I'm a Professor of Psychology at Northeastern. I study human nature, and why we (laypeople) cannot get it right.
Joined January 2020
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Why do people self-injure themselves? Why does the infliction of @pain alleviate psychological suffering? In this new paper with Jill Hooley and @ChelseaBoccagno, we link nonsuicidal self-injury (@NSSI) to intuitive @Dualism. People with NSSI show weaker Dualism, and Dualism correlates with their explanations of their NSSI. These results are the first to suggest that Dualism may play an adaptive role in affective processing, and its attenuation is linked to psychopathology.
nature.com/articles/s41598-0…
nature.com/articles/s41598-0…
A memorable day at the University of Padova, with it’s long tradition promoting intellectual diversity and its vibrant community. Thank you @LuciaRegolin for the majestic hospitality!
Please join me and the great @gVallortigara at @BergamoScienza , Sunday October 11 facebook.com/share/p/1EhmoFb…
The innate building blocks of minds
Our new paper is out in Brain Medicine: The Neural Starting Kit #brain #innateness #cognition
@mirkuz12
doi.org/10.61373/bm026i.0054
I am incredibly saddened to learn about the passing of this kind and brilliant man. Peter was my beloved Professor at Pitt. He was an intellectual role model and a good friend. I miss him terribly. In Memoriam: Peter Gordon tc.columbia.edu/articles/202…
A unique interdisciplinary conference on animal consciousness. It was wonderful being there in Chengdu.
Is consciousness distinct from the physical? C. intuitions suggest so, and @davidchalmers42 takes this as evidence for ontology, hence, the #hardproblem. Here, I show that C. intuitions are illusory. They cannot be trusted to speak to what exists.
sciencedirect.com/science/ar…
1/X
I compare consciousness intuitions in two scenarios: zombies and Mary and the black and white room. For zombies, C. states seem nonphysical (below neutral); for Mary, distinctly physical. C. intuitions shift! 2/X
Since C is unlikely to shift in this manner, I therefore assume these intuitions cannot speak to what C. is. In fact, we can show intuitions arise from within--from intuitive Dualism. If so, don't trust them. With all likelihood, the #hardproblem is psychological!
Finally read The Origins of Consciousness and loved it! Challenging some of the dogmas of consciousness research, @Vallortigara shows how innate instincts can support cognition in small brains and how the efferant copy mechanism could grant them sentience.
Phonology is both "embodied" and abstract. How come? A new paper in Glossa glossa-journal.org/article/i… Thank you, Bridget Samuels and Veno Volenec, for editing this special issue!
Many people claim they are staunch physicalists. But when given a brief implicit association task, it turns out they are closet dualists. Thanks @GaryMarcus for challenging us! Out in Open Mind. direct.mit.edu/opmi/article/…
Great symposium on consciousness intuitions and illusions with @davidchalmers42, @ClaraColombatto and Matan Mazor at the ASSC, Crete.
Thank you @sapinker for the kind words. These data really surprised me. The bottom line: there is so much more to transgender identity than sex (or gender)!
The gender-sex incongruence is partly a mind–body incongruence | Interesting finding on the cognitive intuitions behind gender identity, by my longtime psycholinguistics collaborator Iris Berent and my Harvard Psychology colleague Jill Hooley | Scientific Reports nature.com/articles/s41598-0…
Iris Berent retweeted
The gender-sex incongruence is partly a mind–body incongruence | Interesting finding on the cognitive intuitions behind gender identity, by my longtime psycholinguistics collaborator Iris Berent and my Harvard Psychology colleague Jill Hooley | Scientific Reports nature.com/articles/s41598-0…