The hottest Cognition Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Technology Topics

God Help Us, Let's Try to Understand the Self-Memory System

Mind & Mythos • 119 implied HN points • 28 Feb 24
📖 Philosophy Memory Identity Cognition Autobiography
  1. Autobiographical memory is how we remember our personal life experiences, like childhood or important events. It’s not just about facts but also how we feel about those memories.
  2. The Self-Memory System connects our memories to our sense of self. It has three parts: the Episodic Memory System for short-term details, the Long-Term Self for broader life stories, and the Working Self that manages our thoughts and goals.
  3. When we recall memories, we don’t just pull them up exactly as they happened. Instead, we reconstruct them based on our goals and how we see ourselves, which can sometimes change over time.

Observer Memory and Imagination as our Inner Social Lab

The Memory Palace • 39 implied HN points • 04 Jun 24
📖 Philosophy Cognition Memory Imagination
  1. Episodic memory helps us remember past events, while imagination lets us think about future or imaginary situations. Both can give us insights into our social experiences.
  2. How we see ourselves in memories and imagined situations can change based on what perspective we adopt. We might identify more with our own feelings or how others see us.
  3. The connection between our memories, imagination, and understanding others' thoughts suggests that these mental activities help us navigate social interactions and self-awareness.

Do People Prefer Curved Lines?

UX Psychology • 218 implied HN points • 30 Mar 23
🔬 Science Psychology Design Perception Cognition User Experience
  1. Research indicates that people generally prefer curved lines over straight or angular ones due to associations with grace and gentleness.
  2. Preference for curves is not just psychological, but has roots in our perception of safety and nurture, related to our evolutionary past.
  3. In design, understanding people's preference for curved lines can help create more visually appealing and effective products, but individual factors like personality and culture also play a role.

Intelligence in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Charles Eisenstein • 7 implied HN points • 08 Jan 25
📖 Philosophy Cognition Technology Ethics Culture Media
  1. Outsourcing tasks to machines can make us weaker in those areas. For example, relying on GPS can make our navigation skills worse over time.
  2. Using technology can help us unlock new ways of thinking and generating ideas, but it can also lead to passive thinking. If we let machines do too much, we may stop exercising our own creativity.
  3. AI can create a narrow way of thinking, limiting our ideas. If we only rely on AI-generated content, we risk losing our unique perspectives and deeply understanding the world.
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Results from poll #3 (and updates)

The Counterfactual • 59 implied HN points • 11 Apr 24
🕹 Technology AI LLMs Research Education Cognition
  1. Tokenization won the recent poll, so there will be an in-depth explainer about it soon. This will help people understand how tokenization works in large language models.
  2. The visual reasoning task was a close second, so it might come up in the next poll for more ideas. This shows there is interest in how models think visually.
  3. There are updates about recent publications and discussions on related topics in AI and psychology. These will be shared in upcoming posts, expanding on interesting research topics.

Nonhuman Intelligence

Cremieux Recueil • 199 implied HN points • 07 Mar 24
🔬 Science Cognition Intelligence Comparative Analysis Machine Learning Psychometrics
  1. It's challenging to compare intelligence between humans and nonhuman species like apes due to the lack of suitable cognitive tests.
  2. Machine intelligence testing is complex, and comparing it to human intelligence is not straightforward.
  3. Comparing intelligence across different groups may be hindered by factors like age and methodological barriers.

How to metacognate

Sunday Letters • 99 implied HN points • 29 Jan 24
🕹 Technology AI Programming Machine Learning Cognition Data Automation
  1. Working with complex models can be hard when they get confused by incorrect or incomplete information. This can lead to mistakes and conflicts in what they remember.
  2. Creating a stable pattern for how tasks are done can help models work better by giving them a solid structure to follow. This is like giving the model a framework to lean on for more complicated tasks.
  3. As models improve, the need for extra coding to guide their thinking may lessen. Better memory strategies will likely help them function more effectively over time.

