I see moving people: Expectations drive detection of biological motion in noisy point-light displays - Psychonomic Bulletin & Review While biological motion processing has been extensively studied, little is known about the top-down impact of expectations in this context. We tested whether expectations about the likelihood of encountering a human walker influence the detection of biological motion in point-light displays, particularly when perceptual information is unreliable. Seventy-four participants completed a signal detection task, responding to stimuli featuring either a human walker or scrambled biological motion, each masked with one of four levels of visual noise. Participants were randomly assigned to the high or low expectations group and were told that 75% or 25% of the displays would feature a human walker, although the actual proportion was 50%. Participants in the high expectation group showed a greater tendency to respond “yes,” with the largest group difference emerging at the highest level of noise. These findings suggest that expectations can bias biological motion detection, particularly under conditions of sensory unreliability. The results also support the predictive processing model of agency detection, which proposes that false-positive perceptions of (supernatural) agents arise from expectations combined with ambiguous input.

This #OpenAccess article from 'Psychonomic Bulletin & Review' finds that expectations about seeing a human walker bias biological motion detection, especially when perceptual information is unreliable.
@mateuszhohol.bsky.social bit.ly/485ESBe #CogPsyc #VisionScience

#neuroskyence #cogpsyc #linguistics

#linguistics #cogpsyc #neuroskyence

Variation in DNA methylation of the oxytocin gene is associated with prosocial, reward-related, decision-making Human and animal studies suggest a critical role for central oxytocin (OXT) in social behavior. While experimentally manipulating central OXT levels v…

Having said this, our recently-published companion paper (👇), which looked at DNA methylation 🧬 of the OXT *synthesis* gene (in n~200 on average), does suggest a modest role for OXT in trust in this condition.

#neuroscience #Neuroskyence #cogpsyc #AffectSci #psychscisky

1. New in-press paper on religion's functions, co-authored with amazing lab manager James Nesbit! Full text here, more info in thread below: columbiasamclab.weebly.com/uploads/5/9/....
#AcademicSky #PsychSciSky #SocialPsyc #DevPsyc #CogPsyc @socphilpsych.bsky.social 🧪

How AI is rewiring the human brain: the generational transformation of cognition and knowing

🔍 Behind the Paper: 'How AI is rewiring the human brain: the generational transformation of cognition and knowing.' 🕵️ Examines how #AI is transforming not only what humans know but how knowledge itself is constructed, remembered, and valued. 🔗 Read more here: bit.ly/3MGuc4M #cogpsyc

#AcademicSky #PhDSky #EduSky #CogPsyc #HigherEd

Teaching Metacognition in Humans Versus Artificial Intelligence Teaching: Use this lesson plan to demonstrate to students that confidence is not equivalent to accuracy.

Learn how to teach students that confidence is not equivalent to accuracy with a new Teaching Current Directions #Teaching #AI #cogpsyc

Understanding Partisan Bias in Judgments of Misinformation: Identity Protection Versus Differential Knowledge - Tyler J. Hubeny, Lea S. Nahon, Bertram Gawronski, 2026 People overaccept information that supports their identity and underaccept information that opposes their identity—a phenomenon known as partisan bias. Although...

Using randomly assigned identities, ppl were more likely to accept identity-congruent misinformation despite equal knowledge, supporting identity-protective motivated reasoning as a key driver of misinformation acceptance. #EvPsych #cogpsyc #SocialPsyc
#polipsy
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

ELM Lab @ UNH

A few days left to apply to join my lab as a PhD student! We study how people explore, how new ideas form, and how thinking develops. Learn more at liquinlab.github.io. Application review begins 1/15.
#PsychSciSky #CogPsyc #CogSci #DevPsyc

January's office hours are 1/29 10-12 Eastern. Theme=your professional goals for 2026 (how best to achieve them etc). More info in thread below, sign-ups here: calendly.com/lah2201/open...
#AcademicSky #PhdSky #PsychSciSky #SocialPsyc #DevPsyc #CogPsyc

One more study finds MTurk is not reliable as researchers assume.

#perpsyc
#EvPsych
#cogpsyc

Ideological bias in the production of research findings There is a robust statistical relation between ideology and research findings when researchers test a policy-relevant hypothesis.

An experiment w/ 71 research teams showed that analytical decisions made on the same dataset varied according to teams’ pre-existing ideology toward or against immigration. These choices also received ⬇️ grades from "peer reviewers". #metasci #socialpsyc #cogpsyc www.science.org/doi/full/10....

Amazing, not only the mPFC encoded categorical scales, but also it did it independently of linguistic similarity, suggesting construct-sensitive integration during self-report and a neural basis for psychological assessment. #cogpsyc #cognition #perpsy #socialpsyc

Is our perception of beauty purely intellectual? | Medical News Bulletin Is our perception of beauty based in intellect or is it closer to an instinctive response? researchers probed this philosphical distinction

Came across this in our archives today… Not sure what to make of it. Blue Sky peeps, did Dr Robinson get this get this right? medicalnewsbulletin.com/beauty-requi... #CogPsyc #MoralPhil #Neuroskyence #philperception #PsychSciSky 🧪

#socialpsychology #cogpsyc #PsychSciSky #PsychJob
#psycjobs #psychology #neurojobs

Dec office hours: 12/8 10-12 Eastern. Theme=developing a research program; we can talk about this theme or any other work-related topics you want to discuss. Sign up here: calendly.com/lah2201/open...
#AcademicSky #PhdSky #PsychSciSky #SocialPsyc #DevPsyc #CogPsyc

#PhilSci #PsycSci #SocialPsyc #CogPsyc #AcademicSky

[Story] A Research Career Reignited: Suzanne Perkins Crafting the Future of Learning for Abused and Neglected Children - Life-Changing Education Life-Changing Education is a University of Michigan initiative exploring how learning changes lives through programs, research, and collaboration.

A fantastic piece about me by our communications team and @tevahp.bsky.social

Thanks to @rcgd-isr.bsky.social for helping me get #NIHfunding to restart my career!

#neuroskyence #PsychSciSky
#DevPsyc #CogPsyc #AcademicSky #womeninstem
#HigherEd
#GoBlue

futureoflearning.umich.edu/stories-and-...

Beyond the Adult Mind: A Developmental Framework for Predictive Processing in Infancy In this paper, we argue that Predictive Processing cannot be a unifying account of cognition until it can explain infant development. We show why development is crucial for understanding human cognit...

New paper alert: Beyond the Adult Mind: A Developmental Framework for Predictive Processing in Infancy!

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#PsychSciSky #DevPsyc #CogPsyc #neuroskyence

1. Last office hours a few people had questions about personal statements for grad school apps. I suggested a template that has worked well in my experience & have also laid it out in the thread below in case it's useful for you all.
#AcademicSky #PhdSky #PsychSciSky #SocialPsyc
#DevPsyc #CogPsyc

Frontiers | Emotional impact of using different sensory modalities for autobiographical activation: a systematic review and meta-analysis IntroductionTo the best of our knowledge, no previous work has synthesized the efficacy of MIPs based on the retrieval of AMs in relation to a wide range of ...

🧠 Our new meta-analysis, published in Frontiers in Psychology, explores how different sensory modalities (vision, sound, smell…) activate autobiographical memories and shape emotional responses.
#Psychology #Emotion #Memory #Research #PsychSciSky #CogPsyc
🔗 www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...

Next office hours are 11/6 10-12 Eastern. More info in thread below, sign-ups here: calendly.com/lah2201/open.... Hope to see many of you!
#AcademicSky #PhdSky #PsychSciSky #SocialPsyc #DevPsyc #CogPsyc

Decoding working memory contents from induced alpha power. Decoding is largely successful during the short (1 second) delay, for both prioritized and deprioritized items. However, in the long (3 seconds) delay, deprioritized items eventually return to baseline.

Decoding working memory contents from induced alpha power was largely successful in the short delay (left), but importantly, deprioritized items eventually vanished completely in the long delay (right). Work lead by Yuanyuan Weng and in collaboration with Jelmer Borst. 3/3 #neuroskyence #cogpsyc

Get girls more iron to beat anxiety | Medical News Bulletin Periods are a source of anxiety for girls-literally! Learn why iron deficiency without anemia could be behind rising rates of anxiety

Now this was a fascinating read! Heavy periods could be making your kid anxious- literally! Learn why iron supplements for teens are important even if they aren’t anaemic! medicalnewsbulletin.com/iron-menstru... 🧪 🧠 #CogPsyc #EduSky 🩸🧪 medsky 🩺 ⚕️ #psychiatry 🧠👀 #Neuroskyence 🍎📃 🥪📃 #pedspsych

Your brain is unique! 🧠 If you're curious to see more individual-level fMRI at #CNS2026, please consider voting for our symposium "Not Your Average Brain" by end of day today! 🍁

#neuroskyence #cogpsyc #cogsci #PsychSciSky #neuroimaging @cogneuronews.bsky.social

#linguistics #cogpsyc #neuroskyence

Assistant Professor

University of Colorado Boulder Psychology & Neuroscience is searching for TWO tenure track assistant professors!!

jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDeta...

#socialpsychology #cogpsyc #PsychSciSky #PsychJob
#psycjobs #psychology

1/n

Anxiety Supercharges Emotions | Medical News Bulletin Always being accused of making a mountain out of a mole hill? Well you are not alone. Dutch brain scientists dug into the problem to find out why anxious people have such big feelings.

Nothing more infuriating than being told to calm down-especially for people with a phobia or anxiety disorder…why do some of us have such overwhelming reactions to things that sound quite underwhelming to others? medicalnewsbulletin.com/anxiety-supe... #CogPsyc 🧪 🧠 #psychiatry #clinpsych 🩺 ⚕️

Job Offer: Postdoctoral Researcher in Disinformation As part of the strategic plan linked to the María de Maeztu Seal of Excellence award, the CIMCYC is recruiting a postdoctoral researcher with experience in the field of the psychology of disinformatio...

We are offering a 2-year postdoctoral position at CIMCyC (Granada, Spain) to work on the psychology of dis(mis)information.

Apply before 26th September. Nice city, great environment ☺️

Please share! 🔃

cimcyc.ugr.es/en/informati...

#socialpsychology
#cogpsyc
#PsychSciSky
#PsychJob
#PhDJob