Sign in

Steve Barrera

@steve-barrera.bsky.social
188 followers 445 following 13 posts

Assistant Teaching Professor in Cognitive Science. Studying cognitive neuroscience, moral cognition, and teaching methodology. Opinions my own.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
On 11 Nov. 2020, APOD published this spectacular image. It is a spiral mosaic of 48 full moons, collected over 10 years from northern to southern Italy. No trick: it is the Moon, filtered by Earth’s atmosphere. Credit: Marcella Giulia Pace apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap20111... 🔭⚛️🧪 #astrophotography
Forty-eight full-Moon photos. Black background. They form a spiral, and the rings get tighter toward the middle. Some appear gray, some brownish gray. Others appear yellow, orange or deep red. A few pale blues. One vivid purple Moon sits near the center.
Several disks low in the arrangement look slightly flattened rather than round. The sequence ends with a faint red Moon from the total lunar eclipse of 27 July 2018. 
Small credit text at the bottom reads Marcella Giulia Pace.
29321
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Maikel Ortega @maikelortega.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Direct link to the paper mentioned. Results are really interesting, I'd like to see more experiments like these. The real danger of LLM usage has nothing to do with the corpos fearmongering their product as a marketing campaign. arxiv.org/pdf/2604.04721
arxiv.org
2504
Reposted by Steve Barrera
PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · 08/10/2026
Moral and perceptual decisions may share computational mechanisms, but do they rely on the same neural systems? This study shows that both follow similar evidence-accumulation computations, yet engage distinct neural representations. 🧪 #NeuroSky #morality #cognition plos.io/4AM2V57
Moral and perceptual task-relevant conflict are represented by distinct brain areas. The two right temporoparietal junction clusters (rpTPJ and raTPJ) identified in different analyses had no overlap.
082
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Karl Galle @karlgalle.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
In related news, how did I not know that a new open-access English translation of Kepler's Dioptrice (1611) -- his second major optics work, and the first detailed printed theory of how telescopes work -- just came out last year? books.radbouduniversitypress.nl/index.php/ru... #HistSTM #EarlyModern
Cover image for Søren Larsen's Engish translation of Johannes Kepler's 1611 book Dioptrice.
2207
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
What butterfly wings have in common with barbershop poles: Wing patterns and flight dynamics combine to create “motion dazzle” effect, similar to the barbershop pole optical illusion.That makes it harder for predators to gauge a butterfly's speed, direction. arstechnica.com/science/2026...
arstechnica.com
What butterfly wings have in common with barbershop poles
Wing patterns, flight dynamics create "motion dazzle" effect, make it harder to gauge speed, direction.
092
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Phil Corlett @philcorlett.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
New from Sarah Fan and our predictive coding team: prediction errors are bottom up in people with delusions (and top-down in psychics): osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io
OSF
24316
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Adrian Currie @adrian-currie.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Methods in the Philosophy of Science: A User's Guide, edited by the inestimable @phieveigl.bsky.social (and me!), has 27 chapters from super-cool philosophers of science explaining how they do their thing, and is now open access! Our baby is free! #philsci direct.mit.edu/books/oa-edi...
direct.mit.edu
Methods in the Philosophy of Science: A User's Guide
A guidebook to methods and methodology, encouraging deeper engagement across the philosophy of science and beyond.The last twenty years have seen multiple
414873
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Nick Seaver @nickseaver.website · 08/09/2026
First class of the semester is completed. Running iteration 9 of my seminar, How to Pay Attention. Doing it fully on paper this year, but the web copy of the syllabus is here: classes.nickseaver.net/HTPA/
classes.nickseaver.net
How to Pay Attention
Undergraduate seminar critically examining attention: how it is measured, valued, and managed in social, cultural, and technical contexts, from driver monitoring to AI.
77411
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Cedar Riener @criener.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Hey fellow Psych profs, maybe time to dust off the Le Texier (2019) as well as the @alexhaslam.bsky.social Haslam, Reicher and van Bavel @jayvanbavel.bsky.social (2019) and do a little more history of psych than we usually do in other classes. I think this will likely make a pretty big splash.
