Emory Richardson
@emoryrchrdsn.bsky.social
cognitive scientist.
intuitive theories, collaboration, cumulative culture, networks, philosophy of science/mind/bio, language. Also kettlebells.
past: @UMich @Yale @UChicago @stjohnscollege.
https://rchrdsnemory.github.io/site/
intuitive theories, collaboration, cumulative culture, networks, philosophy of science/mind/bio, language. Also kettlebells.
past: @UMich @Yale @UChicago @stjohnscollege.
https://rchrdsnemory.github.io/site/
Pinned
New blog post inspired by my 5yo's most recent library book: asking an LLM for help is kind of like asking Amelia Bedelia for help!
AKA, why the range of tasks where using AI is worth your time is probably a lot narrower than you think.
rchrdsnemory.github.io/site/blog/20...
AKA, why the range of tasks where using AI is worth your time is probably a lot narrower than you think.
rchrdsnemory.github.io/site/blog/20...
Reposted by Emory Richardson
there was some discussion on here recently about the scientific legitimacy of cognitive dissonance research. as someone who has spent years investigating this literature, i wanted to make a thread to explain why pessimism is not justified by careful inspection of the evidence
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There’s growing evidence that something was going seriously wrong in the classic early work on cognitive dissonance
Latest revelation: The story in When Prophecy Fails seems to have been fabricated in the most egregious way
But this is not the only one…
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Latest revelation: The story in When Prophecy Fails seems to have been fabricated in the most egregious way
But this is not the only one…
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Debunking “When Prophecy Fails”
In 1954, Dorothy Martin predicted an apocalyptic flood and promised her followers rescue by flying saucers. When neither arrived, she recanted, her group dissolved, and efforts to proselytize ceased....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 8, 2025 at 11:58 PM
there was some discussion on here recently about the scientific legitimacy of cognitive dissonance research. as someone who has spent years investigating this literature, i wanted to make a thread to explain why pessimism is not justified by careful inspection of the evidence
1/
1/
Reposted by Emory Richardson
A lemma to the psychologists fallacy: any pair of variables have a single "true" relationship and that moderators mask this underlying Platonic association
November 3, 2025 at 11:15 AM
A lemma to the psychologists fallacy: any pair of variables have a single "true" relationship and that moderators mask this underlying Platonic association
Reposted by Emory Richardson
Our experience of time is powerfully shaped by boundaries between events (i.e., going from one meeting to the next). But what about time *within an event*? In new work, we find reliable distortions of time based on internal event structure (e.g., beginnings, middles, and ends)! tinyurl.com/n8mn2sn7
Unfolding event structure distorts subjective time
Our experience of time is often distorted in striking ways. Although prior work has shown that boundaries between events can shape temporal perception…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 29, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Our experience of time is powerfully shaped by boundaries between events (i.e., going from one meeting to the next). But what about time *within an event*? In new work, we find reliable distortions of time based on internal event structure (e.g., beginnings, middles, and ends)! tinyurl.com/n8mn2sn7
Reposted by Emory Richardson
I really do not get the general urge among online academics to dunk on X area for discovering what Y area has known for decades. There are many reasons why this is unscholarly. To name a few:
1. Most scientists don't perform interdisciplinary research because it's explicitly disincentivized.
1. Most scientists don't perform interdisciplinary research because it's explicitly disincentivized.
October 27, 2025 at 5:42 PM
I really do not get the general urge among online academics to dunk on X area for discovering what Y area has known for decades. There are many reasons why this is unscholarly. To name a few:
1. Most scientists don't perform interdisciplinary research because it's explicitly disincentivized.
1. Most scientists don't perform interdisciplinary research because it's explicitly disincentivized.
Reposted by Emory Richardson
Just in: @drbarner.bsky.social & I find that blind adults and children who have symbols for large numbers, and use 1:1 correspondence to count, do not extend a similar 1:1 strategy to a set-matching task, which assesses their knowledge of Hume’s principle. A 🧵:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Exact numerical reasoning in blind children and adults
What is the origin of exact numerical reasoning in humans? Previous studies report that innumerate humans are unable to recognize that two sets placed…
www.sciencedirect.com
October 26, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Just in: @drbarner.bsky.social & I find that blind adults and children who have symbols for large numbers, and use 1:1 correspondence to count, do not extend a similar 1:1 strategy to a set-matching task, which assesses their knowledge of Hume’s principle. A 🧵:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Emory Richardson
October 24, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Emory Richardson
New paper in Synthèse. Open access.
