With some trepidation, I'm putting this out into the world: gershmanlab.com/textbook.html It's a textbook called Computational Foundations of Cognitive Neuroscience, which I wrote for my class. My hope is that this will be a living document, continuously improved as I get feedback.

Submit your symposium to PuG by 28th February 2026: pug2026.org/submission/ And posters by 31st or March!

Renee was recently remarried to a woman but her prior husband passed away in 2023. ICE just orphaned a 6 year old child. www.startribune.com/she-was-an-a...

Latest papers: Kris Goffin & Alfred Archer argue that the use of AI applications to recognise people’s emotions risks bringing about tow forms of affective harm in this open access paper doi.org/10.1080/0951... #philsky #philpsy

What if we could tell you how well you’ll remember your next visit to your local coffee shop? ☕️ In our new Nature Human Behaviour paper, we show that the 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 can be measured with neuroimaging – and 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸.

Still time to register for Affective Atmospheres — 18–19 Feb at Civic House, Glasgow. A free, in-person conference exploring place and atmosphere. Supported by @triphilosophy.bsky.social and @leverhulme.ac.uk Artwork by Jinjoon Lee 🔗 placememory.net/affective-at...

Each summer, I lead a week-long creative retreat for environmental researchers & academics on Catalina Island. We develop your most ambitious project ideas. It's truly life-changing. Applications for the 2026 Storymakers fellowship are now open! Deadline is Feb 1. dornsife.usc.edu/wrigley/enga...

As 2025 winds down, I've been recollecting ESPP 2025 we organized in Warsaw. All the keynotes and symposia are now up on YouTube for your procrastination pleasure. Plus full symposium sessions and Q&As. Perfect background listening for grading marathons or post-holiday-dinner recovery. 1/2

The @nytimes.com Lost Science series continues. Here's my Q&A with a scientist who was studying how wildfire smoke threatens human health when the EPA decided that her research was no longer a funding priority. Gift link: nyti.ms/4jhpw14

Letter to the FT that stingingly sums up Brexit and the shit creek we now find ourselves in. A terrible idea (naive, prejudiced and uninformed) that has deeply divided us and left us poorer and less secure… but unwilling to face up to the damage we’ve done to ourselves. While the EU moves on.

14 two-year postdocs for academics of any nationality who cannot continue their research due to US politics. Do share if you know of such.

What has my research lab been up to in 2025? Time for a wrap up of our research! This image is a gathering of key figures from our 2025 publications: Links to publications in the replies: #spierslab #research #neuroskyence

Hurrah! Should never have left though. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

I've got a fully-funded PhD studentship open at @birkbeckpsychology.bsky.social, investigating social learning about metacognition & awareness, w/ behavioural studies & neuroimaging (fMRI) - thanks to @leverhulme.ac.uk More details here: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DPV831/p... #cogsci #neuroskyence

This is fucking grim. Somebody invented a white guy, an "IT professional" named Edward Crabtree, who stopped the Bondi shooting and spread it all over the internet, which was picked up by AI agents and slop aggregation sites. The real hero is a fruit stand owner named Ahmed el Ahmed.

Here is a bit of my resignation speech from last night

Killer Whales Find an ‘Unlikely Friend’ in Dolphins Off the coast of British Columbia, dolphins lead killer whales to salmon and earn their share of lunch, a new study reveals. By @alexaroblesgil.bsky.social

I was just starting to look into the connection of olfaction (which I know very little about) and navigation. And these references are incredibly helpful!

The Press and @openmindjournal.bsky.social are pleased to announce a partnership with Lyrasis through the Open Access Community Investment Program (OACIP). Learn how your institution can support this initiative to continue providing the latest #cogsci research—free of charge—here: bit.ly/452nMma

One of this year's recipients of the prestigious Leibniz prize is a philosopher...

Time to stop working for free to springer and elsevier.

The new journal *Experimental Philosophy* is now open for submissions! Very glad to serve as an AE and looking forward to seeing this take off. #philsky

New publication from our team. Dale Leorke reflects on "play as a method," charting what emerges when the possibilities, positionalities, and power dynamics of using play in research intersect with personal experience and scholarly practice. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

The sound of your uncle's laugh; an ice cream cone you had ten years ago. Why do we hold on to memories like these? Are they more than mere mental clutter? Just one of the topics discussed in our latest episode, w/ @aliboyle.bsky.social & @jomahr.bsky.social! Listen: disi.org/what-is-memo...

Why do people endorse seemingly extraordinary beliefs such as in pseudoscience & supernatural entities? Leading approaches stress cognitive biases (like agency detection) & social dynamics (like signaling). Eli Stark-Elster & I argue that experience matters too & put fwd a framework explaining how.

