Jonathan Najenson

Some of the scholars mentioned in this article have presented at The International Memory Reading Group that @jonathannajenson.bsky.social and I run: sites.google.com/view/memoryr...

IPM 4.5 starting now!

IPM 4.5 starts Thursday!

Don't forget IPM4.5 is coming up next week!

🚨Coming up soon on May 22–23: the Philosophy of Memory Early Career Online Conference (IPM 4.5)! Amazing lineup of speakers, with each early-career talk followed by commentary.

Program and connection details here: phomo.org/events/ipm4-5

Join us online on May 22–23 for the Philosophy of Memory Early Career Online Conference (IPM 4.5)

Michael Friedman, Suppes Professor of Philosophy of Science, Stanford University (1947-2025)

I regret to information the Bluesky philosophy community that Michael Friedman, noted philosopher of science and ground-breaking historian of Kant, neo-Kantianism, and logical positivism has died. May his memory be a blessing. #philsci

Thanks for the shout-out, Nir!

Engrams and causal specificity The identification of memory engrams remains a methodological obstacle in neuroscience if they are to play the explanatory role ascribed to them by engram theory. I tackle the problem of specificit...

'Engrams and causal specificity' has now been published in Philosophical Psychology

Deadline extended! Submit to #IPM4.5 by March 15th

Kinda like computational modeling 👀

Philosophy of Memory Early Career Online Conference (IPM4.5) This is the submission form for Philosophy of Memory Early Career Conference (IPM 4.5). Abstracts must be anonymized and no longer than 500 words. Contact: IPM4.5 organizing committee (issuesinphilom...

🚨 Final call for #IPM4.5! Join us on 22–23 May for a new format: an early-career researcher's talk followed by a commentary from an established researcher. We invite early career researchers to submit abstracts by 1 March.
Submit here:
👉 forms.gle/J6RdzD3qdvdP...

More generally, we believe this kind of design shows that time is of the essence! Cool insights into the dynamics of cognitive control pop up when you bring participants back for multiple sessions. Huge thanks to my collaborators Rut Zaks‑Ohayon, Yossi Tzelgov, and the incredible Nir Fresco! (fin)

Surprisingly, the impact of task conflict didn’t increase with practice—performance gains were similar after the first session. We think task conflict is strongest when the conflict is novel. (5/n)

a cartoon character with a green hat says now that 's what i call a sticky situation ALT: a cartoon character with a green hat says now that 's what i call a sticky situation

We found that repeating the task over consecutive sessions and across weeks improved response times in both congruent and incongruent trials, but the effect persisted. So, while you do get faster, overcoming interference from the sensory and semantic informational conflict doesn’t go away (4/n)

Beyond the informational conflict in Stroop stimuli, we manipulated task conflict by varying the proportion of word vs. non-word stimuli like ####. A higher proportion of non-word stimuli is thought to create greater task conflict, leading to higher expected interference with task stimuli (3/n)

an elderly woman stands in front of a whiteboard with the words a lot of conflict written on it ALT: an elderly woman stands in front of a whiteboard with the words a lot of conflict written on it

The Stroop task is a classic tool to study cognitive flexibility. But how does repeated practice influence how we handle the conflict between sensory and semantic information encountered in the Stroop task? (2/n)

Practice makes better? The influence of increased practice on task conflict in the Stroop task - Memory & Cognition The Stroop task is widely used to study attentional control and cognitive flexibility. However, questions about its sensitivity to training and the impact of task conflict on attentional control remai...

Excited to share my first experimental paper! We tackle how practice shapes cognitive control by running a month-long Stroop task. Here’s a 🧵: (1/n)
doi.org/10.3758/s134...

I think it goes something like laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect the more we know how they are made

Is this a metaphor about sausages?

Information Processing and Dynamics in Minimally Cognitive Agents There has been considerable debate in the literature about the relative merits of information processing versus dynamical approaches to understanding cognitive processes. In this article, we explore ...

Randy Beer has a nice piece on this -
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

I think the motivation was (is?) that dynamical systems need not entail representational talk, unlike classical computation. Totally agree that they work well together though

Looks amazing, congrats! Looking forward to reading it soon

If your work explores the connections between memory, emotion and forgiveness, and if it does so from a philosophical and/or psychological perspective, please consider submitting a manuscript to this special issue: link.springer.com/collections/... #philosophy #psychology #emotion #forgiveness

We will feature this article in the January session of the International Memory Reading Group:

Philosophy of Memory Early Career Online Conference (IPM4.5) This is the submission form for Philosophy of Memory Early Career Conference (IPM 4.5). Abstracts must be anonymized and no longer than 500 words. Contact: IPM4.5 organizing committee (issuesinphilom...

The #IPM4.5 call for papers is open! Taking place on 22–23 May, this year's conference introduces a new format. We invite early career researchers to submit abstracts by 1 March. Submit here:

@jonathannajenson.bsky.social and I will discuss @thehessam.bsky.social's work in the next session of our International Memory Reading Group

Hessameddin Akhlaghpour outlines how RNA may implement universal computation Could the brain’s computational abilities extend beyond neural networks to molecular mechanisms? Akhlaghpour describes how natural universal computation may have evolved via RNA mechanisms.

Could the brain’s computational abilities extend beyond neural networks to molecular mechanisms?

Listen to Paul Middlebrooks's latest "Brain Inspired" podcast, in which he talks with @thehessam.bsky.social about how universal computation may have evolved via RNA mechanisms: bit.ly/4eQ4Idc

The sense(s) of touch provides a boundary through which we can understand ourselves. How is this sense of bounded self retained in memory? Iva Apostolova is at The Memory Palace today, exploring the connections between memory and touch. Check it out!
#philsky #philscisky