Concepts of health and disease: insights from experimental philosophy of medicine - Synthese
Synthese - The aim of the paper is to explore how people understand the concepts of health and disease, including the factors that influence their judgments about whether a condition is a disease...
link.springer.com
October 20, 2025 at 8:28 PM
New paper in Synthèse. Open access.
Reposted by Emory Richardson
my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements
we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)
www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...
we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)
www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...
Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports
CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.
www.consumerreports.org
October 14, 2025 at 4:37 PM
my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements
we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)
www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...
we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)
www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...
Reposted by Emory Richardson
🚨New Preprint: We develop a novel task that probes counterfactual thinking without using counterfactual language, and that teases apart genuine counterfactual thinking from related forms of thinking. Using this task, we find that the ability for counterfactual thinking emerges around 5 years of age.
October 13, 2025 at 7:58 PM
🚨New Preprint: We develop a novel task that probes counterfactual thinking without using counterfactual language, and that teases apart genuine counterfactual thinking from related forms of thinking. Using this task, we find that the ability for counterfactual thinking emerges around 5 years of age.
Reposted by Emory Richardson
Can Only Meat Machines be Conscious? New paper in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, free download until November 26 with this URL: authors.elsevier.com/a/1luwh4sIRv...
authors.elsevier.com
October 8, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Can Only Meat Machines be Conscious? New paper in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, free download until November 26 with this URL: authors.elsevier.com/a/1luwh4sIRv...
Reposted by Emory Richardson
New paper. TLDR: Social power influence a person’s ability to establish the question under discussion in a conversation. Combining work in formal pragmatics, critical discourse analysis, and social epistemology can help us identify the mechanisms by which this happens. philpapers.org/rec/MALIIX
Fintan Mallory, Inquisitive Injustice - PhilPapers
The ability to control the direction of a conversation, which topics are raised, which questions are asked, and which lines of inquiry are followed, is a basic and powerful form of ...
philpapers.org
September 29, 2025 at 9:56 AM
New paper. TLDR: Social power influence a person’s ability to establish the question under discussion in a conversation. Combining work in formal pragmatics, critical discourse analysis, and social epistemology can help us identify the mechanisms by which this happens. philpapers.org/rec/MALIIX
Reposted by Emory Richardson
The importance of benchmarks and 'magnitude estimation' techniques for accurate modeling of moral judgments. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
How to show that a cruel prank is worse than a war crime: Shifting scales and missing benchmarks in the study of moral judgment
Moral judgment is central to both everyday life and cognitive science, but how can it be studied with quantitative precision? By far the most direct a…
www.sciencedirect.com
September 29, 2025 at 2:50 AM
The importance of benchmarks and 'magnitude estimation' techniques for accurate modeling of moral judgments. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Emory Richardson
New in @pnas.org: doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
We study how humans explore a 61-state environment with a stochastic region that mimics a “noisy-TV.”
Results: Participants keep exploring the stochastic part even when it’s unhelpful, and novelty-seeking best explains this behavior.
#cogsci #neuroskyence
We study how humans explore a 61-state environment with a stochastic region that mimics a “noisy-TV.”
Results: Participants keep exploring the stochastic part even when it’s unhelpful, and novelty-seeking best explains this behavior.
#cogsci #neuroskyence
September 28, 2025 at 11:07 AM
New in @pnas.org: doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
We study how humans explore a 61-state environment with a stochastic region that mimics a “noisy-TV.”
Results: Participants keep exploring the stochastic part even when it’s unhelpful, and novelty-seeking best explains this behavior.
#cogsci #neuroskyence
We study how humans explore a 61-state environment with a stochastic region that mimics a “noisy-TV.”
Results: Participants keep exploring the stochastic part even when it’s unhelpful, and novelty-seeking best explains this behavior.
#cogsci #neuroskyence
Reposted by Emory Richardson
Can large language models stand in for human participants?
Many social scientists seem to think so, and are already using "silicon samples" in research.
One problem: depending on the analytic decisions made, you can basically get these samples to show any effect you want.
THREAD 🧵
Many social scientists seem to think so, and are already using "silicon samples" in research.
One problem: depending on the analytic decisions made, you can basically get these samples to show any effect you want.
THREAD 🧵
The threat of analytic flexibility in using large language models to simulate human data: A call to attention
Social scientists are now using large language models to create "silicon samples" - synthetic datasets intended to stand in for human respondents, aimed at revolutionising human subjects research. How...
arxiv.org
September 18, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Can large language models stand in for human participants?
