I’m a cognitive psychologist. Don’t tell me this isn’t a stroopwafel.

Kutsupuhujana FiCLAn ja SKYn kevätseminaarissa on Helsingin yliopiston kognitiotieteen professori Riikka Möttönen, joka puhuu esitelmässään kielenoppimisesta kognitiotieteiden näkökulmasta.

Riikan haastattelu @hs.fi ssä taannoin:

Using #eyetracking data from 97 ten-year-olds, we explored who gets #irony and why:

💙 #empathy supports accurate irony comprehension
🧠 #working_memory speeds up processing (but not accuracy)
👧👦 #gender shows no effect

🚨 New paper out!

Our paper "Who gets it? Explaining variability in children’s written irony comprehension" is now published #OpenAccess in Journal of Child Language.

With Tuomo Häikiö, Matti Laine & @pennypexman.bsky.social

🔗 dx.doi.org/10.1017/S030...

@oulu.fi @utu.fi @aboakademi.bsky.social

<em>Journal of Sleep Research</em> | ESRS Journal | Wiley Online Library Previous studies have examined how the COVID-19 pandemic affected dream recall, dream content, and nightmares. However, relatively little attention has been devoted to the individual and situational ....

🆕 Why did #COVID‑19 shape some people’s #dreams more than others? A new paper by Loukola at al. found that:

• Lower life satisfaction → more threatening dreams
• Fewer positive emotions → more COVID‑related dream threats

🔗 doi.org/10.1111/jsr....

@utu.fi @oulu.fi @hogskolaniskovde.bsky.social

Delighted to share that I’ll be giving the keynote at the Humor Research Conference this Sunday.

I’ll also be joining a panel on irony with my brilliant colleagues. We’re expected to discuss irony without being ironic — let’s see how that goes.

#Irony #HumorResearch #AcademicLife #Keynote

The 23rd European Conference on Eye Movements (ECEM 2026)
Ulm, Germany
30 August – 3 September 2026

Deadline for symposia submission: 31 January 2026
Deadline for poster submission: 31 March 2026

Andrew R. A. Conway

Michael J. Kane

PS is excited to announce the launch of "Individual Differences in Cognition” (IDIC), an open-access journal on research in cognitive psychology, science, and neuroscience. Co-Editors-in-Chief are Andrew R.A. Conway & Michael J. Kane. Manuscripts accepted this spring. More information coming soon!

Eye-movement markers of mind wandering during reading: A meta-analysis - Memory & Cognition Mind wandering during reading has been extensively investigated, with multiple studies reporting differences in eye-movement behavior between mind-wandering and on-task reading. More recently, researc...

Do you know those moments when you’re reading something and suddenly realize that you have zoned out, eyes have moved on autopilot? Our meta-analysis examined whether those moments can be detected from readers’ eye movements. The answer is: perhaps.

Read and enjoy: link.springer.com/article/10.3...

Researchers' Night Researchers' Night offers a diverse and exciting programme with plenty to see, experience, and do for all ages.

Get enchanted by science at the Researchers' Night on Sept. 26, 5–9 pm!

The Botanical Garden’s greenhouses are open. Everyone is welcome to meet little bugs and researchers. Take a look inside a beehive and learn how to make biochar.

The abstract submission deadline for the pre-Psychonomics symposium on individual differences in cognition (SIDIC), to be held on Nov. 20, is due on Friday, August 1, TWO DAYS FROM TODAY!

Here's the direct link to the abstract submission information:
caliberlab.wixsite.com/sidic2025/su...

🚨 New preprint!
With @lehtorituomo.bsky.social, Matti Laine, & @pennypexman.bsky.social

🔍 We analyzed data from two eye-tracking studies to explore individual differences in how #children process and comprehend written #irony. We showed that empathy and working memory mattered — gender didn't.

Lukijan mielipide | Donald Trump hyökkää ankarasti Harvardia vastaan, samoja merkkejä on myös Suomessa Vapaa tiede ei ole tutkijayhteisön etuoikeus, vaan koko yhteiskunnan turva.