121
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Reading for pleasure is linked to better cognition, mental health, empathy, memory, and more gray matter. (There are probably confounding factors, but let's just choose to believe it's causal.)
newscientist.com
Reading for pleasure boosts memory, empathy and mental health | New Scientist
Fewer people are reading for pleasure, but getting lost in a good book has repeatedly been linked to substantial cognitive benefits
322480
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Paige Tutt @tatertutt.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
It's here! The biggest thing I've *ever* worked on for @edutopia.org (or ever). Gratitude to my co-author @youkiterada.bsky.social who did IMMENSE heavy-lifting, and our incisive editor @stephenmerrill.bsky.social. Big thanks to @albertocairo.com and @misssarahleo.bsky.social for their wisdom!
edutopia.org
Will These 6 Sneaky Charts, Maps, and Graphs Deceive Your Students?
In a media landscape overrun with slick data visualizations, students must develop the skills to scrutinize what’s presented to them as fact—or risk being led astray.
1148
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Ashley Juavinett, PhD @ashleyjuavinett.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
If there are any PhD hopefuls on here, I wanted to share a few thoughts on your timeline for the upcoming admissions cycle, with apps due starting mid-November. What should you be doing right now? ✔️ Generating a list of schools ✔️ Reaching out to possible recommenders 🧵!
33924
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Susana Monsó @susanamonso.com · 07/09/2026
Interested in doing a PhD in philosophy of animal minds in lovely Murcia? We have just published a call for expressions of interest to do a PhD as part of our research project on ecological validity in comparative cognitive science. Please consider applying if this is up your street!
ecologicalvalidity.wordpress.com
Call for expressions of interest: PhD position
The Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation is about to publish a call for pre-doctoral scholarships (FPI) adhered to scientific projects that have been approved for funding in 2026. We invite …
38067
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Kristina Šekrst @epiphenomenal.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Spent a lot of time to make the world's most recent and bestest! intro to #AI course, featuring all the stuff philosophers ignore to make bold claims and all the stuff engineers ignore to make even bolder ones. Everything from Wiener to Anthropic interpretability: cogsci.online/introduction...
cogsci.online
Introduction to AI (CogSci syllabus, 2026/2027)
Introduction to Artificial Intelligence A fifteen-unit introductory course in artificial intelligence for cognitive science students, covering the historical and conceptual foundations of the field…
3232
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
It is out and OPEN ACCESS: "The Senses: Perception and Experience" (Cambridge University Press, Elements: Philosophy of Mind, ed. by @keithfrankish.com) #PhilSky #booksky #HPBio #philosophy #cogsci www.cambridge.org/core/element...
cambridge.org
The Senses
Cambridge Core - Philosophy: General Interest - The Senses
1212747
Reposted by Steve Barrera
tor @torwager.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Launching scienceofplacebo.org: a living bibliography of placebo and nocebo research. New papers screened & tagged daily by design, population, outcome and findings, with a searchable database (currently about 5,000 papers), an interactive researcher map, events, news and discussion.
scienceofplacebo.org
Science of Placebo
A research hub for the science of placebo and nocebo effects: a daily-updated feed of new papers, a searchable tagged database, bibliometrics, events, resources and discussion.
22410
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Nature Reviews Neuroscience @natrevneuro.nature.com · 01/09/2026
Making models disagree to learn how brains compute — a Review by Tal Golan, Heiko H. Schütt & Nikolaus Kriegeskorte @talgolanneuro.bsky.social @heikoschuett.bsky.social @kriegeskorte.bsky.social #neuroscience #neuroskyence www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Making models disagree to learn how brains compute - Nature Reviews Neuroscience
Neural network models can express computational hypotheses about brain information processing, but their high parametric capacity makes discriminating model alignment to experimental data challenging....
