Cognition in Action Lab

We see action as a driving power in cognition, in individual as well as in social contexts

[Cognition in Action Lab @CognitionIn]

🧠 What is the difference between thinking and intelligence?

We are excited to host John Krakauer (Johns Hopkins) for the next Cognition in Action Lecture!

📌 Mindcraft: thinking vs intelligence.

📩 Registration: [email protected] https://t.co/uABNw7nafZ

[Anil Seth @anilkseth]

What a delight & privilege it was to be the scientific chair for @mesec_'s 2026 winter school in Ephesus. A wonderful group of students, and simply outstanding organisation from Emma Moorhead, Hector Mendoza, Aziza Chebil, Luis Lips, & Lara Brauchle 🙏🏽🙏���🙏🏽 https://t.co/iySTvL5cBj

[Angelica Kaufmann @AngKaufmann]

Thrilled to share that “Temporal Cognition in Apes”, co-authored with Gerardo Viera, is now out in the Australasian Journal of Philosophy.
In the paper we develop a new way of thinking about the mental representation of time in animals. https://t.co/mmHjndS4sW

[Cognition in Action Lab @CognitionIn]

Next Cognition in Action Lecture: Susan Carey (Harvard)

📅 29 April 2026
🕔 5pm CEST / 11am EDT
🌍 Online

https://t.co/4y2sBHJb9T

[Angelica Kaufmann @AngKaufmann]

Excited to share that my new book, Temporal Cognition in Animals, is now out with @CambridgeUP .

The book presents an innovative framework to study temporal representation across species! 🦜🦧🐋🐝

Video-making: Marco Jetti

[corrado sinigaglia @corradosinigagl]

🙌 Huge shoutout and thanks to the amazing co-authors! This research was supported by @mur_gov_, @LaStatale, @LaStataleFilo, @CognitionIn, @M_Fanghella. Camilla Colombo, @fadasaro, Guido Barchiesi, Marco Rabuffetti, @Maurizi44696198, Francesco Guala.📄https://t.co/6oBA6mNAN5

[corrado sinigaglia @corradosinigagl]

🚀 Big picture:
Humans don’t just think about choices 🧠
They see them unfolding 👁️
And sometimes…
action perception actively shapes what agents treat as rational in strategic interaction ✋ > 📐

[corrado sinigaglia @corradosinigagl]

A Bayesian model explains it 📊
stable payoff priors + time-dependent kinematic likelihoods → observed choices and coordination patterns.
👉 Rationality updates in motion 🌀

[corrado sinigaglia @corradosinigagl]

When kinematics point elsewhere 👉
people drop payoff dominance ❌💰
They follow the action—even if it means choosing less money 😮

[corrado sinigaglia @corradosinigagl]

But this expectation was not fixed.
As soon as kinematic cues reliably specified the partner’s action outcome, participants updated their beliefs. 🧠💥

[corrado sinigaglia @corradosinigagl]

At first, participants showed a payoff-dominant bias ✔️
Choosing HI was the default expectation about a “rational” partner.
Game theorists approved 📘

[corrado sinigaglia @corradosinigagl]

Participants saw only 10–40% of a partner’s grasping action ✋
❌ No objects❌ No outcomes Just motion.
And that was already enough to infer the partner’s choice 👀

[Cognition in Action Lab @CognitionIn]

A new paper from our lab!!

[corrado sinigaglia @corradosinigagl]

📢 New paper just out in Cognition!
Do humans really coordinate by following payoffs? 💰🤔
We test this using a HI–LO game, where strategic reasoning conflicts with real-time action information.
Milliseconds of movement can flip strategic decisions. ⚡📄 https://t.co/6oBA6mNAN5

[Cognition in Action Lab @CognitionIn]

Join the Cognition in Action Lectures with Tyler Burge (UCLA)!

📌 Title: Map of the Lower Representational Mind
📅 Date: 21 January 2026, 17:00 CET
🌍 Format: Online, in English

https://t.co/HOEHSrBLt8

[Cognition in Action Lab @CognitionIn]

TGR Leonardo racconta la ricerca del nostro lab: con TMS e segnali muscolari (MultiMEP) decodifichiamo le azioni immaginate 🧠💪 https://t.co/gTZIm32zsZ.

[Cognition in Action Lab @CognitionIn]

FIS 3: L’Università Statale prima in Lombardia per numero di progetti finanziati e tra questi uno vinto dal coordinatore del nostro lab, Corrado Sinigaglia. https://t.co/vro1tdkTP2

[Cognition in Action Lab @CognitionIn]

Il nostro laboratorio presenta un nuovo studio guidato da Guido Barchiesi e condotto da Elena Mussini e Francesca Genovese!

[Università degli Studi di Milano @LaStatale]

Un innovativo metodo sviluppato permette di decodificare l’immaginazione delle azioni non direttamente dal cervello, ma dai muscoli. Metodo - MultiMEP - grazie al quale si può trasferire l’informazione relativa all’immaginazione di un gesto dal cervello ai muscoli e decodificarla

[Università degli Studi di Milano @LaStatale]

Un innovativo metodo sviluppato permette di decodificare l’immaginazione delle azioni non direttamente dal cervello, ma dai muscoli. Metodo - MultiMEP - grazie al quale si può trasferire l’informazione relativa all’immaginazione di un gesto dal cervello ai muscoli e decodificarla

[Cognition in Action Lab @CognitionIn]

Great news! The FIS3 Adv Grant from @mur_gov_ will support @CognitionIn for the next 5 years as we dig deeper into the foundations of human sociality. Big thanks to our team!

[corrado sinigaglia @corradosinigagl]

Thrilled to share that I’ve been awarded the FIS3 Adv Grant from @mur_gov_! Proud to celebrate this achievement with the entire @CognitionIn team—a 5-year boost to our research on the foundations of human sociality. @LaStataleFilo @LaStatale

[Cognition in Action Lab @CognitionIn]

Out today 👉 What holds groups together? How interdependence shapes group-living | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | @CambridgeCore @CambridgeUP - https://t.co/lbxZeCHLD9