New preprint w/ Michael C. Frank: bit.ly/3VMdl2u

How can we ascribe cognitive abilities to language models? We evaluate them! But evals impose challenges separate from the underlying ability of interest. These 'task demands' affect LM performance, esp. for smaller models! 1/8

At Harvard, the Lab for Culture, Cognition and Coevolution in the Dep of Human Evo Bio is seeking a new Lab Manager. Great gig for anyone thinking about grad school in cultural evolution and related fields, including psych, anthro and econ. Contact me tinyurl.com/3kzy5fpd

You want to work on construction grammar, but you’re missing systematically annotated corpus data?

Introducing✨UCxn✨, a new layer in Universal Dependencies, with construction annotations for 5 constructions and 10 languages!

📄arxiv.org/abs/2403.17748
💻github.com/LeonieWeisswei…

Wow!!!! tlacuilolli.com/2024/03/21/new…

🚨Publication Alert🚨
Very glad to see this paper where Anna Bloxam , Chris Stevens, Marc Vander Linden, and I explored new approaches for statistically modelling diffusion of innovation (DOI) curves in archaeology using 14C dates: sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Lots of people in CS are (almost surely) GPT-ing their peer reviews
arxiv.org/abs/2403.07183

New version release of Vanuatu Voices!
(and a new logo 😊)
vanuatuvoices.clld.org
Max Planck Society MPI-EVA Leipzig Vanuatu Cultural Centre Comparative Oceanic Linguistics

This is Enheduanna, who lived 4,300 years ago.

She is the first named writer in history.

So here is the story of humanity's first poet — and how her work influences us even in the 21st century...

Preprint alert! 📢

The appearance of symbolic material culture is often linked to the evolution of complex, 'modern' human minds.

In a new article for BBS, I reconsider this link, and argue that modern humans needn't leave any such evidence. A thread.

cambridge.org/core/journals/…

'Our model shifts the focus from the receiver to the sender of cultural information and emphasizes the role of sender traits, such as communicability or persuasiveness.'
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rs…

I’ve recently been obsessed with vultures and wanted to share a few things I’ve learned along the way!

DISCLAIMER: Vultures are macabre creatures. Proceed at your own risk, should you have the morbid-curiosity to do so…🧵

Why is the max speed limit found in mid-sized animals? This is explained by two competing musculoskeletal limits: how fast muscles contract in smaller animals, & how much they shorten during contraction in larger animals. Cheetahs 🐆 hit that sweet spot | doi.org/10.1038/s41467…

Sign language AI is dominated by hearing, non-signing researchers. What kinds of systemic biases does this introduce in the field's collective direction?

To find out, read our preprint, with Aashaka Desai Dr. Maartje De Meulder Julie A. Hochgesang, PhD and Annemarie Kocab!

arxiv.org/abs/2403.02563

“Because it feels fun” is not an alternative to an evolutionary explanation!

Sex can feel fun.
Making friends can feel fun.
Winning status can feel fun.

Better question: Why do some activities feel fun (or generate behavior consistent w those feelings)?

⁦The Atlantic⁩

late burst of colour evolution in a radiation of songbirds (Passeriformes: Parulidae) suggests secondary contact drives signal divergence | Journal of Evolutionary Biology | Oxford Academic academic.oup.com/jeb/advance-ar…

New paper with Liz Schotter, led by Casey Stringer. The title says it all: 'Deaf readers use leftward information to read more efficiently: Evidence from eye tracking.' Deaf readers have a larger leftward span than skill-matched hearing readers. journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.11…

I thought Dune 2 was the best movie of 2024 until I watched this masterpiece (sound on).

Does studying philosophy make people better thinkers?

Michael Vazquez and I find clear evidence of selection effects, but an absence of evidence for treatment effects. Now available in Journal of the American Philosophical Association!

doi.org/10.1017/apa.20…

Our new paper is out today in nature , showing that bumblebees possess the cognitive capacity for some of the key ingredients of cumulative culture, previously though to be unique to humans
nature.com/articles/s4158…

Amidst the pandemic a group of scientists quietly made a discovery about birds that would fundamentally change our understanding of the world......🧵