03112
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Erin J. Wamsley 🧠📈😴 @wamsleylab.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Our department at Furman University is hiring, in social or social cognitive -- In many ways, Furman is a uniquely excellent place to work for someone who values both teaching and research, looking to do both in a liberal arts environment. Happy to candidly answer questions (DM me).
furman.wd115.myworkdayjobs.com
Tenure-Track Position in Social or Social Cognitive Psychology
Welcome to Furman University's Career Site! IMPORTANT: Load all documents in the My Experience area under Resume/CV. This may include your resume/C.V., cover letter, unofficial transcript, teaching ph...
044
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 30/08/2026
Watch what it's like to sample an asteroid. On 20 October 2020, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft positioned itself above asteroid Bennu and used its sampling system to grab material for return to Earth. Rather than being a solid chunk of rock, Bennu turned out to have the cohesion of a ball pit.
814335
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Mike Frank @mcxfrank.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
For you to collect good data, your participants need to have a good experience. Ch 12 of Experimentology takes that seriously, covering informed consent, how to make good online experiments, and participant compliance checks. 🧵 experimentology.io
1275
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Almost every single student who has found me this week wants to talk about AI. A couple reflections. One student has taken three AI courses in philosophy, health sciences and comm. They’re basically the same class. As it turns out, it doesn’t take a lot of classes to “learn” ai.
91791312
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Paula Krebs @paulakrebs.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
We have grants to give! If you want to work on humanities recruitment, retention, or career readiness, check this out: www.mla.org/Resources/Ca...
mla.org
MLA Pathways Step Grants
Step grants of up to $10,000 to support faculty members or teams developing ways to improve the recruitment, retention, or career readiness of undergraduate students.
01811
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Mark Dingemanse @markdingemanse.net · 15/07/2026
Revised! Interactional foundations for critical AI literacies doi.org/10.5281/zeno... Gods speak, spirits speak, computers speak. Oracular ambiguity or statistical probability provides loopholes, and discrepancies are expunged by Faith.” — Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness (1969)
doi.org
Interactional foundations for critical AI literacies
The ubiquity and ease of use of large language models makes it easy to overlook the interactional and interpretive processes at play. To understand the attraction of this technology we need to trace i...
36931
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
“I lost my confidence in my own writing.” When a student sitting on a stage shares this with an auditorium full of adult educators, acknowledging why they stopped using AI in their own school work, it has an impact. Two weeks later and I still remember what it felt like to hear that...
excerpt from post linked in reply
29242
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Cognitive Science Society @cogscisociety.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
The CogSci Mind Challenge is ALL NEW for 2026! Choose your format: video, podcast, animation, visual explainer, blog post, and more! New formats. New possibilities. Same challenge: make cognitive science accessible and engaging. Deadline: Aug. 26🗓️ cognitivesciencesociety.org/cogsci-mind-...
053
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Cara Giovanetti @idontevencara.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
In the 1970s, a group of farmers digging a well stumbled upon one of the greatest archaeological finds in history. They had found the terracotta army—some 8,000 life-size clay soldiers, buried over 2,000 years ago. The soldiers had real weapons, **which were still sharp**. How? 1/8 ⚛️🧪
Photograph of the Terracotta Army archaeological site showing rows of life-sized clay soldiers and horses arranged in pits under a large protective roof.

By xiquinhosilva - https://www.flickr.com/photos/xiquinho/27718581472/in/album-72157669496699682/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=147287690
232980
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
If you would like to teach theoretical modeling skills to your psychology or cognitive science students, or would like to learn these skills yourself, check out our open online textbook: computationalcognitivescience.github.io/lovelace/
Book cover: orange/yellow background and generated tree in front. Artwork by Danielle Navarro
29139
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Edouard Machery @edouardmachery.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
My article (with Andrew Latham and Somogy Varga) on moral judgment and judgment abotu health and disease is at last out in an issue. #philsci
tandfonline.com
The Wicked and the Ill
This study investigates the influence of evaluative judgments, specifically regarding an individual’s moral character, on judgments of health and disease. Though it might seem that judgments of hea...
