For many of us early career cognitive scientists, 2020 was supposed to be our year. We diligently designed clever research studies, painfully drafted publication manuscripts, hungrily collected data, and painstakingly prepared presentations for exposure of our work at various conferences. All this in preparation for one of the most important endeavors of our scientific careers: preparing ourselves for the upcoming academic job market.

We eagerly drafted research and teaching statements, sought advice from diverse scientists regarding our future application materials, and for the truly eager beavers (guilty as charged!), started fantasizing about the content we would cover during our glorious job talks. Yes, life for the budding cognitive scientist was on the up and up.

And then COVID-19, the storm none of us saw coming, happened. We looked on with bated breath as the world battled this public health crisis that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, crippled economies, depleted medical resources, and stirred up social and political strife. As researchers, we empathized with the human condition and did our best to help, by practicing social distancing, donating to charity, sharing COVID related resources, all while nervously contemplating what all of this means for our own future.

We watched on as universities declared fiscal emergencies, announced hiring freezes and laid off hundreds of employees. And then we remembered one thing that has rung true about the cognitive science community: we are not in this alone and neither are any of our experiences unique to any single individual. As a community, we can ban together, listen to each other’s experiences, and offer ideas and solutions for how we may overcome, not just the impact of this public health crisis, but also any crisis the world launches (or entrains if you’re a causal reasoning researcher) our way.

With this, we introduce our new feature. This new feature is meant to draw attention to the wide range of experiences, and in some cases, the concerns people have as cognitive scientists, and to come together to offer advice and solutions for how to cope and excel. To do this, we interview cognitive scientists by asking 10 questions and the occasional followup question. We start by interviewing early-career scientists about their experiences and concerns related to COVID-19 and the future of academia.

For our first guest on the bench, we introduce one of the Psychonomic Society Digital Content team’s very own, Jonathan Caballero. Jonathan is a postdoctoral researcher at McGill University, where he studies the role of verbal and non-verbal cues on various facets of social cognition and social interactions. Jonathan has been a member of the Psychonomic Digital team for 6 months and has plenty to say about his experiences during this time of crisis.

Without further ado, my interview with Jonathan Caballero…

Question 1: How has your work life changed as a result of the pandemic?

Caballero: The main change has been to transition to a fully online environment, with all the changes it brings, such as the lack of face-to-face communication and changes in everyday routines. Also, as limiting social contact is an important component of the strategies against the pandemic, research activities involving in-person interaction have been suspended. This can be especially disruptive when an important part of research requires working in close contact (my areas of research are language perception and social interaction). Luckily, I had some data and writing projects to work on while this is going, and some projects using online methodologies.

Persaud: What are you writing up?

Caballero: Currently, I’m working on data analyses and manuscript revisions regarding how native and nonnative accents modulate trust and interpersonal interaction, and also on how subtle linguistic-pragmatic cues in the voice are understood and used to guide interpersonal behavior in people with and without Parkinson’s Disease.

Question 2: Have you experienced any issues or hiccups with work/life balance during this time?

Caballero: In the beginning, balancing work and life was very hard, and it still is sometimes. It took effort and intentionality to establish new routines and to find ways to keep work and private life separate. On one side, it was an interesting experience to be able to work with an unconstrained schedule: “Is it 2 am and you just got inspired? let us write!”, but it also opened the door for distraction “Is it 11 am and you are craving ice-cream? Why not!”. Because of this, I had very odd schedules and kept switching from work to private life modes constantly when all this started. It felt tiring because I never really disconnected from work nor personal life and was also continuously watching the news. It felt overwhelming at times. Later, I tried to get some structure and establish working and non-working hours, which helped me. Also, having meetings and organizing work activities before or after them has helped me to keep momentum once in “work mode”. I find that they force you to get your ideas organized as you prepare for a meeting and to reorient and reprioritize after they end.

Question 3. What, if any, are your concerns regarding the state of academia in the present and in the near future?

