—— Open Mind is MIT Press’s Diamond Open Access Cognitive Science journal. We now have our first Impact Factor: 2.9 as of June 2026 Submit your papers to Open Mind direct.mit.edu/opmi

We make flexible choices in new situations by knitting together information from separate relevant memories. But what governs which memories are retrieved and when? In a new preprint, we captured how people build decision variables from different memories by tracking their gaze on a blank screen.

Check out @jonathannicholas.bsky.social 's new preprint measuring eye movements to infer individual memory retrievals during decision making, plus a cool RNN modelof that process. Can't express how excited I am about this new technique!

I am looking for a postdoctoral researcher to join my lab at Sabancı University in Istanbul for a 2-year TÜBİTAK-funded position, with possible extension. Interested candidates can email me with a CV and a brief note about their research interests. More details on gunselilab.com soon.

Excited to share our new paper on how distraction affects memory retrieval. Using a continuous report paradigm, we show that distraction reduces whether memories are accessed but not how precisely they are represented. link.springer.com/article/10.3...

Our new review with Berna Güler (@bernaguler.bsky.social) is out! We ask a basic but under-specified question: What shapes the segmented nature of episodic memories?

Bazen neden duygularımızı kontrol edemiyoruz? Neden bazı çocuklar durmadan soru sorar? Aynı anda hem plan yapıp hem esnek kalmak neden bu kadar zor? Jestlerimiz gerçekten düşünme biçimimizi etkiler mi? Duygularımızı, düşüncelerimizi, tepkilerimizi nasıl yönetiriz? 🧠👇

How does prior knowledge affect the way we experience the world? In our new paper, we show that prior knowledge can both increase and decrease how often experience is segmented into events. link.springer.com/article/10.3...

New preprint on how working memory (WM) supports event segmentation. Using load-sensitive EEG markers, we test whether WM accumulates information within events or instead reactivates prior event information at boundaries. osf.io/preprints/ps...

We recently published a theoretical review about how compositional and generative mechanisms in working memory provide a flexible engine for creative perception and imagery. Pre-print: osf.io/preprints/ps... Paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Is WM a gateway to LTM? In this registered report we find that higher WM load rarely impairs LTM encoding - suggesting WM capacity is not a bottleneck for forming LTM traces. @as-souza.bsky.social @edamizrak.bsky.social @cognition-zurich.bsky.social psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-... [1/3]

New paper out on value-based prioritization in visual WM. We used hDDM to account for speed/accuracy tradeoffs and isolate memory benefits from perceptual/motor benefits. We see perceptual/motor contributions suggesting that prioritization benefits are not purely mnemonic. Link: rdcu.be/eTUIm

Our new preprint is out! Using a continuous-report paradigm, we show that divided attention reliably disrupts long-term memory retrieval by reducing accessibility—not precision. Two experiments + mixture modeling + TCC. Link: osf.io/preprints/ps...

We just published a new paper in Psychonomic Bulletin & Review examining what drives how people segment continuous experience into distinct memory events. The takeaway: contextual stability, not prediction error, is the main driver.🧵https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-025-02723-4

New Preprint with @edamizrak.bsky.social! Performance in immediate memory tasks reflects a flexible mixture of contributions of #workingmemory and LTM. Distraction disrupts WM, while PI impairs retrieval from LTM; when both are in play, performance depends on the relative reliability of each system

Our study using layer fMRI to study the direction of communication between the hippocampus and cortex during perceptual predictions is finally out in Science Advances! Predicted-but-omitted shapes are represented in CA2/3 and correlate specifically with deep layers of PHC, suggesting feedback. 🧠🟦

3 more talks from our lab at #VSS2025: 1) Yaren on how trial ratios between memory and search tasks affect attentional capture 2) Eren (on behalf of Yakup) on how anticipating extra working memory (WM) load influences reliance on long-term memory 3) Şahcan on how action plans shape WM updating

A correction for our #VSS2025 presentations: Berna's poster on the role of working memory in the temporal structuring of episodic memories is tomorrow morning at 8:30 in Pavilion. Here is the corrected list of our posters.

Dear #VSS2025 attendees! Our lab will be presenting 5 posters over the next two days. We’re excited to share our work: Come visit us!

Our revised preprint demonstrates event boundaries are formed by transitions across stable contexts. Moreover, we show that prediction errors do not affect event segmentation as previously suggested. osf.io/preprints/ps...

Undergrads seeking hands-on research experience: Join one of our two cognitive psychology projects! Participate in data collection, attend meetings, interpret results, and engage in discussions. Free accommodation provided; selected students will also receive flight tickets...1/2

We make about 3-4 fast eye movements a second, yet our world appears stable. How is this possible? In a preprint led by @lucakaemmer.bsky.social we test the intriguing idea that anticipatory signals in the fovea may explain visual stability. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Exciting new preprint with former lab member @sahcan.bsky.social and his supervisor, Daniel Schneider. Şahcan's work reveals how action correspondence influences working memory gating, increasing atraction bias toward distractors that share action plans with working memory items.