”Vapaa tiede ei ole tutkijayhteisön etuoikeus, vaan koko yhteiskunnan turva. Vain kriittinen ja riippumaton tutkimus voi paljastaa rakenteellisia ongelmia, tuottaa uusia näkökulmia ja auttaa tekemään parempia päätöksiä.”

Osuva ja tärkeä puheenvuoro tieteen vapaudesta.

www.hs.fi/mielipide/ar...

Tuoreen Academic Freedom Indexin mukaan Suomi kuuluu maihin, joissa tieteen vapaus on vähentynyt huomattavasti viime vuosikymmenen aikana. Suomi kuuluu enää 20−30% parhaimmistoon ja edellä on sellaisia maita kuten Sierra Leone ja Vanuatu. 1/ academic-freedom-index.net/research/Aca...

Yliopisto-opettaja, psykologia, kasvatustieteiden ja psykologian tiedekunta Haemme nyt Oulun yliopiston kasvatustieteiden tiedekuntaan, psykologian yksikköön  Yliopisto-opettajaa  määräaikaiseen 50 % työsuhteeseen ajalle 11.8.2025 – 30.4.2027.   Työtehtävät Ylio

Etsimme uutta työkaveria!

Haussa on yliopisto-opettaja määräaikaiseen työsuhteeseen (50 %) ajalle 11.8.2025 – 30.4.2027.

Jos kiinnostui, tutustu tarkempaan hakuilmoitukseen täältä: oulunyliopisto.varbi.com/fi/what:job/...

Sounds like a follow up study! 😂

Happy to share that our paper 📝 "Learning irony in school: Effects of metapragmatic training" is now out in Journal of Child Language! 🎉

We show that metapragmatic knowledge plays a crucial role in development of irony comprehension, and it can be effectively trained.

doi.org/10.1017/S030...

Call for papers: Taking possession of the mind: Retrospectives on the wide-ranging study of attention A call for papers from the journal Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology / Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale. This special issue will include a collection of theoretical and review papers, including meta-analyses, synthesizing a wide range of topics under William James’ umbrella of attention.

New Special Issue call on ATTENTION in the Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology (CJEP), @cjep.bsky.social!

#attention
#cognition
#neuroscience
#development
#psychology

www.apa.org/pubs/journal...

Researchers rush to preserve government health data Journalists have long relied on federal health data for their reporting. We include several tips that they can use to help researchers preserve the data.

Harvardin julkaisu antaa tutkijoille käytännön ohjeita, miten pelastaa tutkimusdata Trumpin hallinnon hyökkäykseltä tutkimusta vastaan. USA:n tiedeyhteisölle on annettava äänekäs tuki myös Euroopasta.

Ja oltava hereillä, ettei jouduta samalle polulle.

journalistsresource.org/home/researc...

Could we please make the Finnish idiom 'climb a tree ass first' a globally well-known expression? It's so much better than 'put the cart before the horse'. Thank you for your assistance!

Let me clarify a thing about the doctoral swords in Finland.

They are not meant for the faculty meetings.

New preprint with @holkoniemi.bsky.social, on why verbal irony is challenging for children, and what we can learn from the fact that training helps:

Hear, hear!

A graph titled "Cost of Transport" showing the relationship between body weight (in kilograms) and energy consumption for distance traveled (calories per gram per kilometer) for various animals and machines. It highlights that a person on a bicycle ranks first in efficiency.

A person on a bicycle is by far the most energy-efficient among animals and machines per distance traveled relative to body weight. The bicycle is magic.

www.jstor.org/stable/24923...

Winter is here! #bikecommuting #ScienceWithArcticAttitude

🙋🏼‍♂️ Could you add me, please? Thanks!

🙋🏼‍♂️Could you please add me to the list? Thank you!

Call for special issues The Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology is now issuing an open call for special issue proposals for original research papers that advance understanding of the field of experimental psychology.

Encouraging #cognition folks to consider the Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology (@cjep.bsky.social) as an outlet for their work.

This includes an open call for Special Issues on topics relevant to experimental #cognitive #psychology or #neuroscience.

www.apa.org/pubs/journal...

I feel seen.