In the first #SANS2026 session on social learning @csavasegal.bsky.social shows that self-generated interpretations anchor how we remember ambiguous social info, even when others offer a different take, and how neural shifts help us make the shift

So bummed to be missing #SANS2026, but be sure to check out the first symposium tomorrow morning (Thurs 9:30a), "New Directions in Social Learning & Memory"! @csavasegal.bsky.social will share some cool new work on how we remember our own vs another person's interpretation of ambiguous social info

Fantastic work led by PhD student @csavasegal.bsky.social with a big assist from former lab postdoc Dr. Clare Grall

There's a lot more in the paper, but to me, seeing just how much can change in the *exact same brain* processing the *exact same stimulus* is a striking demo of how our brains represent info not according to its surface (sensory) features, but the latent frameworks we bring to understanding it

We did follow-up analyses to identify subsets of these regions that appear to track interpretations of characters versus more punctate episodes, finding dissociable sets of regions for representing distinct narrative elements. We also did several control analyses to rule out confounding factors.

Participants listened through the whole story twice, yielding a straightforward hypothesis: interpretations, and therefore neural representations, of *pre-twist* events will change more than those of *post-twist* events. Indeed, this was the case throughout a whole lot of the brain!

We used a unique auditory story with a twist in the middle. *Spoiler alert*: while you initially think you're hearing a dialogue between a friendly store clerk and disgruntled shopper, you later realize the clerk is a killer robot and the shopper is fighting for his life in an apocalypse.

Very happy that this paper from our lab is now out in @pnas.org! What happens when the *same* person experiences the *same* information with a *different* interpretation? Nearly the whole 🧠—well, at least nearly all association cortex—changes how it represents that information! tinyurl.com/p8chj2j7

Huge congrats to @monicarosenb.bsky.social, an amazing scientist and even better friend

Thanks Mon 😊 very honored to follow in your footsteps on this one -- wouldn't be here without you! (like actually)

Congrats YC!! So happy to be in this year's cohort with you!

This one feels good 😊 Humbled and honored to be in the company of Spence Award winners, past and present. All credit goes to mentors, colleagues, and especially members of my lab -- thank you!!!

Congrats!! So cool to see this out - love this work!

We're excited to announce that Cognitive Science at Dartmouth is recruiting PhD students to work collaboratively with me, Steven Frankland, and Fred Callaway. Come study the principles and mechanisms that enable us to understand, plan, and act in the world! Info: sites.dartmouth.edu/cogscigrad/

Hard to believe it's been 10 years!

This is such cool work! Congrats on getting the preprint out!

Is it time to put rest to rest? A great article by @esfinn.bsky.social , which cleverly lays out some unfound assumptions in the field of and an integrated way forward: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

It should be required reading for anyone using #resting-state or task-based #fMRI!

Thanks so much for the shout-out!

😊😊 miss you!!

Having severe FOMO for missing #OHBM2025, but please reach out if you are interested in postdoc opportunities in our lab! Enjoy the science and sunshine!!

Love this one!!

"Don't conflate network labels w/ behavior" -- can we make bumper stickers out of this?? lol

Thanks, Desmond!!

Thanks so much, Ata 😊

Not long after I started my lab, a prominent scientist told me it was “impossible” to be a successful PI and a mother

Don’t ever let the naysayers tell you it can’t be done - of course it can!

#HappyMothersDay this weekend to all the amazing scientist mamas raising their wonderful kids 🥰

Despite everything going on, I may have funds to hire a postdoc this year 😬🤞🧑‍🔬 Open to a wide variety of possible projects in social and cognitive neuroscience. Get in touch if you are interested! Reposts appreciated.

Thanks so much! We'd love to hear any thoughts/comments

Alternative title: "LLMs don't have ears (or eyes)"

What do humans and machines miss out on when processing language as purely written text, without all the embodied audiovisual richness that scaffolds language in daily human contexts?

Very proud of this elegant work from @tommybotch.bsky.social

We're excited to hear this year's Young Investigator Award recipients @esfinn.bsky.social @andrebastosof.bsky.social talk about their award-winning research! And exciting to see them with some past winners @freekvanede.bsky.social @striemamit.bsky.social
Join us in the Grand Ballroom!
#CNS2025

Second, Clara Sava-Segal @csavasegal.bsky.social looks at how we remember different subjective interpretations for the same information based on whether they are self- or other-generated at poster D110