Yeni kitabımız yayında!😊Dikkatimizi nasıl yönlendiririz, anıları nasıl seçer ve unuturuz, ve sosyal etkileşimlerdeki otomatik davranışlarımız nasıl şekillenir? Amaca yönelik bilişin bu dinamik yönlerini keşfedin. www.nobelyayin.com/bilissel-isl...

AP&P is looking for its next Editor-in-Chief to follow in the footsteps of the great Sarah Shomstein! If you're interested or know someone who might be, check out the details. The deadline for nominations is Feb 15, 2025! www.psychonomic.org/page/2025app...

This evening, Berna Güler (@bernaguler.bsky.social) will present her poster exploring how context transitions—not prediction errors—trigger event segmentation. Come to discuss our findings at the Psychonomic Society Meeting! Poster #4056 | Time: 7:45-9:15 pm

Thanks to the organizers of the 10th International Symposium on Brain and Cognitive Science for a fun meeting. Burhan Bağlar, Sinem Subaşı, and Yaren Kaynar did a wonderful job presenting their work despite being swamped with final projects and presentations. Well done! See our posters below.

New paper alert! 🙌 In our new replication study led by @sjiang.bsky.social, we found no effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on visual working memory! Out in Communications Psychology: www.nature.com/articles/s44... #workingmemory

Dear BrainProducts EEG users. Two of our bundles are unusable due to water leakage inside the black box that cables are connected. Any suggestions to overcome this would be appreciated. Covering the box with stretch film and silica gel or sponge is one option. Elegant, huh?

Our latest paper reveals overlapping neural mechanisms for encoded and updated (internally transformed) spatial working memory representations, traced through alpha-band power topography in EEG. Full paper here: www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

Thrilled to receive the Parlar Foundation Research Incentive Award for our work on the interactions between long-term memory and working memory! Thanks to the Parlar Foundation for the award and to my lab members for their invaluable contributions. instagram.com/p/C2J2sGmA-wZ/

Excited to share our new review paper! Episodic memories comprise segmented units. The role of working memory (WM) in such segmentation is implemented but not sufficiently studied. We explore the potential roles of WM and attention in event segmentation. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New paper alert! Congrats to Yağmur D. Şentürk and Nursima Ünver for constructing a complex design & collecting 65 EEG datasets (each 4 hours)!🎉Our study reveals that switching to a new task rule triggers memory reactivation of previously learned items. authors.elsevier.com/a/1iIjT2VHY8...

Please spread the word! A 24-month postdoc position is available in my lab. A 12-month extension may be possible. Experience in coding and data analysis is needed. Knowledge of memory, attention, or a related topic is preferred. Please get in touch via email if interested! gunselilab.com

Our lab is recruiting a PhD student and postdoc! Check our our website to learn more about what we do: sites.dartmouth.edu/stoermerlab/ Applications for PhD students are due Dec 1st.

Exciting News! Our new review paper explores the impact of divided attention on episodic memory retrieval, a topic with mixed findings. Often, studies discuss the relationship between attention and retrieval as if each is a unitary phenomenon. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Looking to recruit a new PhD student to start Fall 2024. Research topics are working memory and some combination of consolidation, multitasking, and everyday cognition. Methods we use are behavioral, light computational modeling, and pupillometry. If interested contact me at [email protected]

Not all neurons show sustained activity during working memory (WM) storage, which led to the idea of silent working memory. In their recent paper, Thrower et al compare WM decoding using PFC neurons with and without persistent delay activity. journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1...

How deep is the brain? The shallow brain hypothesis www.nature.com/articles/s41... #neuroscience

Event segmentation—continuous experiences divided into distinct memory units. But what fuels this process? Our study compares two theories: prediction error and contextual stability. We found that transitions across stable contexts matter more. osf.io/preprints/ps...

eLife has published a new analysis of itself by an ostensibly independent group. Good for them for doing it and making it public! A few thoughts. elifesciences.org/inside-elife...

How does the brain integrate information about *whether* you remember something and *what* you remember? In parietal cortex, memory success and content signals are independently combined. In high-level visual cortex, these signals interact. #PsychSciSky #neuroskyence

New IPA in Nature Comm Psychology! We will test the role of working memory for performing mental operations on long-term memories. Here is a link to Duygu presenting one of the pilot experiments she ran to make sure we have a design suitable as a registered report: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN5m...

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀? Where does meaning come from? Check this paper and thread by Kevin Mitchell. psyarxiv.com/dfkrv

Is there a benefit of representing semantically congruent information in working memory? Some studies found a congruency benefit and some did not. Lara Todorova & I received a new in-principle acceptance in JEP: LMC to systematically test the factors that differed between these studies. Stay tuned!

When we're awake, we aren't always focused on the outside world Sometimes we enter seconds-long offline states in which we are oriented toward internal thoughts or feelings People who spend longer in these offline states after new learning have better memory later on #neuroskyence #PsychSciSky 🧪