It’s hiring season in U.S. academia which means that departments are planning their searches and candidates are prepping their materials. Last year, we (the authors) ran a cluster hire designed to increase our department’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our goal in this post is to provide one example of how to organize such […]
Scientific Practice
Preface I would like to preface this piece by noting that I identify as a bisexual, cisgender, feminine presenting White woman. While my experiences have been challenging, I also possess numerous privileges that have benefitted me throughout my career. The reflections I present do not begin to describe the doubly difficult harms that are done […]
Social recall is a central part of our day-to-day lives. Whether we are thinking about who to invite to a housewarming party or to a wedding celebration, trying to remember the name of the mechanic who did such a good job with your car last summer, or which of your climbing buddies would be keen […]
For the next two weeks, we are running a digital event called “#WeNeedEDI: Striving for equality, diversity, and inclusion throughout academics’ careers.” The event focuses on the experiences of underrepresented academics and potential ways to increase equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) as we go from early-career academics to emeriti. The Psychonomic Society “recognizes the strategic […]
Spoilers for Everything, Everywhere, All At Once: In the best movie of the year, protagonist Evelyn Wang (portrayed by the inimitable Michelle Yeoh) navigates, among many things, her taxes, complicated family dynamics, at least one raccoon, intense fight sequences (both kung fu and metaphorical in nature), and some unconventional uses of professional accolades in order […]
“This chair is too big!” she exclaimed. So she sat in the second chair. “This chair is too big, too!” she whined. So she tried the last and smallest chair. “Ahhh, this chair is just right,” she sighed. But just as she settled down into the chair to rest, it broke into pieces! – Southey […]
“The impious warbler delved into the paltry aperitif and anointed the pumice with ineffable rigmarole.” That’s a sentence with a lot of big words (and I hope it’s never been uttered before), but if you understood that I was referring to a nasty little bird that wiped some booze on a rock, then you may […]
There are many lessons in life that we have all had to learn the hard way: don’t cram the dishwasher full of plates, arrive at the airport well before your flight time, and maybe take two trips instead of carrying a huge armload of laundry up the stairs in one go. When we make mistakes […]
Researchers have argued for centuries over two leading statistical approaches: Bayesian analysis and the Frequentist approach. Both holding their own complex (and convincing) reasoning, well-meaning researchers can all agree on the goal of their analyses: reaching conclusions with the least amount of bias and error. The war between Bayesians and Frequentists is likely far from […]
Let’s set the stage with a series of images. Each of these pictorial examples represents a different aspect of decision-making, which requires the ability to compare incoming stimuli quickly to behave appropriately. In the case of the flying stimuli in the first set of images, a human might be asked to categorize […]