Marc Malmdorf Andersen

Happy to share that our BBS target article has been accepted: “Core Perception”: Re-imagining Precocious Reasoning as Sophisticated Perceiving
With Alon Hafri, @veroniqueizard.bsky.social, @chazfirestone.bsky.social & Brent Strickland
Read it here: doi.org/10.1017/S014...
A short thread [1/5]👇

Hospital says toy MRI scanner helps save £150k Children can play with the Kitten Scanner to prepare them for a real scan.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Striatal dopamine signals errors in prediction across different informational domains Dopamine reflects prediction errors not only about reward but also about valueless stimuli, challenging many current theories.

somehow I missed this!

Dopamine represents a domain-general teaching signal:

www.science.org/doi/full/10....

Academia.edu is changing its Terms and Conditions, and they're so outrageous (AI training; signing over ownership to them etc) I closed my account today.

A thread with some practical tips if you want to delete your account (5 steps):

Danish Media covers our recent study (article in danish):
videnskab.dk/kultur-samfu...

Does the culture you grow up in shape the way you see the world? In a new Psych Review paper, @chazfirestone.bsky.social & I tackle this centuries-old question using the Müller-Lyer illusion as a case study. Come think through one of history's mysteries with us🧵(1/13):

@profhelendodd.bsky.social

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...

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

On the left is a rabbit. On the right is an elephant. But guess what: They’re the *same image*, rotated 90°!

In @currentbiology.bsky.social, @chazfirestone.bsky.social & I show how these images—known as “visual anagrams”—can help solve a longstanding problem in cognitive science. bit.ly/45BVnCZ

AI slop and the destruction of knowledge This week I was looking for info on what cognitive scientists mean when they speak of ‘domain-general’ cognition. I was curious, because the nuances are relevant for something I am researching at t…

AI slop and the destruction of knowledge irisvanrooijcogsci.com/2025/08/12/a...

🧟‍♂️🚨 Publication alert! 🚨🧟‍♀️

Holy moly, I'm thrilled to announce our new paper in Emotion! We explored how recreational fear, physiological synchrony, and social closeness interact in a high-intensity haunted house setting. 1/5 🧵

Link: psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?d...

Our results align with prior research showing that shared experiences can enhance physiological and emotional responses. Heart rate synchrony was higher among socially close individuals, though whether this reflects pre-existing alignment or emerges during shared fear remains unclear.

🧟‍♂️❤️🧟‍♀️

5/5🧵

We found that participants who synchronised their HRs with others in their group reported higher arousal. This synchrony was more pronounced among socially
close dyads, suggesting that social closeness may facilitate physiological alignment during shared emotional experiences of fear. 4/5🧵

Dystopia Entertainment i Vejle — Vi er eksperter i gys! Dystopia Entertainment i Vejle er passionerede eventdesignere, der står bag arrangementer som Dystopia Haunted House og Cirkus Dystopia.

We recruited 347 guests at Denmark's scariest haunted attraction (Dystopia.dk). People go through this haunted house in groups of 4–5, often combining friends and strangers.

Participants reported 1) who they knew and 2) who they felt emotionally close to. Everyone wore heart rate monitors.
3/5🧵

It’s curious that we seek out fear for fun - and even more curious that we almost always do it together. We watch horror films in groups, visit haunted houses with friends, and tell ghost stories around the campfire.

But how social dynamics shape our experience of fear remains largely unknown. 2/5🧵

🧟‍♂️🚨 Publication alert! 🚨🧟‍♀️

Holy moly, I'm thrilled to announce our new paper in Emotion! We explored how recreational fear, physiological synchrony, and social closeness interact in a high-intensity haunted house setting. 1/5 🧵

Link: psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?d...

<em>Child Development</em> | SRCD Journal | Wiley Online Library Cognitive development is associated with how predictable caregivers are, but the mechanisms driving this are unclear. One possibility is caregiver predictability initially shapes how infants gather i...

Happy to share "The Dynamics of Caregiver Unpredictability Shape Moment-to-Moment Infant Looking During Dyadic Interaction," out now in Child Development thanks to a large team of people I worked on this with! srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirec...

This was such a fun conversation about childhood, play, and agency across cultures. Thanks for having @sheinalew.bsky.social & I on the show!

