Hacker News with Generative AI: Cognitive Science

The number of exceptional people: Fewer than 85 per 1M across key traits (sciencedirect.com)
Cognitive biases can lead to overestimating the expected prevalence of exceptional multi-talented candidates, leading to potential dissatisfaction in recruitment contexts.

Cognitive Science, Talent Acquisition, Human Resources, Statistics, Psychology

10 points by baxtr 2 days ago | 4 comments

Ticker Tape Synesthesia (thesynesthesiatree.com)
"Ticker taping" consists of automatically visualising written words in the form of subtitles when hearing other people speak. It can also occur with one’s own speech and/or with internal dialogue, i.e. verbal thinking.

Synesthesia, Perception, Language, Neuroscience, Cognitive Science

47 points by daverol 12 days ago | 22 comments

Shfla: Shoegaze Hierarchical Fractal Language Architecture (github.com/Tetraslam)
SHFLA (Shoegaze Hierarchical Fractal Language Architecture) is an interdisciplinary project that integrates Cognitive Musicology, Linguistics, Music Theory, and Computer Science.

Music, Programming, Cognitive Science, Computer Science

52 points by Tetraslam 14 days ago | 15 comments

The Effects of Generative AI on Design Fixation and Divergent Thinking (dl.acm.org)
Generative AI systems have been heralded as tools for augmenting human creativity and inspiring divergent thinking, though with little empirical evidence for these claims.

Generative AI, Design, Creativity, Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Science

6 points by adrianhoward 27 days ago | 0 comments

Ask HN: How to Learn 'To Think'? (ycombinator.com)
I am writing this desperate to find out what to do. Most of my life, I have been 'listening' passively, without thinking. I don't have an internal monologue. I had a neuropsych evaluation which commented on my poor memory and inability to think.

Cognitive Science, Learning, Self Improvement, Mental Health

61 points by cannnot_think 30 days ago | 53 comments

How Your Brain Processes Zero (It's Not 'Nothing') (scientificamerican.com)
What we think about when we think about “zilch” is surprisingly complex, neuroscientists find

Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Psychology

5 points by athousandsteps 30 days ago | 1 comments

Brain endurance training improves older adults' cognitive, physical performance (sciencedirect.com)
Cognitive and physical performance is impaired by aging and fatigue.

Cognitive Science, Aging, Health, Exercise

109 points by gnabgib 31 days ago | 33 comments

Mind Wandering: More than a Bad Habit (2018) [pdf] (psych.ucsb.edu)

Psychology, Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Research

143 points by yamrzou 32 days ago | 94 comments

How the Human Brain Contends with the Strangeness of Zero (quantamagazine.org)
Around 2,500 years ago, Babylonian traders in Mesopotamia impressed two slanted wedges into clay tablets. The shapes represented a placeholder digit, squeezed between others, to distinguish numbers such as 50, 505 and 5,005. An elementary version of the concept of zero was born.

Mathematics, History, Science, Cognitive Science

9 points by EA-3167 33 days ago | 2 comments

Study Reveals the Brain Divides the Day into Chapters Like a Book (sciencealert.com)
Life can feel like a novel some days, full of romance and mystery, and perhaps a touch of horror or even a little fantasy. So perhaps it comes as little surprise that the human brain keeps track of narratives in discrete chunks not unlike the chapters of a book.

Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Psychology, Human Brain

9 points by isaacfrond 34 days ago | 0 comments

Arithmetic is an underrated world-modeling technology (dynomight.substack.com)
Of all the cognitive tools our ancestors left us, what’s best? Society seems to think pretty highly of arithmetic. It’s one of the first things we learn as children. So I think it’s weird that only a tiny percentage of people seem to know how to actually use arithmetic. Or maybe even understand what arithmetic is for. Why?

Mathematics, Technology, Cognitive Science, Education

48 points by crescit_eundo 35 days ago | 18 comments

Cognitive Load (minds.md)
It is a living document, last update: October 2024. Your contributions are welcome!

