Just wrote a new blogpost trying to summarize my thoughts on the question of how and whether to use AI for research in psychology and cognitive science: babieslearninglanguage.blogspot.com/2026/04/usin...

A 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 take on the cognitive sciences (with Richard Prather)

New ep! 🚨

We chat with Dr. Richard Prather (pratherlab.bsky.social) about his path into cognitive science, numerical development, & computational modeling—plus a deep dive into why the field needs a more 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 approach & what that actually means for researchers today.

itsinnate.fireside.fm/35

Executive functions and spatial/relational reasoning relate to individual differences in fraction understanding Studies have shown the importance of executive functions (EFs) and spatial and relational reasoning for fraction understanding; however, few studies h…

New paper from our lab, led by postdoc @jmedrano.bsky.social, on executive functions, spatial/relational reasoning and prior knowledge relate to children’s fraction understanding. Proud of Josh for leading this work!

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Are you studying underlying mechanisms?

I recently started and struggled with what exactly a mechanism was and how to research it.

I wrote a theoretical statement aiming to clarify how we conceptualise mechanisms, which is now in press @ Journal of Numerical Cognition

doi.org/10.23668/psy...

Thrilled for @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social undergrad Kiara Eng who is presenting at the 2026 @yale.edu Undergraduate Research Conference (YURC). Title is: "A Meta-Analysis of the Correlations Between Executive Functions and Spatial Abilities: Implications for Theory, Research, and Practice."

Congrats to Kiara! 🥳

@berkeleyeducation.bsky.social

Honored to be included in this list! Our study (with @damcotto.bsky.social) examined how students ("capable problem solvers") may benefit from using scratch paper because they are able to offload information from their working memory and reintegrate it later.

People sitting around a long rectangular table smiling toward the camera.

Closed out another great year with the lab 🥳 Lab lunch 🍜 Grateful that I get to work with many brilliant minds everyday @berkeleyeducation.bsky.social

The @umdleadlab.bsky.social and the world lost a bright star this week. Victoria was such a kind, dedicated, and passionate person. She was one of my first students, helping me set up my lab from scratch, and I am honored to have worked with her. There aren't words for how much we will miss her. ❤️

A sunset photo of Padua, Italy, depicting a panoramic view of the city reflected in the Bacchiglione River. In addition, the image includes dates, logos and conference location for 2026.

Hello #MCLS2026 !☘️

We are delighted to announce the dates for our upcoming conference in Padua, Italy! 🇮🇹

Thanks to the local organisers at Università di Padova
S. Caviola, R. Rugani, M. Ranzini, and others
@mcls-official.bsky.social
@mclstrainee.bsky.social
#neuroskyence #cogsci #edusky #devpsy

article cover including publisher, DOI: 10.1007/s00426-025-02179-0, authors and title

Delighted to share the first article of Dr Sophie Leonard's doctoral thesis. We thank reviewers & editors of this exciting special issue for their great support! ☘️

#ProudSupervisor

#neuroskyence #devpsych #cogsci #edusky
@mclstrainee.bsky.social
@mcls-official.bsky.social
@ioe.bsky.social

🚨 New publication! Our registered report in Journal of Educational Psychology examines whether common executive function (EF) tasks demonstrated measurement invariance across racial/ethnic groups. Spoiler: they don’t. ⚠️
doi.org/10.1037/edu0...

Two people sitting at a table in front of a large projector with the title “Grad School: Demystifying The App Process”

Today’s lab meeting was led by @berkeleyeducation.bsky.social grad students Jetta McPhee and Elise Levin-Guracar who offered to host a session for our undergraduates applying to grad programs this year (and beyond!).

Thanks, Flavia!

Examining Subgroup Differences in School Readiness and Math Achievement in Asian American Children Through the Opportunity-Propensity Model Research Findings: The opportunity-propensity model of achievement was used to examine the ways in which demographic characteristics, child characteristics, and characteristics of home and learning...

Implications (also in the abstract) include further data reporting and disaggregation. We conclude that some subgroups might not benefit from one-size-fits-all policies.

In collaboration with @damcotto.bsky.social, this work is now out in Early Education and Development. doi.org/10.1080/1040...

For example, for Vietnamese children, Fall math scores mediated primary home language (English and another language), and for Other Southeast Asian children, parent reading, EFs, and bedtime routines were significant mediators.

In the overall group, we found that propensity variables (eg executive functions, working memory) mediated much of the antecednet variables (SES, immigration status, parental expectations, number of close grandparents and siblings). But these were not present in all subgroups.

In a new pub, we examined subgroup differences in Asian American children, particularly 1) the diversity of math achievement and 2) what factors predict this diversity. Ultimately, we wanted to see whether the factors predicting math achievement is the same across subgroups.

doi.org/10.1080/1040...

In a second, we form expectations about the likely traits and behaviors of people we meet. How does this ability develop? How do others’ perceived gender factor into it?

I’m thrilled to share a new paper now in press at Cognition with @andreicimpian.bsky.social and‪ @lucaspbutler.bsky.social.
1/6

Opinion | Don’t let Dr. Oz shame you into avoiding carrot cake The U.S. has a long history of judging food choices, especially those of the poor.

Protest of Dr. Oz never tasted so good...

"So, shame on Dr. Oz for suggesting that Medicaid & Medicare recipients shld avoid even the most meager of indulgences. Bc we all deserve to have our cake and eat it, too."

Sociology Medsky 🛟😷 health policy

Looking for another postdoc to work on preschool longitudinal fNIRS and ERP data-details here: publish.illinois.edu/danielchyde/...

✨New publication✨

The Role of Math Games for Children’s Early Math Learning: A Systematic Review

doi.org/10.5964/jnc....

with @gbramani.bsky.social

Postdoc position open in our #workingmemory lab! See here for more info: www.unige.ch/fapse/womcog...

Thanks Jason!

✨New publication✨ #MathActivities on #SocialMedia: Examining content, design, and alignment with mathematical cognition research

doi.org/10.1016/j.ec...

with Juyun Lee and Eric Dearing @ericdearing.bsky.social

Will it Sink or Float? No Gender Differences in Five- to Seven-Year-Old Children’s Persistence on a Science Task Recent studies suggest that girls as young as 4 years of age in the US are affected by negative gender-science stereotypes and persist less than boys on science tasks. However to date, no studies h...

📣📣 A recent paper by Nicole J. Stucke & Sabine Doebel in JCD:

Will it Sink or Float? No Gender Differences in Five- to Seven-Year-Old Children’s Persistence on a Science Task

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Does Focusing on the Unit of Change Help Children Learn Growing Pattern Skills? Children regularly encounter growing and decreasing patterns in songs, games, and daily routines. Over development, children learn to extend and abstract (i.e., recreate the pattern using different...

📣📣 A recent paper by Nicholas A. Vest and colleagues:

Does Focusing on the Unit of Change Help Children Learn Growing Pattern Skills? www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

@nicholasvest.bsky.social
@marthaalibali.bsky.social

🚨Attention Job Seekers: We're hiring a quantitative researcher for a 1-year (possibly renewable for 2nd yr) position to study Career & Technical education! While not technically a postdoc, this would be a great fit for a recent PhD graduate! 🧵 careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...

You may think summer is just starting but I promise you Fall is coming at us like a freight train. Do you need to teach neurosci to undergrads then? Check out this free book, funded by #NSF.

Help level the playing field by keeping your course resources free to students.