042
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Simon Lohse @simonlohse.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
One more paper of our special issue on comparative #philsci is out: link.springer.com/article/10.1..., Gonnerman et al. analyse how scientific method, theory, and hypothesis are portrayed in science textbooks across the natural and social sciences. #ScienceEducation
link.springer.com
Comparative Philosophy of Science Through the Lens of Science Textbooks - Journal for General Philosophy of Science
This paper analyzes how scientific method, theory, and hypothesis are portrayed in introductory, college science textbooks across the natural and social sciences. While philosophers of science have lo...
0248
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Jillian @nogoodwyfe.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I need your help! If you have been better than me at saving/bookmarking good threads, blogs, articles etc. explaining how LLMs function scientifically or critiquing/assessing their use in a complex way (ie not just calling them “plagiarism machines,” tho I do agree), can you share your links here?
177336
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Rachit Dubey @rachitdubey.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
🚨New preprint and our results are rather concerning.. We find the "boiling frog" equivalent of AI use. Using large-scale RCTs, we provide *casual* evidence that AI assistance reduces persistence and hurts independent performance. And these effects emerge after just 10–15 minutes of AI use! 1/
261536684
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 03/08/2026
Sunset on Mars. Photographed on 19 May 2005 by the Spirit rover.
An uneven horizon, broken by rugged topography. A small Sun, white in colour, lies just on that horizon. A blue glow in an otherwise dull grey–red sky emanates from the star.
216425
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Tomer Burg @burgwx.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Through extraordinary efforts, @windbornewx.bsky.social successfully navigated a controllable balloon above powerful Typhoon Dolphin, descended into its eye, then collected multiple vertical profiles as we circled inside its eye. A first of its kind type of hurricane data collection.
928987
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Inside Higher Ed @insidehighered.com · 31/07/2026
Student Success | It’s Never Too Late to Go Back to College In this week’s Voices of Student Success episode, ReUp CEO Terah Crews explores why students stop out and what colleges can do to help them return. bit.ly/4g6ucXq #EDUSky #HigherEd #AcademicSky
Inside Higher Ed Voices of Student Success with Terah Crews, CEO at ReUp Education
041
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Stephen Emrich @emrich.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
I'm really excited to share the results of a new study that @bjbalas.bsky.social and I have been working on this summer. This project was a bit of a labor of love. If you're interested in #chess, mental imagery, #aphantasia, or the value of a sabbatical, this is a 🧵 for you: 1/?
static.klipy.com
Clever Cat Plays Chess
ALT: Clever Cat Plays Chess
3259
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Justin Weinberg @dailynous.com · 23/07/2026
"Wyoming will become the first state in the US where you cannot receive a B.A. in Philosophy."
dailynous.com
University of Wyoming to Drop Philosophy Major - Daily Nous
As for Fall 2027, incoming students at the University of Wyoming will no longer be allowed to major in philosophy. The news was shared by philosophy professor Bradley Rettler in posts on social media. He says that students will be able to major in "philosophy and religion" but not "philosophy" nor "religious studies". Rettler points
12313
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 21/07/2026
1. We—@eduede.bsky.social, @mjcrockett.bsky.social, Kevin Gross, and I—have a new preprint on the arXiv today, based on ideas that emerged during an @sfiscience.bsky.social workshop in November 2024: The unintended consequences of large language models as a labor-augmenting technology in science.
arxiv.org
The unintended consequences of large language models as a labor-augmenting technology in science
As a labor-augmenting technology, large language models (LLMs) have the potential to accelerate scientific activity across the research pipeline. But even if LLMs perform on par with human experts at ...
10837338
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Chloé Guillaume @chloeg-neuro.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Had a lot of fun writing this primer with @elisagalliano.bsky.social! If you've ever been transported back to childhood by the smell of a familiar scent, you might enjoy this. We unpack a new study revealing how neurons generated around birth help encode these lifelong olfactory memories.
