Carl Hodgetts

It's that time of year when many start thinking about applying for PhDs. If you're applying for a UK PhD position, here is a blog post I wrote a while back that might be helpful

#cognition #psychscisky #neuroskyence #psychjobs

Why the loss of the Sycamore Gap Tree saw an outpouring of emotion The sentencing of the two men who felled the Sycamore Gap Tree has brought back the incredibly strong emotions of the loss of such a world-famous, iconic national piece of history.

In the context of the Sycamore Gap tree sentencing today, I've written a short opinion piece for @lbc.co.uk on the role of landmarks in shaping place identity and connectedness. Find it here: www.lbc.co.uk/opinion/view... 🧠🌎

@rhulpsychology.bsky.social

Re-posting for the weekday crowd - MR Physics job available at our site in West London. We do cool stuff. Clinical trials, psychedelics/other drugs, lots of different MRI modalities, scope to do your own projects, etc.

We’re all set for #RHULPSYCHFEST25 @rhulpsychology.bsky.social

World first: brain implant lets man speak with expression — and sing Device translates thought to speech in real time.

World first: brain implant lets man speak with expression — and sing www.nature.com/articles/d41...

This is wild - great work!

We hope that this work proves useful for researchers in identifying where and when these limitations are most consequential.

@rhulpsychology.bsky.social @birkbeckpsychology.bsky.social

In this paper/commentary, Ulrike Hahn and I show that comparisons between even very simple geometric stimuli (like 🟧🔵!) can expose serious issues with these models - for example, by assuming similarities that do not fit neatly into Euclidean space.

The idea that we represent concepts in multi-dimensional “cognitive spaces” has been hugely influential (and is having a bit of comeback in psych/neuro). But these spaces have built-in topological constraints that limit their utility - both practically and theoretically.

The Limited Place in Cognitive Space The idea that objects can be represented within multi-dimensional ‘cognitive spaces’ remains popular within psychology and neuroscience, and yet the restrictive topology of such spaces is seldom cons...

🚨 New paper alert! 🚨 Very pleased to share that our latest paper, "The limited place in cognitive space", is now out in Topics in Cognitive Science. Link below👇🏻

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.

Staff members at the US National Science Foundation (NSF) were told on 30 April to “stop awarding all funding actions until further notice,” according to an email seen by Nature.

https://go.nature.com/44Ugf9V

‘Natural Neuroscience,’ an excerpt In his new book, Nachum Ulanovsky calls on the field to embrace naturalistic conditions and move away from overcontrolled experiments.

In his new book, published today, Nachum Ulanovsky calls on the field to embrace naturalistic conditions and move away from overcontrolled experiments.

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/systems-neur...

Virtual reality research explores curiosity and spatial memory Virtual reality research reveals that curiosity is key in spatial memory and mental map formation.

This is a great (and accessible) summary of our latest @commspsychol.bsky.social paper, which examines the link between curiosity, spatial exploration, and memory within virtual environments.

www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/29...

Paper link 👉🏻: www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Locomotion-dependent use of geometric and body cues in humans mapping 3D space The ability to represent locations across multiple dimensions of space is a core function of cognitive maps. While the influence of boundary-dependent environmental geometry on spatial representations...

Curious about spatial memory in 3D? Our new preprint explores how environmental boundaries and the way we move affect our memory for locations in volumetric space!

Huge congrats to co-1st @theoschaefer.bsky.social w/ Leonard König, Misun Kim, Christian Doeller.

🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Great initiative!

White matter connections of human ventral temporal cortex are organized by cytoarchitecture, eccentricity and category-selectivity from birth - Nature Human Behaviour Kubota et al. find that white matter connections of ventral temporal cortex are innately organized by cytoarchitecture, category and eccentricity from birth, and also develop in parallel within each cytoarchitectonic area from infancy to adulthood.

Kubota et al. find that white matter connections of ventral temporal cortex are innately organized by cytoarchitecture, category, and eccentricity from birth, and develop in parallel within each cytoarchitectonic area from infancy to adulthood. https://www.nature.c...

New work from us led by the brilliant @drjk.bsky.social from our grant with the @britishacademy.bsky.social

⭐ Social exclusion increases paranoia and reduces self and other learning flexibility in adolescents

A brief explainer below...

📜 Preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...

Representation: Past, Present & Future This questionnaire is for a final year neuroscience student who is doing her capstone as part of the Representation: Past, Present & Future Project at Trinity College Dublin.

What are we talking about, when we talk about 'representations'?

My undergraduate student, Oyinkansola Olorunleke, is conducting a thesis project on the concept of representation in cognitive sciences & neuroscience.

We are seeking interested participants in the below survey:

tinyurl.com/2e6rcnxv

Very nice work!

Sleep selectively and durably enhances memory for the sequence of real-world experiences - Nature Human Behaviour How does sleep transform the way we remember our experiences? This study finds that sleep enhances memory for the order of events from an art tour, but not the details of the events. The sleep-related...

@diamondn.bsky.social et al. find that sleep enhances memory for the order of events from an art tour, but not the details of the events. The sleep-related advantage for sequences persists for over a year. @brianlevine.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

‘Reading is part of my identity’: the woman taking on Goodreads owner Amazon Software engineer and developer Nadia Odunayo created the social media readers’ platform StoryGraph and its popularity has rocketed

Since we all should be currently boycotting Amazon, a reminder that Bezos owns Goodreads and there is a great, Black woman owned, alternative that you can easily migrate to. Highly recommend.

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/f...

Sounds fantastic - looking forward to hearing more!

For social psychologists looking for a more permanent home in the UK, Oxford Experimental Psychology Department @oxexppsy.bsky.social is hiring. my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

@drberry.bsky.social testing his new VR anxiety and exploration paradigm on an unsuspecting @kavishinia.bsky.social!

Curiosity shapes spatial exploration and cognitive map formation in humans - Communications Psychology Across two studies using desktop VR, curiosity determined how much humans explored and how well the hand-drawn spatial maps they acquired corresponded to the rooms

Across two studies using desktop VR, curiosity determined how much humans explored and how well the hand-drawn spatial maps they acquired corresponded to the rooms
@cjhodgetts.bsky.social, @mjgruber.bsky.social, @danlucen.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Loved being part of this project w/ @danlucen.bsky.social & @mjgruber.bsky.social! Using a virtual exploration task, Danlu showed curiosity not only drives exploration but also leads to more precise spatial memories (i.e., curiosity shapes spatial knowledge). Link below! @rhulpsychology.bsky.social

Very saddened to hear this. I didn't know Eleanor personally, but her work and perspectives profoundly shaped the memory field and my own path studying the hippocampus. Many who worked in her lab spoke highly of how she supported and empowered them as scientists. A huge loss.

Please repost! Open PhD position on curiosity and metacognition across childhood and adolescence with the amazing @yanafandakova.bsky.social at the University of Trier (Germany). The project is part of a cool international collaboration. :-) #DevPsych #PsychSciSky #neuroskyence #neurojobs

So happy for @eleanoralderman.bsky.social, who won the the best poster prize at the AVA conference! She presented her planned analyses on linking visual exploration to scene memory! @rhulpsychology.bsky.social

In today’s research tea event,
@ashleysymons.bsky.social gave an inspiring talk on mistakes in research and led fruitful discussions on how we can create a culture that collectively mitigates the impact of mistakes in research