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Rebecca Saxe

@rebeccasaxe.bsky.social
6K followers 425 following 716 posts

Cognitive neuroscience at MIT. Open science. 🇨🇦 Saxelab.mit.edu

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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I have a question about the future of metrics for hiring and promoting faculty in science. Academic journal articles have been our currency for a long time, but are under extreme & mounting pressure. Is any dept or field already using a better metric *for hiring and promoting faculty*?
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Hurrah for data sharing in development science. Because prior studies shared data, we could do a higher-powered test of the effect of age than any one study alone. In this case, the youngest infants have just as strong expectations about saliva sharing as the older ones! #opendata
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Brandon Woo @brandonwoo.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
New paper with Liz Spelke, @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social, and @ashleyjthomas.bsky.social! We find that when 4- to 6-month-old infants observe two individuals share saliva, they infer that those individuals have a close relationship. Free access link: authors.elsevier.com/a/1niQg_Oow0...
A conceptual schematic illustrating the logic of the studies. (A) Infants observe a central actor who shares saliva with one actor and does not share saliva with another actor. (B) From such observations, infants may infer and represent whether the actors are connected and how thick each connection is. (C) These representations support infants' expectations of who will respond to the central actor's distress.
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
What an incredibly moving and joy-filled 20-year reunion of Saxe-lab past and present. I feel so lucky to have these people be my scientific family.
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Lisa DeBruine @debruine.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
You can use this R function to download all of the files associated with an OSF project. Improvements are coming in the next version to include registrations. Should we add a function to download all your public and private projects? osf_file_download(“abcde”) www.scienceverse.org/metacheck/
scienceverse.org
Check Research Outputs for Best Practices
A modular, extendable system for checking research outputs for best practices using text search, R code, and/or (optional) LLM queries.
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Uri Simonsohn @urisohn.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Here is what i think the head-to-head comparison of ResearchBox vs Zenodo look like as OSF replacements. If I am missing an important attribute, let me know, will update accordingly.
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Russ Poldrack @russpoldrack.org · 11/08/2026
Many of you will have seen the recent post about changes at OSF. If you'd like to learn more about how to use other services (particularly Zenodo) to share data and code, see my book chapter on resource sharing. bettercode-book.org/book-sharing...
bettercode-book.org
12  Sharing Research Objects – Better Code, Better Science
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
When we started scanning human infants 13 years ago, it seemed likely that functional responses in infant cortex would be qualitatively different from adults. Instead we keep finding similarities between infants and adults. Even for scene perception, despite the slow development of navigation.
Image of brain activation when infants look at movies of visual scenes, showing activation in three cortical regions: OPA, PPA and MPA.
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
One current debate about infants vs AI: how much visual experience do they each need to learn to see? Don’t miss the neat relevant evidence and calculation in @fkamps.bsky.social 's paper, and explained in 🧵 ⤵️.
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Freddy Kamps @fkamps.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
New paper! We found basic scene selectivity arises across the scene network early in infancy (i.e., by ~3.5 months old), prior to independent navigation experience www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
The cortical scene processing network emerges in infancy, prior to independent navigation experience | PNAS
Sighted people rely on vision to recognize and navigate the local environment. By adulthood, human cortex contains at least three regions that resp...
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Alicia Chen @aliciamchen.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
New paper with @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social "Expectations of reciprocal generosity are specific to equal relationships," in @openmindjournal.bsky.social. Thread below! Article: doi.org/10.1162/opmi... MIT News: news.mit.edu/2026/would-y...
news.mit.edu
Would you return a favor? Scientists say it depends on the relationship
People generally only engage in reciprocal generosity with others of equal or unknown status, MIT researchers experimentally demonstrated. During repeated interactions between people of different soci...
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
The OMB has proposed rules that would, among other things, have political appointees override peer review and allow sudden grant termination. This morning I wrote a comment on this proposal in my own words. It only took a few minutes. You can do the same: www.regulations.gov/document/OMB...
regulations.gov
Regulations.gov
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
I'm staying at my friend's house. Will my friend expect to stay at my house, next time? What if I said, I'm staying at my parent's friend's house. Will my parent's friend expect to stay at my house next time? How relationships change expectations: see🧵on new paper by @aliciamchen.bsky.social
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
A first glimpse of the monosynaptic connectivity to TPJ in humans!
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
So cool! New evidence of a mono-synaptic pathway from FFA to TPJ in human cortex from @rui-xu.bsky.social , @nancykanwisher.bsky.social and team. They stimulated a site in FFA, and evoked activity in (independently functionally localized) TPJ.
