New work w/ Zach Kelso and @madeleinecsnyder.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Our negative results on classical conditioning in planarian flatworms. This was surprising, given the long history of work (including sensational findings of memory transfer and retention through decapitation).

באופן כללי צריך להיות סולם שמגדיר את היחס בין כמה המרואיין מעניין לכמה המראיין מעפן, אני מציע לקרוא לזה "סולם קודנר"

מ: כן, עיניים, אז אנ-

ק: ואז אתה רואה ינשוף, שרק להסביר למאזינים שלנו, זה עוף דורס לילי

מ:

ק: ולילה זה הזמן שבא אחרי היום, בדרך כלל?

מ: אני

ק: ואז אתה אומר לעצמך בעצם, וואו, זה ינשוף, מדהים

מ: זה

ק: טוב, תודה רבה למרואיין שלנו

ק: ומקום כזה שאפשר לקנות שם, כל מיני דברים, כן? אתה נגיד יכול לאסוף את הבננות שלך, את התפוזים שלך, אבל לא רק, בעצם?

מ: כ-

ק: אז בוא ספר לנו, אתה נכנס לסופרמרקט, ומה?

מ: אני רואה ינ-

ק: רק להבהיר, אתה משתמש בעיניים, שזה משהו שנמצא למעלה בגולגולת, דבר עגול כזה, שאפשר להשתמש בו לראות?

(בעולם שבו קודנר הזמין אדם לפודקסט של הארץ לדבר על זה שהוא ראה ינשוף בסופרמרקט)

קודנר: שלום למרואיין, שבא לכאן לדבר על הפעם שהוא ראה ינשוף בסופרמרקט

מרואיין: שלום

ק: אז בוא ספר לנו, מה היה באותו יום?

מ: נכנסתי לסופרמרק-

ק: וסופרמרקט, רק להסביר למאזינים שלנו, זה מקום עם אוכל ומזון

מ: כן...

Totes!

my daughter pointed that one out, but both models missed it (or don't consider it 'cleaning'? DEBATABLE)

another visual puzzle for young ones from my daughter's kids-paper:

"find all instances of 'cleaning'"

(my daughter did)

maybe it's too much to expect current models to find them all, but they don't

(left: puzzle; middle: gpt; right: gemini)

(Also: 'washing dog'? come on now)

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!

my son had to annotate part of a Shakespeare play for his homework and most of it is "Dirty Joke(?)",

which is fair enough, but for Shakespeare is like putting next to everything the remark "seems like English again?"

student: what is it like, to be faculty?

me:

"this isn't a bit, I actually am Idealistic!"

"god that's so on brand, love it"

"naive and idealistic is a great brand; you can cement this with maybe like a popsci book, but work up to that. first let's think substack to build followers, for title something like 'Letters from Utopia'? we can discuss logo"

having just sunk a small fortune into my dream (a sweet little coffee shop called "Bird in Bush"), I round the corner. As I look up, the happy whistle dies on my lips:

🥳 wooo!!! 🥳

this must've cost extra

Kilroy was here

happy #CDS2026 to those who celebrate!

Computational Cognitive Development Lab & Friends Present at CDS 2026. Check out the CDS program and search Bonawitz for a complete list.

Jumping on the #CDS2026 presentation bandwagon. Check out these talks and posters by the Computational Cognitive Development Lab & Friends, if you're so inclined.

Also, I'll post times for a coffee/tea/cocoa hour where you can drop by at chat/introduce yourself in the next day or so! (Stay tuned.)

very much liked this new book by Barnett and Harris

thinking about showing them sophisticated Game Theory decision matrices but instead of numbers or equations they're filled with stuff like 🤷‍♀️😱🫠

today in my decision making class, we'll be covering ultimatums, deterrence, threats, commitment devices, and self-binding. This was pre-planned, and my 'evocative examples' are taken from the Odyssey, science fiction, and the Cold War. Oh well.

so good!

Research Assistant II Company Description: By working at Harvard University, you join a vibrant community that advances Harvard's world-changing mission in meaningful ways, inspires innovation and collaboration, and builds...

🚨🚨 My lab is hiring a Pre-doc Researcher/Lab Manager! 🚨🚨

Full-time pre-doc research opening in my lab at Harvard Psych (start: Summer/Fall 2026).

Review begins April 10
Apply: jobs.smartrecruiters.com/HarvardUnive...

Please repost + tag folks who might be a good fit! 👇

רמת הניתוח של התקשורת/פרשנות בישראל:

(לא שיניתי כלום)

my daughter: [correct]

(to be fair, this was her second, self-corrected response. Her immediate response was in line with the verbal answers from Gemini / ChatGPT)

Gemini (verbal answer): [wrong]
Gemini (visual answer): [does not agree with its verbal answer, also wrong]

ChatGPT (verbal answer): [wrong]
ChatGPT (visual answer): [does not agree with its verbal answer, nor with Gemini, also wrong]

riddle for kids that combines first/third person perspectives:

where are the firefighters on the map?