Orange peels, human tests, and LLMs

The Counterfactual • 139 implied HN points • 28 Nov 23
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Research Cognition Benchmarking
  1. It's tricky to know what Large Language Models (LLMs) can really do. Figuring out how to measure their skills, like reasoning, is more complicated than it seems.
  2. Using tests designed for humans might not always work for LLMs. Just because a test is good for people doesn't mean it measures the same things for AI.
  3. We need to look deeper into how LLMs solve tasks, not just focus on their test scores. Understanding their inner workings could help us assess their true capabilities better.

Neuroscience/AI - Can rats ‘think’? A paper by Chongxi Lai and colleagues on cognitive teleportation in rats [8 min read]

James W. Phillips' Newsletter • 157 implied HN points • 10 Apr 23
🔬 Science Neuroscience AI Cognition Experiment
  1. There is a paper on cognitive teleportation in rats, pushing the boundaries of what we understand about rodent cognition.
  2. The research involves tasks where rats navigate in virtual reality based on their brain signals, not physical movements.
  3. The study successfully shows rats 'thinking' by rewarding them for imagining being in a particular location, showcasing impressive advancements in neuroscience and AI.

Scrolling Toward The Divine

Reactionary Feminist • 10 implied HN points • 29 Nov 24
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Religion Internet Cognition Experience Philosophy
  1. The internet can help people feel a deeper connection to spirituality and religion. Scrolling through online content might actually draw individuals closer to God.
  2. Reading online changes how we think. It helps us recognize patterns in the world that we might have missed with traditional reading methods.
  3. This shift in how we perceive things can lead to various experiences, including a renewed interest in religious matters.

Predicting the Future

The Cosmopolitan Globalist • 4 implied HN points • 02 Jan 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Forecasting Intelligence Psychology Cognition Political trends
  1. Predicting the future is hard because people often think they're better at it than they really are. Many make mistakes like being too confident or not paying attention to the facts.
  2. Some people, called superforecasters, are really good at making accurate predictions. They focus on facts, break problems into smaller parts, and keep track of their past predictions to learn from them.
  3. To improve predictions, it's important to express guesses as probabilities, look for different opinions, and stay open to changing your mind when new information comes in.

Against using Nicholas Cage movies to teach correlation and causation

Unconfusion • 39 implied HN points • 31 Mar 24
🚌 Education Statistics Pedagogy Cognition Research Methodology Data Analysis
  1. Using silly examples to teach correlation and causation can let students off too easily. It's important to challenge them with examples that make them think.
  2. Most teaching examples use time-series data, but many real-world correlations don't fit this model. We should focus on typical variations found in research.
  3. Mixing random correlations with spurious connections creates confusion. Teaching should clearly explain how confounders can lead to false relationships.

Why Job Displacement Predictions are Wrong: Explanations of Cognitive Automation

Scaling Knowledge • 117 implied HN points • 30 May 23
🕹 Technology AI Automation Cognition ML Economics
  1. Predictions about job displacement due to large language models are often wrong because they lack explanations of how LLMs and human intelligence differ.
  2. Jobs are more likely to be augmented than automated by technologies like LLMs, as human creativity and autonomy are essential in many fields like software engineering, medicine, law, and media production.
  3. Regulations on AI and cognitive automation may hinder progress and knowledge creation, leading to unforeseen consequences and limiting the potential benefits of such technologies.

Is the ‘Dumb Jock’ Really a Nerd?

Let's Get Psychophysical ! • 117 implied HN points • 18 Jul 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Physical health Mental health Well-being Exercise Cognition
  1. Training the body and mind simultaneously is possible through psychophysical culture.
  2. Neuroscience challenges the distinction between practical and theoretical activities, suggesting success in one area translates to success in another.
  3. Complex motor activities combining physical and cognitive demands have shown to enhance cognition.

