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Rutvik Desai

@rutvikdesai.bsky.social
135 followers 217 following 82 posts

Cognitive neuroscientist • Neural basis of semantics, language • Professor at U of South Carolina

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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Halloween decoration in the lab. By putting this outside my door, I thought students were trying to send a message about how long they have to wait for me. After reading the sign I feel better. They only died waiting for significance.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
There are two types of questions one can ask: 1) how are AI systems similar to and different from the human brain 2) even when similar, how do they do it? Not sure that answer to the second q can be found by a boring rute force search. There is a good reason why "mechinterp" is a thriving field.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Looks like our 2025 winner Sigfus needs to step up his game. Congrats to the winners.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Congratulations!!
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Notice how in B63, we stimulated ATL but ChatGPT put activations in IFG and pMTG. There might be racial, ethnic, or gender bias in these systems but when are they going to address the pro-IFG bias? SNL protest!
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Will miss SNL this year, but check these out. All in session B. #SNL2026 #SNL26
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It is not surprising that they don't want to engage with data. The usual response is to pivot to legitimate but totally different issues related to AI, such as data center water use, job loss, pollution, etc. All valid concerns but that has nothing to with stochastic parrots.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
When Searle wrote the Chinese Room paper in 1980, the notion of thinking machines was too far out. It was reasonable to be skeptical if you buy the intuitions created by such arguments. Now, data and personal experience are so overwhelming that holding onto such arguments is an uphill battle.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
youtube.com/shorts/4mq6s...
youtube.com
They Want To Destroy Americas Oldest Natural History Museum
YouTube video by Miniminuteman
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
It is said that democracy is the worst form of government, except all the others. Perhaps the same is true (so far) for papers and citations. The worst way to judge candidates, except all the other ones.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Story on Flock cameras that I was interviewed for www.southcarolinapublicradio.org/sc-news/2026...
southcarolinapublicradio.org
ALPR cameras have been in South Carolina for a while. So why the backlash now?
A growing number of news stories show that more South Carolinians are (quite literally) striking back against automated license plate readers. The moment is prompting some deep questions.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Very sorry to hear this. Hope they can find a way. They must.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Very nice work! Check out this related study www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
ATL is often thought of as a taxonomic hub. Our new results suggest there is more to it. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Anterior temporal lobe mediates associative and taxonomic neighborhood effects in lexical processing
Processing a word’s meaning activates some of its semantic neighbors that are related associatively or taxonomically. While prior studies have shown t…
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Whoa 👏 Reilly Renovations goes to the top of my list right away for my next home improvement project.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Congratulations! Feels too early. But well deserved.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Oh no! Should have told Andrew to keep this under wraps. Seriously, it will be fun.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Congratulations, you are on a roll!
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Wow! Jamie Reilly Pro Max.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Genius. "key" is a context dependent abstract concept after all. who is to say what is the real key?
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
LOL. Creative!
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Many congratulations!
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Many congratulations to @sophiearheix.bsky.social for her K99/R00 award! Her work aims to apply TMS to novel targets for aphasia. Look out for exciting papers from her new lab!
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
Nice work! You may want to take a look this paper, which is tangentially related. We find that LLMs are "too creative" in making sense of word combinations (relative to humans). www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
The Two Word Test as a semantic benchmark for large language models - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - The Two Word Test as a semantic benchmark for large language models
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Announcing 2026 Conference at the Institute of Mind and Brain, U Of South Carolina
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
A model of Frame and Verb Compliance in language acquisition, 2007 Neurocomputing
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
btw, this is a tiny model that shows item-based learning (memorizing sentence frames) initially and then switches to lexical cues. from the good old days when networks had 3-4 layers. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
Very nice work. Reminds me of "item-based learning" proposal by tomasello and others with respect to language acquisition in children. how kids memorize word combinations that lead to full generalization later.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
We have, however, used them to model errors in picture naming. They produce various types of errors seen in aphasic patients (eg, semantic, phonological, nonword, neologism, mixed errors). I would be skeptical that we can extend this to past tense but we haven't tried yet.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
The issue is that LLMs have a relatively poor representation of phonology. They have tokens that are sort of like morphemes, but they don't have a full fledged phonology. This is kind of important for past tense. That's why it is hard to use them for modeling sublexical processes.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
"I asked Siri". There's your first mistake.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Crazy good if you drew it blind.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Finally some snow in SC to the delight of kids. Quicky taking advantage in the mornimg before it melts in the afternoon.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
Legos are usually a safe bet.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
We found similar differentiation (eg fig 1b) between people and places using written names (as opposed to pictures). these areas also overlap with general semantic network.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Very nice work, congratulations. You may find this paper relevant: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36372812
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Proper and common names in the semantic system - PubMed
Proper names are an important part of language and communication. They are thought to have a special status due to their neuropsychological and psycholinguistic profile. To what extent proper names rely on the same semantic system as common names is not clear. In an fMRI study, we presented the same …
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
😀
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
Representation Similarity Analysis (RSA) is a popular method for analysis of neuroimaging and behavioral data. Our recent paper suggests it has 'issues' and has potential to produce misleading results. arxiv.org/abs/2511.00395
arxiv.org
Is Representational Similarity Analysis Reliable? A Comparison with Regression
Representational Similarity Analysis (RSA) is a popular method for analyzing neuroimaging and behavioral data. Here we evaluate the accuracy and reliability of RSA in the context of model selection, a...
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Reposted by Rutvik Desai
Zhiqiang Sha (X: @sha_zhiqiang) @zhiqiangsha.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
🔥🔥New faculty position in lifespan neuroimaging (McCausland Distinguished Chair). That's an amazing opportunity to join our brand-new Brain Health Network in Columbia. If you are interested in, please DM me. uscjobs.sc.edu/postings/190...
uscjobs.sc.edu
Peter and Bonnie McCausland Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
Need more subjects.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
Good luck for the surgery! Exemplary move to turn this into a rich study.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
In addition to the 7 jobs in brain/language at University of South Carolina, we also have a philosophy job on issues related to AI philjobs.org/job/show/29754
philjobs.org
Assistant Professor in Philosophical Issues in Artificial Intelligence, University of South Carolina - PhilJobs:JFP Assistant Professor in Philosophical Issues in Artificial Intelligence, Universi...
An international database of jobs for philosophers
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Direct links to each position www.canva.com/design/DAGxX...
canva.com
Unsupported client – Canva
Unsupported client – Canva
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Seven faculty positions in language/brain health at University of South Carolina! sc.edu/study/colleg...
sc.edu
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 07/09/2025
He ran an excellent journal club in the evenings during my student days at IU. Fondly remember "how far you can go without representations" discussions and more. He will be missed.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
If your work involves use of properties of English words, you are likely missing something if you are not using SCOPE.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
New variables added in this version include gpt4o ratings, human motivation, iconicity, cognition, and spelling-sound transparency ratings.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
New version of SCOPE is out! It is the largest metabase of psycholinguistic properties of words. sc.edu/study/colleg...
sc.edu
SCOPE: The South Carolina Psycholinguistic Metabase - Department of Psychology | University of South Carolina
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
IU has been a leader in cognitive science for a long time. Sad to see this elimination, and so many others, as an alum.
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Rutvik Desai @rutvikdesai.bsky.social · 21/06/2025
Happy anniversary to both !
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