Tomorrow, Sunday the 7th, I’ll be presenting my poster “Earlier sensory encoding for surprising words in connected speech” at #CNS2026

Poster 46 — Session B (8–10 AM)

Come say hi if you're around!

Always happy to talk about this project or my work on multisensory language processing :)

14 two-year postdocs for academics of any nationality who cannot continue their research due to US politics. Do share if you know of such.

🚨 #EnvisionBOX alert 🚨

We are pleased to announce a virtual EnvisionBox Community Meeting, designed to bring together researchers who work with computational tools for processing, annotation, and analysis of multimodal data available on the EnvisionBox platform (and beyond).

#multimodality

The ‘design features’ of language revisited Language is often regarded as a defining trait of our species, but what are its core properties? In 1960, Hockett published ‘The origin of speech’ enumerating 13 design features presumed to be common to all languages, and which, taken together, separate language from other communication systems. Here. we review which features still hold true in light of new evidence from cognitive science, linguistics, animal cognition, and anthropology, and demonstrate how a revised understanding of language highlights three core aspects: that language is inherently multimodal and semiotically diverse; that it functions as a tool for semantic, pragmatic, and social inference, as well as facilitating categorization; and that the processes of interaction and transmission give rise to central design features of language.

Online Now: The ‘design features’ of language revisited

What enables human language? A biocultural framework Explaining the origins of language is a key challenge in understanding ourselves as a species. We present an empirical framework that draws on synergies across fields to facilitate robust studies of l...

Origins of language, one of humanity’s most distinctive traits, may be best explained as a unique convergence of multiple capacities each with its own evolutionary history, involving intertwined roles of biology & culture. This framing can expand research horizons. A 🧵 on our @science.org paper.🧪1/n

The Spoken Language group @bcbl.bsky.social is currently recruiting for these positions:

👉PhD students (expressions of interest are welcome on a rolling basis)
👉Postdoctoral Researcher (start date: Nov '26 - Sep '27) tinyurl.com/3um3bjze
👉Research Assistant tinyurl.com/y5uebra6

Please share ☺️

🚨 Just over a week left to register for the #CNSP2025 Online Workshop (details in post below)! 🚨

Link to the workshop registration form: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

The quality of evidence in psychology publications has improved substantially over the last two decades, across all subareas. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

New preprint with @edmundlalor.bsky.social

On the generative mechanisms underlying the cortical tracking of natural speech: a position paper.

osf.io/preprints/os...

A brief thread below…

Curious about the workings of the mind? Happy to announce the Insights in Mind Sciences (INMINDS) interview series—now in Bluesky! Link below and in bio. Thanks for sharing! 🧵1/5

✨We are organising (again) an online workshop on Theoretical Modeling for PhD candidates and Master students in cognitive science and psychology. Check out the website and the schedule: Registration is open! (closes July 1, spaces are limited) 🧵1/n computationalcognitivescience.github.io/workshop/

Hi bluesky 👋 We study the neurocognitive foundations of meaning in perception and consciousness, language production and comprehension, and social interaction. PI is Rasha Abdel Rahman. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin School of Mind & Brain, Science of Intelligence, Einstein Center Berlin.

“[This]finding challenges the notion of a strictly human-specific Arcuate Fasciculus morphology and suggests that language-related neural specialisation in humans likely evolved through gradual evolutionary strengthening of a pre-existing connection, rather than arising de novo” 🧪🧠 👇

🚨Registration now open for #CNSP2025 Workshop!
Date: 2–3 September 2025
Location: Online (Zoom)
Registration Fee: €30 (financial support available)
Registration Deadline: 31 August 2025
For more information and to register, follow the link: cnspworkshop.net/workshops.html

The Signing Mind

👐 🧠 Are you interested in how #signs are organised in the #mind?

We are launching a new series of online seminars with the Institute of German Sign Language of University of Hamburg.

The first session will be next Monday at 17:00.

Do not miss it! 👇

sites.google.com/view/signing...