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For my newsletter, I wrote about that college essay scandal that's gone viral and what everyone is seeming to miss: It's about ATTACKING TRANS PEOPLE!!! www.burnsnotice.com/that-viral-e...

Really excited to be organising this one. Such a fantastic group of speakers. I can’t wait to discuss with them about what atmospheres are, how they unfold and why they matter. With @lucyosler.bsky.social @keithallenyork.bsky.social @reaveyp.bsky.social @joelkrueger.com @reaveyp.bsky.social

EEG is certainly fun to set up. Photo of @pfvelasco.bsky.social nearly ready to run for 4 hours of EEG in the pacific ocean. See piece on us in the @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/s...

⛵ Join Prof @hugospiers.bsky.social and PhD student Maria Ahmad as they relive their adventures in the Pacific with local navigators on this BBC Sounds podcast—discover what this epic voyage reveals about the human brain. 🎧 Listen now:

I am very excited to share our new preprint, spearheaded by the brilliant @lunahuestegge.bsky.social, w/ @peterkok.bsky.social and others: ‘An attempt to push mental imagery over the reality threshold using non-invasive brain stimulation’ doi.org/10.31234/osf...

New preprint alert! Cognitive maps are flexible, dynamic, (re)constructed representations #psychscisky #neuroskyence #cognition #philsky 🧪

I was so happy to see this wonderful @nytimes.com article on our Marshall Islands expedition. A really excellent piece by @alexaroblesgil.bsky.social

Save the date: 18–19 Feb 2026, Civic House, Glasgow. Affective Atmospheres — a two-day, in-person conference supported by the @triphilosophy.bsky.social Talks, conversations and creative sessions with researchers and artists. Open to all. Speakers + registration soon. Art: Jinjoon Lee ©2025

LAST CALL: Fourteenth Annual Essay Prize at the Centre for Philosophical Psychology, University of Antwerp Topic: The philosophical implications of aphantasia/hyperphantasia Length: 3000 words. Deadline: December 1, 2025. Prize money: 3,000 Euros.

This is an important and heartfelt letter. Unfortunately there has been a real blindspot among some people on the British and European left. We should oppose imperialism and fascism, wherever they occur. heckle.scot/2025/11/an-o...

A selection from my opening chapter: lithub.com/how-the-huma...

Cruel. Callous. Cowardly. The public are seeing this Labour government for exactly who they are. We all have a responsibility to make them pay at the ballot box. Reject the hate. Reject them. This is not who we are. Let's make hope normal again. Join.greenparty.org.uk

“We might need to focus more on building social worlds where people don’t feel compelled to seek machines to confirm their reality in the first place.” Really interesting article in The Conversation by Lucy Osler

Oxfordshire Friends of the Earth have called for the Army to step into & clean up the massive illegal waste tip near Kidlington, saying that the costs of clear up could not be borne by Cherwell District Council, raising concerns that resourcing via the Environment Agency would lead to other cuts.

Life Sciences PhD studentships available in amazing Glasgow! Deadline Jan 12 General details here: www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/mvl... My project, on cognitive mapping in 3D space in mice and humans, available here: www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/mvl...

Spot on metaphor. Another parallel is the environmental impact of asbestos extraction www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Opinion: Chaos is coming for scholarly publishing. Buckling of commercial models alongside maturing of community-led efforts promises major shifts, says Caroline Edwards (@theblochian.bsky.social). www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...

Are you working on collective trauma and earth systems change? Join us on Nov 13th for a webinar to learn more about the special issue we are co-editing on the topic!

The online journal Philosophy and the Mind Sciences is doing a symposium on my book, Deflating Mental Representation, based on my Jean Nicod lectures. See the Call for Papers here: philosophymindscience.org/index.php/ph... and a précis of the book here: philpapers.org/rec/EGAPOD

I wrote a thing on episodic memory and systems consolidation. I hope you all enjoy it and/or find it interesting. A neural state space for episodic memories www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #neuroskyence #psychscisky #cognition 🧪

Super happy to see this review out! We ask why people are so reluctant to abandon goals and how this commitment could be understood computationally. Work with Jill O'Reilly & @yaelniv.bsky.social

[PhD track in Cognitive Science at Département d'Études Cognitives, ENS-PSL] Applications are now open for the PSL PhD Track 2026–2027 in Cognitive Science! This 5-year integrated program is aimed at talented students eager to tackle the scientific challenges of the future and to start shaping 1/2

The costs of the UK’s Global Talent Visa looks a trifle high in comparison to competitor countries - largely through the Immigration Health Surcharge (which critics say is a form of double taxation as they contribute to the NHS through normal tax on their earnings)

My new book arrived