Cognitive Science, Learning, Memory, Information Processing, Human Factors

10 points by thunderbong 35 days ago | 0 comments

What do you visualize while programming? (dillonshook.com)
I’ve been thinking a bit about thinking while programming lately. A bit confusing I know, but hear me out.

Programming, Software Development, Cognitive Science

116 points by dillonshook 35 days ago | 167 comments

Language is not essential for the cognitive processes that underlie thought (scientificamerican.com)
Scholars have long contemplated the connection between language and thought—and to what degree the two are intertwined—by asking whether language is somehow an essential prerequisite for thinking.

Cognitive Science, Linguistics, Philosophy

562 points by orcul 35 days ago | 408 comments

Cognitive Load is what matters (github.com/zakirullin)
🧠 Cognitive Load is what matters

Cognitive Science, Psychology, User Experience

16 points by irrationaljared 43 days ago | 3 comments

Illusions of Competence in Monitoring One's Knowledge During Study [pdf] (2005) (haifa.ac.il)
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submission.

Cognitive Science, Education, Research, Human Factors, Psychology

50 points by JustinSkycak 54 days ago | 3 comments

How We Sort the World (mitpress.mit.edu)
Despite the vast diversity and individuality in every life, we seek patterns, organization, and control. Or, as cognitive psychologist Gregory Murphy puts it: “We put an awful lot of effort into trying to figure out and convince others of just what kind of person someone is, what kind of action something was, and even what kind of object something is.”

Psychology, Cognitive Science, Categorization, Social Psychology, Human Behavior

43 points by r721 60 days ago | 19 comments

Dissociating language and thought in large language models (arxiv.org)
Large Language Models (LLMs) have come closest among all models to date to mastering human language, yet opinions about their linguistic and cognitive capabilities remain split.

Generative AI, Linguistics, Cognitive Science

42 points by rntn 60 days ago | 4 comments

Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect (wikipedia.org)
John Michael Crichton (/ˈkraɪtən/; October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American author, screenwriter and filmmaker.

Cognitive Science, Science, Psychology

3 points by lutrinus 63 days ago | 0 comments

Satisficing (wikipedia.org)
Satisficing is a decision-making strategy or cognitive heuristic that entails searching through the available alternatives until an acceptability threshold is met.

Decision Making, Cognitive Science, Heuristics

8 points by yamrzou 63 days ago | 1 comments

A Case Study of Reflex Epilepsy Induced by Playing Chess (lichess.org)
An electrical storm in the brain reveals links between chess and (some) other forms of complex thought.

Epilepsy, Neuroscience, Chess, Cognitive Science

46 points by Akcium 68 days ago | 9 comments

The layers of strategic thinking behind our everyday conversations (optimallyirrational.com)
One of the points I made in Optimally Irrational is how incredibly good we are at solving the complex problems we face in our lives. We are often oblivious to the feats we are achieving. There is hardly a better example than something we do every day: talking to each other.

Cognitive Science, Communication, Human Behavior, Decision Making

15 points by yamrzou 72 days ago | 0 comments

Why 4x8 and 6x8 are, surprisingly, some of the hardest times tables to remember (justinmath.com)
There's a cognitive principle behind this: associative interference, the phenomenon that conceptually related pieces of knowledge can interfere with each other's recall.

Mathematics, Education, Cognitive Science

17 points by JustinSkycak 74 days ago | 15 comments

Baseline pupil size related to cognitive ability in proper lighting conditions (sciencedirect.com)

Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, Research

61 points by Teever 76 days ago | 76 comments

We don't know how bad most things are nor precisely how they're bad (lesswrong.com)

Philosophy, Cognitive Science, Uncertainty, Epistemology, Rationality

407 points by surprisetalk 92 days ago | 310 comments

Uniqueness Bias: Why it matters, how to curb it (arxiv.org)

Cognitive Science, Psychology, Bias, Research

118 points by bikenaga 95 days ago | 67 comments

Why do people believe true things? (conspicuouscognition.com)