Many social scientists seem to think so, and are already using "silicon samples" in research.
One problem: depending on the analytic decisions made, you can basically get these samples to show any effect you want.
THREAD 🧵
Many social scientists seem to think so, and are already using "silicon samples" in research.
One problem: depending on the analytic decisions made, you can basically get these samples to show any effect you want.
THREAD 🧵
Reposted by Emory Richardson
Whoa—my book is up for pre-order!
𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭 & 𝐌𝐋 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 #Rstats 𝐚𝐧𝐝 #PyData
The book presents an ultra-simple and powerful workflow to make sense of ± any model you fit
The web version will stay free forever and my proceeds go to charity.
tinyurl.com/4fk56fc8
𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭 & 𝐌𝐋 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 #Rstats 𝐚𝐧𝐝 #PyData
The book presents an ultra-simple and powerful workflow to make sense of ± any model you fit
The web version will stay free forever and my proceeds go to charity.
tinyurl.com/4fk56fc8
September 17, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Whoa—my book is up for pre-order!
𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭 & 𝐌𝐋 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 #Rstats 𝐚𝐧𝐝 #PyData
The book presents an ultra-simple and powerful workflow to make sense of ± any model you fit
The web version will stay free forever and my proceeds go to charity.
tinyurl.com/4fk56fc8
𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭 & 𝐌𝐋 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 #Rstats 𝐚𝐧𝐝 #PyData
The book presents an ultra-simple and powerful workflow to make sense of ± any model you fit
The web version will stay free forever and my proceeds go to charity.
tinyurl.com/4fk56fc8
Reposted by Emory Richardson
I’m not the first person to make this observation, but this being the biggest story in the world at present really speaks to how much Twitter still serves as a universal assignments editor for English-language journalists.
September 12, 2025 at 11:47 AM
I’m not the first person to make this observation, but this being the biggest story in the world at present really speaks to how much Twitter still serves as a universal assignments editor for English-language journalists.
Reposted by Emory Richardson
I am beyond excited to announce that ggplot2 4.0.0 has just landed on CRAN.
It's not every day we have a new major #ggplot2 release but it is a fitting 18 year birthday present for the package.
Get an overview of the release in this blog post and be on the lookout for more in-depth posts #rstats
It's not every day we have a new major #ggplot2 release but it is a fitting 18 year birthday present for the package.
Get an overview of the release in this blog post and be on the lookout for more in-depth posts #rstats
ggplot2 4.0.0
A new major version of ggplot2 has been released on CRAN. Find out what is new here.
www.tidyverse.org
September 11, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Reposted by Emory Richardson
"How Are the Very Rich Feeling About New York’s Next Mayor?"
A Dramatic Reading of The Recent New York Times Dispatch from the Hamptons.
Presented by The Gilded Age's Morgan Spector.
A Dramatic Reading of The Recent New York Times Dispatch from the Hamptons.
Presented by The Gilded Age's Morgan Spector.
September 8, 2025 at 10:56 PM
"How Are the Very Rich Feeling About New York’s Next Mayor?"
A Dramatic Reading of The Recent New York Times Dispatch from the Hamptons.
Presented by The Gilded Age's Morgan Spector.
A Dramatic Reading of The Recent New York Times Dispatch from the Hamptons.
Presented by The Gilded Age's Morgan Spector.
Correct me if I'm wrong but if insurance companies are going to be facing increased risk in some areas of the country as a result of absolutely moronic choices by the local majorities wouldnt they also be...pricing that risk into the premiums we pay in the rest of the country?
so, I'll pay more bc
so, I'll pay more bc
My neighbor in Orlando mentioned this EXACT concern to me last night!
September 7, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Correct me if I'm wrong but if insurance companies are going to be facing increased risk in some areas of the country as a result of absolutely moronic choices by the local majorities wouldnt they also be...pricing that risk into the premiums we pay in the rest of the country?
so, I'll pay more bc
so, I'll pay more bc
Reposted by Emory Richardson
What are your pros/cons of using AI in science?
Feel free to respond wrt use or harm in the design of experiments, coding experiments, coding analysis, brain storming analysis, summarizing literature, synthesis of ideas, modeling, novel model development, mathematical proofs, writing, editing.
Feel free to respond wrt use or harm in the design of experiments, coding experiments, coding analysis, brain storming analysis, summarizing literature, synthesis of ideas, modeling, novel model development, mathematical proofs, writing, editing.
September 3, 2025 at 9:09 PM
What are your pros/cons of using AI in science?
