October, we will have exciting opportunities for PhD students that want to explore object and material perception & interaction in Gießen @jlugiessen.bsky.social ! Just look at this amazing team!

Please repost! I am looking for a PhD candidate in the area of Computational Cognitive Neuroscience to start in early 2026. The position is funded as part of the Excellence Cluster "The Adaptive Mind" at @jlugiessen.bsky.social. Please apply here until Nov 25: www.uni-giessen.de/de/ueber-uns...

From line drawings to scene perception — our new review argues for moving beyond experimenter-driven manipulations toward participant-driven approaches to reveal what’s in our internal models of the visual world. 👁️✍️🛋 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

The final bit of work from my PhD just got published at JOV! We looked at similarity judgements made for naturalistic image patches, and whether these are predicted by simple image statistics… (spoiler: yep!) Link to paper: doi.org/10.1167/jov.... 1/11

Just published some work at Scientific Reports! We investigated visual adaptation following free viewing of a film (Casablanca) that had its oriented contrast altered. To our surprise, we found adaptation effects to be pretty negligible… www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/10

That's a wrap on ECVP in Mainz - massive thank you to the organisers and helpers who put on such a great conference. Looking forward to Bournemouth! #ecvp2025 @ecvp.bsky.social

We just released a paper on using AI to autonomously conduct scientific research, from idea conception and (human) data collection to manuscript generation. We offer 3 example studies in cog psych. I think it indicates the current capacity of AI in autonomous research. www.arxiv.org/abs/2508.13421

The Flemingos are back in action for ECVP this week in Mainz with talks, posters, and even a keynote from our fearless leader. We're all very much looking forward to this year's program! 🦩 #ecvp2025 @ecvp.bsky.social

On the left is a rabbit. On the right is an elephant. But guess what: They’re the *same image*, rotated 90°! In @currentbiology.bsky.social, @chazfirestone.bsky.social & I show how these images—known as “visual anagrams”—can help solve a longstanding problem in cognitive science. bit.ly/45BVnCZ

🚨Pre-print of some cool data from my PhD days! doi.org/10.1101/2025... ☝️Did you know that visual surprise is (probably) a domain-general signal and/or operates at the object-level? ✌️Did you also know that the timing of this response depends on the specific attribute that violates an expectation?

Delighted to share our latest paper in Communications Psychology on face pareidolia. doi.org/10.1038/s442...

Folks at #CCN2025, drop by my poster tomorrow to hear about the fun task I have been developing with Roland Fleming, to gauge internal models of diverse physical objects in a controlled way! There will be a demo as well 🕹️ Tuesday, August 12, 1:30 – 4:30 pm, de Brug & E‑Hall

Huge thanks to the organisers of the joint APCV/EPC conference last week - was wonderful getting the opportunity to catch up on all the awesome work going on closer to home @expsyanz.bsky.social #EPC2025

Stoked to be back in Aus! Down in Sydney this week for the joint meeting of APCV and EPC. @expsyanz.bsky.social I'll be presenting my talk on Thursday at 3:30pm in stream 2 (Recognising objects and people): The key features underlying superordinate object classifications 😎

My dudes: we found a way around peer reviewers complaining about whether our model is truly optimal or not.

The Flemingos had a glorious time presenting at VSS, and are grateful to those who came along to chat with us about our work and fanny packs 🦩 #VSS2025 @vssmtg.bsky.social @gialdegheri.bsky.social

People at @vssmtg.bsky.social, drop by my poster today at 3 pm, to hear about a fun little game we created to study how we interact with diverse physical objects (you can play it as well 🕹️)

We're excited to have almost the whole flamboyance of Flemingos at VSS this week - come along and say hi! Our presentation times are in the attached pic 🦩👀 #VSS2025 @vssmtg.bsky.social @gialdegheri.bsky.social

I'm old enough to remember when apa was apologizing for it's racism bc that was just 4 years ago... www.apa.org/about/apa/ad....

Here’s a report by John Ross in @timeshighered.bsky.social on ARC Board’s proposal to change grant schemes ▶️ www.timeshighereducation.com/news/arc-gra... [Free login required] Both @scienceau.bsky.social's & I am worried about opportunities & unintended consequences for early-career researchers👇

⚠️New paper! If you like multisensory temporal perception, this one has HEAPS for you. We looked at simultaneity perception, simple RTs, race model inequality, serial dependence (recalibration), modality shift costs, musicians, and more! Findings summarised below 1/10 psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...

People talk a lot about objects, but what about the softness of a cushion, the greenness of an emerald, or the viscosity of oil? In our work just published @pnas.org, we shed light on how we make sense of the hundreds of materials around us. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Thrilled to share our new findings on material timing, combining my interests in affective touch, material perception, and timing! Our temporal bisection experiment shows that pleasant materials extend perceived duration compared to neutral ones. ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/109...

New paper just dropped 😎

New paper up for a project I am super proud to have been part of - spearheaded by the absolute force that is Rebecca West (not on Bluesky), in collaboration with @willjharrison.bsky.social and Dave Sewell

I’m looking for a postdoc to join my lab at the University of Sydney for a project investigating how perception changes during walking (VR, psychophysics, EEG, AI). Full time, 3 years fixed-term position; full details here: usyd.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/USYD_EXTERNA... Please repost 🥹

My dear friends Guido and Sara have experienced a new shock recently: Sara's brain cancer has returned for the second time. Her traditional treatment options are limited, but they want to try experimental treatments not covered by insurance. Please consider donating what you can. gofund.me/05154011