Penny Pexman

The Cortex special issue on Conceptual Knowledge, co-edited by Emiko Muraki (@emij.bsky.social), Richard Binney (@rjbinney.bsky.social), Penny Pexman (@pennypexman.bsky.social) and myself is still accepting submissions.

🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...

Congratulations @p-solana.bsky.social ! Brilliant defense of an excellent thesis. 👏👏👏

Canada-Impact-Plus - Research - Western University

🚀 Launched! Here’s our call for applicants to the Canada Impact+ Research Chairs Program at @westernu.ca. This is a remarkable opportunity for us to recruit outstanding scholars who are currently working internationally:

www.uwo.ca/research/can...

1/5 New paper led by Peggy Liaw, with @pennypexman.bsky.social and @lorreggin.bsky.social on the development of name sound symbolism!

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

The Canada Impact+ Research Chairs Program allows us to welcome outstanding, internationally based researchers to #WesternU to tackle some of today’s most pressing challenges. We look forward to connecting with scholars who are ready to go #AllinWesternU.
www.uwo.ca/research/can...

Canada-Impact-Plus - Research - Western University

🚀 Launched! Here’s our call for applicants to the Canada Impact+ Research Chairs Program at @westernu.ca. This is a remarkable opportunity for us to recruit outstanding scholars who are currently working internationally:

www.uwo.ca/research/can...

@cjep.bsky.social paper on gender equity in cognitive science @nserc-resnet.bsky.social funding, highlighting progress in past 6 years.

Led by @mcgillscience.bsky.social psych trainee Michelle Yang; co-authored w/ @pennypexman.bsky.social. A @wicscanada.bsky.social effort.

doi.org/10.1037/cep0...

Speaker bios slide from the panel.

(L to R): Greg Kopp, Dipika Deol, Marianne Armstrong, Erin Taylor, Penny Pexman.

Today at #CSPC2025, @pennypexman.bsky.social moderated a panel on #climatechange causing increased #climatedisasters and what Canada can do to build #resilience. Thanks to @cssl.ca director Greg Kopp and our colleagues from government and industry for their perspectives and time!

Expert insight: How two Canadian war amputees shaped disability rights activism - Western News Canadian war amputees George Hincks and Marshall McDougal hiked more than 2,000 kilometres in 1923 to raise awareness of issues facing disabled veterans.

Historian and #WesternU postdoctoral researcher Eric Story unveiled the story of two Canadian war amputees who trekked 2,000 km in 1923, helping to spark the disability-rights movement in Canada. #RemembranceDay @ca.theconversation.com

Waiting for the tsunami: its big waves are loved by surfers – but this Canadian town is braced for disaster How do you plan for an event whose timing is unknown? For residents of Tofino on Vancouver Island the threat is distant but signs of preparedness are everywhere

Featured in The Guardian: “To make a credible [tsunami catastrophe] model, we need experience." #WesternU prof Katsu Goda explains his tsunami modelling research in Tofino, B.C.

Each year, we come together to honour all who have served our country in times of war, conflict, and peace. #WesternU has been associated with Canada's armed forces throughout our shared history, and many of our members serve in the Canadian Armed Forces.
#LestWeForget #LdnOnt

We're seeking the next Director of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics! Lead cutting-edge research in language & cognition. Nominations (incl. self) due 19 Dec 2025.
mpi.nl/career-education/vacancies/vacancy/nominations-and-self-nominations-sought-position-director-max

Done! Daria successfully defended her PhD thesis!

And that in front of an incredible jury who are the absolute top on this topic: @annaborghi.bsky.social , @pennypexman.bsky.social , @gabriellavigliocco.bsky.social

So proud of her!

bravo of course also to Jo Ziegler and Núria Gala!

Western Research staff eating and speaking to each other in long tables at the Wave Restaurant on Campus at Western University.

Joanna Redden, Lyle Muller and Cristián Bravo Roman on stage with moderator James Shelley speaking to Western Research staff about AI in Research.

This morning, we connected over breakfast with Western Research staff, followed by updates from @pennypexman.bsky.social and a panel on AI in Research with Joanna Redden, Lyle Muller and @cribravo.bsky.social, moderated by @jamesshelley.com.

