Is core knowledge actually core *perception*? In a forthcoming piece in BBS, @shariliu.bsky.social, Lisa Feigenson, & I comment on @daweibai.bsky.social et al.’s target article. osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/vnbep
Posts by Shari Liu
So excited about this preprint: Bottom-up and generative computations uniquely explain neural responses across the social brain
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
An amazing colab led by @manasimalik.bsky.social with Minjae Kim, @tianminshu.bsky.social and @shariliu.bsky.social
Manasi's thread 👇
YAY!!!!!!!!! Congratulations friend🌻
a red building on UPENN's campus photographed during the fall
the Philadelphia skyline, with clear skies and autumn trees
starting fall 2026 i'll be an assistant professor at @upenn.edu 🥳
my lab will develop scalable models/theories of human behavior, focused on memory and perception
currently recruiting PhD students in psychology, neuroscience, & computer science!
reach out if you're interested 😊
🚨🚨🚨
Our 52nd Annual Meeting will be held from June 18–20, 2026 at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, with a pre-conference on Mental Control and Agency held at JHU on June 17
🚨🚨🚨
We are currently inviting submissions of papers (talks and posters)!
By age 4, children understand lexical causatives to refer to direct causes and periphrastic causatives to indirect causes in causal chains. Understanding causation by absence develops later in older children. @tobigerstenberg.bsky.social
Well this is exciting!
The Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins University (@jhu.edu) invites applications for a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member in Cognitive Psychology, in any area and at any rank!
Application + more info: apply.interfolio.com/178146
Skyline of Madison, WI
🚨I am looking for a POSTDOC, LAB MANAGER/TECH and GRAD STUDENTS to join my new lab in beautiful Madison, WI.
We study how our brains perceive and represent the physical world around us using behavioral, computational, and neuroimaging methods.
paulunlab.psych.wisc.edu
#VisionScience #NeuroSkyence
My lab at USC is recruiting!
1) research coordinator: perfect for a recent graduate looking for research experience before applying to PhD programs: usccareers.usc.edu REQ20167829
2) PhD students: see FAQs on lab website dornsife.usc.edu/hklab/faq/
Thrilled that this work is (finally) out! We argue that the human brain contains parallel systems for understanding people and places.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... 1/
PDF: trebuchet.public.springernature.app/get_content/...
Lastly, this paper took a while to get out, and is substantially clearer and better as a result. Thanks to the reviewers, mentors and colleagues who engaged with us. Thanks to @jennrichler.bsky.social for your editorial contributions.
This paper also got us thinking about the nature and interrelations of other cognitive domains, which led to this fun workshop: sites.google.com/view/cogsci2...
First, our minds and brains represent the bodies of agents as objects, and their actions as physical events. Second, using someone's actions to work out their mental states often requires accounting for their physical constraints (what someone is in a position to do or know; the cost of doing X).
Thinking about the mind & thinking about the physical world engage distinct cognitive and neural resources. Even babies have different expectations for agents and objects! Yet, we argue that these two systems interact in at least two ways...
New perspective paper (w/ @sedaakbiyik.bsky.social, Joseph Outa, & @minjaek.bsky.social ) in @natrevpsychol.nature.com ⚽💭🧠👶 : www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Interested in applying to graduate programs or research positions in psychology? Want more information and feedback on your submission materials? Then Harvard’s Prospective Ph.D. & RA Event in Psychology (PPREP) Is for you!! psychology.fas.harvard.edu/pprep
More info in the link!! Please retweet!
New Open dataset alert:
🧠 Introducing "Spacetop" – a massive multimodal fMRI dataset that bridges naturalistic and experimental neuroscience!
N = 101 x 6 hours each = 606 functional iso-hours combining movies, pain, faces, theory-of-mind and other cognitive tasks!
🧵below
[cite_start]A screenshot of the first page of a court document from the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts[cite: 3]. [cite_start]The document is titled "MEMORANDUM AND ORDER" [cite: 43] [cite_start]and was filed on September 3, 2025[cite: 1]. The document lists two related civil actions: * [cite_start]**Civil Action No. 25-cv-11048-ADB**: President and Fellows of Harvard College, et al., Plaintiffs, v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, et al., Defendants[cite: 4, 5, 14, 17, 21]. * [cite_start]**Civil Action No. 25-cv-10910-ADB**: American Association of University Professors - Harvard Chapter, et al., Plaintiffs, v. United States Department of Justice, et al., Defendants[cite: 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 36]. [cite_start]The order is from Judge Burroughs, D.J.[cite: 44]. [cite_start]The text begins by identifying the plaintiffs in the consolidated cases[cite: 45].
A screenshot of pages 81 and 82 from a court order, detailing the judge's rulings and the relief granted. **Rulings:** * **For Harvard's case:** The court grants Harvard's motion for summary judgment on several counts, including violations of the First Amendment and Title VI. It grants in part Harvard's motion regarding the "Freeze Orders" and grants in part the defendants' motion regarding the "Termination Letters," citing a lack of jurisdiction. * **For the Organizational Plaintiffs' case:** The court grants the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment on their First Amendment claims and denies the defendants' cross-motion on several counts. The ruling on the "Freeze Orders" and "Termination Letters" mirrors the one in Harvard's case. **Ordered Relief:** 1. The court vacates and sets aside the Freeze Orders as arbitrary and capricious. 2. The court vacates and sets aside the Freeze Orders and Termination Letters as violations of the First Amendment. 3. The court vacates and sets aside the Termination Letters as violations of Title VI. 4. The court permanently enjoins the defendants from implementing the Freeze Orders, Termination Letters, and their unconstitutional conditions.
JUST IN: Harvard won summary judgment against the Trump administration with the court finding that the admin violated Harvard's 1st amend. rights. The court has vacated the funding freeze orders and termination letters and issued a permanent injunction.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
CDC scientists receive a heroes welcome after walking out today.
Tonight one of the CDC’s top public health leaders, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, has resigned from his post.
Below is his full resignation letter.
You should read every word.
This is a truly scary moment for public health in America.
1/2
A simple tweak to make The Duelist (2016) a better movie.
#descartes #dualism #philosophy #philbluesky #cogsci #badjoke
When an animals' groupmates go out of sight, do they also go out of mind?
In a new paper in Proc B @royalsocietypublishing.org, Luz Carvajal and I show that a bonobo (Kanzi) can keep mental tabs on the whereabouts of multiple hidden social partners
royalsocietypublishing.org/eprint/4GI7G...
ATTN: Robert Wood Johnson has money to support “canceled” research on racial-indigenous health equity
www.rwjf.org/en/grants/ac...
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu:
“Silence in the face of oppression is not an option. The U.S. Attorney General asked for a response by today. So here it is…Stop attacking our cities to hide your administration's failures.”
On the left is a rabbit. On the right is an elephant. But guess what: They’re the *same image*, rotated 90°!
In @currentbiology.bsky.social, @chazfirestone.bsky.social & I show how these images—known as “visual anagrams”—can help solve a longstanding problem in cognitive science. bit.ly/45BVnCZ
If you're heading to @cogscisociety.bsky.social, come to our symposium “Perception as a Foundation for Common‑Sense Theories of the World”
📅 August 1 • 9 AM
📍 Salon 2
With
@thiskevinsmith.bsky.social
@shariliu.bsky.social
@judithfan.bsky.social
@ardeeb.bsky.social
— See you there! #CogSci2025
Presentation list for language and cognition lab at CogSci 2025.
Looking forward to #cogsci2025 next week - here's a list of presentations from my lab!
The Causality in Cognition Lab is pumped for #cogsci2025 💪