What We Remember and What We Forget When We Forgive

The Memory Palace • 1 HN point • 10 Sep 24
📖 Philosophy Ethics Cognition Memory Justice Emotions
  1. Forgiveness can change how we feel about bad memories. People may remember the details, but the anger and hurt can lessen over time.
  2. Just because someone forgives doesn't mean they forget the event. They can still remember what happened without feeling the same pain or desire for revenge.
  3. Research shows that forgiveness mainly affects the emotional parts of memories. This means that even when we remember a bad event, we can feel less upset about it.

Erasing and Replacing Race

Living Fossils • 7 implied HN points • 20 Nov 24
🎭️ Culture Social Psychology Cognition Evolutionary Theory Diversity
  1. Humans may not automatically categorize people by race. Instead, we tend to identify which groups people belong to based on social coalitions.
  2. Research shows that racial categorization can be reduced or suppressed with certain manipulations, which suggests it's not a fixed aspect of how we think.
  3. The ongoing studies highlight that focusing on race is a choice, and we have the ability to change this perspective over time.

Setting The Stage

Weekly Wisdom • 79 implied HN points • 13 Jul 23
📖 Philosophy Cognition Values Identity
  1. Integral theory introduces stages of development, covering cognition, values, and identity.
  2. Stage development in integral theory involves growing up, moral development, and understanding perspectives.
  3. Integral theory categorizes levels of development using colors, from egocentric to kosmocentric stages.

Introducing not-knowing.

The Uncertainty Mindset (soon to become tbd) • 199 implied HN points • 11 Jan 23
📖 Philosophy Uncertainty Knowledge Decision-making Existentialism Cognition
  1. Understanding not-knowing helps us deal with uncertainty in our lives. It’s important to recognize that we often face different types of not-knowing that affect our decision-making.
  2. The world is more interconnected today, which means uncertainties can spread faster. We need to be aware that one issue in one part of the world can quickly impact others.
  3. It's important to accept that we can't know everything. Recognizing our limits can help us manage our emotions better and make clearer decisions in uncertain situations.

Pathless Path

do clouds feel vertigo? • 19 implied HN points • 20 Feb 24
📖 Philosophy Existentialism Mindfulness Cognition Perception Identity
  1. Breaking out of our usual habits can lead to surprising discoveries. When we pay attention, we might find new paths and experiences waiting for us.
  2. Curiosity can help us push past our fears. Feeling anxious about the unknown is normal, but choosing to explore can open up new opportunities.
  3. Innovation often starts from simply noticing something different. With courage and a willingness to step off the beaten path, we can reshape our understanding and create new adventures.

A simple test for AI comprehension

Logos • 19 implied HN points • 21 Jan 24
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Neural Networks Cognition Child development
  1. The author tests AI's understanding using a guessing game. The AI struggled and often made mistakes, which leads to questions about their comprehension.
  2. LLMs act like children by mimicking language without true understanding. They can say the right words but might not grasp the ideas behind them.
  3. The argument suggests that while LLMs can analyze complex topics, their understanding is shallow compared to human comprehension.

Useful cognitive lenses to see through

The Counterfactual • 59 implied HN points • 20 Mar 23
📖 Philosophy Cognition Science Metaphor Frameworks Paradigms
  1. Understanding the world often relies on different 'lenses' or frameworks that help us interpret complex information. These frameworks can simplify reality, making it easier to grasp important ideas.
  2. Metaphors play a crucial role in how we think and communicate. They provide familiar associations that help us understand difficult concepts, even if they don’t capture the whole truth.
  3. It's essential to consider different perspectives and counterfactuals when evaluating ideas. Looking at what could happen if things were different can help us make better decisions and avoid misleading conclusions.

Our friends shape our memory

Klement on Investing • 3 implied HN points • 15 Nov 24
🔬 Science Psychology Cognition Memory Social Behavior Neuroscience
  1. Our memories are not like videos; we actually rebuild them each time we recall information. This means they can be easily influenced by others.
  2. People tend to remember things better when they are related to someone they trust or feel connected to. This makes our memories less reliable for those outside our social circles.
  3. Misinformation can spread easily because we are less accurate in recalling what people from other groups say or do. This makes us more susceptible to believing false claims about them.