Recreational Fear Across Childhood. A Cross-Sectional Study of Scary Activities that Children Enjoy - Child Psychiatry & Human Development This study investigated the prevalence of children’s engagement in recreational fear activities — i.e., playful engagement with scary stimuli where both fear and enjoyment are experienced. A detailed ...

🚨 Kids LOVE fear?!🚨
Our new study led by Mihaela Taranu from the Recreational Fear Lab uncovers something surprising:
Children across all ages actively seek out scary experiences - for fun!
📄 doi.org/10.1007/s105...
[1/🧵]

Fear play is mostly social - done with parents, siblings, or friends. And it might serve a purpose: helping kids manage emotions, evaluate risks, and above all promote learning. This is the first study to show how common that is across childhood.
👏👏 Amazing work, Mihaela! Congratulations! 👏👏
[4/🧵]

🪶 They ask to poke a dead bird with a stick.
📱 They sneak peeks at horror clips online.
🏚️ They dare each other to jump from the shed roof.
🔪 They test how close their finger can get to a knife’s edge.
These might sound concerning or odd - but they’re developmentally typical!
[3/🧵]

We asked 1,600 parents of kids aged 1–17 what scares their kids - in a fun way. Climbing trees till their legs shake. Racing bikes downhill. Watching scary movies. Pretending to be monsters. Teasing older siblings. Playing with fire.
👉 93% enjoy at least one scary activity.
[2/🧵]

Recreational Fear Across Childhood. A Cross-Sectional Study of Scary Activities that Children Enjoy - Child Psychiatry & Human Development This study investigated the prevalence of children’s engagement in recreational fear activities — i.e., playful engagement with scary stimuli where both fear and enjoyment are experienced. A detailed ...

🚨 Kids LOVE fear?!🚨
Our new study led by Mihaela Taranu from the Recreational Fear Lab uncovers something surprising:
Children across all ages actively seek out scary experiences - for fun!
📄 doi.org/10.1007/s105...
[1/🧵]

Our daily lives are packed w complex behaviours: reading a novel & piecing together the plot; negotiating decisions w family... How do we build mathematical models of the underlying cognitive mechanisms? Our new preprint osf.io/d2v54_v1 argues for a community approach A 🧵 1/

Well deserved!

Postdoc in medical anthropology/STS - Ledig stilling på Aarhus Universitet Ledig stilling ved Institut for Klinisk Medicin - Interacting Minds Centre (IMC), Aarhus Universitet

Now is the time to go write 📝 your application for this exciting postdoc position in our project exploring how the shift from animal to human-based research models shapes science and society 🔬🌍
Deadline Monday Apr 27

www.au.dk/om/stillinge...
@interacting-minds.bsky.social

Exclusive: a Nature analysis signals the beginnings of a US science brain drain A trawl of job views and application data suggests jobseekers are looking abroad as the Trump administration’s cuts to science take hold.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Our registered exploratory pilot programme using offline tabletop role-playing games hashtag #TTRPG to mitigate social anxiety and reduce problematic involvement in online video games has just been published at Royal Society Open Science @royalsociety.org

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Can playing Dungeons and Dragons be good for you? A registered exploratory pilot programme using offline tabletop role-playing games to mitigate social anxiety and reduce problematic involvement in mu... Gamers with poor self-concept, high social anxiety and high loneliness are more at risk of problematic involvement in video games, such as massively multiplayer online role-playing games. There is a r...

Thrilled to share the publication of "Can playing Dungeons & Dragons be good for you?" led by the brilliant @joelbillieux.bsky.social and his fantastic team. I was lucky to play a small part in this epic quest. 🎲🐉🧟‍♀️🔥⚔️

Link: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

#DnD #MentalHealth #TTRPG

Can playing Dungeons and Dragons be good for you? A registered exploratory pilot programme using offline tabletop role-playing games to mitigate social anxiety and reduce problematic involvement in mu... Gamers with poor self-concept, high social anxiety and high loneliness are more at risk of problematic involvement in video games, such as massively multiplayer online role-playing games. There is a r...

Thrilled to share the publication of "Can playing Dungeons & Dragons be good for you?" led by the brilliant @joelbillieux.bsky.social and his fantastic team. I was lucky to play a small part in this epic quest. 🎲🐉🧟‍♀️🔥⚔️

Link: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

#DnD #MentalHealth #TTRPG