Thanks, everyone, for a great start to the school year!

Western Pathogen Research Centre to advance study of infectious disease Western has begun construction on the Pathogen Research Centre, which will position London as a national leader in the understanding of infectious diseases.

#WesternU’s new Pathogen Research Centre will position #LdnOnt as a national leader in virus transmission research and the development of vaccines and treatments for a range of diseases. @schulichmeddent.bsky.social

The multidimensionality, variability and flexibility of concepts: Opening editorial

Call for Papers for a new Special Issue of Cortex on Concept Knowledge

The editors, Penny Pexman, Richard Binney, Veronica Diveica, and Emiko Muraki welcome original empirical research articles, as well as reviews and perspectives.
The last date for submissions will be March 10th 2026.

What’s in a name? How the sound of names can bias hiring decisions New research shows that even the sound of a name can influence how job candidates are judged.

How does the sound of names bias hiring decisions?

From @westernu.ca Vice-President (Research) @pennypexman.bsky.social and her @carleton.ca colleague, @davidmsidhu.bsky.social in @ca.theconversation.com:

theconversation.com/whats-in-a-n...

Really looking forward to #AMLAP2025 in Prague this week. Big Data morning with @aggieerin.bsky.social and Emmanuel Keuleers looks 🔥

Full program here:

amlap2025.ff.cuni.cz/program/

What’s in a name? How the sound of names can bias hiring decisions New research shows that even the sound of a name can influence how job candidates are judged.

What’s in a name? How the sound of names can bias hiring decisions

Photo of attendees at the Western University / CNL / AECL agreement signing.

We are proud to share that @westernu.ca continues its collaboration with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) through the Academic Partnership Program.

(1/2)

#CNL #AECL #Nuclear #Innovation #Research

✨️Excited to share my first paper is out in Behavior Research Methods with @rjbinney.bsky.social and @pennypexman.bsky.social! We quantified the association of a word's meaning with reward, showing that it is a dimension relevant to semantic processing.
📄🔗Link: rdcu.be/eyqvn

🧠 Just out with @pennypexman.bsky.social “Simulation in the ‘Blind’ Mind”.

We found that even without conscious imagery (aphantasia), people still simulate sensorimotor info when processing language. 💭🔤

Registration for the second Symposium on Individual Differences in Cognition (SIDIC), scheduled for the Thursday of the next Psychonomics Annual Meeting (in Denver) is now open. Please register as soon as possible to help us plan. Abstracts due August 1.
caliberlab.wixsite.com/sidic2025/re...

So privileged to have been your supervisor @emij.bsky.social. You are a star. 🌟

🚨 New preprint!
With @lehtorituomo.bsky.social, Matti Laine, & @pennypexman.bsky.social

🔍 We analyzed data from two eye-tracking studies to explore individual differences in how #children process and comprehend written #irony. We showed that empathy and working memory mattered — gender didn't.

🚨📄 New paper!

Abstract words are hard to acquire: Does social relevance help?

We tested if social experience helps children learn words—analyzing >4,000 words by socialness, valence, and concreteness.

👬 More social words were learned earlier
💭 Socialness particularly helped abstract words, but…

Excited to announce a call for papers for a new virtual special issue in Cortex on Concept Knowledge.

Our opening editorial, plus further information and guidance for authors can be found here:

www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...

Come to Prague in September!

🚨 New paper out in Human Brain Mapping! 🚨
with @pennypexman.bsky.social and @rjbinney.bsky.social

🧠 We show that the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) semantic hub supports abstract verb processing—with distinct activity patterns for:
• Emotional verbs
• Mental verbs
• Non-embodied verbs

Would you hire Liam over Kirk? Name sound symbolism and hiring Sound symbolism is the phenomenon by which certain language sounds evoke particular associations. Previous work has demonstrated that names evoke pers…

🚨New paper alert!🚨

Name sound symbolism, personality, and job ads!

We found that the sounds in a name affected which candidate participants chose as the best fit for a job ad.

With @pennypexman.bsky.social, Josh Bourdage and Tim Wingate.

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

🧵 Thread below!