Don't be shy to take on a little two-week side project. These five months will be the most precious three years of your academic journey.

Today is the 2 year anniversary of when I met the Ravens. They just checked me out from a distance then! Here is some of my fav footage: them courting, feeding each other, barrel rolling and some of their vocalisations. They are the most amazing birds and I am so lucky to have them!

Here’s a way to get an LLM to declare itself a conscious AI (or, sometimes, a conscious human...). The Substack article has more examples and some discussion: aifails.substack.com/p/ai-declari...

New paper in PBR: "Working memory’s pointer system is governed by physical objecthood, not spatiotemporal information"
rdcu.be/fd2tY

Without valid WM pointers, we miss OBVIOUS changes in visible items; the study shows that this "resetting" process is all about objects and not spatiotemporal change!

A great opportunity to develop your independent research at @ox.ac.uk @stjohnsox.bsky.social @oxexppsy.bsky.social. 4 years of funding.

www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/discover/vac...

Does Oxford University have a problem with Sticky Toffee Pudding?

Deadline is next week!

The Causality in Cognition Lab -- a supportive, bluesky-colored team -- is looking for a predoc to join us! Here are infos about the lab (cicl.stanford.edu) and the position (careersearch.stanford.edu/jobs/iriss-p...). The application deadline is May 1st.

Please share, thank you 🙏

bayesian hierarchical model

I finally got to watch this stunningly clear explanation of transformers from the amazing Idan Blank. I agree with Ev, Idan is the best teacher I know. This lecture is a gift to the field. Thank you Idan!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGMn...

Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible.

Hi Mariam! Is the meeting open to non-members?

[reading a book in first person] i dont remember doing any of this

These are essential questions to be asking right now. Ignoring the power of these models (which are only getting smarter by the month) is a recipe for professional obsolescence for one's self and their students.

🧵 I gave Claude two things: a short paper (doi.org/10.1073/pnas...) and a raw behavioural dataset with 3 lines of variable descriptions.

Then I asked it to fit three computational RL models described only by equations in the manuscript. No code, no toolbox, no guidance on the fitting procedure. 1/3

🧠 Focused ultrasound changes emotional processing 🔊

In a new study published in Neuron today, we stimulated the human amygdala using transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) and show it plays a causal role in detecting and resolving emotional ambiguity.

Vitamin D & Omega-3 may have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants An accessible deep dive into the science (⏱️ 30 min read)

An excellent blogpost about the effects of Omega-3 (and vitamin D) on mood: blog.ncase.me/on-depression/

To me the evidence from this study suggests that, to the very least, there is a robust link between meat eating and mood. As a vegan I take this as an important sign that I should read about potential causal pathways and supplement my diet with nutrients like B12 and Omega-3 (EPA and DHA).

Why unlikely to be causal? Because they didn't find a significant effect of meat consumption at timepoint t on depression at timepoint t+1. But timepoints were separated by 1-2 years, whereas the causal effect of nutrition may operate within shorter timescales.

But the title is that "Associations Between Meat Consumption and Depression Are Small and Unlikely to Be Causal". Small relative to what? The estimated effect size (r=0.05) is about a third of the estimated effect of physical exercise on mood from one meta-analysis the authors cite.

They find in three independent datasets significant associations between reduced meat eating and depression. The associations were observed both between individuals and also within individuals across time, such that periods of reduced meat consumption were associated with lower mood.

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

I found the framing of this paper... strange: "Associations Between Meat Consumption and Depression Are Small and Unlikely to Be Causal"
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

Color Game — How Well Can You Remember Colors? We show you colors. You recreate them from memory. Challenge friends to beat your score. It's harder than you think. Play free at dialed.gg.

Visual #workingmemory peeps, you're going to love this. This is super challenging - might give you pause on how we are measuring color memory...

My color memory is a 40.4/50. Please do worse so I feel better.
dialed.gg?c=3PCHDE

We just finished data collection for an interactive study, using a JATOS server. It worked very well!

A viral dog rescue from 2016 is now immortalized with a statue in Kazakhstan. When a dog fell into the Sayran reservoir, bystanders formed a human chain to pull him to safety. The statue is a reminder of the value of unity, solidarity and collective action. 14/10 for all

Surely neuroscientists could save a lot of time by asking the philosophers who can imagine exact physical duplicates of their brains for details about what they are imagining.

Man who talked down hospital bomber says would-be attacker asked for a cuddle Nathan Newby set to receive George Medal for stopping a potential atrocity with an act of kindness

More Nathan Newby's please, would sort this world right out. And as a Leeds born woman, I hope that man never has to buy his own pint in the city again.

Happy to share our preprint mapping the structure of theories of consciousness and their predictions, with @edenelbaz.bsky.social, @shaifischer.bsky.social, @maorschreiber.bsky.social, and @liadmudrik.bsky.social. Accessible here: osf.io/preprints/ps...

Supplementary: osf.io/9xug8/overview

Statement by the Senate of Tel Aviv University For a long time now, we have been witnessing acts of violence by Jewish residents in the West Bank against Palestinian residents. These acts, which include severe harm to persons and property, intimidation, humiliation, and displacement, have in some cases escalated into shocking acts of murder. These phenomena have intensified over the past month, under the cover of the war with Iran. As citizens of the State of Israel, we bear a heavy moral responsibility and feel deep shame in the face of this rampant Jewish terrorism. We protest the failure of the government and security forces to act with the necessary resolve against this phenomenon by using all means at their disposal. Terror directed against innocent civilians does not change according to the identity of the perpetrator or the victim; terror is terror, and it must be eradicated. The State of Israel, as the authority responsible for the territories, bears a clear obligation under both international and Israeli law: to ensure the safety and well-being of all residents, Jews and Palestinians alike. Beyond this legal duty, the government bears a paramount moral obligation: not to permit the shedding of blood in the West Bank, whether by action or by failure to act. As a people who have experienced pogroms and persecution driven by racism, we are bound to remember where such a path may lead. We must not stand idly by. History teaches us that in times of war, human rights are often pushed to the margins in the name of the demands of the moment or the pursuit of victory. We refuse to accept this reality. Jewish terrorism serves no legitimate purpose; on the contrary, it erodes the very foundations of our existence. Silence in the face of terror from within is a moral stain that cannot be erased, for the strength of the State of Israel is measured not only by its military power but first and foremost by the integrity of its values.

Statement by the Senate of Tel Aviv University