Super excited to share that I’ve started a new postdoc at the Lalor Lab for Computational Cognitive Neurophysiology at @urochester.bsky.social ! 🧠🗣️👂👀

I would like to be included, thanks! 🙂

Temporal Structure of Music Improves the Cortical Encoding of Speech This study demonstrates that regular musical rhythms can act as a temporal guide for brain oscillations, enhancing synchronization with the speech envelope. This effect was observed across different ...

Happy to share my very first first-author paper! In this study, we show that rhythms can shape how our brains track speech (in very simple words). Work with Marina Kalashnikova, @nicolaml.bsky.social and Mikel Lizarazu.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

The conceptual structure of human relationships across modern and historical cultures - Nature Human Behaviour Cheng et al. explore the universality and cultural variability in how people understand human relationships, revealing a five-dimensional framework for relationship concepts across both modern and anc...

It’s out! Our article in Nature Human Behavior led by Yin Wang on the conceptual structure of human relationships across cultures and time. This work is breathtaking nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

What’s Surprising About Surprisal - Computational Brain & Behavior In the computational and experimental psycholinguistic literature, the mechanisms behind syntactic structure building (e.g., combining words into phrases and sentences) are the subject of considerable...

a plea to think carefully about surprisal + what it means to understand how we understand >> link.springer.com/article/10.1...

brand new paper in Computational Brain and Behaviour with @andreaeyleen.bsky.social at @mpi-nl.bsky.social

Not being anti-fascist at this moment in history is anti-science. Probably always was. But cannot be clearer than these last few weeks.

😊

Bonobo Nyota at Ape Initiative, a science and education nonprofit

Are humans the only species that communicates when a collaborator is missing information?

In @pnas.org, Luke Townrow and I show that our closest relatives, bonobos, can track when a partner is knowledgeable or ignorant, and tailor communication accordingly

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

23-27June: The EnvisionBox team @jamestrujillo.bsky.social @babajideowoyele.bsky.social is organizing a summer school on social signal processing again this year! In Amsterdam - hosted by @jamestrujillo.bsky.social

Well send out an official sign-up announcement via the envisionbox newsletter soon.

¿Para qué estudiar sintaxis? La sintaxis no consiste en aplicar unas reglas externas y arbitrarias a una oración, sino en hacer un ejercicio de descubrimiento

www.eldiario.es/129_b74da5?u...

Powerful Myths: Common Misconceptions About Statistical Power Lukas Lengersdorff and Claus Lamm discuss three misconceptions that stand in the way of an informed discussion.

Three Myths About Statistical Power

🔹️ Myth 1: Power is an objective feature

🔹️ Myth 2: With low power comes low credibility

🔹️ Myth 3: High power protects against questionable research practices

BSky author: @clauslamm.bsky.social

A manifesto for a globally diverse, equitable, and inclusive open science - Communications Psychology Psychology must embrace more responsible practices in design, reporting, generalisation, and evaluation of research to counteract the spectre of Questionable Generalisability Practices and the issue o...

Psychology must embrace more responsible practices in design, reporting, generalisation, and evaluation of research to counteract the spectre of Questionable Generalisability Practices and the issue of MASKing (Making Assumptions based on Skewed Knowledge).
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

The Conscious Side of ‘Subliminal’ Linguistic Priming: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis and Reliability Analysis of Visibility Measures | Journal of Cognition The Journal of Cognition, the official journal of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology, publishes reviews, empirical articles (including registered reports), data reports, stimulus developmen...

New content: Hernández-Gutiérrez, D., Sorrel, M. A., Shanks, D.R., & Vadillo, M. A. (2025). The Conscious Side of ‘Subliminal’ Linguistic Priming: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis and Reliability Analysis of Visibility Measures. Journal of Cognition. doi.org/10.5334/joc.... #psychscisky

🙌😊

A statement on the ongoing genocide in Gaza Abstract. Communication, Culture and Critique has been the leading venue for critical approaches to communication and media studies. This issue marks the f

"As educators, we are particularly attuned to the ongoing “scholasticide” in Gaza, the targeted arrests and killings of students, teachers, and professors. [...] The Israeli military has “systematically obliterated” the educational system in Gaza with impunity."
academic.oup.com/ccc/advance-...