Prepared Minds Lab

New paper: Reflecting on the multiple biases and predispositions observed in young animals with no previous experience, we modelled a new idea on the strategic role of biases to guide adaptive choice and reduce errors: royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article... In collab with @debivort.bsky.social

I cuccioli non nascono “inermi”: così anche senza esperienza gli animali sanno scegliere Segui La Zampa su Facebook (clicca qui), Instagram (clicca qui) e X (clicca qui) - Non perderti le migliori notizie e storie, iscriviti alla newsletter settima…

some coverage of our new paper on the advantages of multiple biases for inexperienced animals in the Italian press
@mm-repubblica-bot.bsky.social

www.repubblica.it/la-zampa/202...

orginal paper here royalsocietypublishing.org/rspb/article...

Innate biases/predispositins vary in flexibility and strength. The figure shows examples of studied biases that vary in strength (more biased on the left, less biased on the right) and flexibility (less flexible on the left, more flexible on the right). This includes the gray goose rolling egg, aggressive biases against "red bellied" objects , flee responses to looking objects and orienting responses towards the see in turtle hatchlings on the left, and more flexible and "weaker" preferences for colours or transient preferences for certain motion dynamic on the right. Fixed-action patterns usually have low flexibility and high strength, while early predispositions are weak and plastic. The figure illustrates some innate biases described in the references indicated with specific numbers. Cues position along this spectrum should be interpreted qualitatively. The exact position on the horizontal axis is purely indicative, as predispositions depend on species and context, as shown in this article.

Curves that represent the success probability of a choice, as a function of number of valid cues (x axis), number of misleading cues (different curves), and synergy between cues (different column), bias strength (horizontal row) Success probability as a function of the number of valid cues, misleading cues, bias strength and cue synergy. The horizontal axis represents the number of valid cues, different line colours represent different numbers of misleading cues. Subpanel columns represent increasing levels of synergy (from λ = 1 for the additive model with no synergy, to synergy of 2). Subpanel rows indicate bias strength β.

New paper: Reflecting on the multiple biases and predispositions observed in young animals with no previous experience, we modelled a new idea on the strategic role of biases to guide adaptive choice and reduce errors: doi.org/10.1098/rspb... Fantastic collaboration with @debivort.bsky.social

Birds = model to study embryonic responses to environmental stimuli. check @subbaprakrit.bsky.social ' preprint, where we show "Programming of Embryonic Blood Brain Barrier and Neurovascular Transcriptome by an Anticipatory Acoustic Signal of Heat in the Zebra Finch" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A) Dendrogram of the development dataset showing the clustering structure and optimal cut points, and spectrograms of representative calls extracted from cluster 0 and cluster 1. Within the main clusters, we observed further branching; B) UMAP projection divided into 𝐾 = 2 clusters using HAC.

Our new pre-print shows how unsupervised clustering methods can identify biologically meaningful differences in early vocal production, with no human feedback. @antorrisi.bsky.social
has led this interdisciplinary collaboration based on computational methods + #chicks 🐣 arxiv.org/abs/2601.12203

Here's what our researcher on positive psychology @rosiedavis.bsky.social has to say about working with dancers for her Positive Balance project!

The Stopwatches in the Bee Brain: How Insects Master Time and What It Means for AI - Our Narratives A new study published in Biology Letters has revealed that bumblebees, with brains smaller than a cubic millimeter, are capable of perceiving and processing

“The Stopwatches in the Bee Brain: How Insects Master Time and What It Means for AI” features our work on #time processing across species
ournarratives.net/the-stopwatc... (the front image is not accurate but there are other images in the article) @queenmarycbb.bsky.social @qmul.bsky.social

Alex Davidson in front of his poster at #ASABwinter2025 conference. Poster title "Time processing in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris"

don't miss @alexdqm.bsky.social's poster [11] at #ASABwinter2025 to discover more about time processing in insects "Time processing in the bumblebee Bombus terretris"

and now you have your chance to speak to @robynroachneuro.bsky.social today at #ASABwinter2025 while she presents her poster on early motion detection in chicks!

and now you have your chance to speak to @robynroachneuro.bsky.social today at #ASABwinter2025 while she presents her poster on early motion detection in chicks!

Alex Davidson in front of his poster at #ASABwinter2025 conference. Poster title "Time processing in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris"

don't miss @alexdqm.bsky.social's poster [11] at #ASABwinter2025 to discover more about time processing in insects "Time processing in the bumblebee Bombus terretris"

Here’s a short introduction from our research assistant, Hamza Arifo, at our Sky Garden outing. @ha1705.bsky.social

At HAIR (Healthcare Applications of Interactive Robotics) workshop hair-robotics.github.io/workshop2025... @elisabettaversace.bsky.social has presented our work on #remoteTouch See here all speakers of this inspiring event organised by #IldarFarkhatdinov and #JoshuaBrown

Prepared Minds Lab at the launch of the Centre for Brain and Behaviour at QMUL @queenmarycbb.bsky.social #Neuroscience #Psychology

Take a look into the positive balance project run by our researchers @rosiedavis.bsky.social and @jieyinghuang.bsky.social! This research places focus on teaching individuals how to identify character strengths and positive emotions - a step towards establishing better mental health environments.

