New paper! w/ @cocoscilab.bsky.social🧵Can large language models reason flexibly, or have they learned what reasoning looks like? We introduce a new paradigm to test this question—the riddle riddle—and find that humans and LLMs show opposite patterns of performance. 📜

I wrote a book! It's called WHY WE ASK WHY, and it's about the human drive to explain, combining psychology, philosophy, and stories. It will be released on October 6, but it's currently available for pre-order from Barnes & Noble at 25% off with code PREORDER25.

It's always a treat to read Ted Chiang's thoughts on AI. www.theatlantic.com/philosophy/2...

So excited that I’ll be joining @jesssalerno.bsky.social and Nick Schweitzer as a postdoc at Cornell starting this fall! Stay tuned for work on how people assign causal and moral responsibility in legal contexts!

Congrats,Tom!! 🎉@cocoscilab.bsky.social

A computational theory of Aha! moments! New paper explaining why Aha! moments occur & why they feel so good. TLDR: They are a form of meta-cognitive prediction errors i.e. they occur when we surprise ourselves about our own abilities! @rachitdubey.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Registration deadline tomorrow! Come join our workshop! 😃✨

Are the laws of thought woven from three golden threads? Tom @cocoscilab.bsky.social and I discuss some of the history and themes in logic, probability, and neural nets, in his new book The Laws of Thought. braininspired.co/podcast/233/

Are you attending @cogdevsoc.bsky.social 2026? Come join us for an afternoon pre-conference workshop on motivation in development! We'll bring together developmental, educational, and computational perspectives to ask: Can we build a unified account of motivation across the lifespan? ✨

Are you a grad student who wants to give a talk at Princeton’s psychology department (in-person or on Zoom)? Nominate yourself or someone you know: forms.gle/WN2ybYMuZiW3... Priority given to non-Ivy and URM students. International applicants welcome. Deadline is this Friday (Feb 6)!

This is an amazing book - highly recommend for experts and casual readers alike!

Congrats, Alex!!! 🥳

We are looking to hire a research assistant to help with data collection at our partner museum in Philadelphia! Share with your undergraduates or post-baccs who are looking for more experience in cog dev research! Please see the attached ad for more information: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Congrats, Rachit!! Super well deserved! 🥳

Are you a US-based PhD student WITHOUT summer funding who is interested in adolescent development, trans youth, and/or gender? Reach out to me about applying to join my lab in Summer 2026 for the VIPS program! psych.princeton.edu/diversity/vi...

Honored to contribute a Journal Club piece to @natrevpsychol.nature.com! I explore Robert White's seminal "competence motivation" framework (1959) and why it remains relevant over 60 years later—from why toddlers insist on doing things themselves to designing intrinsically motivated AI. 🤖

My lab at UCLA is hiring 1-2 PhD students this cycle! Join us to work at the intersection of cognitive science and AI applied to pressing societal challenges like climate change. More info about me: rachit-dubey.github.io My lab: ucla-cocopol.github.io Please help repost/spread the word!

One of the most brilliant scientists in CogSci + one of the best institutions to study CogSci. 💫 Apply!!

Excited to present at @CogSci2025 tomorrow at 1pm in Salon 6! Looking forward to presenting alongside incredible cognitive scientists @cvales.bsky.social, @elainewang.bsky.social, and @junyi.bsky.social ✨

Come check out my lab mate Ham Huang’s cool work and cape! 😎

Come say hi! 👋

Congrats, @emiecz.bsky.social !! Super, super cool work! 🍞

Congrats Ham!👏

So exited to work with such a fun bunch this summer! 🙌 Welcome to the lab! 🥳

After a few days to fix some bugs, we will be holding another online Psych-DS tutorial on Wednesday, June 4, 12pm EDT. This is an informal workshop designed to help you convert a dataset to Psych-DS - BYO or find an open dataset at osf.io/mbvk4. Sign up here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

🚨CogSci preprint alert🚨 When you look at reviews, do you like to focus on positive or negative ones? @stepalminteri.bsky.social, @thecharleywu.bsky.social and I set out to investigate how learning rate biases differ between individual and social learning in our new study. osf.io/bcrw9_v2 🧵 below!

Please help: Do you know a baby, less than 12 months old, who can walk? We are trying to complete a project, 7 years in the works. And all we need are 3 infants who are less than a year old and can walk, to do a short online looking-time study. 🆘

Wanted to share a handy little resource with you all (especially those in dev psych) — my lab & I made a "journal submission cheat sheet" that summarizes article types, word limits, & other requirements for the journals we typically submit to. Link below 👇🏼 docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Are you interested in research experience before applying to PhD programs? Or just want to learn more about cognitive science? Consider joining my lab as a lab manager (joint w/the Griffiths Lab). We will begin reviewing applications one week from today: cognition.princeton.edu/news/2025/op...

We often assume that specialized roles improve performance in multi-agent systems, but when does specialization emerge based on a given task and environment? 🧵👇 ⭐️ New preprint w/ Ruaridh Mon-Williams, @neilbramley.bsky.social, Chris Lucas, @natvelali.bsky.social & @cocoscilab.bsky.social

This is so cool!!

The latest paper from my PhD is now out in Nature Human Behavior! rdcu.be/edRwQ

As part of @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social, I wrote an opinion piece for San Antonio Express News on the dangers of cuts to federal science funding for today and tomorrow's scientists: www.expressnews.com/opinion/comm... @cantlonlab.bsky.social @spiantado.bsky.social

📢 The Princeton Social Neuroscience Lab is hiring! 📢 We're seeking a full-time Research Specialist/Lab Manager to study naturalistic conversation, social cognition, and spontaneous thought. More info here: psnlab.princeton.edu/join-us Please apply and share!

Overparenting can hold kids back—but our research shows that framing tasks as learning opportunities helps parents step back and foster kids' independence! ✨ Read more in our latest Psychology Today piece: www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/deve... @julia-a-leonard.bsky.social @mika-asaba.bsky.social

🚨New Preprint Alert!🚨 To what extent can we use language to measure psychological and subjective well-being? 🤔 We tested how well language-based models (i.e., bert-based embeddings) predict subjective & psychological well-being across three studies. Here’s what we found! 🧵👇

Here’s the poster for those who can’t attend

I had a great time and learned so much last year! Highly recommend!

Agreed 100%!

📣 Applications are due this Friday!

I genuinely cannot express how much I've enjoyed working with @natvelali.bsky.social and the @velezcolab.bsky.social !! 😊This is truly a dream job in every aspect!✨ Please feel free to reach out if you have questions about the position or what it's like to work in the lab! RTs appreciated 🙌