New paper for the Theory of Mind for AI workshop at AAAI Conference for Artificial Intelligence I propose that ToM mechanisms are used not only for social cognition, but also for calibrating the dimensionality of motor exploration in cumulatively cultural skill acquisition arxiv.org/abs/2601.01599

My new lab in Singapore is seeking a full-time RA to help investigate how exploratory cognitive states shape environmental representations (cognitive maps). The position is funded until late 2027, and comes with a postdoc-level salary package. Please forward! careers.sutd.edu.sg/job/Singapor...

A Voyage Into the Art of Finding One’s Way at Sea www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/s...

I’m recruiting PhD students at NYU (start Sept 2026). Focus: cultural evolution, innovation & cooperation, AI & society, progress studies & development. Deadline to apply is Dec 1- very soon. I’ll share more about the move & new work soon. Please share with students & retweet!

Today is #alife2025 day 1! Workshops under way... We have our own workshop tmw on Cultural Evolution of Planet X, 13.30-16.30, room 4F. Exciting keynotes from James Borg and @uchiyama.bsky.social. Join us!

Next Tuesday: giving a keynote talk for the "Cultural Evolution of Planet X" workshop at the International Conference for Artificial Life, Kyoto @alife2025.bsky.social Talk title, "Developmental complexity in cultural environments"; workshop is 13:30–16:30 Oct 7. If you're at ALIFE, please drop by!

Looking forward to my conversation with the Asian Cultural Evolution Seminar on zoom 29 July 🌏

🏰 PhD position on computational modelling | collective dynamics | cultural evolution 🏰 Get in touch with any questions you might have and join me in beautiful Marburg! stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de/jobposting/c... (Deutsch) stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de/jobposting/3... (English)

3) 2.5 yr postdoctoral position in Palaeolithic gene-culture coevolution. Together with a palaeogenomics postdoc, we seek to generate material culture data such that we can capture these ancient gene-culture cophylogenetic dynamics international.au.dk/about/profil...

Super stoked to announce that the preprint for my first PhD project is out! 🥳 In everyday life, we often rely on other people's opinions, despite them not sharing our exact preferences. But how do we do this adaptively? Find out in this 🧵 (1/7) or here: osf.io/e4g3q

🇺🇳 the UN just dropped their first report on AI governance. Discussion of governance as an enabler rather than hindrance — parallels with programs for vaccine equity (GAVI) and scientific coordination (CERN, EMBL). Regarding risks, they seem aware of vast unknown unknowns www.un.org/en/ai-adviso...

Group leader position in comp-psych / cross-cult-psych at MPI EVA in Leipzig (Haun group). 6 years (+2). Deadline January 31st. Details here: www.eva.mpg.de/career/posit...

This is so cool: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Bacteria store a memory of swarming proficiency (measured as the time lag to start swarming on suitable media) in the form of intracellular iron levels. This memory can be passed down for 4 generations!

indirect effects of collective action in journal-land

Curriculum learning with infant egocentric video: really nice paper showing that young infants’ visual experience provides better learning input for computer vision models. openreview.net/pdf?id=zkfyO...

New TICS paper by Baumard et al— a masterful, panoramic theory of how to infer historical psychologies using cultural products as data 📚💀 Cognitive fossils: using cultural artifacts to reconstruct psychological changes throughout history www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

High replicability of newly discovered social-behavioural findings is achievable www.nature.com/articles/s41...

"I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain." — James Baldwin

Lab excursion today with Human and Machine Cognition Lab @thecharleywu.bsky.social - peak autumn foliage, comfortable weather, great company

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is hiring a section chief for the psych/”behavioral” section and I'd love to see some CogSci representation in there! My brother works there (trained as an economist) and it's an incredible gig doing research in the public interest.