Paper Summary: The Koha Code - A Biological Theory of Memory

Sigil • 19 implied HN points • 29 Dec 23
🔬 Science Neuroscience Biology Memory Learning Cognition
  1. The Koha model proposes that dendritic spines are computational units that scan for specific temporal codes in the brain.
  2. Excitatory and inhibitory neurons can form neural circuits that use lateral inhibition to suppress other neurons.
  3. Dendritic spines change shape to amplify or dampen signals, encoding temporal patterns and competing to become the 'winning neuron'.

NACC Course Registrations Now Open!

Neuro Athletics • 30 implied HN points • 14 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Coaching Cognition Exercise Nutrition Sleep Recovery
  1. NACC Course offers 6 modules covering topics like neuroanatomy, cognition, exercise and brain health, nutrients, sleep physiology, and recovery.
  2. The program includes a bonus business blueprint to help coaches achieve financial success.
  3. The course is expert-led, evidence-based, and aims to elevate coaches to the highest levels of performance coaching through cutting-edge knowledge and personalized attention.

Humans, LLMs, and the symbol grounding problem (pt. 2)

The Counterfactual • 59 implied HN points • 07 Dec 22
🕹 Technology AI Language Cognition Philosophy Psychology
  1. Understanding language might not need physical experiences. This means that Large Language Models could potentially understand language differently than humans do.
  2. People can grasp abstract concepts and visual information even without direct experiences, like those who are blind or those with aphantasia. This challenges the idea that you must physically experience something to understand it.
  3. Using language itself can be a way to learn about the world. Language helps us form ideas and understand concepts, even if we haven't experienced everything firsthand.

PP #35 | How to Instantly Be a Better Leader, and using Emotion, Cognition, and Movement to get Unstuck

The Leadership Lab • 39 implied HN points • 04 Sep 22
🏥 Health & Wellness Leadership Emotion Cognition Self-Improvement
  1. Using both emotion and cognition to approach problems can help you get unstuck. If you're stuck in your thoughts, focus on how you want to feel. If trapped by your feelings, think about the best path forward and take the first step.
  2. Physical movement can help you get unstuck creatively. When facing a difficult problem, go for a walk or engage in some form of physical activity without distractions. Let your body's movement guide your mind's flow.
  3. To improve as a leader, embrace your position and responsibilities. Owning your leadership means doing what needs to be done and holding yourself and others accountable. Leadership is about making hard choices but sticking to them.

Consciousness

Splattern • 19 implied HN points • 11 Oct 23
📖 Philosophy Consciousness Cognition Neuroscience Mindfulness Human experience
  1. Consciousness includes wakefulness, attention, and conscious access. These are key ideas that help us understand how we experience awareness.
  2. The author believes consciousness acts like a tool that helps us pick which thoughts to focus on. This means we can choose to think about positive things and let go of the negative ones.
  3. Studies about consciousness rely on people sharing their experiences. This means the subject is important, as they need to report when they are aware of something.

Need For Cognition

Brain Lenses • 19 implied HN points • 09 Mar 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Psychology Cognition
  1. Need for cognition measures how much someone enjoys and engages in thinking-heavy activities.
  2. This personality metric relates to the cognitive effort put into understanding and organizing unfamiliar concepts.
  3. Feeling mentally exhausted from challenging tasks may indicate a high need for cognition.

The Market As A Superintelligence + 3 Reasons To Believe AGI Is Possible

The Future of Life • 19 implied HN points • 05 Jun 23
🕹 Technology Artificial Intelligence Market Theory Cognition Economics Innovation
  1. The market acts like a superintelligence by combining the knowledge and skills of all participants. This creates a system that is more efficient than what any single person or organization could achieve.
  2. There are signs that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) could be possible, such as the ability to recreate simple behaviors in artificial neural networks. This suggests we could eventually model more complex human behaviors as well.
  3. AI systems already show capabilities similar to human thinking in language and problem-solving. This means we might not need special biological processes to achieve human-like intelligence.

