We found that, while non-human primates might have human-like mental state representations, they fail to use or deploy these representations with the ease and frequency that people do.

This demonstrates the power of computational modeling for theory-testing!

Comparing these models' behavior to observed primate behavior allowed us to evaluate the theories' abilities to predict primate behavior --- and reveal the theories' hidden assumptions about how primates use their mental representations!

Do non-human primates have theory of mind?

My new paper takes a new computational approach to this classic question.

We implemented verbal theories of primates' mental representations as computational models. These models completed classic visual perspective-taking tasks.

The international scientific collaboration at CERN is truly inspiring!

Thank you to my friend @punsnparticles.bsky.social for an unforgettable visit to @cern.bsky.social and tour of the @cmsexperiment.bsky.social detector!

I'd also love to hear your thoughts on if any of the SES representations in academia and Nobel prizes have changed over time. This looks completely flat, but the economy and society changed a lot since 1959 (at least I hope so 🤞)...

This is super interesting and important and such a tremendous amount of work! I have a bunch of follow-up questions. Is the choice to focus on father's occupation (rather than mother's) because the data is pre-1970s? I'm also very curious if the results would be the same for mother's occupation.

While getting legislation through Congress would be a tall order, I'm encouraged by the energy and organizing around this issue. Patient communities, including
Tight Lipped showed up and earned our shout out!

To fix it, the report called for the creation of a new Women's Health Research Institute. This would require Congress to pass new legislation to create and fund this institute.

...resulting in a funding problem that isn't getting better on its own.

This report (nationalacademies.org/our-work/ass...) admitted that, out of the 27 NIH institutes, none prioritize research on vulvodynia or health conditions that predominantly affect female bodies. The NIH was never designed to consider the health of people with vulvas...

A groundbreaking new report from the The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine calls for the creation of a new NIH institute dedicated to women's health. The report included my testimony on vulvodynia (chronic vulvar pain)!