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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27 Photos and videos
Jun 6
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…
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Jun 6
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
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Jun 6
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!
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May 11
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.
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Apr 13
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!
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8 Aug 2025
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/…
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25 Jul 2025
Great symposium on consciousness intuitions and illusions with @davidchalmers42, @ClaraColombatto and Matan Mazor at the ASSC, Crete.
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21 Apr 2025
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)!
21 Apr 2025
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…
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21 Apr 2025
RT @sapinker: The gender-sex incongruence is partly a mind–body incongruence | Interesting finding on the cognitive intuitions behind gende…
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14 Apr 2025
Bravo!
14 Apr 2025
The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government. hrvd.me/ResearchFunding25t
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18 Mar 2025
Is #dualism shaped by formative life experiences? This new paper shows that transgender people are far more likely to align the self with the mind than cisgender individuals. We conclude that the #sex-#gender contrast is partly a mind-body contrast.
nature.com/articles/s41598-0…
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17 Mar 2025
@transgender people perceive their gender --a psychological construct--as distinct from their natal gender, assigned based on their sex (i.e., body). Does this incongruence reflect a dissonance between sex and gender, specifically, or a broader mind-body tension? 1/n
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Iris Berent retweeted
10 Jan 2025
A left-to-right bias in number-space mapping in a traditional society with no formal math, the Himba of Namibia #Number #MentalNumberLine
Our paper on @NatureComms
@elena_eccher @JosserandMathi1 @SergeCaparos @BoissinEsther #marcobuiatti #manuelapiazza
nature.com/articles/s41467-0…
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12 Dec 2024
GPT's hallucinations drive me nuts. Not particularly surprising, but still....
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28 Nov 2024
How could #consciousness arise from physical brains?
Here is why this "hard problem" is difficult. The reasons are demonstrably psychological.
A new piece in Nautilus.
nautil.us/consciousness-has-…
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15 Oct 2024
Here is a recent, interesting paper of his. I hope you will remember him by his words.
cacm.acm.org/blogcacm/no-gen…
15 Oct 2024
Sad news to share. I was expecting @sabawalid to present a talk to my lab this past Thursday. Walid never showed up. I'm told he passed away. It's a terrible loss. He was a deeply thoughtful, original and independent scholar. I miss him greatly.
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