Welcome to UX Psychology

UX Psychology • 59 implied HN points • 04 Oct 21
🕹 Technology Psychology Research Cognition
  1. UX Psychology newsletter covers a range of UX topics from the perspective of a UX Researcher/Cognitive Psychologist, including essays on cognition in user experience and practical research guides.
  2. The author is a UX Researcher with a PhD in Cognitive Psychology, sharing their expertise and insights after transitioning from academia to full-time UX work.
  3. Using Substack allows the author to repost previous work from other platforms and share inspiring content without the constraints they faced on Medium.

Descriptivism

Sunday Letters • 39 implied HN points • 25 Sep 22
📖 Philosophy Language Communication Argumentation Cognition Complexity
  1. Language is complex and can't be boiled down to strict rules. People use language in many different ways, and that's okay.
  2. Binary thinking often simplifies complicated issues, making it hard to have productive discussions. It's important to recognize that many problems aren't just black and white.
  3. Embracing complexity opens up better conversations. Instead of forcing a win/lose situation, focusing on the nuances can lead to understanding and progress.

#45: Civilization is weightless

The Uncertainty Mindset (soon to become tbd) • 119 implied HN points • 09 Sep 20
📖 Philosophy Existentialism Metaphysics Cognition Ethics Adaptability
  1. Moving frequently helps you rethink what you own and decide what to keep or get rid of.
  2. It’s easy to hold onto things you don’t need because they feel comforting or like they might be useful one day.
  3. Letting go of unnecessary stuff can help you feel lighter and make space for more important things, like flexibility and knowledge.

How do we know (how) humans understand language?

The Counterfactual • 19 implied HN points • 06 Nov 22
🔬 Science Linguistics Cognition Psychology Artificial Intelligence Philosophy
  1. Understanding language in humans often relies on their behavior. When people respond or react to language, we assume they understand it.
  2. There are deeper properties, like grounding or compositionality, that some believe are essential for true understanding. These properties are often debated in relation to how we define understanding.
  3. The ongoing discussion about human language understanding can help us figure out if machines, like language models, can genuinely understand language too.

Lost Ways of Knowing

The Bigger Picture • 59 implied HN points • 14 Feb 20
📖 Philosophy Cognition Wisdom Embodiment Complex Systems Perception
  1. We are facing a meaning crisis, losing connections to our roots and historical trajectory, which impacts our politics and the environment.
  2. Different 'memetic tribes' are constructing maps of reality, leading to polarization and closed ways of perceiving the world.
  3. To navigate the complexity, we need to embrace lost ways of knowing, balance left and right brain functions, and engage in participatory learning to understand and connect with our environment.

Comprehensive Integration of Aaron Lee's First Axiom With Advanced Logical Systems

Autodidact Obsessions • 4 implied HN points • 13 Feb 24
🔬 Science Logic Philosophy Language Cognition
  1. This paper integrates various philosophic theories on language with systems like Kripke Semantics, Quantum Logic, and Mereology, encompassing all languages and symbolic logical systems.
  2. Aaron Lee's First Axiom suggests that until language is used, words exist in a state of quantum possibility, lacking fixed meanings, which challenges traditional views of semantics.
  3. The comprehensive integration of Lee's Axiom with advanced logical systems could potentially revolutionize fields like AI and computational linguistics by offering a universal framework for solving complex problems.

Understanding (and) psychology

Apperceptive (moved to buttondown) • 8 implied HN points • 09 Aug 23
🔬 Science Psychology Machine Learning Cognition General Intelligence Human behavior
  1. Understanding what you're measuring is crucial in machine learning and can have implications on race issues.
  2. Machine learning involves supervised learning, which essentially teaches models to predict human responses, making it a form of human behavioral measurement at a large scale.
  3. Psychological experimentation in measuring human behavior and cognition is complex and requires meticulous control and understanding, which is often underestimated in various fields.