Shari Liu

Interested in applying to graduate programs or research positions in psychology? Want more information and feedback on your submission materials? Then Harvard’s Prospective Ph.D. & RA Event in Psychology (PPREP) Is for you!! psychology.fas.harvard.edu/pprep
More info in the link!! Please retweet!

New Open dataset alert:
🧠 Introducing "Spacetop" – a massive multimodal fMRI dataset that bridges naturalistic and experimental neuroscience!

N = 101 x 6 hours each = 606 functional iso-hours combining movies, pain, faces, theory-of-mind and other cognitive tasks!

🧵below

[cite_start]A screenshot of the first page of a court document from the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts[cite: 3]. [cite_start]The document is titled "MEMORANDUM AND ORDER" [cite: 43] [cite_start]and was filed on September 3, 2025[cite: 1]. The document lists two related civil actions: * [cite_start]**Civil Action No. 25-cv-11048-ADB**: President and Fellows of Harvard College, et al., Plaintiffs, v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, et al., Defendants[cite: 4, 5, 14, 17, 21]. * [cite_start]**Civil Action No. 25-cv-10910-ADB**: American Association of University Professors - Harvard Chapter, et al., Plaintiffs, v. United States Department of Justice, et al., Defendants[cite: 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 36]. [cite_start]The order is from Judge Burroughs, D.J.[cite: 44]. [cite_start]The text begins by identifying the plaintiffs in the consolidated cases[cite: 45].

A screenshot of pages 81 and 82 from a court order, detailing the judge's rulings and the relief granted. **Rulings:** * **For Harvard's case:** The court grants Harvard's motion for summary judgment on several counts, including violations of the First Amendment and Title VI. It grants in part Harvard's motion regarding the "Freeze Orders" and grants in part the defendants' motion regarding the "Termination Letters," citing a lack of jurisdiction. * **For the Organizational Plaintiffs' case:** The court grants the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment on their First Amendment claims and denies the defendants' cross-motion on several counts. The ruling on the "Freeze Orders" and "Termination Letters" mirrors the one in Harvard's case. **Ordered Relief:** 1. The court vacates and sets aside the Freeze Orders as arbitrary and capricious. 2. The court vacates and sets aside the Freeze Orders and Termination Letters as violations of the First Amendment. 3. The court vacates and sets aside the Termination Letters as violations of Title VI. 4. The court permanently enjoins the defendants from implementing the Freeze Orders, Termination Letters, and their unconstitutional conditions.

JUST IN: Harvard won summary judgment against the Trump administration with the court finding that the admin violated Harvard's 1st amend. rights. The court has vacated the funding freeze orders and termination letters and issued a permanent injunction.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

CDC scientists receive a heroes welcome after walking out today.

RFK Jr. will testify before Senate panel next week The Finance Committee hearing was in the works before Wednesday’s CDC shakeup.

Good. I have questions and the American people deserve answers.

Tonight one of the CDC’s top public health leaders, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, has resigned from his post.

Below is his full resignation letter.

You should read every word.

This is a truly scary moment for public health in America.
1/2

A simple tweak to make The Duelist (2016) a better movie.

#descartes #dualism #philosophy #philbluesky #cogsci #badjoke

Mental representation of the locations and identities of multiple hidden agents or objects by a bonobo | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences Humans are adept at navigating the social world in part because we flexibly map the locations and identities of agents around us. While field studies suggest primates can track individual conspecifics...

When an animals' groupmates go out of sight, do they also go out of mind?

In a new paper in Proc B @royalsocietypublishing.org, Luz Carvajal and I show that a bonobo (Kanzi) can keep mental tabs on the whereabouts of multiple hidden social partners

royalsocietypublishing.org/eprint/4GI7G...

Rapid Response: Reinvesting in Racial and Indigenous Health Equity Research The purpose of this call for proposals is to meet the current moment by supporting timely, actionable health equity research that has been interrupted by shifts in federal funding.

ATTN: Robert Wood Johnson has money to support “canceled” research on racial-indigenous health equity

www.rwjf.org/en/grants/ac...

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu:

“Silence in the face of oppression is not an option. The U.S. Attorney General asked for a response by today. So here it is…Stop attacking our cities to hide your administration's failures.”

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

If you're heading to @cogscisociety.bsky.social, come to our symposium “Perception as a Foundation for Common‑Sense Theories of the World”

📅 August 1 • 9 AM
📍 Salon 2

With
@thiskevinsmith.bsky.social
@shariliu.bsky.social
@judithfan.bsky.social
@ardeeb.bsky.social
— See you there! #CogSci2025

Presentation list for language and cognition lab at CogSci 2025.

Looking forward to #cogsci2025 next week - here's a list of presentations from my lab!

The Causality in Cognition Lab is pumped for #cogsci2025 💪

Poster that feature talks from the Thomas Lab at the Cognitive Science Society. The Thomas Lab at CogSci 2025 July 31st Brandon woo Social Engagement Leads Infants to Represent People as Individuals Oral Talk Session: Development of Social Cognition 1 Time: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM Location: Salon 6 Denise Lopez Flores Preliminary Evidence that Infants and Children Use Accents to Inform Relational Expectations Poster Session 1: (PL1-L-118) Time: 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM Location: Salon 8 Friday August 1st Emma Yu Children Expect Emotional Consolation to Occur in Close Relationships Oral Talk Session: Development of Social Cognition 2 Time: 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM Location: Nob Hill B Min Feldman Do children use action frequency to infer social closeness? Poster Session 2: (P2-F-55) Time: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM Location: Salon 8 Christina Steele Navigating Family Ties: Young Children's Cognitive Representations of the Family Network Oral Talk Session: Learning and Development 3 Time: 4:00PM - 5:30PM Location: Nob Hill D Hannah Hok Kim Written in Stone: Lay intuitions about the emergence and impact of formal rules Poster Session 2: (P2-H-77) Time: 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM Location: Salon 8 Saturday August 2 Lizette Pizza Do People Value Plants Over Non-Living Entities? Moral Considerations in Adults and Young Children Poster Session 3: (P3-P-158) Time: 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM Location: Salon 8 Megan Richardson Children's Expectations of Emotional Intimacy in Close Relationships Poster Session 3: (P3-R-165) Time: 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM Location: Salon 8 Mack Briscoe When to speak up: How children reason about group dynamics Poster Session 3: (P3-B-18) Time: 1:00 PM - 2:15 PM Location: Salon 8