0209
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Dr. Jessie Christiansen @aussiastronomer.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Check out this MASTERPIECE of accessibility from Joop Schaye's group - a gorgeous sonification of a galaxy growth simulation. Hear black holes merge, star formation rates rise and fall, and the whoosh of dwarf galaxies flying by. Beautiful AND informative! (Credits next post!) (📣 Sound on! 📣)
33218
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 07/07/2026
This new image from #JWST is AWESOME. This is the Centaurus A galaxy seen in mid-infrared light. At the centre of this galaxy, which is 11–13 million lightyears away, is a supermassive black hole that's 55 million times the mass of our Sun. Neato!
A swirling, psychedelic vista of a distorted barred galaxy with a bright, purple interior from which complex swirls of dust and gas emanate.
723348
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Amy Rae Hill @amyraehill.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Process of Artemis II Eclipse Teapot (available tomorrow!)
14559133
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Neuroskeptic @neuroskeptic.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Someone has 3D printed a brain model - complete with activation lights! You can actually upload fMRI data and visualize the activations in real time right there on your desk! youtu.be/yNct2cJM9BQ?... #fmri #neuroscience
youtu.be
I made a BRAIN (with real data)
YouTube video by Michael Migacev
26720
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Ethan Mollick @emollick.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
More evidence, from a large-scale study in China, that using AI hurts learning if it undermines mental effort. When homework time drops due to AI use, so do test scores. Across studies, there is a clear theme: AI tutoring in support of classes is good, using AI to "help" with homework is bad.
17411127
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Matthias Nau @matthiasnau.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Great new review by @freekvanede.bsky.social on microsaccades and what they reveal about working memory. Highly recommended!👇👀
031
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Chuliang Song @clsong.com · 16/06/2026
Spent the last two years developing a new Intro to Physics course for undergrad biology majors. It features tons of examples from biology (especially Ecology & Evolution!) and requires only middle school-level math. Lecture note here shorturl.at/0PiVp Any comments or feedback are highly welcome!
drive.google.com
physics_for_biologists.pdf
312054
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
Kudos to everyone involved for this massive multidisciplinary effort. Depression is the type of multilevel, complex condition that requires an “all hands on deck” approach like this. Great to see it.
0193
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Yvonne Lam @yvonnezlam.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
sharing to read later
041
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Gordon Hodson @gordonhodsonphd.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
#AcademicSky Study: bees can solve problems/puzzles that were designed for chimps to solve www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... We truly need to rethink our uniqueness in the cognitive realm. I mean, it makes sense that other organisms can solve problems (to survive)!
science.org
Spontaneous problem-solving in bumble bees
Problem-solving using novel solutions without explicit training is often considered a hallmark of cognitive flexibility. We investigated whether bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) could solve a novel obj...
031
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Ele Willoughby @minouette.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Happy birthday to autodidact #mathematician Alicia Boole Stott (1860-1940), shown here with diagrams of cross-sections of 4D polytopes from her publications. 🧪🐡👩🏼‍🔬🧮 #histsci Alicia came to math honestly. Her father Prof George Boole developed Boolean logic, but died when she was 4. Her mother 🧵
My linocut of Alicia Boole Stott as a middle aged woman surrounded by shapes related to her research on 4D polytopes including her 3D unfolding of a hypercube, her drawings of the 3-principle sections of the 600-cell, her expansion of the octahedron- a truncated octahedron, and sections of the 16-cell. Printed on cream coloured washi, she’s printed in raspberry. The outlines of shapes are printed in bronze. A vertical stripe of shapes have brightly coloured faces in yellow, red, orange and blue. She used colours to indicate how they fit together in 4D.
24214
Reposted by Steve Barrera
Maura Doherty @molowell.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
IMP!!! Understanding Ai from an historical, conceptual, & critical point of view for the Humanities & Social Sciences, with citations, in clear language for scholars and use in the classroom from Computer Science expert Olivia Guest. For your MUST DO LIST & Syllabus. youtu.be/pi85dy4LIL0?...
youtu.be
What is AI, and why is it harmful?
YouTube video by Olivia Guest
12212