A productive training session led by Michaela Egertova! Here Hamza, Robyn, and Dr. Versace work together to image a stained chick cerebellum, building essential skills in brightfield microscopy. @ha1705.bsky.social @robynroachneuro.bsky.social @elisabettaversace.bsky.social #brightfieldmicroscopy

Tactile location of objects under the sand in humans and robots YouTube video by PreparedMindsLab

... and this is how @zhengqichen.bsky.social explains the study in a short video youtu.be/6hpuLojesyQ?...
Original paper here ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/doc...

Tactile location of objects under the sand in humans and robots YouTube video by PreparedMindsLab

... and this is how @zhengqichen.bsky.social explains the study in a short video youtu.be/6hpuLojesyQ?...
Original paper here ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/doc...

Our work on time processing in bees 🐝 covered by @cnn.com
edition.cnn.com/2025/11/12/s...
@qmulse.bsky.social
@queenmarycbb.bsky.social
... and videoclip explanation youtu.be/hsGxU65OMQk?...

Here: a bee trained to discriminate between long and short duration by @alexdqm.bsky.social @ishaninanda.bsky.social
#AnitaOng for "Duration discrimination in the bumblebee..."
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10....
@royalsocietypublishing.org
cc @larschittka.bsky.social sky.social

1/n We have discovered that bees can keep track of time duration!
Bees can discriminate long 🟡🟡 vs short🟡 flashes, a bit like the "dash" and "dot" of the Morse code.
Check our new paper royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... and videoclip youtu.be/hsGxU65OMQk?... @preparedmindslab.bsky.social

Humans have remote touch ‘seventh sense’ like sandpipers, research shows 🔥 Explore this insightful post from Hacker News 📖 📂 Category: ✅ Here’s what you’ll learn: Overview of the experiment setup for tactile detection in granular media. (a) Human experiment setup, showing a participant finger raking through a sand-filled box with an LED strip guiding the trajectory and buried cube at fixed locations. (b) Robotic experiment setup, featuring a UR5 arm with a tactile sensor and a buried cube in sand.

Humans have remote touch ‘seventh sense’ like sandpipers, research shows

🔥 Explore this insightful post from Hacker News 📖 📂 Category: ✅ Here’s what you’ll learn: Overview of the experiment setup for tactile detection in granular media. (a) Human experiment setup, showing a participant finger…

Humans have remote touch 'seventh sense' like sandpipers, research shows A study by researchers at Queen Mary University of London and University College London has found that humans have a form of remote touch, or the ability to sense objects without direct contact, a sense that some animals have.

Humans can detect objects buried in sand before direct contact, demonstrating a form of remote touch similar to that seen in certain shorebirds and expanding the known range of tactile perception. doi.org/g99kpf

Humans possess a "Seventh Sense" remote touch like sandpipers - theFreesheet Research has revealed that humans possess a form of remote touch, or the ability to sense objects without direct contact, a capability previously documented

Humans possess a “Seventh Sense” remote touch like sandpipers
thefreesheet.com/2025/11/08/h...

Remote Touch A study by researchers at Queen Mary University of London and University College London has found that humans have a form of remote touch, or the ability to sense objects without direct contact, a sen

A study by researchers at Queen Mary University of London and University College London has found that humans have a form of remote touch, or the ability to sense objects without direct contact, a sense that some animals have. 

soundcloud.com/sweetsongspr...

Touching Without Contact: We Physically Sense Objects Before Feeling Them - Neuroscience News A new study shows that humans possess a form of “remote touch,” allowing them to detect hidden objects in sand before making direct contact.

Our new study on remote touch .....✋
Touching Without Contact: We Physically Sense Objects Before Feeling Them - neurosciencenews.com/remote-touch... @zhengqichen.bsky.social @lauracrucianelli.bsky.social @elisabettaversace.bsky.social #LorenzoJamone ✋
--> 📹 youtu.be/6hpuLojesyQ?...

our inventor @antorrisi.bsky.social with poster on #VocalEcho: Closed-loop system for vocal interactions #BioDCASE at 12:21 CET (11.21 UK time) 🐥 🔀 🤖🎈
Streaming dcase.community/workshop2025...
@c4dm.bsky.social @emmanouilb.bsky.social @preparedmindslab.bsky.social @elisabettaversace.bsky.social

Gli insetti provano dolore? - Il Post È una possibilità sempre più indagata dalla ricerca e che potrebbe cambiare in modo fondamentale il nostro rapporto con loro

in Italian: Do insects feel pain? www.ilpost.it/2025/10/13/i... it covers also @preparedmindslab.bsky.social work in collaboration with @larschittka.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1... , www.cell.com/iscience/ful...