Come see my lab at the Cognitive Science Society Conference #cogsci2025

A list of the SoCal Lab's presentations at CogSci. In brief: Lindsey Powell is giving talks in Workshop 1 on July 30 at 9:30 am and in Symposium 1 on July 31. Tori Hennessy is giving a talk in the Development of Social Cognition 1 session on July 31. Bill Pepe is giving a talk in the Development of Social Cognition session on August 1. Coxi Jiang is giving a talk in the Emotion session on August 1. Rodney Tompkins is presenting a poster in Session 2 on August 1.

The SoCal Lab is headed to #cogsci2025 this week! Here's where you can find us:

Schedule for the LIU LAB at CogSci 2025 conference, featuring a variety of workshops and presentations. Wednesday, July 30 Workshop 1: "Putting it together: Interactions between domains of cognition" at 8:30 AM, presented by Shari Liu and Joseph Outa. Thursday, July 31 P1-C-24: "Surprise isn’t symmetrical: Adults’ looking suggests non-perceptual considerations during dishabituation" from 1:00 PM to 2:15 PM, presented by Qiong Cao, Anjie Cao, Gal Raz, Josh Tenenbaum, and Shari Liu. Friday, August 1 Lecture in Symposium 4: "Perceiving and reasoning jointly about the social and physical world" at 9:40 AM, presented by Shari Liu. P2-O-146: "Adults hold two parallel causal frameworks for reasoning about people’s minds, actions, and bodies" from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM, presented by Joseph Outa and Shari Liu. Saturday, August 2 P3-B-15: "Who drew this? Children appreciate visual style differently than adults" from 1:00 PM to 2:15 PM, presented by Tal Boger, Chaz Firestone, and Shari Liu. P3-K-95: "Pushing people: the neural basis of social interaction perception" from 1:00 PM to 2:15 PM, presented by Minjae Kim, Miriam Hauptman, and Shari Liu. Talks 49: "Learning and Development 5" from 3:21 PM to 3:45 PM, presenting findings on individual differences in habituation and dishabituation, by Anjie Cao, Qiong Cao, Michael Frank, and Shari Liu. The schedule includes a call to attendees to "Come and say hi!" at the event.

Who's excited for #CogSci2025? 💭

Lucy! Congratulations 🎈🎉🎊

The Onion NYT ad. The headline of the editorial says “CONGRESS, NOW MORE THAN EVER OUR NATION NEEDS YOUR COWARDICE”

EXCLUSIVE — The Onion has a full-page ad in today’s NYT featuring part of an editorial calling out congressional fecklessness towards Trump. They also sent a copy of their latest issue to every lawmaker.

My report, with an excerpt from the full editorial: www.thehandbasket.co/p/exclusive-...

🔆 I'm hiring! 🔆

There are two open positions:

1. Summer research position (best for master's or graduate student); focus on computational social cognition.
2. Postdoc (currently interviewing!); focus on computational social cognition and AI safety.

sites.google.com/corp/site/sy...

BREAKING: A federal judge in Massachusetts (the Reagan-appointed William Young) has declared the Trump administration's cuts to NIH grants — ostensibly over Trump's EOs on gender ideology and DEI — are "illegal" and "void." He's ordering many grants restored.

Flyer for a "No Tyrants" protest in London, UK

when you want to join the fun but can't quite get down with the nomenclature (ht @davelevitan.bsky.social)

The neighborhood is getting ready for tomorrow

NIH APPLICANTS:

Your application will be WITHDRAWN BEFORE REVIEW if you have an international collaboration and do not include a Foreign Justification.

Normally this could be provided after review as JIT but NOT ANYMORE.

You have been warned.

Is it true you use only 10 bits / s of your brain?
@andpru.bsky.social and I provide a motor systems perspective on a proposed speed limit for human information processing. Out today in
@natneuro.nature.com:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

No Kings On June 14—Flag Day—Donald Trump wants tanks in the street and a made-for-TV display of dominance for his birthday. A spectacle meant to look like strength. But real power isn’t staged in Washington. ...

Find your closest rally on Saturday and go. You can tell your kids where you were on the other side of this. Outnumber him everywhere.

www.nokings.org#map

NIH walks back ban on new grants for universities with DEI programs or Israel boycotts The NIH has rescinded a policy requiring recipients of new grants to certify they do not have unlawful DEI programs or boycotts of Israel.

New STAT story about NIH rescinding the institution-wide anti-DEI term and condition that had been added to Notices of Award.

www.statnews.com/2025/06/09/n...

1/n

I just signed the Bethesda Declaration and urge you to do the same today, so that we all stand with NIH researchers as Battacharya appears before the Senate Appropriations Committee tomorrow.

"My name is Greta Thunberg and I am from Sweden. If you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupational forces, or forces that support Israel."

Intersection of spatial and numerical cognition in the developing brain Abstract. Early mathematical development is thought to depend on visuospatial processing, yet neural evidence for this relationship in young children has b

So excited to see this paper with @ckaicher.bsky.social and @cantlonlab.bsky.social finally out!