Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentRuha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 09/10/2026I’m in DC scheduled to give this talk today. But the organizers flagged slides in my deck that mention racism, structural gaslighting, New Jim Code and other themes that are off limits in the Land of the Free. 729181215
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentChris Baldassano @chrisbaldassano.bsky.social · 08/10/2026I'm recruiting PhD students this cycle! We study how the brain perceives, remembers, and predicts naturalistic experiences like movies and games, using computational tools to analyze behavioral and neural data 🧠 App deadline is 12/2/26 - see our lab pubs on our website www.dpmlab.org/pubs.htmldpmlab.orgColumbia Dynamic Perception and Memory Lab 05032
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentMarieke van Vugt @mvugt.bsky.social · 07/10/2026Rising numbers of Asian and African PhD students choose to study in China (and I think that makes a lot of sense because China has been solidly investing in science and technology) www.nature.com/articles/d41...nature.comRising numbers of Asian and African PhD students choose to study in ChinaInternational students explain the advantages and challenges that come with pursuing a doctoral degree in China. 021
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentKristina Liefke @kristinaliefke.bsky.social · 06/10/2026I am looking for a postdoc (4 years, 100%) in experimental semantics/philosophy of language, with a focus on memory: jobs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/jobposting/c88… Please reach out if you are interested!jobs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de 1612
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentMicah G. Allen @micahgallen.com · 06/10/2026Our new open-source jsPsych tool makes it easy to collect continuous affect ratings during your own videos: 1D (e.g. anxiety) or 2D (valence × arousal). It runs in the browser with JATOS + Prolific: github.com/embodied-com... 2122
Jörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 05/10/2026Interesting new work dissecting navigational behaviour and differentiating it from episodic memory. www.cell.com/iscience/ful...cell.comShared and distinct cognitive processes across multiple virtual navigation tasksNatural sciences; Biological sciences; Neuroscience; Cognitive neuroscience 050
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentNick Holmes @thehandlab.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Neuroscience & mental health: 4.4% success rate for #MRC #UKRI grants assessed in Spring 2026 Years & years & years of wasted effort 👇 0119
Jörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 02/10/2026It all started with seeing this #Sichuan mountain (Gongga Shan, #China) from the plane a few years back. Today I managed to hike up 4,256 m to get this stunning view. It was my first hike in a proper mountain and I don't think I will ever forget this. 080
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentMatthias Nau @matthiasnau.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Important work showing just how easily AI agents can pass online behavioral experiments! Safeguards need to keep up if we want to continue online testing!👇 083
Jörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Greetings from Sichuan, China's beautiful mountain range. 070
Jörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Fantastic work and an interesting set of analyses. 041
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentHugo Spiers @hugospiers.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Interesting insights into spatial memory and hippocampal function in humans: Navigation strategies predict spatial memory and hippocampal recruitment Work Zita Patai (who I wish was still in my lab!) www.cell.com/cell-reports...cell.comNavigation strategies predict spatial memory and hippocampal recruitmentPatai, E.Z. et al. show via analyzing spontaneous navigation behavior that humans are idiosyncratic, flexibly adapt strategies to variable degrees to achieve learning, and that strategies do not refle... 0316
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentCarl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 27/09/2026Four days ago, a scientist was surprised by the news that Anthropic discovered new virus genes for making DNA. He says he’s been studying them for years—and feeding his data to Anthropic’s AI as part of his own research. Coincidence? Here’s my story. nyti.ms/3VSWaycnyti.msDid Anthropic’s A.I. Really Make a Scientific Discovery on Its Own? (Gift Article)An expert at the University of Copenhagen said his team had been sharing its research with the company’s A.I. model, Claude, and that its new finding matched their work. 882123873
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentProPublica @propublica.org · 26/09/2026Hey, ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson here. I’m taking over the account to tell you about my new story. For months, I posed as a problem gambler on DraftKings to test the company's "responsible gaming" safeguards. Spoiler alert: They made me a VIP — and I lost $10K. Here's how it all went down. 🧵 19596013538
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentJay 🦋 @jay.bsky.team · 26/09/2026happy mid-autumn festival! 🍂🌕 1460740
Jörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Community on 97th? Surely the order was just randomised. 020
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentEdgardo Avilés-López @eavl.co · 25/09/2026Three lines moving on Lissajous curves. The colors come from a complex logarithm, implemented in a shader with Ollin's complex number helpers. Each pixel adds up the angles from one end of each line to the other. S/N: 2026.012 #creativeCoding #generativeArt #dailySketch #ollin #complexNumbers 1132
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentRik Henson @rhens.bsky.social · 25/09/20261/2 Was fun to work with @lihuaxia.bsky.social on this paper on bilingualism in special issue of @neurobiology-aging.bsky.social on brain resilience in aging and dementia, where we used the valuable #HABS-HD cohort 152
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentUniversity of Cambridge @cam.ac.uk · 25/09/2026Cambridge University announces a new Cambridge Mind and Brain Institute focused on understanding and improving brain health across our lifespan, from early childhood through to old age. Find out more 👉 bit.ly/4hpgZsl @mrccbu.bsky.social 13312
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentRik Henson @rhens.bsky.social · 25/09/2026So thankful to the University of Cambridge for enabling a new chapter in the long history of the APU/CBU (since MRC decided to close all its units…) 45718
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentAidan Horner @aidanhorner.bsky.social · 25/09/2026The deadline for this new role is 2nd October, so you have a week left to apply! 054
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentRandy Ellis @randalljellis.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Here’s my conversation with Chris Chambers on Metascience Matters. Chris was the first journal editor to offer registered reports, starting in 2013 at Cortex. youtu.be/PgZjgZlxsYw?...youtu.beRegistered reports | Chris ChambersYouTube video by Metascience Matters 11912
Reposted by Jörn Alexander Quentlaserhedvig @laserhedvig.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Interdisciplinary research is great and necessary, and also has consistently lower funding success www.nature.com/articles/nat... #academiclabourmarket #academia #research 26133
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentJarrod Watt @jaywatt.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Imagine now… if a Chinese AI system like DeepSeek accessed Medicare as well as this. What level of urgency would we see? “NSW premier Chris Minns says OpenAI agents may have also accessed information held by the state’s Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research” www.theguardian.com/australia-ne... 054
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentHeather Urry @heatherurry.io · 24/09/2026holy fucking shit - see Claude Code (Opus 5.5) rip through a survey eligility test I was really proud of... It requires tracing a route through designated points on a map with server-side Javascript applying eligibility criteria. (1.5 min video) 63522
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentZurich Cognition Lab @cognition-zurich.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Open Postdoc (80%) in our Lab @uzh-ch.bsky.social (PI: Klaus Oberauer) Topics are: Working memory, long-term memory, attention; experiments, individual differences, computational modeling. Start Dec 2026 to Feb 2027, until June 2030. Apply by Oct 15; Questions to: k.oberauer@psychologie.uzh.ch 11920
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentJörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Proud to share our latest preprint with my very special @mengya-zhang.bsky.social (🥰). Briefly, we studied how the degree to which CA1 responses are the same (reinstatement) or different (novelty response) supports memory, echoing a central tension in the field. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...biorxiv.org 1157
Jörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 23/09/2026We thus conclude that the hippocampus (esp. CA1) can express beneficial forms of consistency and differentiation at the same time via orthogonal signals. 040
Jörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 23/09/2026While novelty in CA1 provided an independent contribution to memory alongside reinstatement, novelty in CA3 did not. There, only item-specific, not context-specific, reinstatement predicted memory. Interestingly, the trial-to-trial novelty response & reinstatement were completely uncorrelated. 150
Jörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 23/09/2026In line with our other recent work using a completely independent in-house dataset (bsky.app/profile/jaqu...), we find that large parts of the hippocampus, including CA1 and CA3, also show a novelty response. 140
Jörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Given the elusiveness of hippocampal reinstatement, especially for simple recognition memory, we first focused on finding evidence that CA1 shows mnemonically relevant reinstatement, which it did, together with CA3, which was only true for reinstating the initial experience. Nothing else was robust. 140
Jörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 23/09/2026For this, we (me, @mengya-zhang.bsky.social, @neurodenizen.bsky.social) analysed the NSD (naturalscenesdataset.org), which is a large-scale precision neuroimaging dataset with tens of thousands of trials collected over several months providing an invaluable treasure trove. 130
Jörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Proud to share our latest preprint with my very special @mengya-zhang.bsky.social (🥰). Briefly, we studied how the degree to which CA1 responses are the same (reinstatement) or different (novelty response) supports memory, echoing a central tension in the field. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...biorxiv.org 1157
Jörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Interesting new pre-print on cellular pattern separation in humans: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...biorxiv.orgCellular code for mnemonic pattern separation in the human hippocampus is revealed by false memoriesTheoretical models propose that pattern separation, a computation thought to be implemented by the hippocampus, allows us to differentiate between familiar and novel items. However, whether pattern se... 010
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentJörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 21/09/2026My latest work on how both hippocampal consistency and differentiation can support single-item recognition memory. 0125
Jörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Agreed. It will probably be a cat and mouse game, which depends how strongly does someone that cheats want to avoid detection. I've seen people use RT auto-correlation across trials to detect cheating but this probably only works some time until an agents specifically implements it as well. 100
Jörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 22/09/2026I am not sure if running online experiments will be viable much longer. I can still imagine recruiting local students to complete tasks online can work but the incentive to cheat on the big platforms is too large. 110
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentMicah G. Allen @micahgallen.com · 22/09/2026So… we just found out that GPT sol can complete a complex online behavioral/cognitive study producing nearly indistinguishable behavior and subjective reports… right as we are about to launch. Is this doomsday for online cognitive testing? 3212669
Jörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 22/09/2026This but I would also add that the problem for many health issues is not a lack of a cure but the distribution of resources, which is a socioeconomic issue not be solved by AI. They mean curing all diseases for those who can afford it, anyway, but I don't even believe that tbh. 000
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentRichard Baker @bakerart.bsky.social · 19/01/2026Boathouse on the Cam, large pastel. I worked my way along the Cam doing pastels and watercolours of all the boathouses after I was commissioned to do one of them. #theCam #boathouse #rowing 212214
Jörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 21/09/2026My latest work on how both hippocampal consistency and differentiation can support single-item recognition memory. 0125
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentbioRxiv Neuroscience @biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 21/09/2026CA1 reinstatement and novelty response independently support recognition memory www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20… 062
Jörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 20/09/2026That being said, I do miss their sausages roles. This was unironically the first stop when I went to the UK the last time. 000
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentHayoung Song @hayoungsong.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Honored to be featured, thanks @franciscorr25.bsky.social and @thetransmitter.bsky.social! It was exciting to share my vision for the lab (thesonglab.github.io) and reflect on the wisdom my mentors have passed on⭐️thesonglab.github.ioSong Lab 1319
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentImaging Neuroscience @imagingneurosci.bsky.social · 15/09/2026New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Ian Goodall-Halliwell, Boris C. Bernhardt, et al: MICAFlow: Fast and robust MRI preprocessing bridging research neuroimaging and clinical practice doi.org/10.1162/IMAG... 021
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentIris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 13/09/2026🚨 I have just signed this petition to keep the Cognitive Science program at Aarhus University (@au.dk) international. Please consider reading, boosting, and signing too. ✍️ The students will be grateful! This petition is on their initiative. 🙏 omnibus.au.dk/en/archive/s...omnibus.au.dkOPINION: AU wants international talent – but is closing the door on them at Cognitive ScienceStudents and alumni at Cognitive Science urge the Senior Management Team to reopen the decision to convert the Bachelor’s programme in Cognitive Science to Danish. Why should Arts be left without an E... 32112
Reposted by Jörn Alexander QuentJörn Alexander Quent @jaquent.bsky.social · 12/09/2026I am very excited to share this. 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Most of us agree that the HC is critical for associative memory but there is growing work showing it does much more (WM etc.). Recognition partly relies on a global matching, which based on influential models is not supported by HC. 1188