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Brian Nosek @briannosek.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Neuroscientists interested in rigor, methodology, and open practices, check out this job opportunity to work on a COS-MIT collaboration to improve the research culture in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences program at MIT. careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/cl...
careers.peopleclick.com
Neuroscience Research Methodologist
MIT - Neuroscience Research Methodologist - Cambridge MA 02139
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Congratulations to @olaozpal.bsky.social & big team on new paper: large sample of children reveals the early origins of left-lateralization in language processing. Nice profile in MIT news: news.mit.edu/2026/languag...
news.mit.edu
Language development in the brain
The brain’s capacity to use and understand language expands rapidly in the first years of life. But by age 4, language processing is already handled by the left side of the brain, as in adults, accord...
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Prof Rick Adams @drrickadams.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
📢PhD job alert! A exciting PhD project that involves using MEG and biophysical modelling to try to predict effects of a glutamatergic treatment for psychosis... plus you can develop your own side project. Join our great team! www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
ucl.ac.uk
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Job posting! MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences are hiring a Neuroscience Research Methodologist - responsible for open science practices and data management across all the areas of the department. See 🧵for link and details.
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
So impressed by the MIT graduate student council's resolution on open scholarship. If you're a graduate student and want a voice in the future of science scholarship, this is an example. See profile by the MIT Libraries: libraries.mit.edu/news/reshapi...
libraries.mit.edu
Reshaping Scholarly Communications | News
In March 2026, MIT’s Graduate Student Council (GSC) passed a Resolution on Scientific Publishing and MIT Libraries, a wide-ranging document that calls upon the MIT community, as well as federal fundin...
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Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
A now annual Mother's Day tradition: celebrating this image and the poignant words of @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social about the complexity of identity and culture — and to the experience of motherhood. Thank you for it, Rebecca. www.smithsonianmag.com/science-natu...
As for me, I saw a very old image made new. The Mother and Child is a powerful symbol of love and innocence, beauty and fertility. Although these maternal values, and the women who embody them, may be venerated, they are usually viewed in opposition to other values: inquiry and intellect, progress and power. But I am a neuroscientist, and I worked to create this image; and I am also the mother in it, curled up inside the tube with my infant son.
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Willem van Schaik @wvschaik.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
I have now read this piece and it is very good. Massive respect for @merenbey.bsky.social and Iva for their persistence and documenting this torturous process. Highly recommended reading for anyone who cares about reproducibility in science.
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allen institute @alleninstitute.org · 14/04/2026
Teach neuroscience to undergraduates? Check out our "Implementing Open Neuroscience Teaching Tools" workshop! Join us on July 19 at North Central College to get hands-on practice with inquiry-based activities using real #OpenScience resources. 🔗 bit.ly/46A5j15 🧠📈 #iteachbio
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Today I taught science communication, and miscommunication, to graduate students at MIT. In the process I stumbled on this great blog post from 2019 about the misinformation related to my Mother and Child Image. Thanks! whoever wrote this. www.feeduk.org/blog/mri-ima...
feeduk.org
Sunday scrolling: the MRI image that misled many mums — feed
It all begins with an idea.
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Jessica Polka @jessicapolka.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Love this framing for open science from @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social: to discover the truth, you must be open to scrutiny from all quarters. Celebrating 25 years of @mitocw.bsky.social
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Tonight at 7pm: Nancy Kanwisher will be on On Point!! Talking about the brain. @nancykanwisher.bsky.social @npr.org
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Lillian Behm @lillianbehm.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Awake infant fMRI offers a rare window into early brain and cognitive development. In a new paper out now in Infancy, we leverage data from hundreds of infant scans from the Saxe and Turk-Browne Labs to reveal what factors drive scanning success — and how future studies can maximize data retention!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Awake Infants: Insights From More Than 750 Scanning Sessions
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in awake infants has the potential to reveal how the early developing brain gives rise to cognition and behavior. However, awake infant fMRI poses signifi....
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
Congratulations to @lillianbehm.bsky.social, Nick Turk-Browne, and a huge team for putting together this paper (out today) on lessons from a decade of attempts to study awake infants with fMRI: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Awake Infants: Insights From More Than 750 Scanning Sessions
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in awake infants has the potential to reveal how the early developing brain gives rise to cognition and behavior. However, awake infant fMRI poses signifi...
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
If you are at MIT today come to the Open Data prize celebration at 3pm in the Nexus! libraries.mit.edu/opendata/ope...
libraries.mit.edu
MIT Prize for Open Data | Open Data @ MIT
To highlight the value of open data at MIT, and to encourage the next generation of researchers, the MIT School of Science and the MIT Libraries present the MIT Prize for Open Data. Congratulations to...
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
My sister @shoshannasaxe.bsky.social In this podcast, just rocks. So proud. www.podbean.com/ep/pb-bqngw-...
podbean.com
Are Bike Lanes Good for Cities?