Feel free to respond wrt use or harm in the design of experiments, coding experiments, coding analysis, brain storming analysis, summarizing literature, synthesis of ideas, modeling, novel model development, mathematical proofs, writing, editing.
Feel free to respond wrt use or harm in the design of experiments, coding experiments, coding analysis, brain storming analysis, summarizing literature, synthesis of ideas, modeling, novel model development, mathematical proofs, writing, editing.
Reposted by Emory Richardson
great title link.springer.com/article/10.1...
A Tutorial for Deception Detection Analysis or: How I Learned to Stop Aggregating Veracity Judgments and Embraced Signal Detection Theory Mixed Models - Journal of Nonverbal Behavior
Historically, deception detection research has relied on factorial analyses of response accuracy to make inferences. However, this practice overlooks important sources of variability resulting in pote...
link.springer.com
September 2, 2025 at 8:26 PM
great title link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Emory Richardson
Despite all the silly AGI hype, the miracle of what AI *can* do remains underappreciated.
I had to move my blog from a Movable Type site (Typepad RIP) to a Wordpress site. After support from one hosting company failed to help me, I found a different site and GPT5 guided me through every single step
I had to move my blog from a Movable Type site (Typepad RIP) to a Wordpress site. After support from one hosting company failed to help me, I found a different site and GPT5 guided me through every single step
September 2, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Despite all the silly AGI hype, the miracle of what AI *can* do remains underappreciated.
I had to move my blog from a Movable Type site (Typepad RIP) to a Wordpress site. After support from one hosting company failed to help me, I found a different site and GPT5 guided me through every single step
I had to move my blog from a Movable Type site (Typepad RIP) to a Wordpress site. After support from one hosting company failed to help me, I found a different site and GPT5 guided me through every single step
Reposted by Emory Richardson
My video about how LLMs are not search engines has led to many, MANY comments telling me that I should be using Perplexity. Some insisting that Perplexity does not hallucinate.
Out of a list of 26 papers it just provided me (in "Research" mode) 4 were real. FOUR. 85% hallucination rate.
Out of a list of 26 papers it just provided me (in "Research" mode) 4 were real. FOUR. 85% hallucination rate.
August 23, 2025 at 5:54 PM
My video about how LLMs are not search engines has led to many, MANY comments telling me that I should be using Perplexity. Some insisting that Perplexity does not hallucinate.
Out of a list of 26 papers it just provided me (in "Research" mode) 4 were real. FOUR. 85% hallucination rate.
Out of a list of 26 papers it just provided me (in "Research" mode) 4 were real. FOUR. 85% hallucination rate.
I think it's a mistake to frame this as all about zero-sum thinking.
People accept big losses to punish unfair behavior, and rampant inequality makes it easy to convince them that *someone* is cheating. The "who" can be alliance-based, and subject to propaganda.
In resource-sharing exps...🧵
People accept big losses to punish unfair behavior, and rampant inequality makes it easy to convince them that *someone* is cheating. The "who" can be alliance-based, and subject to propaganda.
In resource-sharing exps...🧵
I think it is difficult for lefties -- ok, has been difficult for me -- to really, truly absorb, on an affective level, that people like this are not mistaken about the facts. They're not confused. There's no "false consciousness" waiting for liberation. Their zero-sum values are deep & sincere.
August 29, 2025 at 2:00 PM
I think it's a mistake to frame this as all about zero-sum thinking.
People accept big losses to punish unfair behavior, and rampant inequality makes it easy to convince them that *someone* is cheating. The "who" can be alliance-based, and subject to propaganda.
In resource-sharing exps...🧵
People accept big losses to punish unfair behavior, and rampant inequality makes it easy to convince them that *someone* is cheating. The "who" can be alliance-based, and subject to propaganda.
In resource-sharing exps...🧵
Reposted by Emory Richardson
After scrolling Twitter, it will take you a while to get back into “work mode”. Why is this the case? Our new work (out now in Psych Review), led by Ivan Grahek and Xiamin Leng, explores the costs of adjusting cognitive control to meet different goals:
psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
🧵 A thread:
psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
🧵 A thread:
APA PsycNet
psycnet.apa.org
August 27, 2025 at 4:37 PM
After scrolling Twitter, it will take you a while to get back into “work mode”. Why is this the case? Our new work (out now in Psych Review), led by Ivan Grahek and Xiamin Leng, explores the costs of adjusting cognitive control to meet different goals:
psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
🧵 A thread:
psycnet.apa.org/record/2026-...
🧵 A thread: