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Jess Thompson

@tsonj.bsky.social
338 followers 466 following 34 posts

Postdoc in @summerfieldlab.bsky.social at Oxford studying learning in humans and machines Interested in collective intelligence, metascience, philosophy of science @oxforducu.bsky.social member You can find me on Mastodon at neuromatch.social/@jess

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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 12h
Looking for a PhD related to intrinsic motivation? Look no further than this amazing opportunity to work with the brilliant Franziska Brändle on fascinating questions about what we find fun and engaging, using computational modelling and large scale naturalistic datasets. Deadline: 20 October 2026
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Lilian Weber @lilweb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
✨New PhD Position!✨ Come and work with us on understanding cognition with a mix of cognitive modelling and ultrasound neuromodulation! More info on the lab & position: mic-lab.de/positions/ph... Official job ad: tinyurl.com/miclab-phd 🙏Please RT - deadline is Oct 14 ‼️
mic-lab.de
Research Associate (m/f/d): Models, Interventions, and Cognition — MIC-Lab
Models and interventions of cognition.
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Great opportunity for a philosopher of psychology/cognitive science! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSS513/l... #philsci
jobs.ac.uk
Lecturer in Philosophy of Psychology and Cognitive Science at University of Glasgow
Apply now for the Lecturer in Philosophy of Psychology and Cognitive Science role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.
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Tim Kietzmann @timkietzmann.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
📢 We are hiring a full professor in "Intelligence in Biological and Artificial Systems". Come join us at Germany's first and largest cognitive science program. Please share far and wide, and get in touch with any questions. www.uni-osnabrueck.de/en/universit...
uni-osnabrueck.de
129 FB 8 W3 Professorship Intelligence in Biological and Artificial Systems, Institute of Cognitive Science: Uni Osnabrück
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Reading the Global Justice Report and this fact really blew my mind: because rich countries obtain higher returns on their foreign assets than what they pay on their foreign liabilities, there is a large transfer of wealth from poor to rich countries more than double the total flow of global aid 🤯
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Interested in trade union organising? Come work with us at Oxford UCU! Application deadline 16 June. Branch Administrator and Organiser (permanent, full time) University and College Union, University of Oxford branch www.ucu.org.uk/vacancies#BAO1 @oxforducu.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk #tradeunion #HE
ucu.org.uk
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Ali Shiravand @alishiravand.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
Join us for Cognitive Science for Climate Change on May 26 at ENS Paris 🌍 Exploring how cognitive science and computational modelling can help us better understand climate action. Conveniently scheduled for those coming to Paris for #SBDM. 🎟️ More details: www.eventbrite.com/e/billets-co...
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Sam Gershman @gershbrain.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
The lesson for all the students out there is that science is a community project. Most of us make individually small contributions to this project. Success is measured at the collective level. Many of our professional (and personal) dysfunctions could be fixed by more fully embracing this view.
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
We audited one of the most critical pieces of modern AI alignment: reward models. We find consistent and persistent biases and trace them back to the pretraining stage, challenging the premises of common approaches to alignment based on finetuning on human preferences. Accepted at #ICLR2026
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Brian Christian @brianchristian.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Reward models (RMs) are supposed to represent human values. But RMs are NOT blank slates – they inherit measurable biases from their base models that stubbornly persist through preference training. #ICLR2026 🧵
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
"the academic alerted the University of the situation, and asked for protection as well as restrictive measures to be implemented. The University did not formally investigate the professor, and did not restrict his access to premises or remove his emeritus status." cherwell.org/2026/02/01/o...
cherwell.org
Oxford University did not suspend professor investigated for rape - Cherwell
An emeritus professor at the Saïd Business School, who is also a fellow of an Oxford college, was investigated for rape by Thames Valley Police (TVP).
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Pavel @spavel.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
Person: say, i am alive.

Computer: I am alive.

Person: oh my god.
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Tomer Ullman @tomerullman.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
once again being driven insane by ML conference submissions
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Bluesky > X for science
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
I'm voting YES on my UCU ballot for industrial action • to tell UCEA that I want negotiation, not imposition. • to call for the broken market system to change. • to call for decent pay, conditions, and job security for all university staff. #ucu @oxforducu.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk
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Eleanor Holton @eleanor-holton.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
When does new learning interfere with existing knowledge in people and ANNs? Great to have this out today in @nathumbehav.nature.com Work with @summerfieldlab.bsky.social, @tsonj.bsky.social, Lukas Braun and Jan Grohn www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Humans and neural networks show similar patterns of transfer and interference during continual learning - Nature Human Behaviour
When learning new tasks, both humans and artificial neural networks face a trade-off between reusing prior knowledge to learn faster and avoiding the disruption of earlier learning. This study shows t...
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Eleanor Holton @eleanor-holton.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
Super happy to see this review out! We ask why people are so reluctant to abandon goals and how this commitment could be understood computationally. Work with Jill O'Reilly & @yaelniv.bsky.social
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
I'll be in Montreal October 26-27! Let me know if anyone wants to meet up!
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divine beastmode @gunstreet.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
the post office is a public service. it doesn’t need to make money. public transit doesn’t need to make money. the library doesn’t need to make money. some things exist for the public good and we desperately need lawmakers to stop thinking about them in terms of capitalism. these are not businesses.
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Sam Gershman @gershbrain.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
I had an illuminating interaction with a colleague who said that they try to find time to do a few paper reviews per year. It made me realize that different researchers have widely varying expectations about reviewing, probably because there are no public norms.
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Lilian Weber @lilweb.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
In other news, I am now a ✨ COXI ✨ (cognitive scientist in Osnabrück, Germany) www.uni-osnabrueck.de/en/campus-li... I'll be looking for PhD students & postdocs later this year, so watch this space if combining cognitive modelling, EEG & tFUS to study flexible cognition sounds exciting to you 🚀
uni-osnabrueck.de
New at the university: Prof. Weber!
Osnabrück University welcomes Prof. Dr. Lilian Weber! Since August 15, she has held the professorship "Cognitive Modeling" at the School of Human Sciences. A warm welcome!
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Erin Grant @eringrant.me · 19/08/2025
I’m recruiting committee members for the Technical Program Committee at #CCN2026. Please apply if you want to help make submission, review & selection of contributed work (Extended Abstracts & Proceedings) more useful for everyone! 🌐 Helps to have: programming/communications/editorial experience.
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Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science (SIPS) @improvingpsych.org · 15/08/2025
PsyArXiv is seeking new moderators to help combat an increase in AI submissions! If you've ever posted a preprint to PsyArXiv, please consider joining. Minimum commitment 1h/month, there's a training session this Monday @ 1pm ET. More info here: forms.gle/9LB1rEtxHAeZ... #PsychSciSky
forms.gle
Expression of Interest in Serving as a PsyArXiv Moderator
As you might have heard, PsyArXiv is having some issues with an increase in low-quality submissions, ranging from AI generated manuscripts to inflate citation metrics, incoherent or nonsensical docume...
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
For no reason, I thought now might be a good moment to reshare my 2021 article arguing that the #CCN and #NeuroAI communities can avoid reinventing the wheel by building on existing philosophy of science about scientific progress and explanation. journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.... #CCN2025
journals.physiology.org
Forms of explanation and understanding for neuroscience and artificial intelligence | Journal of Neurophysiology | American Physiological Society
Much of the controversy evoked by the use of deep neural networks as models of biological neural systems amount to debates over what constitutes scientific progress in neuroscience. To discuss what co...
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
Check out this great summary of our satellite event on science for social good by @georgiaturner.bsky.social! ♥️ I also wrote up a transcript of my opening remarks thompsonj.github.io/CCN_for_soci... We are the gardeners of our scientific ecosystem. What will we grow?
thompsonj.github.io
Science for Social Good | Jessica AF Thompson
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
Blown away by Ellie Pavlick's talk at #CCN2025 about compositionality in transformers. More work like this at CCN please.
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Anne Urai @anne-urai.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
@davidpoeppel.bsky.social points out the elephant in the conference: whichever direction of the planet we look, things are bad. Einstein, chomsky and arendt point out to us that silence is not neutral 👏 #CCN2025
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
Inspiring quotes about the state of the world and our role in it as scientists at the beginning of David Poeppel's keynote at #CCN2025
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Jorge Mejias @jorgefmejias.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
If you are planning to attend #CCN2025 in Amsterdam next week and are interested in recurrent network models of decision making, please join our Satellite Workshop on Monday at 3pm. We'll have @summerfieldlab.bsky.social , @veronicachelu.bsky.social and many more! sites.google.com/view/rnnsmak...
sites.google.com
RNNs making decisions
The goal of this CCN workshop is to host a scientific discussion on the study of decision-making using recurrent neural networks. The selected speakers will cover all aspects of decision-making, from ...
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
Waiting for the train to Amsterdam for #CCN2025. Looking forward to catching up with old friends and making new connections. Hit me up if you want to chat about (modeling) collective intelligence, philosophy of science, communication, care, reward models, or the epistemic risks of scientific AI.
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
New preprint by William D'Alessandro and myself: The promise and peril of AI surrogacy in psychological research osf.io/preprints/ps...
osf.io
OSF
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Anne Urai @anne-urai.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
In this world on fire, with misinformation, science and democracy under threat, how can scientists be a force for social good? This Monday in Amsterdam, join @weijima.bsky.social @tsonj.bsky.social Ili Ma + me for an interactive workshop as part of #CCN2025 anneurai.net/2025/05/05/c...
anneurai.net
Scientists for social good: 2025 satellite event
We live in times when public trust in science is under threat, misinformation is rife, AI ethics are of increasing concern and climate change is increasingly affecting communities worldwide. How do…
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Denis Lan @denislan.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
My first PhD paper - with @lhuntneuro.bsky.social and @summerfieldlab.bsky.social - is now out in @plosbiology.org! We ask: how do humans (and deep neural networks) navigate flexibly even in unfamiliar environments, such as a new city? Link: plos.io/45uSwNm 🧵 (1/6)
Cartoon image of me looking at a map, with a stadium behind me and a hotel and ferris wheel across the river in the background. I am thinking about going to the ferris wheel
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Marco K Wittmann @mkwittmann.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
📢 Job announcement: Two (!) 3-year postdoc jobs in our lab at UCL 📢 🧠💫🔊 We are looking for postdocs interested in the abstract mechanisms underlying social cognition. Modelling, fMRI and non-invasive ultrasound, a new deep-brain stimulation method. Please RT 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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Warren Pearce @warrenpearce.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
After two really enjoyable days at #Metascience2025, I wrote about how one 🌶️ moment encapsulated the controversy over metascience's issues 📑, inclusivity 🤗and future public value 🔮 #STS #AcademicSky All feedback welcome on here, or by email 😀 warrenpearce.pika.page/posts/what-i...
warrenpearce.pika.page
What *is* metascience? Issues, inclusion and future public value - Warren's blog: Publics, politics, science and technology
This week, the biennial Metascience Conference came to London’s “Knowledge Quarter” with around 800 participants from a wide range of roles, including researchers, librarians, research funders, publis...
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Psyche Magazine @psyche.co · 30/06/2025
In this Animation, the psychologist Alison Gopnik makes a case that caring for the vulnerable puts us in touch with our deepest humanity @alisongopnik.bsky.social buff.ly/ikQ2g1E
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Ryuichi Maruyama @rmaruy.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Inspired (partly) by ‪@jontreadway.bsky.social 's tweet thread, I have come up with a highly subjective and tentative map of different strands in metascience. It is intended as a starter to begin talking about what people (want to) include in metascience. #metascience2025
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Are you planning to attend #CCN2025? Do you want to reflect on how to direct your skills and aptitudes to tackle today's most pressing social problems? Make sure you come to Amsterdam a day early to attend our satellite event on Science for Social Good. Register here: forms.gle/TFRCZYX2qfwD...
forms.gle
CCN for social good - satellite registration
See https://anneurai.net/2025/05/05/ccn-for-social-good-2025-satellite-event/ for more information
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Shocked by how quickly the chair @profgeraintrees.bsky.social was to completely dismiss/refuse a question about labour issues and lack of public accountability for commercially developed AI at a panel on AI in science at #metascience2025. Let the panelists decide how they want to respond.