Bike lanes are central to city planning, but why do they spark such fierce debate? On Good for Cities, host Matti Siemiatycki sits down with infrastructure expert Dr. Shoshanna Saxe to cut through the...
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Totally agree with Mikes description of this project as a wild journey, utterly joyous true collaboration, and satisfying first step for quantitative predictive rational model of habituation. Not the first time I’ve suggested a “first step” in research that required a whole PhD to complete. 😉
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Mike Frank @mcxfrank.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Ever wonder how habituation works? Here's our attempt to understand: A stimulus-computable rational model of visual habituation in infants and adults doi.org/10.7554/eLif... This is the thesis of two wonderful students: @anjiecao.bsky.social @galraz.bsky.social, w/ @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social
infant data from experiment 1conceptual schema for different habituation modelstitle pageresults from experiment 2 with adults
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flymuscles @flymuscles.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
Total disaster for the #drosophila community if flybase disappears
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
So pleased and proud to share this work. I started trying to think clearly about authority punishment in 2018. This new paper with Setayesh Radkani is the first fruit of that labour. Why so much struggle? See thread. 1/17
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Setayesh Radkani @setayeshradkani.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
Also sharing a beautiful illustration of these ideas by my lovely and talented 👩‍🎨 friend, Adhara Martellini!
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Setayesh Radkani @setayeshradkani.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
🚨Out in PNAS🚨 with @joshtenenbaum.bsky.social & @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social Punishment, even when intended to teach norms and change minds for the good, may backfire. Our computational cognitive model explains why! Paper: tinyurl.com/yc7fs4x7 News: tinyurl.com/3h3446wu 🧵
tinyurl.com
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
Reading this book and really enjoying it. Even the parts that are familiar are fun to hear again in this new succinct and thoughtful voice.
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The It's Innate! Podcast @theitsinnatepc.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
In case you missed it, our discussion with Professor Rebecca Saxe (@rebeccasaxe.bsky.social‬) is live! Give it a listen, why don't ya?
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Chris Bourg @mchris4duke.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Beliefs about Social Dynamics and Open Science, w/ @ashleyjthomas.bsky.social & @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social - royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... While perceptions of social dynamics of your field don't predict open science attitudes, we did find high levels of support for open science (YAY) ..
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Linda Tropp @lindatropp.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
thanks for sharing @jenikubota.bsky.social - and delighted to see our paper on virtual contact is now *out* (led by @shirahebelsela.bsky.social and with @boazhameiri.bsky.social Samantha Moore-Berg, @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social, @eranhalperin75.bsky.social and Emile Bruneau as co-authors) 🙏🏻
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Jacob Aron @jjaron.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
This is either interesting scientific research or the start of one incredible heist
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Please help: Do you know a baby, less than 12 months old, who can walk? We are trying to complete a project, 7 years in the works. And all we need are 3 infants who are less than a year old and can walk, to do a short online looking-time study. 🆘
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
In case you missed CDS last week, here is the preprint for Young-Eun Lee's presentation:, "Children learn what is right or wrong selectively from a legitimate authority’s punishment" osf.io/preprints/os...
osf.io
OSF
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🤞🏻
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
HHMI is hiring two full-time 'Open Science fellows': www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/op...
linkedin.com
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) hiring Open Science Fellows in Chevy Chase, MD | LinkedIn
Posted 9:01:17 AM. Current HHMI Employees, click here to apply via your Workday account.HHMI is focused on supporting…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
This paper is the final piece of @kosakowski.bsky.social’s thesis. So, after a decade of infant fMRI research in my lab, a brief personal history of this research and some links to learn more.
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
The question we ask: when do face responses arise in human infant cortex? Neuroscientists and developmental psychologists (my two disciplines) have different intuitions.
Graphic showing two alternative theories of the sequence and timing of development of cortical face responses: slow and sequential, or early and parallel.
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Also I love the beautiful thread that @kosakowski.bsky.social wrote about it:
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Rebecca Saxe @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Very excited to share this new paper, out this week. An attempt to express an idea I have been working on for more than a decade. Responses, questions, critiques, suggestions encouraged!
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dell cameron @dell.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
NEW: No fewer than 10 principle scientists at NIH investigating emerging infectious diseases and neural disorders were among those fired by RFK Jr. today. One is an esteemed scientist awarded for breakthrough research into the causes of Parkinson's disease. By me and @emilymullin.bsky.social:
wired.com
Doctor Behind Award-Winning Parkinson’s Research Among Scientists Purged From NIH
Leading scientists at the National Institutes of Health, the US’s leading medical research agency, were swept up Tuesday in the Trump administration's latest firing blitz.
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