Caballero: I think there may be quite a bit of change in academia soon. On one side, some institutions seem to have significantly slowed down research on some areas and possibly also delayed or suspended hiring processes. For the other, there is a possibility that this will open new opportunities (I hope!) as the skills for efficiently working remotely and of successfully conducting rigorous online experiments may be much more valued. If your area of research allows it, I think it is worth to invest time learning to implement online studies and strengthening skills for working with geographically spread teams.

Question 4. Has this pandemic caused you to rethink your career path?

Caballero: Not essentially, but it has prompted me to rethink the short term.

I am hopeful that the situation will normalize in the long term, and I am sure that strong research skills are always an asset. However, as the way academia will work could be highly variable in different places for at least a couple of years, I think that it will be important to be open about career possibilities that may have not been previously considered. Because of this, I’m trying to keep my eyes open for opportunities in areas that I did not think about before the pandemic started. Who knows? Maybe something interesting could arise from career paths you didn’t expect, and this could strengthen your skills in the long term for whichever career path you do want to pursue.

Question 5: What’s been your biggest guilty pleasure during lockdown?

Caballero: I have watched some gameplay videos of old videogames that I did not complete back then. I think it is the first time I ever watched this video genre, as before I would not understand why watching someone else play when I could play by myself … You know what, I enjoyed them! And finally got to know how Final Fantasy VII (the 1997 Play Station version) ends!

Question 6: Relative to your research and research practices, has anything beneficial outcome out of this pandemic for you?

Caballero: I had started to use some online research methodologies a couple of years ago. This helped to ease the transition, but I think that now I am having much more chance to explore this way of doing research.  I think journals and conferences will be much more open to studies using online methodologies in the future, but this is still to be seen.

Persaud: What data are you collecting online?

Caballero: Some of the work that I’m currently involved with focuses on native and nonnative accents. Studies on this topic can advantageously be implemented in online environments, for example, as this allows reaching people from different geographic and cultural-linguistic backgrounds with ease, allowing us to diversify the sample composition while preserving good experimental control.

Question 7. Relative to your personal life, has anything beneficial come out of this pandemic for you?

Caballero: I am trying to enjoy things that you can do at home. Cooking and long baths are way more pleasurable than I thought. I also had the chance to reconnect with friends who are geographically distant, the normalization of video calls really helped to do this. But I won’t lie, I still miss going out… Badly.

Persaud: Do you care to share a recipe or two?

Caballero: Nothing worth sharing, unfortunately, my cooking skills are basic.

Question 8: With so many changes happening and will continue to happen in the years to come, how have you been able to cope?

Caballero: At this moment I mainly try to keep an open mind about what will happen and try to see opportunities in previously unthought areas. I am also trying to lower my expectations on the adequate level of details for life planning because I think everything is still very fluid. This feels odd because I try to plan well in advance, but it may be a better approach at this point and also makes emotionally coping with everything a bit easier.

Question 9. In regard to coping, what types of resources (e.g., writing workshops, statistical training, academic articles related to COVID-19) would you like to see more of?

Caballero: I’d like to see more writing workshops and other training for science communication, specially tailored to making science available to wide and nonspecialized audiences. I think there is much relevant advice for the COVID-19 crisis that cognitive and behavioral sciences can offer, but it needs to be tailored to the context and described in practical ways.

Question 10. What advice, if any, would you give to others in a similar job or personal situation as yourself?

Caballero: Take care of yourself, and allow yourself to feel bad sometimes or to indulge in little pleasures. Prioritize your well-being. This will help you see what will come next and to remain focused on your goals, to the extent that it is possible. This situation is hard, we all suffer, but it will pass, it has to. Try to be prepared to see opportunities that could result from all this and to take advantage of them when they arise.

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Follow Jonathan Caballero: @JonathanACabal1

Follow Kimele Persaud: @KimelePersaud

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