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Chris Hewson @chrishewson.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
Sir Peter Gluckman - "No policymaker cares whether your paper got published in Nature" 👏 #Metascience2025
Peter Gluckman presents to the Metascience 2025 conference at UCL
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
On the train to London for #Metascience2025. Excited to learn about metascience-powered policymaking and the impact of AI on science. Please say hi if you're there too!
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Stephan Lewandowsky @lewan.uk · 19/06/2025
I am privileged to announce the publication of the Anti-Autocracy Handbook: sks.to/autocracy 1/12
sks.to
The Anti-Autocracy Handbook: A Scholars' Guide to Navigating Democratic Backsliding
The Anti-Autocracy Handbook is a call to action, resilience, and collective defence of democracy, truth, and academic freedom in the face of mounting authoritarianism. It tries to provide guidance to ...
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
It was so fun to contribute to this important work which proposes a novel approach to reward model interpretability for LLMs trained with RLHF (reinforcement learning with human feedback). What do different reward models value and how do they compare to independent measures of human values? #FAccT25
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Anne Urai @anne-urai.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
It was a joy to teach my new course Psychology of the Climate Crisis, to a group of great @leidenpsychology.bsky.social MSc students. Syllabus is at anneurai.net/climate-psyc... (email me for instructor notes etc)
anneurai.net
Psychology of the Climate Crisis
This year, I am teaching the MSc course Psychology of the Climate Crisis at Leiden University. The syllabus is here  and may still change throughout the course. Students’ creative group …
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Grace Lindsay @neurograce.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
The Cognitive Computational Neuroscience conference is in Amsterdam this year, but you don't have to go that far to attend. Local meetups/watch parties are being organized all over, including the one I'm hosting in New York! Check them out and register (free!) here 👇 #neuroskyence #compneurosky
2025.ccneuro.org
Local Meetups
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University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 26/05/2025
#UCU2025 congress has passed a motion to prepare to raise a formal dispute with the Education Secretary over the devastating funding crisis in higher education. Our message is clear: if Labour won’t intervene, we will. #UCU2025 #ProtectEducationNow #UnionPower #Post16Crisis #HigherEducation
Motion passed to raise a dispute with the education secretary over the goverment's failure to fund our sector
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
Keynote speaker, Arley Gill, Chair of the Grenada Reparations Commission, talking about reparative justice at @ucu.org.uk 's Annual Congress. Reparations means a sustainable development plan, including debt cancellation now. #ucu
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
On my way to Liverpool for @ucu.org.uk 's Annual Congress this weekend. Never been to something like this. Looking forward to seeing democracy in action and articulating our collective vision of the future of the union and of the higher education sector.
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andrea e. martin @andreaeyleen.eurosky.social · 20/05/2025
my lab (lacns.github.io) at @mpi-nl.bsky.social and @dondersinst.bsky.social is recruiting for two PhD and two postdoctoral positions funded by an @erc.europa.eu Consolidator - come join us! PhD: www.mpi.nl/career-educa... Postdoc: www.mpi.nl/career-educa... (please share widely)
lacns.github.io
Language and Computation in Neural Systems
We are an international group of scientists consisting of linguists, cognitive scientists, cognitive neuroscientists, computational neuroscientists, computational modellers, computational scientists, ...
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Jess Thompson @tsonj.bsky.social · 17/05/2025
Really enjoying The Misinformation Age by Cailin O'Connor and James Weatherall
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