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Deon T. Benton

@deontbenton

Developmental cognitive scientist. Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University. Co-host of The It's Innate! Podcast. PI of the Computational Cognitive Development Lab. Dad. Husband. Human. (he/him/his)

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Latest posts by Deon T. Benton @deontbenton

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Spent Thursday and Friday giving a talk and roundtable at the University of Iowa's DeLTA Center and chatting with the wonderful folks in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. So fun!

07.03.2026 20:12 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

In other words, the model converts what begins as an SOC into a direct relation in which both features (e.g., A and C) are *directly* linked to a shared representation. A very cool, elegant solution!

07.03.2026 14:04 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Second, I show through computational modeling that such inferences may arise from the formation of a common representation that links both features of the SOC to a common, internal representation.

07.03.2026 14:04 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Second-order correlation learning in 2- to 4-year-old children, and its underlying mechanism Second-order correlation learningβ€”or the capacity to infer an indirect relation between features based on separate direct relationsβ€”has been studied e…

New paper alert🚨

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Two takeaways. First, 2- to 4-year-olds can use a process called second-order correlation (SOC) learning -- e.g., A & B go together and B & C go together, then A and C go together -- in a category context to make causal inferences.

07.03.2026 14:04 πŸ‘ 19 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
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Children's decision to challenge themselves on a novel task relates to their metacognitive monitoring of their ability Abstract. We examined potential processes by which children decide to make hard as opposed to easy choices to accomplish a goal. Five- to 7-year olds (N =

New paper out in Child Development (@srcdorg.bsky.social) with Dave Sobel (@candmlab.bsky.social)! ✨ We investigated how 5- to 7-year-old children decide to take on easy versus hard tasks while pursuing a goal. doi.org/10.1093/chid...

04.03.2026 15:52 πŸ‘ 40 πŸ” 16 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 2

sometimes I write sentences just for myself, that probably won't make it to the final draft.

"That’s why there’s a decent chance your favorite 20th-century statistician authored a book chapter titled β€œThe obvious inferiority of Negroes” or something ridiculous like that. "

02.03.2026 16:11 πŸ‘ 20 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

On top of it all, this man is just incredibly stupid and blissfully unaware of that fact.

02.03.2026 15:19 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Very much looking forward to my talk at the DeLTA Center at the University of Iowa.

02.03.2026 15:01 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Crisis averted. Found a copy.

28.02.2026 04:31 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Long shot no doubt but anyone have a PDF version of this edited book?

Ellis, B. J., & Bjorklund, D. F. (Eds.). (2005). Origins of the social mind: Evolutionary psychology and child development. Guilford Press.

28.02.2026 04:23 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

But the best revision is no revision. Paper accepted! Can't wait to share

28.02.2026 03:00 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

giving a talk at the DeLTA Center at University of Iowa next week and finally get to the chance to incorporate braitenberg vehicles into it

27.02.2026 03:40 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

minor revisions are the best revisions

25.02.2026 20:35 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

but surely only because you're used to singing it one way, no?

25.02.2026 17:57 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

It does feel like "w" gets to double (triple?) dip

25.02.2026 00:10 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I don't know why but 'v' should come *after* 'w'

24.02.2026 19:54 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0

A universe without entropy

22.02.2026 23:45 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Idk but I'd bet that I'm the only person who exclusively uses base R and never learned to use tidyverse or any of the derivatives (if there are any)

22.02.2026 23:36 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Being excited to go into the lab on a Saturday to set up a new infant experiment is reason #29856211 I know I've chosen the right career.

21.02.2026 19:47 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Indeed to the second part!

13.02.2026 14:17 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Grad student sent me this photo of her doing very serious, very hardcore science.

12.02.2026 00:25 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

decided to jump on the naming-one's-model train. better late than never.

11.02.2026 22:03 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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a blurry picture of a city street with a lot of cars ALT: a blurry picture of a city street with a lot of cars

[opening Google Authenticator for the code]

the code:

11.02.2026 01:50 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

That little kid holding the grammy is the real winner

09.02.2026 02:55 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Nothing is scarier than forgetting to tell your wife before leaving for work not to turn off your computer because you have simulations running

08.02.2026 19:02 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

<em>I like this idea actually</em>

05.02.2026 20:19 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I agree. My students don't know what flame they've just lit.

05.02.2026 20:15 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Sigh but noted.

05.02.2026 20:15 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

One of my RAs commented on my use of "lol" in our Basecamp (think: Slack) messages and said that that is something that old people say. Surely I'm not the only one who wasn't aware that this phrase has fallen out of fashion. Surely?!

05.02.2026 17:36 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 7 πŸ“Œ 0

Me: Zero.

Chatbot: I'll get you to a representative but first β€” tell me what you're calling about.

M: Zerroo!

C: Right. I'll get you to a representative, but firs β€”

M: FUCKING ZERO! 😑🀬🀬😑🀬

04.02.2026 23:58 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0